CHAPTER VI 



Particular Objects 



Another step towards what is practical has now to be 

 made. Several peculiar and more definite objects which 

 could not with propriety be called general because they apply 

 to special cases and less common circumstances have here 

 to be discussed. And in thus traveling towards minuter 

 matters, I cannot do better than begin with noticing the 

 influence of little things on all questions of taste. 



I . Small Matters. — As most of the comforts and all the 

 elegancies and refinements of life consist in attention to 

 numerous small matters which are in themselves insignificant 

 but which together compose a beautiful and agreeable whole, 

 so the expression and character of a garden will be cultivated 

 and tasteful or otherwise according as its minor features are 

 well arranged and well executed. It is surprising how much 

 a few trifling objects or circumstances may do in the way of 

 imparting tone to a place. There is comparatively little 

 difference between the mode in which a first-rate artist and an 

 inferior one would work up a picture consisting of the same 

 elements, but in that Httle what a world of meaning and 

 expression might be conveyed! In laying out a garden, too, 

 where much the same general features have to be dealt with, 

 how much alike, yet how very distinct, would be the products 

 of an untutored and unskillful operator and the creations of 

 the studied, practiced, and delicately perceptive lover of art. 



A lame or imperfect curve; an artificial or abrupt connection 

 of lines in reference to raised ground; deep and clumsy edg- 

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