14 FORMAL GARDENS 



this: We all feel instinctively that the supreme test of any garden 

 is personality, and that in the formal garden personality finds its 

 highest expression. Landscape gardening alone can never wholly 

 satisfy man's soul. There must be design. I do not mean to 

 say that landscape gardening lacks design, but in the natural 

 style the design may slowly unfold, while in formal gardening it 

 must instantly appear. And mere perfection of design is not 

 enough, for any one can tell on entering a garden whether it re- 

 flects the personality of the landscape gardener or of the man 

 who lives there. The artist's work can only show man's 

 mastery over nature; the owner's may express his mastery over 

 himself. 



The other side of this truth explains why most formal gardens 

 in America are a failure. The real trouble with them is that they 

 are characterized by self-indulgence. We insist on having every- 

 thing we want. We crowd in every good thing we have seen in 

 our travels. We back our own taste against all the architects 

 and landscape men, and then we wonder what is lacking and why 

 people laugh behind our backs. Everybody else can see clearly 

 enough what the matter is. It is lack of self-restraint. That 

 very quality explains why English formal gardens are more- charm- 

 ing than those of America. One can hardly travel two months 

 in England without perceiving that the dominant trait of British 

 character is self-restraint, while self-indulgence is with us a con- 

 spicuous national failing. This is a hard, unpleasant thing to say, 

 but please do not call me an Anglomaniac. I love my own country 

 and would not live in England. Rather ask yourself if it is not 

 true true in food, drink, clothing, amusements, and all material 

 things. It is only a passing trait, I believe, but I am also con- 

 fident that it is the only fundamental cause of our failures in formal 



