I THE FORMAL METHOD 5 



the question of garden design, and go off at a 

 tangent on horticulture and hot -houses. A 

 great deal is said about nature and her beauty, 

 and fidehty to nature, and so on ; but as the 

 landscape gardener never takes the trouble to 

 state precisely what he means by nature, and 

 indeed prefers to use the word in half a dozen 

 different senses, we are not very much the wiser 

 so far as principles are concerned. The axiom 

 on which the system rests is this — "Whatever 

 nature does is right ; therefore let us go and 

 copy her." Let us obliterate the marks of 

 man's handiwork (and particularly any suspicion 

 of that bad man, the architect), and though we 

 shall manipulate the face of nature with the 

 greatest freedom, we shall be careful to make 

 people believe that we have not manipulated it 

 at all. Various rules are given as to the proper 

 method of '* copying nature's graceful touch " 

 — the favourite phrase of the landscapist. The 

 older writers, such as Wheatly {^Observations on 

 Modern Gardenings i77o)> had a theory which 

 was at least intelligible as a theory. They con- 

 sidered the landscape gardener as a painter on a 

 colossal scale. By altering natural scenery he 

 was to produce such landscapes as are admired 

 in the works of the old masters. The method 

 of procedure as explained by Wheatly is this. 

 You determine a priori the abstract character- 

 istics of any natural object ; and then, on 

 considerations evolved from your inner con- 



