PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION 



This short account of the Formal Garden in 

 England does not profess to be exhaustive. 

 The field is a wide one and includes subjects 

 any one of which could only be fully handled 

 in a special study. An attempt, however, has 

 been made to break up ground and to clear 

 away misconceptions by giving so much of its 

 history as will show the general character of 

 the formal garden in England, its absolute 

 separation from landscape gardening, and the 

 extent and variety of design which it involves. 

 It is to the design of the garden that the scope 

 of the work more particularly refers. No 

 attempt has been made to deal with horticulture, 

 with the right methods of growing plants 

 and flowers and trees : these are fully discussed 

 by the proper authorities in existing works on 

 gardening ; but the question of design, of the 

 treatment of the grounds as a whole as well as 



