2 14 THE FORMAL GARDEN IN ENGLAND ix 



costly for outside work. Marble statuary is a 

 mistake in an English garden. To attain its 

 full effect it wants strong sunlight, a clear dry 

 light, and a cloudless sky. In the soft light 

 and nebulous atmo- 

 sphere of the north 

 marble looks forlorn 

 and out of place. It 

 does not colour like 

 stone, and the quahties 

 of which it is most 

 capable — such as re- 

 finements of contour 

 and modelling — are 

 simply lost under an 

 English sky. The 

 same objection applies 

 to bronze casts. Apart 

 from their cost, bronze 

 figures always retain 

 their original hardness 

 of form. They do not 

 lend themselves to the 

 modelling of nature ; they do not grow in with 

 nature, as stone or lead. To the sculptor this 

 would be a strong point in its favour, as, of 

 course, it should be where houses and palaces 

 and cities are concerned. But in the garden one 

 wants something different ; man's handiwork 

 should be in suggestion rather than in evi- 

 dence, and bronze figures are too trenchant,. 



LEAD ncURE. OFPERSEUSl 

 MELBOVRliE, :I>EKBY3HPRE| 



Fig. 6o. 



