IX GARDEN ARCHITECTURE 215 



too strong, if you like, to take their place among 

 the gentler beauties of the garden. The only 

 point in their favour is the beautiful patina they 

 may acquire with age. Bronze or brass figures, 

 as the older writers call them, were, however, 

 occasionally used. At Wilton there was a statue 

 of the gladiator in "brass," and James in his 

 translation mentions such statues as common. 



Stone is the proper material for carved work 

 in an English garden, especially Portland stone. 

 It is hard and weathers well, and few if any 

 stones profit so much by exposure to the sun 

 and rain. The harshness of its outlines becomes 

 softened by time, and it will take on the most 

 delicate colours, from the green stains of the 

 pedestal to the pure white of the statue that 

 gleams from under the deep canopy of yew. 

 Instances of stone statuary in gardens earlier 

 than the eighteenth century are not common in 

 England. When the old formal gardens were 

 destroyed by landscape gardeners, the stone 

 terminal figures, the statues of Pan and Diana, 

 were broken up to make the paths, or pitched 

 aside into builders' yards, where a few melancholy 

 survivors may still be found. Switzer, writing 

 in 17 1 8, refers to the great skill of the masons 

 of his time, and even suggested that it would be 

 a *' work worthy of the Royal munificence to 

 erect an Acamedy (sic), as is common in all 

 other countries, especially in France and Italy, 

 for the improvement of statuary. At present," 



