X CONCLUSION 233 



genuine delight in nature and art became 

 Feebler as the seventeenth century grew older. 

 Gardening became the fashionable art, and this 

 was the golden age for professional gardeners ; 

 but the real pleasure of it was gone. Rows of 

 statues were introduced from the French, costly 

 architecture superseded the simple terrace, intri- 

 cate parterres were laid out from gardeners' 

 pattern books, and meanwhile the flowers were 

 forgotten. It was well that all this pomp 

 should be swept away. We do not want this 

 extravagant statuary, this aggressive prodigality. 

 But though one would admit that in its 

 decay the formal garden became unmanageable 

 and absurd, the abuse is no argument against 

 the use. An attempt has been made in this 

 book to show the essential reasonableness of 

 the principles of Formal Gardening, and the 

 sanity of its method when properly handled. 

 The long yew -hedge is clipped and shorn 

 because we want its firm boundary lines and 

 the plain mass of its colour ; the grass bank 

 is formed into a definite slope to attain the 

 beauty of close-shaven turf at varied angles 

 with the light. The broad grass walk, with 

 its paved footpath in the centre, is cool to walk 

 upon in summer and dry on the pavement in 

 winter ; and the flower border on either side 

 is planted with every kind of delightful flower, 

 so that the refinements of its colour may be 

 enjoyed all through the summer. It is not 



