74 THE PLEASURE, OR [Jan. 



all of which figures were edged with dwarf-box, &c., with interven- 

 ing alleys of turf, fine sand, shells, &c. 



The partitions or beds were planted with the choicest kinds of 

 flowers, but no large plants to hide the different figures, for such 

 were intended as a decoration for the whole place long after the 

 season of the flowers was past. 



Though parterres in general are now become rather unfashion- 

 able, a little of that kind of work might still be permitted for variety 

 sake, though not immediately in front of the house as heretofore. 

 A spacious lawn, bounded with rural shrubberies, is the most 

 eligible situation for such; but a plain parterre of a moderate ex- 

 tent, either formed with lines of box, or with turf, might be intro- 

 duced in some of the more internal parts, and distributed either 

 into plain or complex departments, or beds of earth for flowers, so 

 as to answer the purpose of a flower-garden for the most curious 

 sorts; it will have an agreeable effect in forming a contrast with 

 the more rural scenes. 



In the more interior parts large tracts of ground were frequently 

 divided by straight grass-walks into many square and angular 

 divisions of wilderness, each division surrounded by regular hedges 

 of various kinds of trees and shrubs, kept in uniform order by 

 annual clippings; having the interior part of each quarter planted 

 with trees and shrubs, which were in a manner concealed by the 

 hedges from persons in the adjacent walks, so that hardly any thing 

 but close hedges, the same thing over again, appeared to view on 

 each side of the walks; and all the walks generally led into uniform 

 openings of grass, particularly to a grand circle or octagon, forming 

 some central part. 



Frequently there were partitions of regular hedge work, particu- 

 larly of evergreens, surrounding large squares of grass-ground, 

 designed as pieces of garden ornaments; the hedge-work being 

 often formed into various uniform devices, such as pilasters, 

 arcades or arches, porticoes, galleries, amphitheatres, pavilions, 

 cabinets, bowers, pediments, niches, and cornices; likewise regular 

 arbours, having the sides formed into arcades, and sometimes the 

 top vaulted; and with various other formal imitations, all performed 

 in hedge-work, which were often so arranged and trained, as to effect 

 an air of grandeur and art. High hedges were also in great repute, 

 as boundaries to grand walks and avenues, sometimes carried up 

 from fifteen or twenty to thirty or forty feet high; sometimes trained 

 perfectly close from* the very bottom to top; others open below a 

 considerable way, and formed into regular arches, &c. , all of which 

 sometimes appeared magnificent and ornamental, but were trouble- 

 some and expensive to keep in order, on account of their great 

 height: however, all sorts of hedge-work was generally esteemed 

 so ornamental in ancient gardening, that almost every division was 

 surrounded with regular hedges of one sort or other, presenting 

 themselves to view in every part, shutting out all other objects from 

 tight; but in modern designs, such hedges are rarely admitted; 

 every compartment of the plantation beinp; left open to view from 

 the walks and lawns, in order to afford a full prospect of the various 



