232 GARDENS: THEIR FORM AND DESIGN 



plant life. It is made beautiful with material close at 

 hand, by vistas full of meaning cut through the fine woods, 

 by natural dignity of treatment with regard to the lie of 

 the land. We find here water and statuary alike utilized 

 to add to the beauty of the cup-like basin. The three 

 distinctly varying heights of ground around the lovely 

 chateau have been studied, considered by a master mind 

 in design ; and the avenues, approaches, and terraces 

 seem to culminate in that one dark warlike figure near 

 the house, the Grand Conde. We can almost hear the 

 tramp of armies, as by moonlight the wide openings in the 

 many woods all lead to that one strong figure. This, 

 without help of flowers or colour, is indeed a garden to 

 give food for contemplation to the thinking mind. 



Our second French garden, Bagatelle, shows the com- 

 bination of the successful growing of fine plants with good 

 taste in garden design. In all the public gardens of Paris, 

 however, in boulevards and streets, everywhere is breadth 

 and width and height. Statues against green leaves are 

 made more use of than with us, for ours stand often in 

 isolated positions in our streets. Surely the way to give 

 some life to marble is to have the light and shadow 

 flicker cast by trees upon it ? A dark background, too, 

 shows off the grace of line and figure. All these points, 

 which collectively form a brilliant whole, we see in 

 France, and as we all learn their true value, there is no 

 doubt that we shall copy them more and more in our own 

 country. Stately avenues for royal pageants, good sites 

 for statues, archways with true meaning, graceful fountains, 

 temples, arbours, vistas leading to these incidents, are 

 what we look for in the public garden of the future. 

 Such comparisons may seem trivial, but without doubt the 

 cultivation of good taste in a great people is to be learnt 

 upon the half-holiday spent in the public parks and 

 gardens. 



