52 GARDEN-CRAFT. 



theory that Nature shall contribute a bare space upon 

 which man shall lay out a garden of symmetrical 

 character, and trees, shrubs, and flowers are re- 

 garded as so much raw material, out of which Art 

 shall carve her effects. 



Indeed, the desire for symmetry is carried to such 

 extravagant lengths that the largest parks become 

 only a series of square or oblong enclosures, regu- 

 larly planted walks, bounded by chestnuts or limes; 

 while the gardens are equally cut up into lines of trel- 

 lises and palisades. In describing the Paris gardens 

 Horace Walpole says, " they form light corridors and 

 transpicuous arbours, through which the sunbeams 

 play and checker the shade, set off the statues, vases, 

 and flowers, that marry with their gaudy hotels, and 

 suit the gallant and idle society who paint the walks 

 between their parterres, and realise the fantastic 

 scenes of Watteau and Durfe !" In another place he 

 says that " many French groves seem green chests set 

 upon poles. In the garden of Marshall de Biron, at 

 Paris, consisting of fourteen acres, every walk is 

 button-holed on each side by lines of flower-pots, 

 which succeed in their seasons. When I saw it 

 there were nine thousand pots of asters or la Reine 

 Marguerite." 



In Holland, which Butler sarcastically describes 



as 



" A land that rides at anchor, and is moor'd, 

 In which they do not live, but go aboard "- 



the conditions are not favourable to gardening. Man 

 is here indebted to Nature, in the first place, for next 



