172 GARDEN-CRAFT. 



to say for them from any point of view whatever. 

 Theic wobbly shapes are not elegant ; they have 

 not the sanction of precedent, even of epochs the 

 most barbarous. And though they make pretence at 

 being a species of art, their mock-formality has not 

 that geometric precision which shall bind them to the 

 formal lines of the house, or to the general bearings 

 of the site. Not only do they contribute nothing to 

 the artistic effect of the general design, but they 

 even mar the appearance of the grass that accom- 

 modates them. Design they have, but not design 

 of that quality which alone justifies its intrusion. 

 No wonder " Nature abhors lines " if this base and 

 spurious imitation of the " old formality," that 

 Charles Lamb gloats over, is all that the landscape- 

 garden can offer in the way of idealisation. 



One other feature of the old-fashioned garden 

 the herbaceous border requires a word. It is 

 worthy of note that, unlike the modern, the ancient 

 gardener was not a man of one idea his art is not 

 bounded like a barrel-organ that can only play one 

 invariable tune ! While the master of the " old 

 formality " can give intricate harmonies of inwoven 

 colours in the geometric beds "all mosaic, choicely 

 planned," where Nature lends her utmost magic to 

 grace man's fancy he knows the value of the less 

 as well as the more, and finds equal room for the 

 unconstrained melodies of odd free growths in the 

 border-beds, where you shall enjoy the individual 

 character, the form, the outline, the colour, the tone 

 of each plant. Here let the mind of an earlier 



