ON THE OTHER SIDE.- A PLEA FOR SAVAGERY. 191 



the terrace walls ; the fallow deer may browse among 

 the bracken on the other side of the ha-ha thus 

 much of the animal creation shall be allowed here, 

 and not the most fastidious son of Adam will protest 

 a word. But note the terms of their admission. 

 They are a select company, gathered with nice judg- 

 ment from all quarters of the globe, that are bound 

 over to respectable behaviour, pledged to the beauti- 

 ful or picturesque ; they are in chains, though the 

 chains be aerial and not seen. 



It is not that the gardener loves pheasants or 

 peacocks, ducks or swans or guinea-fowls for them- 

 selves, or for their contribution to the music of the 

 place. Not this, but because these creatures assist 

 the garden's magic, they support the illusion upon 

 which the whole thing is based ; as they flit about, 

 and cross and recross the scene, and scream, and 

 quack, and cackle, you get a touch of actuality that 

 adds finish to the strangeness and piquancy that 

 prevail around ; they verify your doubting vision, 

 and make valid the reality of its ideality ; they accord 

 with the well-swept lawn, the scented air, the flash- 

 ing radiance of the fountain, the white statuary backed 

 by dark yews or dim stone alcoves, with the clipt 

 shrubs, the dreaming trees, the blare of bright 

 colours, in the shapely beds, the fragrant odours 

 and select beauties of the place. These living 

 creatures (for they are alive), prowling about the 

 grounds,* looking fairly comfortable in artificial 



* Lord Beaconsfield adds macaws to the ornament of his ideal 

 garden. " Sir Ferdinand, when he resided at Armine, was accustomed 



