304 THE PRAISE OF GARDENS 



genuine delight in nature and art became feebler as the seven- 

 teenth century grew older. 



Gardening became the fashionable art, and this was the golden 

 age for professional gardeners ; but the real pleasure of it was 

 gone. Rows of statues were introduced from the French, costly 

 architecture superseded the simple terrace, intricate parterres were 

 laid out from gardeners' pattern-books, and meanwhile the flowers 

 were forgotten. It was well that all this pomp should be swept 

 away. We do not want this extravagant statuary, these absurdities 

 in clipped work, this aggressive prodigality. But though one 

 would admit that in its decay the formal garden became un- 

 manageable and absurd, the abuse is no argument against the 

 use. An attempt has been made in this book to show the 

 essential reasonableness of the principles of Formal Gardening, 

 and the sanity of its method when properly handled. Th? long 

 yew-hedge is clipped and shorn because we want its firm boundary 

 lines and the plain mass of its colour ; the grass bank is formed 

 into a definite slope to attain the beauty of close-shaven turf at 

 varied angles with the light. The broad grass walk, with its 

 paved footpath in the centre, is cool to walk upon in summer and 

 dry on the pavement in winter ; and the flower border on either 

 side is planted with every kind of delightful flower, so that the 

 refinements of its colour may be enjoyed all through the summer. 

 The Formal Garden in England. 



MRS J. A GAIN, with our hedges and formal lines, how charmingly might 



^^ 



^ ^^ we screen ff lesser gardens within gardens, and we might, 

 thus, have sweet retired places for lilies of sorts, or for roses, or 

 for specimens of all British flowers, or one after the manner of 

 the old ' gardina sacristcej where special flowers might be grown 

 for the decking of our churches. Passing through these we might 

 lead to a pleasant place for the delight of the antiquarian gardener. 

 Here we might, for instance, please ourselves by creating the re- 

 flection of a mediaeval garden. Such a one as Chaucer loved to 



