Public Parks. 9 



The Chinese paid considerable attention to the ornamenting of 

 their gardens, and at one time their attempts at landscape gardening 

 were more successful than those of any other nation. To them may 

 be traced what is now called the natural system, so much in vogue 

 in England, and which has been generally adopted in this country. 



A deep love of nature pervaded the minds of the Hindoos, as is 

 manifest in their public grounds and gai"dens. There was nothing 

 striking in the gardens of the Persians, no doubt owing to the want of 

 grand and natural scenery. They were regarded as places of luxurious 

 repose, and were constructed wholly in reference to this end. Trees 

 were planted in rows, in order that the wind might draw its currents 

 through them ; fountains were interposed, and streams ran through 

 them to increase the sensation of coolness. Flowers were cultivated 

 for perfume and beauty, with here and there a terebinthinate ever- 

 green, which was regarded by them as a great luxury. These 

 gardens were genei'ally surrounded by an enclosure. 



" The Greeks," according to Humboldt, " regarded the vegetable 

 world as standing in a manifold and mythical relation to heroes and 

 to the gods, who were supposed to avenge every injury inflicted on 

 the ti'ees and plants sacred to them. Imagination animated vegetable 

 forms with life, but the types of poetry, to which the peculiar 

 direction of mental activity among the ancient Greeks limited them, 

 gave only partial development to natural scenery."* Homer, Pinder, 

 Sophocles, and Euripedes occasionally indulge in descriptions of 

 nature. 



Their ideas of landscape gardening, while derived from the Per- 

 sians, were much improved upon. They encouraged art more than 

 nature. Athens had its public park, called Academia. It was laid 

 out by Cimon, who formed pleasant walks, introduced water and 

 planted groves. At the entrance an altar dedicated to Love was 

 placed, and scattered through the grounds were statues and monu- 

 ments of the most worthy citizens. One portion of this park was 

 devoted to the exercise of athletic games, and another to contempla- 

 tive recreation. Greek civilization made its impress on the Romans, 

 and in many respects they were similar, showing that their love of 

 nature was not entirely lost sight of by their love of art. Cicero and 

 Pliny delighted in descriptions of nature ; and in the poetic works of 

 Virgil, Horace, and Tibullus, frequent allusions to natural scenery 

 occur. Lucan gives an admirable description of the desti-uction of 

 a Druidic forest on the now treeless shores of Marseilles. Rome, 



*" Cosmos." 



