302 On planting and laying out Grounds. 



elude this letter by detailing an example, which I shall bring 

 forward as a proof of this last assertion. 



There are many wealthy merchants in Amsterdam, and all 

 of them have gardens and country houses at a short distance 

 from the town. At the very time [in 1826] when our mutual 

 friend Dr. H showed me, for the first time, your Gar- 

 dener's Magazine, I was called on to lay out an approach 

 road, or rather to correct one already laid out, to a residence 

 in a small park about ten miles from Amsterdam. The owner 

 of this residence had some pretensions to taste, but more to 

 a heavy purse; and he had in his employ a German officer, 

 who knew something; of architecture, and thought that he also 

 knew something of gardening. To do this architect justice, 

 however, he was obliged to conform to the will of his patron 

 in every thing; for he was too near him to command sufficient 

 respect to be considered as an authority, and reasoning was 

 out of the question. Unless a man of taste has to deal with 

 reasonable people, he has no chance of becoming an autocrat 

 at home. 



Well ! I arrived, and was first shown round the grounds 

 by my German friend. I found almost every thing wrong ; 

 but I said little ; making it my business, as I always do on 

 like occasions, first to hear the reasons for what is before me. 

 In one part of the shrubbery a square column, joined to a 

 round one, supported a figure of Flora. " Why not both 

 square, or both round ? " asked I. " These," returned my 

 German friend, " formed part of the portico to M. van 



B 's house, which was taken down two years ago, and 



sold in lots." Directly in front of the house, there was a 

 rustic fountain on a naked piece of turf; the fountain pro- 

 fusely covered with shells, and spouting water from a gilt 

 dolphin. I soon recognised this as an imitation of a fountain 

 in the park at Enghien; but in that park it is in a low shady 

 situation, covered by trees, and moreover the dolphin is not 

 gilt. " Why no bushes or trees about this object ? " asked I. 

 " If any were placed between it and the house, they would 

 hide the dolphin from the windows," says the architect ; 

 " and, if any were placed on the other side of it, they would 

 conceal the distant scenery." " Pass on," said I ; " and let 

 us see what comes next." A short crooked walk led from the 

 house to an orangery, which we entered ; and I could not help 

 being struck with the size and beauty of the orange trees, 

 and other exotics : they occupied my attention so much, that 

 I neglected the indications of my guide, who directed my 

 eyes to a picture, painted on the wall, at the further end of 

 the structure. It was a view of mountain scenery, rocks, and 



