360 Select Suburban Residences. 



to the views from the house ; and another gentleman (the Rev. 

 J. Mitford), a very eminent critic in all that relates to the land- 

 scape scenery of country residences, acknowledges that he had, 

 and still has, the same feeling. On mature reflection, however, 

 we are convinced that Mr. Wells is right, and that his taste 

 is the purer of the two. Were Mr. Wells not as great an 

 admirer of flowers as of pictures, and were his collection at 

 Redleaf of the one not as select and excellent as that of the other, 

 it might be supposed that he was so wholly absorbed in land- 

 scape, that he had no taste for flower-gardens ; but the reverse 

 of this supposition being the case, proves to us that Mr. Wells's 

 taste is the result of genuine correct feeling. 



We must confess that it is sometimes a matter of difficulty to 

 determine when a flower-garden should be laid out immediately 

 in front of a house, so as to form a foreground to the distant 

 scenery, and when it ought to be concealed or disguised. In 

 general, this must be determined from the natural expression 

 of the situation, and the views. When these are of a decidedly 

 marked character, and make a strong and elevating impression 

 on the mind, the introduction of a flower-garden in the fore- 

 ground will interfere with this impression, and ought therefore 

 to be avoided, or introduced in such a manner as to be altogether 

 subordinate to the natural features ; but, on the other hand, 

 when these features are bad or tame, and comparatively un- 

 interesting, a flower-garden judiciously introduced will create 

 an interest which was naturally wanting. For example, when 

 the foreground is a flat or even surface, with little to vary it 

 except trees and shrubs, and when there is no strongly 

 marked feature in the middle distance, then beds of flowers, and 

 flowering shrubs, form a valuable resource, and may render a 

 naturally dull place gay and interesting. This is very 

 well exemplified at Chevening near Sevenoaks, the seat of Earl 

 Stanhope, where the foreground on the lawn front is an ex- 

 tensive flower-garden on an even surface, with a considerable 

 piece of water bordered by lawn and trees in the middle distance ; 

 and where the background is scenery of the same description, 

 without the appearance of hills, or any marked feature, natural 

 or artificial. At Eastwell Park in Kent, the seat of the Earl 

 of Winchelsea, where the whole of the surface seen from the 

 lawn front is flat and uninteresting, an extensive flower-garden 

 is very properly introduced ; without which the views from the 

 windows of that side of the house would have very little beauty. 

 On the other hand, the lawn front at Linton Place in Kent, the 

 seat of the Earl of Cornwallis, looking down on a steep descent, 

 at the foot of which is a stream winding through a fertile valley, 

 beyond which is an extensive and somewhat varied distance, 

 flowers in the foreground would here escape notice ; or, if exten- 

 sively displayed, would interfere with the strongly marked natura 



