51 4: Notes on some Suburban Villas 



except on the principle that he had before his eyes the fear of being 

 caricatured by Sir Walter Scott, in the Quarterly Revieiv. In that Review, 

 No. 72., " those elegant forms the oval, the circle, and the cone," are 

 eulogised, while an irregular outline is described as " fantastic zigzaggery, 

 which resembles the traces left by a dog scampering through snow," &c. 

 This part of the Review was, no doubt, written partly with an eye to what 

 Dugald Stewart had hinted against carrying irregularity to an extreme, in 

 his Philosophical Essays, part ii. chap. iv. p. 285. 4to ed.; but chiefly with a 

 view to effect, to enable the reviewer to quote Shakspeare, " What! up 

 and down, carved like an apple tart," &c, Corporal Trim's harangue, and 

 the German baron. When Sir Henry was not under the influence of 

 the fear of the reviewer, we find him asserting, as the principle on which 

 the outline of plantations ought to be formed, that art should borrow 

 from nature " every pleasing form which owes its origin to that unfailing 

 source of variety and beauty ;" and this is in conformity with the sentiments 

 of all the best writers on landscape-gardening. " The first requisite," says 

 Whately, speaking of the outline of a wood, " is irregularity. The true 

 beauty of an outline consists more in breaks than in sweeps ; rather in 

 angles than in rounds ; in variety, not in succession." Irregularity, indeed, 

 is the soul of every beauty in the outline of plantations, lawns, lakes, islands, 

 and every object in scenery in which variety and intricacy are to be con- 

 sidered as leading beauties. Whatever is regular or symmetrical is soon 

 recognised and understood ; and may be grand, stately, or beautiful, but seldom 

 varied and intricate. If, therefore, there is one principle more certain than 

 another, in modern landscape-gardening, it is, that the outlines of all planta- 

 tions ought to be irregular. 



The line of separation between the park and the lawn is rendered very 

 offensive, from a circumstance apparently too trifling to be mentioned, but 

 which, nevertheless, is in practice a matter of some importance. The separat- 

 ing fence is of wire, and the lower wire is so near the ground as to prevent the 

 mower from passing his scythe under it, and thus mowing the grass as 

 smooth for a few inches without the fence as it is within. Not having been 

 able to do this, the grass in the line of the fence is necessarily left to grow 

 up, and neither being cropped by the cattle without, nor cut down by the 

 scythe from within, it has risen among the wires, and forms a kind of grass 

 hedge, which altogether destroys the effect of invisibility, or rather incon- 

 spicuousness, which is intended to be produced by the wire fence. The sight 

 of this fence, and the study of the piece of water in the shrubbery, are the two 

 lessons which the gardener ma}' learn by visiting South Lodge. 



Between Enfield and Cheshunt we saw Bull's Cross, Bowles, Esq., 



and Capel House, Hooker, Esq. The former is a new place, apparently 



very carefully kept, and the latter is remarkable for some fine old purple 

 beeches and red cedars. In the village of Enfield we saw some very neat 

 hedges of iycium barbarum ; some arbours finely covered with this the 

 most rapid-growing of hardy climbers ; and some large sweet bays and laurus- 

 tinuses, which escaped the late severe winter without the slightest injury. 



Theobald's Park ; Sir Henry Meux, Bart. — The house is a fine old Eng- 

 lish mansion, in a commanding situation, with an extensive terrace pros- 

 pect in front, in consequence of which the views from the windows of the 

 principal rooms produce an impression at once of grandeur and cheerfulness. 

 There is a broad walk in front of the house, and a curvilinear-roofed con- 

 servatory forming part of one wing. In the grounds there is much to 

 approve ; but, as we passed very rapidly through them, and intend to visit 

 the place again, we defer any further remarks, and merely add that we found 

 the place in the very highest order, even to the frame ground and back sheds 

 of the kitchen-garden, and the shady walks in the distant woods. 



Were a person in search of a suburban residence to visit the places we have 

 mentioned, and consider their effect upon his mind, he would learn to discover 

 what constitutes cheerfulness, independently altogether of animated nature ; 



