FORM AND SPIRIT 



OUR definition of the natural style of land- 

 scape gardening recognizes both form and 

 spirit. We have said that it is a method of 

 landscape gardening in which the natural forms of 

 landscape are used and imbued with the spirit of 

 the native landscape. It ought to be perfectly 

 clear that both form and spirit are everywhere 

 requisite. It is altogether possible to separate the 

 two; but the form without the spirit is a mere 

 corpse, empty and disappointing, while the spirit 

 disembodied is a mere ghost — the dream of some 

 artist's imagination — perhaps a dream which the 

 artist is too lazy or too untrained to realize in physi- 

 cal form. 



It ought to be obvious further, as a sort of art 

 axiom, that there should always be a close corre- 

 spondence between form and spirit. Certain forms 

 are best adapted to express certain ideas or emo- 

 tions. In architecture the church form, with its 



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