GARDENS OF CELEBRITIES 
the third Lord Holland. I have not penetrated to the arbour,. 
for the path to it is very narrow, its length some five or six hundred. 
feet, and the curious, clipt yew hedges, walling it in on either side, 
are sixteen feet high, making it mysterious and impressive, but. 
somewhat uninviting for a solitary stroll. The lovely open glades. 
and lawns, across which the bold brown rabbits fearlessly scud,. 
playing hide-and-seek with one another, are more to my taste, 
and the beautiful Italian flower-garden with its fine maidenhair 
tree-fern, its straight grass walks, and exquisite classic vases, 
and with flower plots gay with yellow wall-flower in spring, and 
searlet with geraniums and salvia in late summer, are infinitely 
more attractive. 
Kent had a great acreage to deal with at Chiswick, and he made- 
it still larger by the adoption of a plan not new to English gardeners, 
where the maze had long been a feature. Into his shrubberies. 
and plantations of laurustinus, rhododendron, and other flowering: 
shrubs, he introduced a network of walks which, by continually 
twisting, and turning, and doubling back, made the most of a 
small area, and induckd a pleasant sense of seclusion, awaking 
that sustained interest and curiosity in the path one follows,. 
that one never can have in the long lane which has no turning. 
From all this it will be realized that Kent was the first to intro- 
duce into this country the charming combination of the Italian. 
with the’ English garden. He did not altogether abolish conven-- 
tionality, for the true Italian garden -has much of it. Obelisks. 
and bridges, and balustrades; classic temples, vases at regular: 
intervals, and statuary galore, were made use of by him. But as. 
a modern writer says, ‘‘ Kent was the first in English gardening: 
to vindicate the natural against the artificial. Banishing all the: 
clipped monstrosities of the topiary art in yew, box, or holly, 
releasing the stream from the conventional canal and marble basin, 
rejecting the mathematical symmetry of ground plan then in vogue- 
for gardens, Kent endeavoured to imitate the variety of nature,. 
with due regard to the principles of light and shade,and perspective.” 
There can be no doubt but that, whatever his deficiencies as a 
decorator and painter, and however questionable his claim to be 
an architect, as a landscape-gardener he stands in the first rank. 
Of very conspicuous interest is the Inigo Jones gateway ter- 
minating the gravel walk that runs at the north side of the Chiswick. 
170 
