CONCERNING LAWNS 339 
What then of all the beautiful things we say of 
Nature? it may be asked. Why, only this: it 
amounts to as much as all the beautiful things we 
say about painted pictures, jewels, tapestries, old 
lace, Chippendale furniture, and what not. We 
are not in Nature; we are out of her, having made 
our own conditions; and our conditions have 
reacted upon and made us what we are—artificial 
creatures. Nature is now something pretty to go 
and look at occasionally, but not too often, nor for 
too long a time. 
So much in defence of my attitude concerning 
lawns. There is no doubt that, seen at a right 
distance, a fine country-house or mansion, standing 
isolated from other buildings and from trees and 
gardens, looks best on a level green expanse. At 
this moment I recall Shaw House, Avington House, 
and two or three others, but every reader who 
knows England will have the image of half-a-dozen 
or more such buildings in his mind. 
Now I think that this grass setting would be 
just as effective or more effective if left more in its 
natural state. Seen closely, the smooth lawn is a 
weariness to the eye like all smooth monotonous 
surfaces; like the smooth or oily unwrinkled sea, 
for example, which the eye refuses to dwell on; or 
like the blue sky without a cloud or a soaring bird 
on it. Such a sky may be good to be under but 
tiresome to the vision after three seconds. If you 
look at it for a whole minute, or for an hour without 
weariness, it is because you are thinking of some- 
