LESSON 32 
FoRMAL GARDEN 
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oe —=<t HIS lesson should give the pupil an introduction 
— f ~~ to the principles involved in the design of formal 
S [RED z) princip g 
man a ZA 
BRC, gardens and to some of the considerations which 
eZ a influence the use of the formal style in land- 
scape gardening. 
The formal style in landscape gardening is that method of de- 
sign which employs a geometrical and symmetrical arrangement 
of parts. It is distinguished from the natural style which employs 
the forms and invokes the spirit of nature. Any definition of the 
formal style should include also the idea that the formal garden is 
animated by a spirit entirely different from that of the naturalistic 
garden. Speaking broadly this is the human spirit as contrasted 
with the spirit of wild nature. The formal garden connected with 
the private dwelling should be snug, intimate, personal, inviting to 
social loitering, obviously the work of human hands and obviously 
intended for human use. The large formal gardens, like those of 
Versailles and of princely estates and public grounds generally, are 
quite as plainly the work of human hands and as clearly intended 
for human use, though in this case for the public use of large com- 
panies. 
It is essential here to observe that every work of landscape 
gardening, if it be in any degree successful, must have both a form 
and a spirit, and that these two must be closely correlated and fully 
adapted to one another. Any description, therefore, of any garden, 
or any definition of any style, must consider both its form and its 
spirit. And though spirit is hard to define and hard to understand 
130 
Definition 
