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 douTat 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- 



