xvi Editor's Introduction 



the Prussian House of Lords (Herrenhaus), and in 

 1866, when eighty-one years old, he attended 

 the Prussian General Staff in the war with Austria. 

 In 1 871 he died full of honors, and with the 

 consciousness, in spite of many failures and poign- 

 ant disappointments, of having made for himself 

 a great career. The reason for thus dwelling at 

 length on the career of Prince Puckler is because 

 it goes far to explain why he became exactly the 

 sort of landscape architect he was. Yet it was not, 

 altogether, the character of his ancestors, his. en- 

 vironment, nor his upbringing that accounted for 

 Prince Puckler. He had, fortunately for him, 

 just the background and stage-setting that would 

 enable him to grace the part that circumstances 

 and personal taste called on him to fill : but there 

 was a certain fire of genius in the man Puckler 

 that was sui generis, something of his very own. 

 Like all geniuses he was of his age, and yet not 

 of his age. No other landscape architect ever 

 resembled him, or perhaps equaled him, if his 

 accomplishments and work are duly weighed. 

 He was born and brought up, it must be remem- 

 bered, in the eighteenth century, imbibed its 

 charm in his early days and kept all his life in 

 his words and bearing something of its savor. 

 He could not help being, as shown by his letters, 

 a delightful companion and the old-time gentle- 

 man. As the years passed, however, and he 

 breathed the air of the new century, he naturally 

 became inspired by its humanitarian ideas and 

 its broader vision. He could not help belonging 



