Chapter II 



Size and Extent 



FOR the landscape architect to achieve a great 

 effect, it is not necessary that a park should 

 \^ be large. An extended estate is often so bungled, 

 so belittled by incompetent treatment, that, lack- 

 ing in unity, it appears quite small. I may here 

 remark, by the way, that I think Michael An- 

 gelo was totally wrong when he said about the 

 Pantheon, " Ye marvel at it on the earth, I will 

 set it in the heavens," He meant thereby to 

 achieve a more imposing effect, and as he said, 

 so he did. He gave to the dome of St. Peter's 

 the same size as that of the Pantheon, but how 

 unfortunate is the result ! The dome of St. 

 Peter's, looming up in the air above the enor- 

 mous masses of the building, appears in propor- 

 tion small and insignificant, while the dome of 

 the old Pantheon, placed on the right base, ap- 

 pears after centuries as sublime as the arch of the 

 firmament. 



Poised on the summit of Mont Blanc the 

 Pyramids would hardly appear as large as sentry 

 boxes, and Mont Blanc itself, seen from the dis- 

 tant plains, looks like a little snow-hill. Large 

 and small are, therefore, relative terms. It is not 

 from the thing itself that we judge, but from its 



