Grouping in General, and Buildings 35 



Only where they are occasionally necessary, as 

 on the finger-post at a crossroad, does one thank- 

 fully acknowledge the required direction. The 

 most amusing example under this heading must 

 surely be the one represented in the " Gardeners' 

 Magazine " by a fine drawing of a bench dedi- 

 cated to friendship, whose back forms the words 

 " Orestes and Pylades." Near it stands a music 

 pavilion, crenelated with music notes, from 

 which the passer-by can at once sing " Freut 

 euch des Lebens" as he goes. Such a lesson is 

 splendid, for it brings culture within the scope 

 of the most limited intelligence. 



In England also one is not free from such ab- 

 surdities. Thus, I found, in an otherwise very 

 pretty villa near London, in the shrubbery a 

 plump, wooden, white-daubed Amor, with puffed 

 cheeks, hanging by ropes between branches, and 

 threatening to shoot the passer-by with his arrow ; 

 and twenty steps farther on some apes of the 

 same material, which played on the lawn like fos- 

 silized figures. On inquiry I found that the taste- 

 ful grounds belonged to a newly wed young 

 brewer who had just returned from the Conti- 

 nent with his bride ; hence Amor and the Apes 

 were sufficiently explained! 



The most important building in the park is 

 naturally the dwelling-house. It should be suited, 

 not only to the surroundings, but also to the posi- 

 tion, the means, and even to the calling of the 

 owner. The roomy castle and its battlements and 

 towers are perhaps unsuitable to the merchant. 



