Water 91 



gives any prospect of it, one should do one's ut- 

 most, and forego neither expense nor pains to ac- 

 quire such a great advantage ; for nothing offers 

 such an endless variety to the beholder as does 

 the element of water. 



But in order to give water, artificially ob- 

 tained, whatever form it may take, a natural, 

 unforced appearance, much trouble is necessary. 

 In the whole art of landscape gardening, per- 

 haps nothing is more difficult to accomplish. 

 Englishmen are very backward in this matter ; 

 even the ornamental waters of Repton, their best 

 landscape artist, which I have seen, failed in many 

 respects. Mr. Nash alone has given us a few fine 

 samples — Regent's Park in London among 

 others.' 



His work in St. James's Park is less successful, 

 though the task here was perhaps an impossible 

 one on account of the small territory. His mode 

 of procedure, as he explained it to me, was as 

 simple as it was ingenious. He had the entire 

 surface of the ground surveyed, noting all the 

 dips and elevations, to learn where an inunda- 

 tion might find its natural bed. From this he 

 constructed in a natural manner the form of his 

 artificial waters, only digging out the ground 

 where necessary. He thus obtained the double 

 advantage of a more natural outline and less ex- 

 pensive work. In most parks of the well-to-do 



' It is possible that equally good examples are to be found in the 

 celebrated work of Loudon and of Mr. Kennedy. I do not know these, 

 however. 



