GENERAL PRINCIPLES 13 
teaching, and a due regard for the dictates of artistic 
feeling and ordinary good taste. 
The first point to be aimed at in all good gardens, is 
to secure a reasonable amount of comfort and conveni- 
ence for those for whom their pleasures are intended. 
Nor is there any defence which can be argued in favour 
of an opposite course. A garden is devised primarily 
for the edification and enjoyment of man, in the same 
way that good pictures, good buildings and other forms 
of artistic effort are intended. Mere utility is not suffi- 
cient, neither is mere beauty, it is a combination of the 
two which must be sought. In the designing of so- 
called artistic gardens many ridiculous schemes have 
been perpetrated, calculated in the end to disgust all 
right-thinking people, and convince others of the 
shallowness of certain forms of modern art. Of what 
use is it growing flowers and trees, if no facilities for 
close examination are afforded those who use the 
garden? Can a design which denies us conveniently 
arranged paths, and comfortable resting places from 
which to enjoy the best views, be considered in any 
way satisfactory? Depend upon it, the man who is for 
ever telling us that such and suchan arrangement would be 
more convenient, but could not be tolerated on the 
score of art, possesses but very superficial ideas on the 
question. It was folly of this kind that prompted cer- 
tain designers to make their paths twist and curve in all 
directions: Nature, they said, abhorred straight lines, 
so they compelled pedestrians to walk double the neces- 
sary distance to reach any particular object. Any plan 
must be regarded with suspicion, which when applied 
to the garden affords a pleasing prospect from the 
windows of the house, but presents no inducements for 
closer inspection. During both wet and dry weather it 
should be possible to visit certain parts of the garden; 
a paved walk is a great convenience if it can be afforded, 
