LANDSCAPE GARDENING 257 



and carried out designs in the same style. As, however, men 

 had now begun to find out Brown's mistakes, and reflect on 

 his destruction of old places and historical relics, Repton 

 could scarcely venture to suggest such sweeping alterations as 

 Brown had made. Repton was openly an opponent of those 

 who wrote against Brown, yet their ideas evidently influenced 

 his judgment. He did not always alter all he found at a 

 place, before commencing additions, and he did not entirely 

 confine himself to the " landscape " style. He maintained 

 that a " Flower garden should be an object detached and 

 distinct from the. general scenery of the place; and whether 

 large or small, whether varied or formal, it ought to be pro- 

 tected from hares and smaller animals by an inner fence ; 

 within this enclosure rare plants of every description should 

 be encouraged, and provision made of soil, and aspect for every 

 different class. Beds of bog earth should be prepared for the 

 American plants : the aquatic plants, some of which are 

 peculiarly beautiful, should grow on the surface or near the 

 edges of water. The numerous class of rock-plants should 

 have beds of rugged stone provided, without the affectation 

 of such stones being the natural production of the soil ; but, 

 above all, there should be poles or hoops for those kind of 

 creeping plants which spontaneously form themselves into 

 graceful festoons when encouraged and supported by art." 1 

 Such was Repton's idea of a flower-garden, but that was to 

 form but a small portion of the design, and its very existence 

 seemed to him to require an apology. He boasts that he had 

 " frequently been the means of restoring acres of useless 

 garden to the deer or sheep, to which they more properly 

 belong," yet he sometimes designed a small formal garden for 

 flowers. The " Dutch garden " at Hewell Grange was made 

 according to his suggestions. 2 It is a semicircle, surrounded by 

 a cut Thuja hedge, and a high brick wall across the line of the 

 arc. The beds within are edged with box, between which are 

 small gravel paths tiled in the middle, and a sundial stands 

 in the centre. He also designed the lawn and rock- 

 garden, while an older French garden, approached by cut yew 



1 Repton, Observations on Landscape Gardening, 1803. 



2 MS. " Red Book " by Repton, belonging to the Earl of Plymouth. 



17 



