154 
only the original Botanic Gardens of about 15 acres. The rund 
had lapsed into the condition of a wi qax and was used as a gam 
preserve by the late King of Hano 
* By elow degrees the ground Kodek sible to the public was increased, 
and in 1850 the whole of the ‘pleasure grounds’ were thrown open. 
y 
features or picturesque effects. The problem which he and his successors 
have had to “om was how to treat this so as to convert it into a beautiful 
garden after the English plan, and yet utilise it for the scientific 
purposes to which it had been devoted. 
“ The plan adopted was that which has been customary in the treat- 
ment of great domains in this country in more recent times. It combines 
something of the e ancient praetice with a free e employment of ees 
which pion S e formal treatment which is still needed t 
so gardening with architectural effects blends insensibly with 
the naiulat which is most appropriate at a distance. Formality has 
neither been carried into the landscape with Le Nôtre nor banished 
devoted, the ground immediately adjaeit to them was laid out under 
the advice of Nesfield in a strictly formal and stately wa To him are 
also as the long vistas which stretch away into the pleasuro grounds, 
now the Arboretum. The more distant portions have been gradually 
andei; the aim being to weave the various collections of trees and 
shrubs into a whole which should avoid an artificial, and yet yield an 
agreeable effect, while still subserving a definite purpose, It can hardly 
be doubted that the result has been successful, and that it is possible to 
construct a great botanic garden en shall sacrifice nothing to its 
objeet, and yet be neither arid nor ugly. 
“ The lake at the southern end of ‘the Royal Gardens, like every other 
picturesque feature which they contain, is of entirely artificial origin. 
It is difficult perhaps now to realize that the ground it oceupies was 
once as flat as the rest, The lake was commenced about 40 years ago 
by Sir William utei who had nothing more than an old gravel pit to 
work upon. It w s further developed by - teas Hooker, and no 
pains have since boa red to improve its scenie beauty. 
*[ believe it was by accident € its pietorial merits attracted ox 
attention 2 M. and Mme. ière. At any rate 
devoted two years to the work of depicting its varying — d a 
collection. co their studies is exhibited in a room at the North Gallery. 
* A selection from these studies has now been reproduce ed | in the 
present volume. I gladly accede to their wish that I should write these 
introductory words. T am glad that the charms of Kew should be made 
more widely known by their skilful pencils. But I am still more glad 
that the man of science and the artist should have been found to be able 
to join hands in a common work. It is, I confess, an unexpected result. 
But the explanation is not p^ to seek, Nature in all her aspeets and 
moods has her own beauty, but that beauty is not always, is indeed 
mom sient A direct transcript from nature, as in a photograph, 
seldom forms a picture. The artist then requires to select, to suppress, 
to find an amotis aniaui. It is for this reason that a purely 
artificial landscape such as the Kew lake affords is more suitable to his 
purpose than one nass is simply spontaneous, ‘Che result of successful 
— N cv term ee t this is far 
et 
