694 



PICTURESQUE STYLE OF FLOWER-GARDENS. 



grounds of a place, Sir Thomas Dick 

 Lauder observes, " No one can be more 

 desirous than I am to see nature every- 

 where triumphant, and that, even when 

 educated by art, she shall still be nature. 

 But much as my feelings coincide with 

 this view, as regards the garden or grounds 

 that recede from the mansion, there is 

 nothing of which I am more convinced 

 than of the propriety and necessity of 

 allowing the art to become more apparent 

 in the gardening which conies into more 



O S3 



immediate contiguity with the mansion. 

 My rule would be, that the house and its 

 subsidiary buildings should be directly 

 associated with designs of a character 

 which may have much of architectural 

 regularity, as well as actual architectural 

 feature about them. By this means the 

 house itself not only becomes a more 

 pleasing object to look at from all points, 

 but the different views enjoyed from it 

 become much more interesting from the 

 enrichment of the foreground by minor 

 architectural objects. Straight-lined ter- 

 races, bowling-greens, balustrades, vases, 

 sun-dials, architectural seats, fountains, 

 and statues, mingled w r ith a profusion of 

 shrubs, plants, and creepers, are all appro- 

 priate and useful decorations for such a 

 place. The more formal trees, such as 

 cypresses, Lombardy poplars, 

 Irish yews, &c, come well 

 into harmony with the archi- 

 tectural design ; and in some 

 instances box-hedges may 

 be desirable, especially where 

 they are contrasted with 

 shrubs of a freer growth, the 

 general design being to pro- 

 duce that intricacy and rich- 

 ness which begets interest, 

 and to furnish an assemblage 

 of objects to throw back the 

 distances." 



These few years past have 

 shown a great advance in this 

 species of taste, as few modern 

 houses are built without the 

 minor architectural details 

 of terraces, vases, balustrades, 

 &c, being introduced as imme- 

 diate accompaniments. The 

 dressed parterre connects them 

 with the polished or refined 

 picturesque, and that carries 

 the eye to the trivial, beyond 



which is seen the rough picturesque 

 uniting with the natural scenery in the 

 distance. 



The general rules for laying out gardens 

 in this style are thus laid down by Mon- 

 sieur de Girardin, and truly merit the 

 attention of the garden architect : — 



"1. To form the perspective or side 

 scenes of the foreground that may best 

 connect the distance with the principal 

 points of view. 



" 2. To raise such elevations or scenes 

 as may give relief even to a flat. 



" 3. To hide all disagreeable objects. 



"4. To give more extent to those that 

 are pleasing, by concealing their termina- 

 tion behind a mass of wood, by which 

 means the imagination continues them 

 beyond the point where they are seen. 



" 5. To give an agreeable outline to all 

 surfaces, whether of land or water." 



These are the ideas of one who 

 thoroughly understood the subject ; and 

 if we would reduce these rules to practice, 

 we must perfectly understand the subject 

 also ; and before w T e commence the im- 

 provement of nature, we should under- 

 stand what her peculiarities and beauties 

 are. 



Fig. 981 exemplifies this style ; but, at 

 the same time, there is a combination of 



Fig. 981. 



