Art Out-of-Doors 



what man and Nature have chanced to do 

 together. When EngHsh artists became dis- 

 satisfied with the formal, architectural gar- 

 dening of the seventeenth century, they 

 fondly fancied they were learning from Nat- 

 ure how to produce those aspects of rural 

 freedom, of idyllic repose, of seemingly un- 

 studied grace and charm which were their 

 new desire. But in reality they were learn- 

 ing from the face of a country which for 

 centuries had been carefully moulded, tend- 

 ed, and put to use by man. In some of 

 its parts the effects of man's presence were 

 comparatively inconspicuous. But of most 

 parts it could be said that for ages not a 

 stream or tree or blade of grass had existed 

 except in answer to his efforts, or, at least, 

 in consequence of his permission ; and it 

 w^as these parts, and not the wilder ones, 

 which gave most assistance to the landscape- 

 gardener. 



Take, for example, the lawn, which is so 

 essential a feature of almost every natural- 

 istic gardening design. It is not true, as 

 often has been said, that Nature never sug- 

 gests a lawn. But it is true that she did 

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