Art Out -of -Doors 



art — if they produce this effect. It is an ar- 

 tistic mistake to make too palpable an at- 

 tempt to disguise the utilitarian character of 

 a road as a means of transit from one given 

 point to another ; but it is an artistic triumph 

 to make it look as though, while affording 

 such transit with reasonable directness, it had 

 chanced to follow a line that is beautiful 

 too. Of course, w^hile the careless observer 

 will be deceived by the apparent natural- 

 ness, the student of art will know that 

 chance has had nothing to do with the mat- 

 ter ; but his eye will accept the appearance 

 of happy accident, and his mind will enjoy 

 it all the more for knowing that the hand 

 of an intelligent man has been at work. 



But to make the curves of a drive look 

 natural it is not sufficient that they should 

 have some visible reason for existing. The 

 objects which supply the reason must them- 

 selves look natural, or the artificiality of the 

 whole arrangement will at once be plain. 

 To throw up a hillock or plant a tree or a 

 group of trees or shrubs in a spot where it 

 will deflect the road will be futile unless it 

 looks as though, for other reasons, it ought 



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