Art Out-of-Doors 



approach may diverge to the right to avoid 

 a beautiful tree ; if it must then turn again 

 to the left to reach the house in a conven- 

 ient and pleasing way, this fact is its own 

 sufficient explanation. 



Whatever the objects chosen to justify the 

 bends in a road, they should not be flower- 

 beds. Anything which forces a carriage to 

 turn from the direct path should be a real 

 and a permanent obstacle — something over 

 which wheels could not pass, and which 

 could not be removed without destroying 

 it. To make a flower-bed play the part of 

 an obstruction to vehicles gives a deplorable 

 look of triviality and wilfulness; yet there 

 are few objects so often seen in the bend of 

 a road which crosses a lawn. The truth is, 

 probably, that the road has been curved 

 without thought of supplying a reason for 

 the curve, simply because it could not be 

 carried straight or because of the belief that 

 a curve, managed in any way, would be 

 beautiful ; and then the flower-bed has been 

 thought of because the elbow in the grass 

 seemed to offer a good place " for it. 



But its trivial, ephemeral nature is not the 



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