74 THE PLEASURE, OR [Jan. 
all of which figures were edged with dwarf-box, &c., with interven- 
ing alleys of turf, fine sand, shells, &c. 
The partitions or beds were planted with the choicest kinds of 
flowers, but no large plants to hide the difterent figures, for such 
were intended as a decoration for the whole place long after the 
season of the flowers was past. 
Though parterres in general are ndw become rather unfashion- 
able, a little of that kind of work might still be permitted for variety 
sake, though not immediately in front of the house as heretofore. 
A spacious lawn, bounded with rural shrubberies, is the most 
eligible situation for such; but a plain parterre of a moderate ex- 
tent, either formed with lines of box, or with turf, might be intro- 
duced in some of the more internal parts, and distributed either 
into plain or complex departments, or beds of earth for flowers, so 
as to answer the purpose of a flower-garden for the most curious 
sorts; it will have an agreeable effect in forming a contrast with 
the more rural scenes. 
In the more interior parts large tracts of ground were frequently 
divided by straight grass-walks into many square and angular 
divisions of wilderness, each division surrounded by regular hedges 
of various kinds of trees and shrubs, kept in uniform order by 
annual clippings; having the interior part of each quarter planted 
with trees and shrubs, which were in a manner concealed by the 
hedges from persons in the adjacent walks, so that hardly any thing 
but close hedges, the same thing over again, appeared to view on 
each side of the walks; and all the walks generally led into uniform 
openings of grass, particularly to a grand circle or octagon, forming 
some central part. 
Frequently there were partitions of regular hedge work, particu- 
larly of evergreens, surrounding large squares of grass-ground, 
designed as pieces of garden ornaments; the hedge-work being 
often formed into various uniform devices, such as pilasters, 
arcades or arches, porticoes, galleries, amphitheatres, pavilions, 
cabinets, bowers, pediments, niches, and cornices; likewise regular 
arbours, having the sides formed into arcades, and sometimes the 
top vaulted; and with various other formal imitations, all performed 
in hedge-work, which were often so arranged and trained, as to effect 
an air of grandeur and art. High hedges were also in great repute, 
as boundaries to grand walks and avenues, sometimes carried up 
from fifteen or twenty to thirty or forty feet high; sometimes trained, 
perfectly close from the very bottom to top; others open below a 
considerable way, and formed into regular arches, &c., all of which 
sometimes appeared magnificent and ornamental, but were trouble- 
some and expensive to keep in order, on account of their great 
height: however, all sorts of hedge- work was generally esteemed 
so ornamental in ancient gardening, that almost every division was 
surrounded with regular hedges of one sort or 'other, presenting 
themselves to view in every part, shutting out all other objects from 
sight; but in modern designs, such hedges are rarely admitted; 
every compartment of the plantation being left open to view from 
the walks and lawns, in order to afford a full prospect of the various 
