TREATMENT OF WATER. 
317 
places. But in the grounds of a residence in the modern 
style, nature, if possible, still more purified, as in the great 
chef s-d' oeuvre of art, by an ideal standard, should be the 
great aim of the Landscape Gardener. And with watei 
especially, only beautiful when allowed to take its own 
flowing forms and graceful motions, more than with any 
other of our materials, all appearance of constraint and 
formality should be avoided. If art be at all manifest, it 
should discover itself only, as in the admirably painted 
landscape, in the reproduction of nature in her choicest 
developments. Indeed, many of the most celebrated 
authors who have treated of this subject, appear to agree 
that the productions of the artist in this branch are most 
perfect as they approach most nearly to fac-similes of 
nature herself : and though art should have formed the 
whole, its employment must be nowhere discovered by the 
spectator ; or as Tasso has more elegantly expressed the 
idea : 
* GaRTE CHE TUTTO FA, NULLA SI SCOPEE.” 
