258 A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND 
hedges, he did not interfere with. Much as he disliked avenues, 
as being “ utterly inconsistent with Natural scenery,” 1 he 
occasionally respected “ such marks of ancient dignity.” At 
Finedon, although he thought the view “ encumbered ” by the 
vicarage and church, and said the garden wall, malt-house, 
pigeon-house, and even part of the village “ must be removed,” 
he spared the avenue called the “ Holly Walk.” 
When asked to make suggestions for the improvement of 
a place, Repton prepared what he called his “ Red Book,” 
with plans and pictures of the garden as it was, and as he pro¬ 
posed to make it. He published a collection of these “Red 
Books,” amplifying it with expositions of his own views on 
landscape gardens. The best way to understand what these 
views were, is by a study of these “ Red Books.” A volume of 
these appeared in Repton’s lifetime, but those quoted here and 
many others are still unpublished. The illustrations in his MS. 
“ Red Book,” of Woodford, in Essex, 2 are typical of his methods. 
The first sketch in the book represents the house as it was, 
seen from the grounds, “ with the kitchen-garden on the one 
side, and the naked village on the other. That the former 
ought to be removed, and the latter planted out, are such 
obvious improvements that I do not take upon myself the 
merit of suggesting them.” The second view shows the place as 
it would be when these designs were carried out. The further 
alterations were chiefly made to gain a more pleasing prospect 
from the house, by the planting and turfing of a ploughed 
field, and the “ floating the bottom of the lawn with water.” 
His “ Red Book ” of Burley-on-the-Hill, in Rutland, is 
another unpublished volume of great interest, containing 
thirteen water-colour sketches and plans. 3 Burley was bought 
by George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, and James I. stayed 
there with him. During the Civil Wars the Parliamentary 
soldiers burned all the buildings except the stables, and the 
place was left in ruins, until Daniel, Earl of Nottingham, 
1 MS. “ Red Book ” by Repton, 1793, belonging to Miss Mackworth 
Dolben, Finedon, Northamptonshire. 
2 Reproduced from the original manuscript belonging to Courtenay 
Warner, Esq. 
a Belonging to Alan George Finch, Esq. 
