LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 
169 
in the immediate vicinity of the house, or on what may be called the 
pleasure-ground. Such, I say, was what I considered the principal 
duty of a landscape gardener; but since I have been here, I begin to 
see that that charming art involves matters of much greater moment 
than the mere embellishment of the place. 
A beautiful residence has always its charms, and constitutes a prin¬ 
cipal part of its value, but beauty alone is not enough ; more especially 
as it need never be unaccompanied with more substantial excellencies 
In the country. There is a heartfelt and lasting gratification to the 
mind of a proprietor who has embellished his country seat to his utmost 
satisfaction, and is sensible that no sacrifice has been made of its natu¬ 
ral or real value. When he annually finds that the returns from the 
improved productive parts pay all the charges of the dressed or unpro¬ 
ductive parts. When, in fact, the land-steward pays all expenses of 
Iiis gardens, of his park, and of his stud, besides supplying the family 
with every description of farm produce. These are material matters to 
the country gentleman whatever his fortune may be; because, besides 
saving, there is a peculiar pleasure arising from the use of what is 
grown or fatted by one’s own means, and an independance of markets 
and tradesmen particularly satisfactory. 
It has been with such views that the estate of Fairfax Hall has been 
designed, for such are surely the effects of the well-balanced disposi¬ 
tions and union of the sweet with the useful. That it has come 
gradually to what it is, there can be no doubt; but the general plan 
has been -well conceived and executed is very evident. The genius of 
the place has been well studied; the general surface is gently undulat¬ 
ing, and consequently simply beautiful. With this character, there¬ 
fore, every thing superinduced must correspond, and this has been 
done with very good judgment. The simple Grecian style of the 
buildings, the soft-featured and fresh verdure of the most conspicuous 
trees, and the general smoothness of the turf, all convey the idea of 
unmixed beauty. Nothing bearing a picturesque character would have 
been admissible here. A castellated or a Gothic mansion on such a 
spot would have been horrible; nor could all the art and all the powers 
of man been competent to have moulded the natural features of this 
place, so as to have made them harmonize with such an object. And 
yet how often do we see such egregious mistakes committed ? In one 
place a splendid Corinthian palace built in a mountainous country, 
amid rocks and cliffs and deep ravines; in another, a gloomy Gothic 
pile set among some of the loveliest scenes of nature ! This is bad 
taste; and the architect who could suggest such an incongruity is unfit 
for his profession ; and the employer who could take such advice, will 
VOL. V. —NO. LIX. Z 
