its front boundary, may be yet further developed, and applied to cases in which only such smaller scenes can be admitted. For the treatment of both would be the same, and the effects of each would be alike suitable and desirable. Examples will not be unfrequent, where snatches of delicious scenery can be gleaned,

with the aid of much contrivance, here and there, around the best sides of a house; the intervals being wholly blocked up with something beyond the owner's terrritory and control. Only let it be established, then, that these glimpses or partial views of outlying beauties are those most proper to the accident of having but a small garden,-that they best accord with its necessary internal arrangements, and most forcibly enhance its

own apparent size; and, so far from such conditions being the subjects of chagrin and vexation, they will be hailed rather as felicitous and appropriate. What a person guided by the highest

taste would endeavour to effect, were there no restrictions and impediments, it can surely be no disadvantage to another to be compelled to submit to.

F

In its fitness for awakening and fixing the attention, the separation of a country scene into several minor portions, instead of exhibiting it all at once, may be a little longer dilated upon. There are few natural pictures, except such as are very fine and commanding, which do not lose their power of attraction in the precise ratio of their breadth. That which is gazed upon through a variety of comparatively narrow openings, will, if only just above common place, win more notice than if it lay before the observer in its naked expanse. And as we pass along behind a screen that is gracefully unfolded, as it were, at intervals, to reveal to us fragments of landscape, curiosity is excited to catch those points hidden by the opaque portions of the screen, and an extreme diversity of prospect is gained.

Whether the plantations between different openings, made to exhibit a pleasing landscape, be the result of necessity, to hide what is objectionable, or of choice, to heighten and impart variety to the pictures intermediately displayed, their outlines and edges alike require to be most carefully and artistically treated. Not that this should be artificially done, but with such refined and delicate art, that it shall appear as if Nature herself had polished them off. Roundness, and yet irregularity, play of outline, an intermixture of evergreen and deciduous plants, forest trees, tree-like shrubs, and such as are decidedly shrubby, with variety of form and colour, should be their chief characteristics.

When any broad sheet of water, such as the sea, a large river, or a lake, forms the principal object from the front of a house, or from some point in the garden, the value of a good irregular woody foreground (fig. 17) will be even more apparent. A great glare of water is seldom agreeable to the sight; and in some kinds of weather, may be most disagreeable or melancholy. The passage across it of vessels of all sorts, likewise, becomes far more interesting and delightful when it is only to be observed at intervals, and is occasionally lost sight of. If water be looked at through a leafy screen, it is, moreover, in some degree sobered down thereby. It does not dazzle or pain the

eye so much. It has all the charm of light and shadow. Its own lustre and loveliness are brightened by the contrast. It is a gem with a dark setting.

There may be states of the atmosphere in which a large unfurnished expanse of water will be perfectly satisfactory. On

a rich summer's evening, towards sunset, or during twilight, especially after warm showers, water may often be in the highest degree beautiful, without any accompaniment. But in general it will either be too glittering or too cold to be altogether satisfying, without some aid from trees as a foreground; and in this changeful and chilly climate, the periods at which its own naked beauty can be entirely appreciated will be of rare occurrence. It is, therefore, wise to provide for common and usual enjoy

ment, and to leave extraordinary pleasures to be otherwise obtained. The scene that is most pleasing at all seasons of the year will undoubtedly furnish the largest amount of gratification, and make a habitation most cheerful.

11. Nothing imparts a greater air of refinement and gentility to a garden than a certain amount of richness and polish. The first of these may be attained by means of a tasteful selection of plants and flowers, and by the sparing use of appropriate architectural decorations. Polish is more a matter that relates to the mechanical execution of the design. Still, it may be advanced a step higher, and applied to the expression as well as the finish. In the outlines of figures and beds, in the arrangement of plants, and in the shaping of the ground, much may be done to create this delicate grace. Everything straggling or ragged, all that produces confusion, and, as a rule, all angularity and harshness are completely opposed to it. Extreme smoothness, easiness of transitions, gracefulness of lines, softness of undulation, lightness and elegance of ornament, are some of its leading manifestations.

Both richness and polish will, to a certain extent, be the result of keeping, as well as attention to matters of detail in the first formation. A place can never possess either, unless the taste shown in the design be carried into the minutest details of the execution, and be maintained by subsequent care and correct feeling. Hard deep edges to the walks and borders, slopes or undulations which unite with the general level by a convex instead of a concave line, and little irregularities (that are not undulations) in the surface of a lawn, are quite incompatible with high polish; as extreme thinness of plants in beds, poverty and weakness of masses or specimens, large staring patches of bare soil visible in the borders or beds skirting a lawn, an inferior order of plants in the neighbourhood of the house or by the sides of the grass glades, and the use of common-place or uncongenial ornaments, are inconsistent with richness.

12. To conceal the offices and out-buildings belonging to a residence is a matter of the most ordinary kind; yet it may be