DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20000#0019
PREFACE.
HE strong interest in the Art of Gardening which exists in this country is
characteristic of its people and their love of out-of-door occupations and amuse-
ments. It may also be regarded as constant, for although there have been times
when the Art has shown signs of decay, these have been quickly followed by periods
of revival ; and it may perhaps be safely said that the revival which has taken place
during the past decade is not only strong evidence of the continuing interest felt in
the Art, but is also of great promise for its future, since it has attracted the attention of various classes,
chief amongst which are amateurs of taste and means, together with architects who have made
a special study of the Art as it was practised during the best periods of its history, and some of whose
work is as good as the old they have studied to such good effect. The Art, too, has in the period
above-mentioned acquired quite a new literature of its own, including valuable contributions from the
late John D. Sedding, E. V. B. (the Hon. Mrs. Boyle), the Hon. Alicia Amherst, Miss Gertrude
Jekyll, Mrs. Earle, Mr. A. Forbes Sieveking and Messrs. Blomfield and Thomas, who have treated
it from various points of view—historical, sentimental and pictorial.
The present work has been prepared chiefly with the object of showing, by means of a series of
studies of some of the most complete and historical gardens now extant in this country, the principle
involved in their planning and arrangement in relation to the house, which is the essential element in
what it is the custom to call a Formal Garden. It must be matter for regret that very few of these
gardens can be correctly described as old ; indeed, there are but few throughout the country to which
the term can be applied. Gardens, unlike buildings, are never finished ; almost each succeeding season
seeing some change in the growth of vegetation, and many so-called old gardens have suffered so
greatly from the changes of fashion as to have lost all resemblance to their original schemes.
In order, therefore, to supplement the examples of existing gardens the aid of some old
prints, contemporary with the subjects they illustrate, has been called in, and a small number of
drawings of the most characteristic and interesting of these, made to a larger scale than on the originals,
has been included. These will be of practical value, as they show the complete schemes, either as they
existed at the time or were designed to be carried out.
The remainder of the plates are devoted to examples of those architectural and decorative
accessories, which, when well designed, add so much to the charm of a garden, and include
a selection of Columbaries, Garden-houses, Summer-houses, Gate Entrances, Terraces and Steps, Ponds
and Fountains, Sundials, Figures, and Vases in Lead and Stone, Lead Cisterns, Mazes, etc. The
backgrounds to the initial letters to the descriptions of the Plates are from sketches by the Author, and
represent in the majority of cases portions of the gardens described.
The Introduction does not pretend to be more than a brief historical note, based upon the sum of
our knowledge of the subject, while in the descriptions of the various plates the endeavour has been
HE strong interest in the Art of Gardening which exists in this country is
characteristic of its people and their love of out-of-door occupations and amuse-
ments. It may also be regarded as constant, for although there have been times
when the Art has shown signs of decay, these have been quickly followed by periods
of revival ; and it may perhaps be safely said that the revival which has taken place
during the past decade is not only strong evidence of the continuing interest felt in
the Art, but is also of great promise for its future, since it has attracted the attention of various classes,
chief amongst which are amateurs of taste and means, together with architects who have made
a special study of the Art as it was practised during the best periods of its history, and some of whose
work is as good as the old they have studied to such good effect. The Art, too, has in the period
above-mentioned acquired quite a new literature of its own, including valuable contributions from the
late John D. Sedding, E. V. B. (the Hon. Mrs. Boyle), the Hon. Alicia Amherst, Miss Gertrude
Jekyll, Mrs. Earle, Mr. A. Forbes Sieveking and Messrs. Blomfield and Thomas, who have treated
it from various points of view—historical, sentimental and pictorial.
The present work has been prepared chiefly with the object of showing, by means of a series of
studies of some of the most complete and historical gardens now extant in this country, the principle
involved in their planning and arrangement in relation to the house, which is the essential element in
what it is the custom to call a Formal Garden. It must be matter for regret that very few of these
gardens can be correctly described as old ; indeed, there are but few throughout the country to which
the term can be applied. Gardens, unlike buildings, are never finished ; almost each succeeding season
seeing some change in the growth of vegetation, and many so-called old gardens have suffered so
greatly from the changes of fashion as to have lost all resemblance to their original schemes.
In order, therefore, to supplement the examples of existing gardens the aid of some old
prints, contemporary with the subjects they illustrate, has been called in, and a small number of
drawings of the most characteristic and interesting of these, made to a larger scale than on the originals,
has been included. These will be of practical value, as they show the complete schemes, either as they
existed at the time or were designed to be carried out.
The remainder of the plates are devoted to examples of those architectural and decorative
accessories, which, when well designed, add so much to the charm of a garden, and include
a selection of Columbaries, Garden-houses, Summer-houses, Gate Entrances, Terraces and Steps, Ponds
and Fountains, Sundials, Figures, and Vases in Lead and Stone, Lead Cisterns, Mazes, etc. The
backgrounds to the initial letters to the descriptions of the Plates are from sketches by the Author, and
represent in the majority of cases portions of the gardens described.
The Introduction does not pretend to be more than a brief historical note, based upon the sum of
our knowledge of the subject, while in the descriptions of the various plates the endeavour has been