New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-03-11
THE FORMAL GARDEN.

TIE FORMAL GARDEN IN ENGLAND. BY REGINALD
klomheld and +. lingo Thomas. LIMO PIP IA
Macmillan & Co.
When an author quotes Paul Bourget in work on
IN the garden 1t pretty certain that he Will br1ng
to the development of his theme more sanely critical
method than Is the rule among writers this eng.g
ing topic. That is what Mr. Reginald Bloomfield docs
In the daintily illustrated little volume in which the
data accumulated by English essayiss the garden,
from the sixteenth the nineteenth century are dit
igently threshed, the ali separated from the wheat
and the latter presented 70 the render with extremely
interesting comment bearing upon both practical and
aesthetic considerations. Mr. Bloomfield rejet at the
outset the dictum that 10 impose art upon nature IS
to lay ones self open to the charge Of attempting N
paint the lily and III the teeth Of the modern landscape
gardeners Determination Ia - hs LaLlles
graceful touch he proceeds IRON the point u view
which Mr.. tier iCrniulaed when said iha. 10
as1 artist take Datrc he hDds her is " ask
the yirtuosO 10 sit On tue piaIo. lie pleads Tor tIe
recognition OF the architectural idea the Idea which
CUEceives of house and its surroundings unit.
would have me character ucs Of That unit har-
monlous How probably this idea has been employed
IN England I'm the past every may learn from Mr..
Blomteld's entertaining pages lie dscourseS wisely
OH the old English major, with lis courts laid out
with such precision, It's spacious walks and noble ter
races, Its Lultt ssly trimmed hedges It's fountains,
pc .ds aid ornaments ali revealing the arts ic dc
signing instinct-and the sketches like laddoI
which Mr.. F. lingo Thomas has reinforced the text.
only serve to cilsch an argument which has already
convinced Of the charm of the old formal garden
How far 1t would be possible to recapure that charm
under modern conditions Is another matter thai Is
perhaps less readily disposed OF than the facility with
wlch We could reproduce certain details in the old
schemes might lead expect. For cannot help
feeling, while we follow Mr. Bloomfield In his deschp-
tons of old gardens, and ages with him in his eulogy
Of their art, thAt their fascination depends a great
extent upon elements which 1t is beyond the power OF
IT, create fur his generatiOn-upol the poetry,
OF association and upon the magic touch Of time
The sta;elness ard purely artistic beauty of the
early English houses, which Of dominate The
gardens, the mere facts of the latter, hope
emulate now but the esoteic lovein 5, which tacy
have gSiued with the march Of many years only
gain by the same SLOW process OF accreton. Dignity
as nablenesS, and a ine monumental cha actcr,
folmal ga Mug will give but there a chance
OF It's giving well stiffness and Il bald ar-
fciaity which 1t would require century at the lowest
estimate, to modify Another dllncuty more serious
with is than with the English is that the ry house
Is so much more often built OF wood than of stone
b,ick. To erect wooden house in the midst OF a
10 mai garden having any pletansions to style, 10
surround 1t with terraces aud walks is equivalent to
placing plaster statue on marble pedestal. Mr.
Blomhed's answer to this woud be that the principle
OF formal gardening the architectural ida of which
we nave spoken, may be applied any case wha So
overland as far as IL goes this Is true But in the
bu'iilns, solidty, AID In the grounds scale-and
magnificent scale at that-these seem to us essential
10 formal gardening that Is worth talking about.
lou want lrgeness In the design, prodiganty OF
terraces and stareases fountains and cascades great
dimensions In the avenues-as grandose a feeling I'm
SHOT, as nature who works royalty when she has the
space, expects from her due when he is given
Inc same opportunity 1t Is its regal amplitude that
counts for so much 10 lie Notres work at Versailles
ifS iyio
than anything lie did In England or inspired there
by his example. II is their boundesS splendor that
maKes the Villa DEete at nvol, the Villa Pallanicini
at Frascati, the Villa Larte at Caprarola and thu villa
Dora farnn at Rome greater eve nthan anything of
lie Notre's 1t is the riotous splash Of their countless
fountains, the magnitude their riumphs over the
obstacles offered in The hlly Sites that help 10 imucs
the behocer II could only have been one Of these
nch demesnes. TO conclude which could have inspired
the memorable passage in Lambs essay on "BIakes
moor In H--shire:"
Mine too-whOse else thy costly fruit garden +,
with its sun baked southern wall the arpler pleasure
garden, rising backwards from the house in triple
races. with nowerpots of palest lead save that
speck here and there, saved from the elements be-
spske their primitive state to have been gilt and
gtte-fng; the verdant quarters backwarier still and
stretching still beyond. in old Formally, thy hry will
derness. the haunt Of the squirrel the day long
murmunng wood pigeon, with that antique image in
the centre, God or Goddess visit not, but child OF
Athens Or old Rome paid never sncerer worship TO
Pau or TO sylvanus In their native groves than to
that fragmental mystery"
Why did not Mr.. Bloomfield reprint or mention these
haunting lines They sum up more deicitey and more
clairvoyanty than anything in literature tn ingredients
OF the spell laid by old formal gardens upon an magin
alive mind Perhaps he held his peace concerning
them because he knew that Lamb has described the
ideal formal garden-which is the only one bealable-
so he has laid his finger upon the unatainable upon
the despair of the modern architect gardener.