A house, or the scenery of a country residence, may be pleasing from its regularity, its symmetry, its variety, and the harmonious effect of the whole, and yet have nothing in it to distinguish it from other agreeable places of the same extent; that is, it may be without exhibiting any particular style of design or expression of character. Thus, a house may have an agreeable general form, and windows so ample as to indicate large and lofty apartments within; it may be placed on an architectural basement; and it may be terminated by architectural chimney tops; and yet neither be decidedly Roman, decidedly Italian, nor decidedly Gothic nor Elizabethan. A house may also have a particular character given to it by some feature more or less striking; such as a veranda, a far projecting portico, a terminating cupola, &c; or it may be enriched so as to be expressive of some degree of character, by sculptures, statues, or vases, etc.; or it may assume the character of a cottage, of a castle, or of an ecclesiastical building. It is not difficult to give character to landscape scenery, when there exists naturally considerable irregularity of surface; but on level surfaces, where character is to be given chiefly by trees and buildings, more skill is required.

In such a case, the first consideration is, to produce something that shall powerfully contrast with adjoining residences, similarly circumstanced with reference to natural features and trees. If, for example, the trees in the adjoining residences are chiefly deciduous, those in the residence which is to be rendered expressive of character may be chiefly evergreens; and among these evergreens some striking kinds ought to prevail; such as cedars, silver firs, etc. But a still more immediate expression of character may be produced by employing the geometric style of laying out roads and planting the trees; or by adopting some style of laying out, different from that adopted in the adjoining residences.

54. There are two principal stylet of laying out grounds in Great Britain; Viz the geometric, and the natural. The latter is what, on] the continent, is emphatically called English gardening; to which epithet a vague general idea is attached, of grounds and plantations formed in flowing lines, in imitation of nature; as contradistinguished from ground formed into regular slopes and levels, or plantations in straight lines, or included in plots, bounded by lines always decidedly artificial, and it may be divided into three kinds: the picturesque, the gardenesque, and the rustic. By picturesque gardening is to be understood the production, in country residences, of that kind of scenery which, from its strongly-marked features, is considered as particularly suitable for being represented by painting; while by the gardenesque style is to be understood the production of that kind of scenery which is best calculated to display the individual beauty of trees, shrubs, and plants in a state of culture; the smoothness and greenness of lawns; and the smooth surfaces, curved directions, dryness, and firmness of gravel walks: in short, the gar-denesque style is calculated for displaying the art of the gardener; while the picturesque style has a constant reference to what would look well in a picture; and the rustic style to what is commonly found accompanying the rudest description of labourers cottages in the country.

The object of this last-mentioned style, or rather manner, is also to produce such fac-simile imitations of common nature, as to deceive the spectator into an idea that they are real or fortuitous. It thus appears that there are several distinct styles in which grounds may be laid out, without any reference to the natural character of the surface, the kinds of trees planted, or the architectural or other objects introduced. We shall briefly notice the leading features of each of these styles. 55. The geometrical style of landscape gardening, or, as it is frequently called, the ancient, or architectural style, is evidently taken from the architectural lines of houses and fortifications; and it was accordingly, when it was the sole style in use throughout Europe, considered to be as much the province of the architect as the house itself. The antiquity of this style is evidently as great as that of house-building, with the progress of which it must have kept pace in every country. As the first beauties attempted in house-building would be those of regularity in the walls and roof, and in placing the doors and windows; so, in gardening, the fences, the surface of the ground, and the roads or walks, would be made regular.

The next step in the progress of both arts would be rendering the house, and also the garden, symmetrical; one half of the elevation of the former, and of the ground plan of the latter, reflecting the other. In general, the house was approached directly in front, by a straight avenue, bordered on each side by one or more rows of trees; and whatever plantations or enclosures were made on one side of this avenue, were repeated on the other side. Immediately round the house, and commonly enclosed by a half-sunk wall (the excavation or ditch for which frequently formed a canal, or moat, filled with water), was the garden, in which were cultivated not only flowers and fruits, but, for a long period, even the culinary vegetables. Numerous improvements and variations were made in this mode of arranging grounds in the architectural style; but the characteristic of all these variations, and that which at once distinguished them from surrounding nature, was, the prevalence of geometrical lines as the boundaries of forms, and of regularity in the distance of objects from one another. The lines might be straight or curved, or combinations of straight and curved lines; but they never deviated into lines which might have been supposed to be the work of chance.

Trees, whether in hedgerows, avenues, or masses, were always planted at regular distances; and never, in any case, so as to leave any room for mistaking them for trees which had belonged to some natural wood or forest. The reason of all this is sufficiently obvious. The whole country abounding in natural and irregular forms, there would have been no credit for either wealth, skill, or taste, obtained by imitating these: while, by employing artificial forms which are nowhere to be found in nature, a mark of distinction was at once obtained, which conveyed the idea of wealth, skill, and taste; and which thus answered every purpose of the possessors.