The Public Grounds of Chicago

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Excerpt from The Public Grounds of Chicago: How to Give Them Character and ExpressionWhen Mr. Capability Brown (as he was nicknamed in con sequence of one of his favorite expressions, ) created in the last century a revolution in the old geometric manner of arranging grounds, in England, by the introduction of what was termed the natural style, he was for a time, regarded as the arbiter of taste, and every one was so delighted with the change from angles to curved lines, that it was not at first perceived that in his zeal to hit upon the line of beauty, which he fancied to consist in a series of graceful curves, he had fallen into an equally formal system as the one he condemned, so that one of his critics remarked of his serpen tine paths, canals, etc., that you might walk from one end to the other, stepping first upon zig, and then upon zag, for the whole length. And this kind of formality is the danger which is most to be apprehended in the construction of such a drive as the one we are considering, for, whenever, by the introduction of water, or plan tations, or whatever object may be devised, a reason is furnished for a variation from a straight course, the necessity immediately stares us in the face of providing something on the other side, to turn it back again, before it reaches the boundary within which it must be retained, and the continuation of such variations, with a repetition of scenes of woodland, lawn and water, which, however tastefully arranged, must consist essentially of the same elements of attractive interest, would result eventually in a monotony of variety, scarcely less fatiguing than that of the straight road.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.