Bradley House, H. Bradley, Esq., is a town or street garden, the house being part of a row. The ground behind consists of about a quarter of an acre, and includes green-houses, vineries, peach-houses, and various architectural and sculptural ornaments. There is a wall with fruit trees like that of a kitchen-garden, and a lawn varied by flower beds, a basin and fountain, some trelliswork, and a terrace with steps. In point of design, the merit is not great, but the whole is very highly kept. That we may not find fault without assigning a reason, we may observe that the great art in making a small garden appear large, is to prevent the spectator from walking in the middle, so as to see the whole at once; and, in the case of a town garden surrounded by walls, it is mostly desirable to conduct the spectator from the house under a boundary colonnade, or other architectural walk for warm weather, having at the same time open winter walks. The flower beds here are also of too fanciful and angular shapes for the manner in which they are planted, and too large for the situation. Wherever flowers or roses are allowed to grow to the height of 2 or 3 feet, groups of small circular beds will generally be found preferable to other shapes; but where plants are not to rise higher than 6 in., irregular or composite forms may be adopted; because, in consequence of the lowness of the plants, the shapes of the figures may be recognised by the eye. The commonplace character of the surrounding wall and of the hot-houses, and the want of unity of system among the flower beds, are the positive faults of this place; and the negative fault, or omission, is, the want of a surrounding architectural walk, somewhat in the manner of the mural colonnades in the town gardens of Pompeii. A garden of this kind is much more difficult to manage than one round a detached building, because it demands not only an artistical but an architectural eye.
