ABSTRACT
Even in the Protestant countries, baroque gardens continued to be made during the eighteenth century. But a radical departure also took place, eventually to be described as the landscape garden. Historians enjoy tracing its origins. There are many candidates for the role of prime cause and it is unlikely that agreement will be ever reached. The position taken in my book, English Garden Design: history and styles since 1650, was that the departure resulted from a coalition of six key ideas: empiricism, Neoplatonism, constitutional democracy, landscape painting, rural retirement and Chinese gardens.1 Today, I view empiricism as the king and rationalism as Prime Minister.
