2911

APR

A N

E S S A \Y

ON THE

PICTURE S Q^UE,

AS COMPARED WITH THE

SUBLIME AND THE BEAUTIFUL;

AND, ON THE

USE OF STUDYING PICTURES,

FOR THE PURPOSE OF

IMPROVING REAL LANDSCAPE.

By VVEDALE PRICE, Eso^

QUAM MULTAVIDENT PICTORES IN UMBRIS, ET IN
EMINENTIA, QU & NOS NON VIDEMUS.

Cicero,

A NEW EDITION,
WITH CONSIDERABLE ADDITIONS.

LONDON:

Printed for J. ROBSON, New Bond-Street.

M.DCC.XCVI.

9?<

PREFACE.

AS the general plan and intention of
my work have been a good deal
mifunderftood, I wifli to give a fhort ac-
count of them both.

The title itfelf might have fhewn that I
aimed at fomething more than a mere book
of gardenings fome, however, have con-
ceived that I ought to have begun by fetting
forth all my ideas of lawns, fhrubberies,
gravel walks, &c. ; and as my arrangement
did not coincide with their notions of what
it ought to have been, they feem to have
concluded that I had no plan at all,

I have in this effay undertaken to treat
of two fubjedts, diftinft, but intimately con-
ceded, and which, as I conceive, throw a
reciprocal light on each other. I have be-
A 2 gun

IV PREFACE,'

gun with that which is laft mentioned,,
as I thought fome previous difcuffion with
regard to pictures and pidturefque fcenery,
would moil naturally lead to a particular
examination of the character itfelf. In the
firft chapter, I have ftated the general rea-
fons for flu dying the works of eminent
Jandfcape painters, and the principles of
their art, with a view to the improvement
of real fcenery ; and in order to fhew how
little thofe works, or the principles they
contain, have been attended to, I have fup-
pofed the fcenery in the landfcape of a
great painter, to be new-modelled accord-
ing to the tafte of Mr, Brown. Having
fhewn this contrail between dreffed fcenery,
and a picture of the moil ornamented kind,
I have in the fecond chapter compared to-
gether two real fcenes -, the one in its pic-
turefque and unimproved ftate, the other
.when dreffed and improved according to the
preient fafhion. The picture fque circum-
ftaiices detailed in this fcene, very naturally
lead me, in the third chapter, to invefligate
*fc their

PREFACE* V

their general caufes and effects ; and in
that, and the fix following chapters, I have
traced them, as far as my obfervation would
enable me, through all the works of art,
and of nature.

This part, the raoft curious and inter-
efting to a fpeculative mind, will be leafl
fo to thofe who think only of what has a
direct and immediate reference to the ar-
rangement of fcenery : that indeed it has
not ; but it is a difcuffion well calculated to
give juft and enlarged ideas, of what is of
no flight importance— -the general charac-
ter of each place, and the particular cha-
racter of each part of its fcenery. Every
place, and every fcene that are worth ob-
ferving, muft have fomething of the fab-
lime, the beautiful, or the picturefque; and
every man will allow that he would wifli
to preferve and to heighten, certainly not
to weaken or deftroy, their prevailing cha-
racter. The mod obvious method of fuc-
ceeding in the one, and of avoiding the
other, is by ftudying their caufes and ef-

A 7 fedts*

VI PREFACE.

feds 4 but to confine that ftudy to fcenery
only, woulo!, like all confined ftudies for a
particular purpofe, tend to contract the
mind ; at leaft when compared with a more
comprehenfive view of the fubjedt ; I have
therefore endeavoured to take the moft en-
larged view poflible, and to include in it
whatever had any relation to the character
I was occupied in tracing, or which mew-
ed its diftinction from thofe which a very
fuperior mind had already inveftigated ; and
fure I am, that he who ftudies the various ef-
fects and characters of form, colour, and
light and fhadow, and examines and com-
pares thofe characters and effects, and the
manner in which they are combined and dif-
pofed, both in pictures and in nature, — will
be better qualified to arrange, certainly to
enjoy, his own and every fcenery, than he
who has only thought of the moft faffi ion-
able arrangement of objects $ or has looked
at nature alone, without having acquired
any juft principles of felection.

I be-

PREFACE. VU

I believe, however, that this part of my
Eflay, and the very title of it, may have
given a falfe bias to the minds of many of
my readers -, nor am I furprifed at fuch an
effeft. It is a very natural conclulion, and
often juflified, that an author is partial to
the particular fubjedt on which he has
written; but mine is a particular cafe.
The two chara&ers which Mr. Burke has
fo ably difcuffed, had, it is true, great need
of inveftigation; but they did not want to
be recommended to our attention. What
is really fublime or beautiful, muft always
attradt and command it; but the pidtu-
refque is much lefs obvious, lefs generally
attractive, and had been totally neglefted
and defpifed by profefled improvers : my
bufinefs therefore was to draw forth, and
to dwell upon thoie lefs obferved beauties.
From that circumftance it has been con-
ceived (or at leaft aflerted) that I not only
preferred fuch fcenes as were merely rude
and pi&urefque, but excluded all others.

A 4 The

Vlil PREFACE.

The fecond part is built upon the foun-
dations laid in the firft, for I have exa-
mined the leading features of modern gar-
dening (in its more extended fenfe) on the
general principles of painting •, and I have
ihewn in feveral inftances, efpecially in all
that relates to the banks of artificial water,
how much the character of the pi&urefque
has been negledled> or facrificed to a falfe
idea of beauty.

But though I take no flight intereft in
whatever concerns the tafte of gardening
in this, and every other country, and am
particularly anxious to preferve thofe pic-
turefque circumftances, which are fo fre-
quently, and irrecoverably deftroyed; yet
in writing this Effay, I have had a more
comprehenlive objeft in view: I have been
delircus of opening new fources of inno-
cent, and eafily attained pleafures, or at
leaft of pointing out how a much higher
relifh may be acquired for thofe, which,
though known, are negle&ed : and it has
given me no fmall pleafure to find that

both

PREFACE. IX

both my obje&s have in fome degree been
attained.

That painters do fee effects in nature,
which men in general do not fee, we have, in
the motto I have prefixed to this effay, the
testimony of no common obferver -y of one,
who was fufHciently vain of his own talents
and difcernment in every way, and not
likely to acknowledge thofe of other men
without ftrong conviction. It is not a mere
obfervation of Cicero ; it is an exclamation :
Quam multa vident pictores ! it marks his
furprize at the extreme difference which
the fludy of nature, by means of the art of
painting, feems to make almoft in the fight
itfelf. It may likewife be obferved, that
his remark does not extend to form, in
which the ancient painters are acknow-
ledged to be our fuperiors : not to colour,
in which they are alfo conceived to be at
leaft our rivals -, but to light and ihadow, the
fuppofed triumph of modern over ancient
art; on which account the profeffors of
painting, fince its revival, have a ftill better

right

X PREFACE.

right to the compliment of fo illuftrious 2
panegyrift, than thofe of his age.

If there were no other means of feeing
with the eyes of painters, than by acquir-
ing the practical fkill of their hands, the
generality of mankind mufl of courfe give
up the points but luckily we may gain
no little infight into their method of
confidering nature, and no inconfiderable
ihare of their relifh for her beauties, by an
eaiier procefs* — by ftudying their works.
This ftudy has one great advantage over
moil others; there are no dry elements to
flruggle wkh. Pictures, as like wife draw-
ings and prints, have in them what is Ant-
ed to all ages and capacities : many of
them, like Swift's Gulliver's Travels, dif-
play the moft fertile and brilliant imagina-
tion, joined to the moft accurate judgment
and feledlion, and the deepeft knowledge
of nature : like that extraordinary work,
they are at once the amufement of child-
hood and ignorance, and the delight, in-
ftruclion, and admiration of the higheft
and moft cultivated minds.

9 It

S> R E f A C £. XI

It is not, however, to be fuppofed, that
theory and obfervation alone will enable us
to judge either of pictures or of nature,
with the fame fkill as thole, who join the
pra&ical knowledge of their art, to habi-
tual reflection on its principles, and its
productions : between fuch artifts, and the
mere lover of painting, there will always
be a fufficient difference to juftify the re-
mark of Cicero * : but by means of the
ftudy I have fo earneftly recommended, we
may greatly diminifh the immenfe diftance
that exifts between the eye of a firft rate
painter, and that of a man who has never

* There is an anecdote of S. Rofa, which (hews the very
juft and natural opinion that painters of eminence en-
tertain of their fuperior judgment with regard to their
own art: it is alfo highly characterifric of the lively im-
petuous manner of the artifl of whom it is related3 and
whofe words might no lefs juftly he applied to real
objects, than to the imitation of them. Saivator Rofa>
effendogli mojlrata una fingolar pittura da un dilettante^
che infiemermnts in ejlremo la ioaava ; egli con un di
quei fuoi foliti gefl jpir.tofi efclania : 0 pen/a quel che
tu direjh\ jo tu la videjji con gli occki di Saivator
Rofa,

thought

&h PREFACE.

thought on the fubjed. Were it, indeed,
poffible that a painter of great and general
excellence, a Titian, or a Carach, could at
once bellow on fuch a man, not his power
of imitating, but of diftinguifhing and feel-
ing the effects and combinations of form,
colour, and light, and fhadow, it would
hardly be too much to affert that a new-
appearance of things, a new world would
fuddenly be opened to him ; and the be-
ftower might preface the miraculous gift,
with the words in which Venus addreffes
her fon, when (he removes the mortal film
from his eves,

Afpice, namque omnem quae nunc obducla tuentl
Mortales hebetat vifus tibi & humida circum.
Caligat, nubem eripiam.

CONTENTS.

JJlll^L.. X! JL-il

CONTENTS.

Chapter L

TPage
H E reafons why an improver ihould ftudy pic-

tures as well as nature - - L x

The artifVs defigns in real fcenery mufr. necefTarily
change with the growth, decay, and various ac-
cidents of trees ; the only fixed and unchanging
compofitions are in the defigns of painters - 8
Diftin&ion between the painter and the improver- o
Between looking at pictures merely with a re-
ference to other pictures, . and ftudying them
with a view to the improvement of our ideas of
nature - • - _ . _ - - ij
The general principles of both arts the fame - 15
The prefent fyftem of improving, at variance with

thofe principles - - - - - 16

The manner in which a picture of Claude would
probably be improved by an admirer of Mr.
Brown » * - - - '*- - 17

Chapter II.

Caufes of the neglect of the piclurefque in modern
improvements - * ■*■'■■* - 25

Intricacy and variety, the cbarac~r.erirl.ics of the pic-
turefque ; monotony and baldnefs, of improved
places ^ - - - - « -26

A dreffed lane - ----- 28

A lane in its natural and picturefque ftate - - 29

Near the houfe, piclurefque beauty muft often be
facrinced to neatnefs - - - "31

Different ways in which a picturefque lane might
probably be improved - - ~ 3^

Examples of two lanes that have been improved - 41

Chap-

xiv CONTENTS.

Chapter III.

P»ge

General meaning of the word pi&urefque - 46

Mr. Gilpin's definitions of it examined - - 47
It has not an exclufive reference to painting - - 48
The beautiful and the fublime have been pointed
out and illuftrated by painting as well as the pic-
turefque - - - - - - 49

Apology for making ufeof the word pidturefquenefs - 51
The picturefque as diftincr. a character as either the

fublime, or the beautiful - - - "53
The picturefque arifes from qualities dire&Iy oppo-
fite to thofe of beauty - - - - 59

What thofe qualities are - - r . - 60

Pi&urefque and beautiful in buildings - -62

Ditto - in water - 67

Ditto - in trees - - - - 69

Ditto ~ in animals - - - 71

Ditto - in birds - - - - 73

Ditto - in men - - - - " 76

Ditto - in the higher order of

beings - ibid.

Ditto - in painting - - -'- 77

Chapter IV.

General diilidtions between the piclurefque and the

beautiful - 82

Ditto - between the pic~turefque

and the fublime - 99
The manner in which they operate on the mind - 103
Of terror, as the caufe of the fublime - - - 109

Chapter V.

To create the fublime above our contracted
powers. — The art of improving therefore de-
pends on the beautiful and the pidturefque - 123

Beauty

CON TENTS. xr

Page

Beauty alone has hitherto been aimed at -123

But they are feldom unmixed, and infipidity has

arifen from trying to feparate them - - 125
Inftance of their mixture in the human counte-
nance - Ibid.
Ditto - in flowers, fhrubs, and

trees - 127

Ditto - in buildings - - - 134.

Chapter VI.

It has been doubted by fome whether fmoothnefs

be eflential to the beautiful - 136

Effects of fmoothnefs and of roughnefs in pro-
ducing the beautiful and the pi-cturefque, by
means of repofe and irritation - 138

Repofe the peculiar beauty of Claude's pictures - 145
Character of the pleafures that arife from irritation - 146
Effects of repofe and irritation as caufed by light

and fhadow - - - - 147

Character of Rubens's light and fhadow - J49

Ditto - of Coreggio's - - - 151

Ditto - of Claude's, and his landfcapes com-
pared with thofe of Rubens - - 152

Chapter VII.

Breadth of light and fhadow - 157

Twilight - - - - 161

The effects of twilight mould be fludied by

improvers - - - - 164

Difficulty of uniting; breadth with detail - 167

Breadth alone infufficient, but to be preferred

to detail without breadth - - -169

Application of the principle of breadth to im-
provement - - - 1 71
Objections to buildings being made too white - 173
Diftiuctnefs - - - - 179

Chap-

xvi CONTENTS.

Chapter VIII.

Page

181

On the beautiful, and on what might be termed
the pi&urefque, in colour

Why autumn, and not fpring, is called the paint-
er's feafon - - - - 184.

The colouring of the Venetian fchool, and parti-
cularly of Giorgione, Titian, and their imita-
tors, formed upon the glowing tints of autumn - 195

That of Rubens more on the frefh colours of
fpring - - - - - 200

Character of the atmofphere, and of the lights
and fhadows in fpring, and in autumn - - %U.

Chapter IX.

On uglinefs - - - 204

Angles not ugly, though not beautiful - - - 205
Deformity is to uglinefs what picturefquenefs is to

beauty - - - -. 207

Uglinefs and deformity in hills and mountains - 209

Ditto - in trees - - - - 210

Ditto - in ground t 211

Deformity in ground, &c. not fo obvious - - 213

Connection between picturefquenefs and deformity 214

Uglinefs in buildings - - - - - 215
Uglinefs in colours - - - - -216
Effedts of deformity and uglinefs compared -y and

illuftrated by founds - >- - 217

Effects of the pi&urefque when mixed with uglinefs 219
The cxcefs of the qualities of beauty tend to infi-

pidity ; thofe of picturefquenefs to deformity - 222

Application to improvements - 226
Beauty, picturefquenefs, and deformity in the other-

fenfes - 227
General Fumming up of the arguments, to prove

that the picturcfque is a diftindt character - 229

Not

CONTENTS. xvit

Page

Not lefs fo than Envy, Revenge, or any other v

character whofe diftin&nefs is acknowledged - 234

The reafon why its diftin£tnefs has not been fo ac-
curately marked out - - ' - 238

And why there are not more diftincl terms and

difcriminations in matters of tafte - - 240

PAR T II.

C H A P T E R I.

How far the principles of painting have been ap-
plied to improvements - 246
Kent, one of the firft improvers on the prefent

fyftem - - - - ibid*
General character of the old, and of the prefent

ftyle of gardening - - 247

Character of Kent - - 248
Reafons for having fpoken of him in fuch ftrong

terms - 253
Character of Sir Jofliua Reynolds's difcourfes - 258
Vindication of their originality againft certain ma-
licious infinuations - ibid.
Want of connection the great general defect of

modern gardening - - - 261
Mr. Brown - - - T. 263
The clump - - - 267
The belt - 269
That and the avenue compared «■ - . " - 270
Farther remarks on the avenue - - - ibid.
Diftinclion between beautiful and pi£turefque in-
tricacy - - t - 276
The ufual method of thinning trees for the pur-
pofe of beauty confidered - - - 280
b Hi

xviii CONTENTS.

Page

111 effe&s of breaking an avenge into clumps - 282
The painter, by means of alterations an J exclufions,
may take advantage of fuch breaks, but he would
miilead the improver - 284

A ftriking inftance of fuch an abufe of the art of
painting ----- - Ib'tti.

Chapter II.

Trees confidered generally - 285

NecefTary accompaniments to rocks and moun-
tains, and to every kind of ground and of water.
An exception with regard to the fea - - 287
The variety and intricacy of trees •» 288

Thofe which are remarkably full of leaves, not al-
ways preferred by painters— rthe reafons - 289
Plantations made for ornament, the leaft admired

by painters - 292

The eftablifhed trees of the country ought to

prevail in the new plantations - - ibid.

Clumps, or patches of a larger fize - - 295

Large plantations of firs have a harm effect, from
not harmonizing with the natural woods of the
country - * - 301

Bad effects of planting too clofe - - 302

The neceffity of a proper balance in all fcenery,

both in point of form, and of colour - - 303
Infide of a clofe plantation of firs - - 304

Difference of its character from that of a grove

of fpreading pines - 306

Fir plantations improper for boundaries u 307

A common hedge often- a more effectual boun-
dary, and fome highly beautiful - - 309
This points but the neceffity of a mixture of
thorns, hollies, and the lower growths in all
fcreens — the fame method may be extended
t© all ornamental plantations - • ibid.

CONTENT S. xix

Page

The ufe of fuch a mixture of the lower growths,
if fuch a plantation mould be thinned after
many years neglect - - - 312

Contraft of fuch a plantation, with a dofe wood

of firs only - - - 316

Its variety would not arife merely from a diver-
sity of plants — variety in forefts produced by a
few fpecies - - - 317

Continual and unvaried diversity, a fource, and a
fpecies of monotony - - - 319

Accident and neglect the fources of variety in un-
improved parks and forefts - - 321

The reafons why lawns have in general little
variety - • - - 322.

Why a lawn looks ill in a picture - - 323

Why the moft beautiful lawn, painted by Claude,
would not be equal to his belt pictures - 324

Verdure and fmoothnefs, which are the charac-
teriftic beauties of a lawn, are in their nature
allied to monotony - - 325

Improvers, inftead of remedying that defect:, have
added to it - - - ibjd*

Soft and fmooth colours, like foft and fmooth
fonnds, are grateful to the mere fenfe; a relifh
for more artful combinations acquired by de-
grees - - - 328

Such a relifh does not exclude a tafle for fimple
fcenes, and for fimple melodies - - 329

Chapter III.

On the general effects of water in landfcape - 331
Remarks on certain paffages of the poets refpect-
ing the banks of rivers ; none of them applica-
ble to thofe of Mr. Brown's artificial water - ibid.
Mr. Brown's artificial rivers have no objects of
reflection - * - 333

CONTENTS.

Page
The formal fweeps of fuch imitations, contrafted

with the intricacies and varieties of natural
rivers - - - - - 335

Water with a thin grafly edge like an overflow-
ing - 338
No profefTor has yet endeavoured to make an arti-
ficial river like a natural one - - 349
It muft be done by attention to the banks, and to
objects of reflection, as an artificial river muft
be without motion - - - 351
Objects of reflection peculiarly fuited to ft ill water 353
Remarks on the expreflion of a fine Jheet of water - ibid*
The great water at Blenheim - - 355
The drefTed bank, and garden fcenery ; the reafon
why that part is fuperior to the other improved
parts - - - - 358
The water below the cafcade - - 362
General reflexions on the fubjecl: of the efTay - 366
Appendix - - - - 391

ERRATA.

Page 55. betiv:en lines 15 and 16 the wor d than omitted.
125. 1. 9./''' feldoms, read feldom.
207. 1. 17. f'->r oppofites, read oppofite.
2,38. 1. 3. for an, read and.

2.49. 1. 13. for what a multitude, read what fuch a multitude.
290. 1. 3. for well, read dwell.
29:. 1. 3. for can be, read is.

« 1. 4. for be, read can be.

360. note, 1. 5. from the botton, for have, read hath.
36;. 1. ult. for have, read hath.

ON THE

PICTURESQJJE, &c.

THERE is no country, I believe (if
we except China) where the art of
laying out grounds is fo much cultivated as
it now is in England* Formerly the deco-
rations near the houfe were infinitely more
magnificent and expenfive than they are at
prefent ; but the embellifhrnents of what
are called the grounds, and of all the exten-
five fcenery round the place, was much lefs
attended to ; and, in general, tire park, with
all its timber and thickets, was left in a Hate
Vol. L B of

of wealthy negleft: as thefe embelliilW
ments are now extended over a whole dif-
tricl, and as they give a new and peculiar
character to the general face of the country,
it is well worth confidering whether they
give a natural and a beautiful one, and whe-
ther the prefent fyftem of improving (to ufe
a fhort though often an inaccurate term) is-
founded on any juft principles of tafte.

In order to examine this qpeftion, the firft
enquiry will naturally be, whether there is
any ftandard, to which in point of grouping,
and of general compofltion, works of this
fort can be referred ; any authority higher
than that of the perfons wrho have gained the
moil general and popular reputation by thofe
works, and whofe method of conducting
them has had the moft exteniive influence
on the general tafte ? I think there is a
ftandard ; there are authorities of an infi-
nitely higher kind ; the authorities of thofe
4 great

[ 3 ]

great artifts who have rnoft diligently flu-
died the beauties of nature, both in their
grandeft and rnoft general effects, and in
their minuteft detail ; who have obferved
every variety of form and of colour, have
been able to felect and combine, and then, by
the magic of their art, to fix upon the can-
vas all thefe various beauties.

But, however highly I may think of the
art of painting, compared with that of im-
proving, nothing can be farther from my
intention (and I wifh to imprefs it in the
ftrongeft manner on the reader's mind) than
to recommend the ftudy of pictures in pre-
ference to that of nature, much lefs to the
exclufion of it. Whoever ftudies art alone,
will have a narrow pedantic manner of cor>-
iidering all objects, and of referring them
folely to the minute and particular purpofes
of that art to which his attention has been
particularly directed ; this is what improvers
B 2 have

[ 4 J

have done: and if every thing is to be re-
ferred to art, at lean: let it be referred to one,,
whofe variety, compared to the monotony
of what is called improvement, appears infi-
nite, but which again falls as fhort of the
boundlefs variety of themiftrefs of all art.

The ufe, therefore, of ftudying pictures
is not merely to make us acquainted with
the combinations and effects that are con-
tained in them, but to guide us by means of
thofe general heads (as they may be called)
of compofition, in our fearch of the num-
berlefs and untouched varieties and beauties
of nature; for as he who ftudies art only
will have a confined tafte, fo he who looks
at nature only, will have a vague and un-
fettled one; and in this more extended
fenfe I fhould interpret the Italian proverb,
" Chi sipfegna, ha un pazzo per maeftro:
He is a fool who docs not profit by the ex-
perience of others,"

We.

[ 5 3

We are therefore to profit by the expe-
rience contained in pictures, but not to con-
tent ourfelves with that experience only ;
nor are we to confider even thofe of the
higheft clafs as abfolute and infallible ftand-
ards, but as the bell: and only ones we have;
as compofitions, which, likis thofe of the
great claffical authors, have been confecrated
by long uninterrupted admiration, and
which therefore have a fimilar claim to
influence our judgment, and to form our
tafte in all that is within their province.
Thefe are the reafons for ftudying copies of
nature, though the original is before us, that
we may not lofe the benefit of what is of
fuch great moment in all arts and fciences,
the accumulated experience of piaft ages ;
and, with refpect to the art of improving,
we may look upon pictures as a fet of ex-
periments of the different ways in which
trees, buildings, water, &c. may be dif-
B 3 pofed3

[ 6 ]

pofed, grouped, and accompanied in the
moll beautiful and ftriking manner, and in
every ftyle, from the moft fimple and rural
to the grandeft and moft ornamental : many
of thofe objects, that are fcarcely marked
as they lie fcattered oyer the face of nature,
when brought together in the compafs of a
fmall fpace of canvas, are forcibly impreffed
upon the eye, which by that means learns
hpw to feparate, to felecl, and combine.

Who can doubt whether Shakefpeare and
Fielding liad not infinitely more amufe-
ment from fociety, iri all its various views,
than common pbfervers ? 1 believe it can be
as little doubted, that the having read
fuch authors muft give any man (however
acute his penetration) more enlarged views
of human nature in general, as well as a
more intijnate acquaintance with particular
characters, than he would have had from the
pbfervatioa of nature only; that many

groups

[ 7 3

groups of characters, many combinations
of incidents, which might -other wife have
efcaped his notice, would forcibly ftrike
him, from the recollection of fcenes and
paflages from fuch writers ; that in all thefe
:cafes the pleafure we receive from what
paffes in real life is rendered infinitely more
poignant by a refemblance to what we have
read or have feen on the ftage. But will
any man argue from thence that thefe cha-
racters and incidents have no intrinlic me-
rit, but merely that which is derived from
•their having been made ufe of by great and
admired authors ? The parallel between this
and the affiftance which painting gives to-
wards an accurate as well as a comprehen-
five view of nature is fo obvious as hardly to
require pointing out.

I am therefore perfuaded that thofe men's -
minds will be the moft amufed (and per-
haps not the leaft ufefully employed) to
B 4 whom

[ 8 3

whom " all the world's a flage," who re-*
mark wherever they go (and habit will give
a rapid and unobferved facility in doing it)
not only the characters of all individuals,
but their effect on each other. Such an
obferver will not divide what paffes into
fcenes and chapters, and be pleafed with it
in proportion as it will do for a novel cr a
play, but he will be pleafed on the fame
principles as Shakefpeare or Fielding would
have been. This appears to me a true and
exact flatement of the mutual relation that
painting and nature bear to each other.

Had the art of improving been cultivated
for as long a time, and upon as fettled prin-.
ciples, as that of painting, and were there
extant various works of genius, which, like
thofe of the pther art, had flood the tefl of
ages (though from the great change which
the growth and decay of trees mull pro-
duce in the original defign of the artift, this

is

[ 9 ] .

is hardly poffible) there would not be the
fame neceffity of referring and comparing
the works of reality to thofe of imitation;
but as the cafe ftaeds at prefent, the only
models of competition that approach to per-
fection, the only fixed and unchanging fe-
lections from the works of nature, united
with thofe of art, are in the pictures and de-
figns of the moft eminent mailers,

But although certain happy compofltions,
detached from the general mafs of objects,
and confidered by themfelves have the great-
eft and moft lafting effect, both in nature
or painting; and though the painter, in re-
fpect to his own art, may think of thofe
only, and give himfelf no concern about the
reft, he cannot do fo if he is an improver
as well as a painter; for he might then
neglect or injure what was effential to the
whole, by attending only to a part, and in
that confifts the great and obvious diffe-
rence

[ i* 3

rence between the practice, not the general
principles, of the two arts : there is another
alfo that leads to the fame point, and which
has not been fufficiently attended to; the dif-
ference between looking at nature merely
with a view to making pictures, and look-
ing at pictures with a view to the improve-
ment of our ideas of nature; the former
often does contract the tafte when purfued
too clofely, the latter I believe as generally
refines and enlarges it. The greateft paint-
ers were men of enlarged and liberal minds^
and well acquainted with many arts befides
their own. L* da Vinci, M. Angelo, Ra-
phael, Titian, were not merely patronized
by the fovereigns of that period; they were
confidered almoft as friends by fuch men as
Leo, Francis, and Charles, and were inti-
mately connected with Aretino, Caftiglione,
and all the eminent wits of that time. Thofe
great artifts (nor need I have gone fo far

baok

[ ii 3

feack for examples) confidered pictures and
nature as throwing a reciprocal light on
;each other, and as connected with hifcory*
poetry, and all the fine arts; but the prac-
tice of too many lovers of painting has been
very different, and has, I believe, contributed
in a great degree, and with great reafon, to
give a prejudice againft the ftudy of pic-
tures as a preparation to that of nature.
In the fame manner that many painters
confider natural fcenery merely with a re-
ference to their own practice, many con-
noiffeurs confider pictures merely with a re-
ference to other pic~hxres,as a fchool in which
they may learn the routine of connoiffeur-
fhip, that is, an acquaintance with the moll
prominent marks and peculiarities of diffe-
rent matters; but they rarely look upon them
in that point of view in which alone they can
produce any real advantage, — as a fchool
in which we may learn to enlarge, refine,

and

f ** ]

and correct our ideas of nature, and in re-
turn, may qualify ourfelves by this more li-
beral courfe of ftudy, to be real judges of
what is excellent in imitation. This reflec-
tion may account for what otherwife feems
quite unaccountable, namely, that many en-
thufiaftic admirers and collectors of Claude,
Pouffin, &c. mould have fuffered profefled
improvers to deprive the general and ex-
tended fcenery of their places, of all that
thofe painters would have moft admired and
copied. Should the narrow and perverfe
application of fo excellent a ftudy be pro-
duced as an argument againft the ftudy
altogether, that of the holy gofpel might
on the fame ground be objected. to, for
certainly its pure and exalted doctrines
have been by fome lefs induftrioufly ap-
plied to enlarge, correct, and refine our na-
ture, than to furnifh matter for fcholaftic
diftinctions, and all that vain and fruitlefs
parade which in theology and in every other

art

C *3 ]

art and fcience anfwers fo well to the cant
of connoifTeurfhip in painting. He who can
in any degree contribute to direct ftudies to
their proper object, even in matters of lefs
moment, deferves well of mankind % with
refpect to improvement in its moil compre-
heniive fenfe, the great object of enquiry
feems to be, what is that mode of ftudy
which will beft enable a man of a liberal
and intelligent mind to judge of the forms,
colours, effects, and combinations of vifible
objects; to judge of them either as iingle
compoiitions, which may be confidered by
themfelves without reference to what fur-
rounds them 5 or elfe as parts of fcenery, the
arrangement of which muft be more or lefs
regulated and reftrained by what joins them,
and the connection of which with the general
fcenery muft be conftantly attended to. Such
knowledge and judgment comprehend the
whole fcience of improvement with regard

to

[ H \

to its effect on the eye, and I believe cin
never be perfectly acquired, unlefs to the
ftudy of natural fcenery, and of the various
ftyles of gardening in different periods, the
improver adds the theory at lead of that
art, the very efTence of which is connec-
tion: a principle moft adapted to correct
the chief defects of improvers ; a principle
always prefent to the painter's mind, if he
deferves that name ; and by the guidance of
which he confiders all fets of objects, what-
ever may be their character or bounda-
ries, from the moft extenfive profpect to the
moft confined wood fcene: neither refer-
ring every thing to the narrow limits of his
canvas, nor defpifing what will not fuit it,
unlefs, indeed, the limits of his mind be
equally narrow and contracted; for when I
fpeak of a painter, I mean an artift, not a
mechanic.

Whatever minute and partial objections

may

[ *5 J

may be made to the ftudy of pictures for
the purpofe of improvement, (many of
which I have already difcuffed in my letter
to Mr. Repton,) yet certainly the great lead-
ing principles of the one art, as general
competition — grouping the feparate parts —
harmony of tints — unity of character, are
equally applicable to the other : I may add
alfo, what is fo very effential to the painter,
though at firfl: fight it feems hardly within
the province of the improver — breadth and
effect of light and lhade.

Thefe are called the principles of paint*
ing, becaufe that art has pointed them out
more clearly, by feparating what was mod:
{hiking and well combined, from the lefs
interefling and fcattered objects of general
fcenery ; but they are in reality the gene-
ral principles on which the effect of all
viiible objects muff depend, and to which
it mull: be referred.

Nothing

Nothing can be more directly at war
with all thefe principles (founded as they
are in truth and in nature) than the prefent
fyftem of laying out grounds. A painter,
or whoever views objects with a painter's
eye*, looks with indifference, if not with
difguft, at the clamps, the belts, the made
water, and the eternal fmoothnefs and fame-
nefs of a finifhed place ; an improver, on.
the other hand, confiders thefe as the moffc
perfect embellimments, as the laft finifhing
touches that nature can receive from art ;
and confequently muft think the fineft com-
poiition of Claude (and I mention him as

* When I fpeak of a painter, I do not mean merely a
profefTor, but any man (artift or not) of a liberal mind,
with a ftrong feeling for nature as well as art, who has
been in the habit of comparing both together.

A man of a narrow mind and little fenfibility, in or out
of a profeffion, is always a bad judge; and poilibly (as
that ingenious critic the Abbe du Bos has well explained)
a worfe judge for being an artift.

the

t 17 ]

the moft ornamented of all the great mafters)
comparatively rude and imperfed: ; though
he probably might allow, in Mr. Brown's
phrafe, that it had " capabilities. "

No one, I believe, has yet been daring
enough to improve a pidlure of Claude *$
or at leaft to acknowledge it j but I do not
think it extravagant to fuppofc that a man,

* The account in Peregrine Pickle, of the gentleman
who had improved Vandyke's portraits of his anceftors$
ufed to ftrike me as rather outre; but I met with a fimilar
inftance fome years ago, that makes it appear much lefs
fo. I was looking at a collection of pictures with Gainf-
borough ; among the reft the houfekeeper fhewed us a
portrait of her matter, which fhe faid was by Sir Jofhua
Reynolds : we both flared, for not only the touch and
the colouring, but the whole ftyle of the drapery and the
general effect, had no refemblance to his manner* Upon
examining the houfekeeper more particularly, we difco-
vered that her mafter had had every thing but the face— *
not re-touched from the colours having faded — but to-
tally changed, and newly compofed, as well as painted, by
another, and, I need not add, an inferior hand.

Such a man would have felt as little fcruple in making
a Claude like his own place, as in making his own por-
trait like a fcare-crow.

Vol, I, C thoroughly

[ is i

thoroughly perfuaded, from his own taftc,
and from the authority of fuch a writer as
Mr. Walpole*, that an art, unknown to

* I can hardly think it neceflary to make any excufe
for calling Lord Orford Mr. Walpole ; it is the name by
which he is beft known in the literary world, and to which
his writings have given a celebrity much beyond what
any hereditary honour can beftow. It is more neceflary,
perhaps, to make an apology for the liberty I muft take
of canvafling with freedom many pofitions in his very
ingenious and entertaining treatife on Modern Garden-
ing. That treatife is written in a very high ftrain of
panegyric on the art of which he gives fo amufing a
hifrory : mine is a direct and undifguifed attack upon it.
The greater his authority the more neceflary it is to
combat the impreflion which that alone will make on
molt minds. I do it, however, with great deference
and reluctance; for I know how difficult it is to fleer
between the tamenefs of over-caution and the appearance
of acrimony, or of want of refpect towards a perfbn for
whom I feei fo much, and to whom on fo many accounts
it is due. But he who is warmly engaged in a caufe,
and has to fight againft ftrongly-rooted opinions, upheld
by powerful fupporters, muft, if he hopes to vanquish
them, take every fair advantage of his opponents, and
not feem too timid arid fearful of giving offence where he
means none.

every

t 19 I

every age and climate, that of creating laricU
fcapes, had advanced with mafter-fteps t&
vigorous perfe&ion ; that enough had been
done to eftablifh fuch a fchool of landfcape
as cannot be found in the reft of the globe ;
and that Milton's defcription of Paradife
feems to have been copied from fome piecd
of modern gardening 5— that fuch a man,
full of enthufiafm for this new art, and with
little veneration for that of painting, fhould
chufe to (hew the world what Claude might
have been, had he had the advantage of
feeing the works of Mr. Brown. The only
difference he would make between im-
proving a picture and a real fcene, would
be that of employing a painter inftead of a
gardener.

What would more immediately ftrike him

would be the total want of that leading

feature of all modern improvements, the

C % clump 1

[ ™ ]

clump*; and of courfe he would order fe->
veral of them to be placed in the moil open
and confpicuous fpots, with, perhaps, here
and there a patch of larches, as forming a
ftrong contrail:, in fhape and colour, to the
Scotch firs. — His eye, which had been ufed
to fee even the natural groups of trees in
improved places made as feparate and
clump -like as poffible, would be (hocked to
fee thofe of Claude, fome with their ftems
half concealed by buflies and thickets;
others ftanding alone, but, by means of
thofe thickets, or of detached trees, con-
nected with other groups of various fizes

* As fome difputes have arifen about the meaning of

the word clump, it may not be improper to define what

I mean by it. My idea of a clump, in contra-diftinclion

to a group, is, any clofe mafs of trees of the fame age and

growth, totally detached from all others, I have generally

fuppofed them to be of a round, or at leaft of a regular

form : their fize of courfe muft vary, and no rule can well

be given when fuch a detached mafs ceafes to be a clump,

and may be called a plantation.

and

[ 21 ] •

and fhapes. All this rubbiih mufl be clear-
ed away*, the ground made every where
quite fmooth and level, and each group left
upon the grafs perfectly diftindt and fepa-
rate. — Having been accuftomed to whiten
all diftant buildings, thofe of Claude, from
the effect of his foft vapoury atmofphere,
would appear to him too indiftin&j the
painter of courfe would be ordered to give
them a fmarter appearance, which might
poffibly be communicated to the nearer
buildings alfo. — Few modern houfes or or-
namental buildings are fo placed among
trees, and partially hid by them, as to con-
ceal much of the Hull of the architect, or the
expence of the porTeffor; but in Claude, not
only ruins, but temples and palaces, are often

* I do not mean by this, that nothing mould-be cleared;
on the contrary, a proper degree and ftyle of clearing adds
as much to beauty and effect as it does to neatnefs. But
of this I fhall fay more hereafter,

C3 &

I «* 3

fo mixed with trees, that the tops over-
hang their baluftrades, and the luxuriant
branches fhoot between the openings of
their magnificent columns and porticos : as
he would not fuffer his own buildings to be
fo mafked, neither would he thofe of Claude^
and thefe luxuriant boughs, and all that ob^-
ftrufted a full view of them, the painter
would be told to expunge, and carefully to
reftore the ornaments they had hid. — Thq
laft finifhing both to places and pictures i$
water: in Claude it partakes of the general
foftnefs and drefTed appearance of his fcenes,
and the accompaniments have, perhaps, lef§
of rudenefs than in any other mafter* ; yet^

compared

* One of my countrymen at Rome was obferving tha{
the water in the Colonna Claude had rather too drefled
and artificial an appearance. A Frenchman, who was
alfo looking at the picture, cried out, " Cependant, Mon-
fieur, on pourroit y donner une fi belle fete !" Thi&
was very chara&eriftic of that gay nation, but it is equally

fQ

[ 23 ]

compared with thofe of a piece of made
water, or of an improved river, his banks
are perfectly favage ; parts of them covered
with trees and buihes that hang over the
water ; and near the edge of it tuffucks
of rufhes, large ftones, and ftumps ; the
ground fometimes fmooth, fometimes bro-
ken and abrupt, and feldom keeping, for a
long fpace, the fame level from the water :
no curves that anfwer each other j no re-
femblance, in fhort, to what he had been
wfed to admire : a few ftrokes of the paint-
er's brufh would reduce the bank on each
fide to one level, to one green j would make
curve anfwer curve, without bufh or tree
to hinder the eye from enjoying the uni^
form fmoothnefs and verdure, and from
purfuing, without interruption, the conti-

fo of a number of Claude's pictures. They have an air
defete beyond all others ; and there is no painter whofe
works ought to be fo much ftudied for highly drefled
yet varied nature.

C 4 nueel

C H 1

nued fweep of thefe Terpentine lines ;— *&
little cleaning and polifhing of the fore-
ground would give the laft touches of im-
provement, and complete the picture.

There is not a perfon in the fmalleft de-
gree converfant with painting, who would
Dot, at the fame time, be fhocked and di-
verted at the black fpots and the white
fpots,-the naked water,-the naked build-
jngs,*-the fcattered unconnected groups of
trees, and all the grofs and glaring viola-,
tions of every principle of the art ; and yet
this, without any exaggeration, is the me-
thod in which many fcenes, worthy of
Claude's pencil, have been improved. Is
it then poffible to imagine that the beau-
ties of imitation fhould be fo diftinct from
thofe pf reality, nay, fo completely at va-
riance, that what difgraces and makes a
piftuje ridiculous, fhould become orna-?
mental when applied to nature ?

CHAP.

I 25 ]

CHAPTER II,

T T Teems to me, that the negled, which
* prevails in the works of modern im-
provers, of all that is pidturefque, is ow-
ing to their exclufive attention to high
polifh and flowing lines, the charms of
which they are {o engaged in contem-
plating, as to make them overlook two
of the moft fruitful fources of human
pleafure ; the firft, -that great and uni~
verfal fource of pleafure, variety, whofe
power is independent of beauty, but with-
out which even beauty itfelf foon ceafes
to pleafe ; the other, intricacy, a quality
which, though diftind from variety, is fo
^ connected

r ** ]

connected and blended with it, that the
one can hardly exift without the other.

According to the idea I have formed of
it, intricacy in landfcape might be defined,
that difpojition of objects which , by a par-
tial and uncertain concealment, excites and
nourijhes curiojity *« Variety can hardly
require a definition, though, from the prac-
tice of many layers-out of ground, one
might fuppofe it did. Upon the whole,
it appears to me, that as intricacy in the
difpoiition, and variety in the forms, the

* Many perfons, who take little concern in the in-
tricacy of oaks, beeches, and thorns, may feel the effects
of partial concealment in more interefting objects, and
may have experienced how differently the paffions are
moved by an open licentious difplay of beauties, and by
the unguarded diforder which fometimes efcapes the care
©f modefty, and which coquetry fo fuccefsfully imitates :

Parte appar delle mamme acerbe & crude,
Parte altrui ne ricuopre invida vefte ;
Invida fi, ma fe agli occhi il varco chiude,
I/amorofo penfier gia non s'arrefta.

tints,

I 27 I

tints, and the lights and fhadows of ob-
jects, are the great characteristics of pic-
turefque fceneryj fo monotony and bald-
nefs are the greateft defeats of improved
places.

Nothing would place this in fo diftindt
a point of view as a comparifon between
fome familiar fcene in its natural and pic*
turefque, and in what would be its im-
proved ftate, according to the prefent prin-
ciples of gardening. All painters, who
have imitated the more confined fcenes of
nature, have been fond of making ftudies
from old negle&ed bye roads and hollow
ways ; and, perhaps, there are few fpots
that, in fo fmall a compafs, have a greater
variety of that fort of beauty called pic-
turefque -, but, I believe, the inftances are
very rare of painters, who have turned out
volunteers into a gentleman's walk or drive,
either when made between artificial banks,

or

[ 28 ]

or when the natural fides or banks have
been improved. I fhall endeavour to ex-
amine whence it happens, that a pidtu-
.refque eye looks coldly on what is very
generally admired, and difcovers a thou-
fand interefting objects where a common
eye fees nothing but ruts and rubbifh ; and
whether the pleafure of the one, and the
Indifference of the other, arife from the
cauies I have affigned.

Perhaps, what is mod immediately ftrik-
ing in a lane of this kind is its intricacy ;
any winding road, indeed (efpecially where
there are banks) muft neceffarily have fome
degree of intricacy; but in a dreffed lane
every effort of art feems diredled againft
that difpofition of the ground : the fides
are fo regularly Hoped, fo regularly plant-
ed, and the fpace (when there is any) be-
tween them and the road fo uniformly le-
velled ; the fweeps of the road fo plainly

artificial,

• . [ 29 I

artificial, the verges of grafs that bound it
fo; nicely edged; the whole, in fhort, has
fuch an appearance of having been made
by a receipt, that curiofity, that moll: ac-
tive principle of pleafure, is almofl extin-
guifhed.

But in thefe hollow lanes and bye roads
all the leading features, and a thoufand
circumftances of detail, promote the natu-
ral intricacy of the ground ; the turns
are fudden and unprepared ; the banks
fometimes broken and abrupt; fometimes
fmooth, and gently but not uniformly flop-*
ing; now wildly over-hung with thick-
ets of trees and bufhes ; now loofely {kittl-
ed with wood ; no regular verge of grafs,
no cut edges, no diftinft: lines of feparation;
all is mixed and blended together, and the
border f of the road itfelf, lhaped by the

mere

* It may be obferved, that whenever a border, or fuch
a feparation of the general covering of the furface (whe-
ther

t 30 1

mere tread of paffengers and animals, is as
tmconftraiiied as the footfteps that formed
it: even the tracks of the wheels (for no cir-
cumftance is indifferent) contribute to the
pifturefque effeft of the whole ; the lines
they defcribe are full of variety ; they juft
mark the way among trees and bufhes, while
any obftacle, a clufter of low thorns, a
furze-bufh, a tuifuck, a large ftone, will
force the wheels into fudden and intricate
turns, at the fame time thofe obftacles
themfelves, either wholly or partially con-
cealing the former tracks, add to that variety
and intricacy ; often a group of trees, or a

ther grafs, mofs, heath, &c.) as difcovers the foil, is
formed by the action of water, of froft, or by the tread
of animals, it is free from that edginefs, that cutting
liny appearance, the fpade always leaves, and which of
all things is moft deftru£tive of variety and intricacy :
this, I think, accounts for the attachment of painters to
What is called broken ground, and to the natural banks
of rivers, as well as for their contempt for thofe of ar-
tificial water,

thicket,

f

I 31 1

thicket, will occafion the road to feparate
In two parts, leaving a fort of ifland in the
middle *, and of thefe and numberlefs other
accidents painters have continually availed
themfelves.

* In the Abbe de Lille's exquifite poem on gardens,
(which I had not read when I publifhed my eflay, but
which I have hardly ceafed to read fince I had it in my
pofleflion) there are fome lines that very beautifully de-
scribe, or rather indicate the fame circumftance in the
feparation of a brook : I am tempted to tranferibe part of
the paflage, as it affords a very happy example how much
the motion, the tranfparency, and the various charms
of water, add life and animation to a fcene comparatively
dead.

Plus loin il fe fepare en deux ruiffeaux agiles ;

Que fe fuivant Tun l'autre avec rapidite,

Difputent de vitefle, & de limpidite.

The whole pafTage is excellent, and the poem alto-
gether full of the jufteft tafle, and theniceft difcrimina-
tions, as well as the moll brilliant imagery, and the'
whole expreiTed in the happieft, and moft poetical ftyle*
I mould have thought myklf very - ungrateful, if in 3
fecond edition I had not acknowledged the very great
pleafure and inftruction I had received from it, and
added my teftimony to that I believe of every other reader,

la

C 32 ]

In forefts particularly, it is inconceiva*'
ble how much the various routes in all di-
rections, through the wild thickets, and
among the trunks of old trees, add to the
intricacy and perplexed appearance of the
fceneryj an effed: that would be totally
deftroyed if the tracks were all fmoothed
and made level, and a gravel road, with
eaiy fweeps, made in their room.

It is a lingular circumftance, that fome
of the moft ftriking varieties of form, of
colour, and of light and fhade, fhould, in
thefe, as in many other fcenes, be owing
to the indifcriminate hacking of the peafant,
nay, to the very decay that is occafioned
by it. When oppofed to the tamenefs of
the poor pinioned trees of a gentleman's
plantation drawn up ftrait and even toge-
ther, there is often a fort of fpirit and
jmimation in the manner in which old neg~
h &ed pollards ftretch out their immenfe

limbs

t 33 3

limbs quite acrofs one of thefe hollow
roads, and in every wild and irregular
direction : on fome the large knots and
protuberances add to the ruggednefs of
their twifled trunks ; in others, the deep
hollow of the infide, the moffes on the
bark, the rich yellow of the touch-wood,
with the blacknefs of the more decayed
fubftance, afford fuch variety of tints,
of brilliant and mellow lights, with deep
and peculiar fhades, as the finefl: timber
tree (however beautiful in other refpects)
With all its health and vigour, cannot exhibit.

This carelefs method of cutting, jufl as
the farmer happened to want a few flakes
or poles, gives infinite variety to the gene-
ral outline of the banks : near to one of
thefe " unwedgeable and gnarled oaks'*,
often rifes the flender elegant form of a
young beech, afh, or birch, that had
efcaped the axe, and whofe tender bark and

Vol. I. D light

C 34 ]

light foliage appear, ftill more delicate and
airy when feen fidev/ays againft the rough
bark and maffy head of the oak, Some-
times it rifes alone from the bank ; fome-
times from amidft a duller of rich hollies
or wild junipers | fometimes its light and
upright ftem is embraced by the projecting
cedar-like boughs of the yew.

The ground itfelf, in thefe lanes, is as
much varied in form, tint, and light and
made, as the plants that grow upon it;
this, as ufual, inftead of owing any thing
to art, is, on the contrary, occafioned by
accident and neglecl: *. The winter tor-
rents,

* The manner in which improvers may profit by the
lucky efFe6ts of accident and neglecl: (for I do not mean
to fay that they are always lucky) is fully difcuiTed in my
letter to Mr. Repton. The principle, which is here ex-
emplified in trees and hollow lanes, extends to objects
of much greater importance, to every fpecies of improve-
ment, even to the higheft and moft important of all, that
of government. Neither improvers nor legislators will

leave

[ 35 1

rents, in fome places warn down the mould
from the upper grounds, and form pro-
jections of various fhapes, which, from the
fatnefs of the foil, are generally enriched
with the moil luxuriant vegetation; in
other parts, they tear the banks into deep
hollows, difcovering the different * ftrata
of earth, and the maggy roots of trees;
thefe hollows are frequently overgrown with
wild rofes, with honeyfuckles, periwincles,

leave every thing to neglect and accident ; but it certainly
is wife in both, by carefully obferving all the effects
which have arifen from them, to learn how to take ad-
vantage of future changes, and, above all, to iearn that
moft ufeful leflbn, not to fupprefs the workings of nature,
but to watch, and take indications from them j for who
would choofe to fettle in that place, or under that go-
vernment, where the warnings, indications, and all the
free efforts of nature, were forcibly counteracted and
fuppreffed.

* Mr. Gilpin, in his Obfervations on the River Wye
(page 21.) has, with his ufual accuracy, defcribed the
variety of broken ground, and of the colours of the dif-
ferent ftrata,

D 2 and

r 36 i

and other trailing plants, whofe flowers
and pendent branches have quite a different
effect when hanging loofely over one of
thefe receffes, oppofed to its deep made,
and mixed with the fantaflic roots of trees,
and the varied tints of the foil, from thofe
that are cut into borne s, or crawl along
the uniform Hope of a mowed or dug fhrub-
bery. - In the fummer time thefe little
caverns afford a cool retreat for the fheep;
and it is difficult to imagine a more beauti-
ful fore-ground than is formed by the dif-
ferent groups of them in one of thefe lanes 1
fome feeding on the patches of turf that in
the wider parts lye between the fern and
the bufhes; fome lying in the niches they
have worn in the banks among the roots of
trees, and to which they have made many
fide-long paths ; fome repofing in thefe
deep receffes, their bowers,

O'er-canopied with lufcious eglantine.

Near

I 37 ]

Near the houfe pidhirefque beauty muft,
in many cafes, be facrificed to neatnefs j but
it is a facrifice, and one which fhould not
wantonly be made. A gravel walk cannot
have the playful variety of a bye road ; there
muft be a border to the gravel, and that
and the fweeps muft, in great meafure, be
regular, and confequently formal : I am
convinced, however, that many of the cir-
cumftances, which give variety and fpirit
to a wild fpot, might be fuccefsfully imi-
tated in a dreffed place; but it muft be
done by attending to the principles, not by
copying the particulars. It is not necef-
fary to model a gravel walk, or drive after
a iheep track or a cart rut, though very
ufeful hints may be taken from them both ;
and without having water-docks or thiftles
before one's door, their effecT:, in a painter's
fore-ground, may be produced by plants
that are confidered as ornamental. I am
D 3 equally

C 38 )

equally perfuaded that a dreffed appearance
might be given to one of thefe lanes, with-
out deftroying its peculiar and charadteriftic
beauties.

I have faid little of the fuperior variety
and effedt. of light and fhade in fcenes of this
kind, as they of courfe muft follow variety
of forms and of maffes, and intricacy of dif-
pofition : I wiflied to avoid all detail that
did not appear to me necelfary to explain
or illuftrate fome general principles ; but
when general principles are put crudely
without examples, they not only are dry,
but obfcure, and make no irnpreffion.

There are feveral ways in which a fpot
of this kind, near a gentleman's place,
would probably be improved ; for even in
the monotony of what is called improve-
ment there is a variety of bad. Some, per-
haps, would cut down the old pollards,
clear the rubbifb, and leave only the maiden

trees

[ 39 1

trees ftanding ; fome might plant up the
•whole; others grub up every thing, and
make a fhrubbery on each fide -, others put
clumps of fhrubs, or of firs ; but there is
one improvement that I am afraid almofi:
all who had not been ufed to look at ob-
jects with a painter's eye would adopt, and
which alone would entirely deftroy its
character -, that is fmoothing and * level-
ling

* Toleve], in a very ufual fenfe of the word, 'means
-to take away all difti nations ; a principle that, when
made general, and brought into action by any deter-
mined improver, either of grounds or governments, oc-
cafions fuch mifchiefs as time flowly, if ever, repairs,
and. which are hardly more dreaded by monarchs than
painters.

A good landfcape is that in which all the parts are
free and unconftrained, but in which, though fome are
prominent and highly illuminated, and others in fhade
and retirement ; fome rough, and others more fmooth
and poiifhed, yet they are all necefFary to the beauty,
energy, efre£r, and harmony of the whole. I do not fee
how a good government can be more exactly defined ;
and as this definition fuits every ftyle of landfcape, from
D 4 the

[ 40 ]

ling the ground : the moment this me-
chanical common-place operation (by which
Mr. Brown and his followers have gained
fo much credit) is begun, adieu to all that
the painter admires — to all intricacies — to
all the beautiful varieties of form, tint,
and light and made -y every deep recefs —
every bold projection— the fantaftic roots of
trees — the winding paths of fheep — all mull
go; in a few hours, the rafh hand offalfe
tafte completely demolifhes what time only,
and a thoufand lucky accidents, can mature,
fo as to make it become the admiration
and ftudy of a Ruyfdal or a Gainfborough,
and reduces it to fuch a thing as an Oilman

the plaineft and fimpleft to the moft fplendid and com-
plicated, and excludes nothing but tamenefs and confu-
fion, fo it equally fuits all free governments, and only
excludes anarchy and defpotifm. It muft be always re-
membered however, that defpotifm is the moft complete
leveller ; and he who clears and levels every thing round
his own lofty manfion, feems to me to have very Turkifh
principles of improvement,

4 in

C 41 1

in Thames-ftreet may at any time contract
for by the yard at Iflington or Mile-End.

I had lately an opportunity of obierving
the progrefs of improvement in one lane,
and the effect of it in another, both un-
fortunately bordering on gentlemen's plea-
lure grounds. The firft had on one fide a
high bank full of the beauties I have de-
fcribed ; I was particularly ftruck with a
beech which flood fingle on one part of
it, and with the effect and character that
its fpreading roots gave, both to the bank
and to the tree itfelf * : the iheep alfo had

# There is fomething wonderfully pi£turefque and
characteriftic in the large roots of trees, and in none
more than in thofe of the beech ; they feem to faften
on the earth with their dragon claws ; a huge oak too,
whofe fpurs ftrongly divide from the trunk, mews what
are the rivets that enable him to defy the ternpeft, et
quanta radice ad Tartara tendit.

When thefe roots and fpurs are moulded up, from
that prevailing fafhion of making every thing fmooth
and level, the tree looks like an enormous poft ftuck
in the ground.

made

. [ 42 ]

made their fidelong paths to this fpot, and
often lay in the little compartments be^
tween the roots. One day I found a great
many labourers wheeling mould to this
place ; by degrees they filled up all in-
equalities, and completely covered the
roots and pathways ; one would have fup-
pofed they were working for my Uncle
Toby, under the direction of Corporal
Trim *> for they had converted this varied

bank

* Thefe worthy pioneers, their employment, and
their employers, are very aptly defcribed in two verfes
of Taflb, and especially if the word guaftatori J is takeq
in its raoft obvious fenfe ;

Inanzi i guaftatori avea mandati
Ivuoti luoghi empir', & fpianar gli erti.
This is a moft complete receipt for fpoiling a pictu-
refque fpot ; and one might fuppofe, from this military
ftyle having been fo generally adopted, and every thing
laid open, that our improvers are fearful of an enemy
"being in ambufcade among the bufhes of a gravel pit,
or lurking in fome intricate group of trees. In that
rCfpecT:, it muft be owned, the clump has infinite merit ;

X Spoilers.

for,

[ 43 3

bank into a perfect glacis, only the gazons
were omitted. They had however worked
up the mould they had wheeled into a fort
of a mortar, and had laid it as fmooth from
top to bottom as a mafon could have done .
with his trowel. From the number of
men employed, the quantity of earth
wheeled, and the nicety with which this
operation was performed, I am perfuaded
it was in a great meafure done for the fake
of beauty.

The improved part of the other lane I
never faw in its original itate, but by what
remains untouched, and by the accounts I
heard, it muil have afforded noble ftudies
for a painter. The banks are higher and
the trees are larger than in tlie other lane, and
their branches, ftretching from fide to fide,

" High over arch'd imbower."

for, befides its compact foldier-like appearance, it may
be commanded from every point, and the enemy ealily
4iflodged.

I heard

C 44 J

I heard a vaft deal from the gardener of the
place near it, about the large ugly roots
that appeared above ground, the large holes
the fheep ufed to lie in, and the rubbifh of
all kinds that ufed to grow about them.
The laft poffeffor took care to fill up and
clean, as far as his property went : and that
every thing might look regular, he put, as
a boundary to the road, a row of white
pales at the foot of the bank on each fide
and on that next his houfe he raifed a peat
wall as upright as it could well ftand, by
way of a facing to the old bank, and in the
middle of this peat wall planted a row of
laurels: this row the gardener ufed to
cut quite flat at top, and the cattle, reach-
ing over the pales, and browfing the lower
fhoots within their bite, kept it as even at
bottom, fo that it formed one projecting
lump in the middle, and had juft as pidu-
refque an appearance as a bufhy wig

fqueezed

I 45 J

iqueezed between the hat and the cape.
I mould add, that thefe two fpecimens of
dreffed lanes are not in a diftant county,
but within thirty miles of London, and in
a diftricl: full of expenfive embelliiliments.

I am afraid many of my readers will think
that I have been a long while getting
through thefe lanes, but in them, and in
old quarries, and in chalk and gravel pits that
have been long neglefted, a great deal of
what conftitutes, and what deftroys piftu-
refque beauty, is ftrongly exemplified with-
in a fmall compafs, and in fpots eafily re-
forted to; the caufes too are as clearly
marked, and may be as fuccefsfully ftudied
as where the higher ftyles of it (often mixed
with the fublime) are difplayed among
forefts, rocks, and mountains.

CHAP*

C 46 ]

CHAPTER IIL

^TF^HERE are few words whole meaning
•*• has been lefs accurately determined
than that of the word Picturefque.

In general, I believe, it is applied to
every object, and every kind of fcenery,
which has been, or might be reprefented
with good effect in painting; juft as the
word beautiful (when we fpeak of vifible
nature) is applied to every object, and every
kind of fcenery, that in any Way give
pleafure to the eye; and thefe feem to be
the fignifications of both words, taken in
their moft extended and popular fcnfc. A
more precife and diflincT: idea of beauty has

been

I 47 I

been given in an effay, the early fplendor of
which, not even the full meridian blaze of
its illuftrious author has been able to extin-
guifh : but the pidturefque, confidered as a
feparate character, has never yet been accu-
rately diftinguifhed from the fublime and the
beautiful ; though as no one has ever pre-
tended that it is fynonimous with either (for
it is fometimes ufed in contradiftin€lion to
them both) fuch a diftin&ion mufl exift.

Mr. Gilpin *, from whofe very inge-
nious and extenlive obfervations on this
fubjedt. I have received great pleafure and
inftrudfcion, appears to have adopted this
common acceptation, not merely as fuch,
but as giving an exact and determinate
idea of the word; for he defines pic-

* All the notes, which relate to the difference of opi-
nion between me and Mr. Gilpin, including that on
Pindar's celebrated defcriptian of the eagle, are in the
appendix, page 391.

D 8 turefque

£ 4? 3

turefque objects to be thofe " whieri
H pleafe from fome quality capable of be-
u ing illuftrated in painting f£ or, as he
again defines it in his Letter to Sir Joihui
Reynolds " fuch objects as are proper fub-
«* jects for painting -f" Both thefe defini-
tions feem to me (what may perhaps ap-
pear a contradiction) at once too vague, and
too confined -y for though we are not to
expect any definition to be fo accurate and
comprehenfive, as both to fupply the place,
and ftand the teft of inveftigation, yet if it
does not in fome degree feparate the^ thing
defined from all others, it differs little from
any general truth on the fame fubject. For
inftance, it is very true, that pidturefque
objects do pleafe from fome quality capable
of being illuftrated in painting ; but fo alfd
does every object that is reprefented in

* Efiay on Pi&urefque Beauty, page i*

f End of Effay on Pi&urefque Beauty, page 36.

painting

I 49 3

painting if it pleafes at all, otherwise it
Would not have been painted ; and hence
we ought to conclude (what certainly
is not meant) that all objedts which pleafe
in pi&ures are therefore pidtufefque, for no
diftindtion Of exelufion is made. Were
any other perfon to define pidlurefque ob-
jedts to be thofe which pleafe from fome
ftriking effedt of form* colour, or light and
fhadow,~fuch a definition would indeed
give but a very indiftindt idea of the thing
defined; but, though hardly more vague
than the others, it would be much lefs
confined, for it would not have an exclu*
five reference to art.

I hope to fhew* in the courfe of this
work, that the pidturefque has a character
not lefs feparate &nd diftindi than either
the fublime of the beautiful, nor lefs inde-
pendent of the art of painting. It has in-
deed been pointed out and illuftrated by

Vol. L £ that

[ 5° 3

that art, and is one of its moft ftriking or-
naments ; but has not beauty been pointed
out and illuftrated by that art alfo ; nay, ac-
cording to the poet, brought into exiftence
by it ?

Si Venerem Cous nunquam pofuiffet Apelles
Merfa fub sequoreis ilia lateret aquis.

Examine the forms of thofe painters
who lived before the age of Raphael, or in
a country where the fludy of the antique
(operating as it did at Rome on minds high-
ly prepared for its influence) had not yet
taught them to feparate what is beautiful
from the general niafsj we might almoft
conclude that beauty did not then exift ;
yet thofe painters were capable of exact
imitation, but not of felection. Examine
grandeur of form in the fame manner; look
at the dry, meagre forms of A. Durer (a
.man of genius even in Raphael's estima-
tion) of P. Perugino, A. Mantegna, &c„

and

C m 3

and compare them with thofe of M. An-
gelo and Raphael: Nature was not more
dry and meagre in Germany or Perugia than
at Rome. — Compare the landfcapesand back
grounds of fuch artifts with thofe of Titian ;
Nature was not changed, but a mind of a
higher caft, and inftruded by the expe-
rience of all who had gone before, rejected
minute detail, and pointed out, by means of
fuch feledlions and fuch combinations, as
were congenial to its own fublime concep-
tions, in what forms, in what colours, and
in what effects, grandeur in landfcape con-
lifted. Can it then be doubted but that
grandeur and beauty have been pointed out
and illuftrated by painting as well as pic-
turefquenefs * ? Yet, would it be a juft

* I have ventured to make ufe of this word, which I
believe does not occur in any writer, from what appeared
to me the neceffity of having fome one word to oppofe
to beauty and fublimity, in a work where they are (o
often compared.

E 2 definition

[ 52 ]

definition of fublime or of beautiful objects
to fay, that they were fuch (and, let the
words be taken in their moft liberal con-
struction) as pJeafed from fome quality ca-
pable of being illujlrated in painting, or,
that were proper fubjeffs for that art ?
The ancients, indeed, not only referred
beauty of form to painting, but even beauty
of colour ; and the poet who could defcribe
his miftrefs's complexion, by comparing it
to the tints of Apelles's pictures, muft have
thought that beauty of every kind was
highly illuftrated by the art he referred
to.

The principles of thofe two leading
characters in nature, the fublime and the
beautiful, have been fully illuftrated and
difcriminated by a great mafter; but even
when I firfb read that moil original work,
I felt that there were numberlefs objects
which give great delight to the eye, and

yet

t 53 3

yet differ as widely from the beautiful, as
from the fublime. The reflections I have
fince been led to make, have convinced me
that thefe objefts form a diftinft clafs, and
belong to what may properly be called the
pi&urefque.

That term (as we may judge from its
etymology) is applied only to objedts of
fight, and indeed in fo confined a manner as
to be fuppofed merely to have a reference
to the art from which it is named. I am
well convinced, however, that the name
and reference only, are limited and uncer-
tain, and that the qualities which make
objedts pi&urefque, are not only as diftindt
as thofe which make them beautiful or
fublime, but are equally extended to all our
fenfations, by whatever organs they are re-
ceived ; and that mufic (though it appears
like a folecifm) may be as truly piftu-
jrefque, according to the general principles

E 3 of

[ 54 3

of pidturefquenefs, as it may be beautiful
or fublime, according to thofe of beauty or
fublirnity.

But there is one circumftance particu-
larly adverfe to this part of my eflay; I
mean the manifeft derivation of the word
pifturefque. The Italian pittorefco is, I
imagine, of earlier date than either the Eng-
lifh or the French word, the latter of which,
pittorefque, is clearly taken from it, having,
no analogy to its own tongue. Pittorefco is
derived, not like the Engliih word, from
the thing painted, but from the painter;
and this difference is not wholly immate-
rial; for the one refers to a particular imi-
tation, and the obje&s, which may fuit it ;
the other to thofe objedls, which, from the
habit of examining all the peculiar efFedts, as
well as the general appearance of nature, an
artift may be ftruck with, though a common
obferver may not ; and that independently

of

[ 55 3

of the power of reprefenting them. The
Englifh word naturally draws the reader's
mind towards pictures, and from that par-
tial and confined view of the fubjedt, what
is in truth only an illuftration of pi&u-
refquenefs, becomes the foundation of it.
The words fublime and beautiful have not
the fame etymological reference to any one
vifible art, and therefore are applied to ob-
jects of the other fenfes : fublime indeed, in
the language from which it is taken, and in
its plain fenfe, means high, and therefore,
perhaps, in flrictnefs, fhould relate to objects
of fight only ; yet we no more fcruple to
call one of Handel's choruffes fublime,
Corelli's famous pajiorak beautiful; but
fhould any perfon fimply, and without
any qualifying expreffions, call a capricious
movement of Scarlatti or Haydn pi$urefque9
he would, with great reafon, be laughed at,
for it is not a term applied to founds j yet
£ 4 fuch

[ 5* 1

fuch a movement, from its fudden, unex~
pected, and abrupt tranfitions,— from a cer-
tain playful wildnefs of character, and an ap-
pearance of irregularity, is no lefs analogous
to fimilar fcenery in nature, than the con-
certo, or the chorus, to what is grand, pr
beautiful to the eye.

There is, indeed, a general harmony and
correfpondence in all our fenfations when
they arife from fimilar caufes, though they
affect us by means of different fenfes -, and
thefe caufes (as Mr, Burke has admirably
explained*) can never be fo clearly afcer-
tained when we confine our obfervations
to one {qr{c only,

J rymft here obferve (and I wifh the
reader to keep it in his mind) that the en-
quiry is not in what fenfe certain words
$re ufed in the beft author?, ftill lefs what

* Sublime and Beautiful? [page 236.

[ 57 I

is their common, and vulgar ufe, and abufe ;
but whether there are certain qualities
which uniformy produce the fame effects
in all vifible objects, and, according to the
lame analogy, in objects of hearing, and of
all the other fenfes ; and which qualities
(though frequently blended and united with
others in the fame object or fet of objects)
may be feparated from them, and affigned
to the clafs to which they belong.

If it can be fliewn that a character com-
pofed of thefe qualities, and diftindl from
all others, does prevail through all nature, — if
it can be traced in the different obje&s of
art and of nature, and appears confident
throughout, — it furely deferves a diflindt
title ; but with refped to the real ground
of enquiry, it matters little whether fuch
a chara&er, or the fet of objects belonging
to it, be called beautiful, fublime, or pi&u-

refque,

C 5§ J

refqne, or by any other name, or by no
name at all.

Beauty is fo much the molt enchant-
ing and popular quality, that it is' often
applied as the higher! commendation to
whatever gives us pleaiure, or raifes our
admiration, be the caufe what it will, Mr.
Burke has pointed out many inftances of
thefe ill-judged applications, and of the
confufion of ideas which refult from themi
but there is nothing more ill-judged, or
more likely to create confufion (if we agree
with Mr. Burke in his idea of beauty) than
the joining it to the word picturefque, and
calling the character 'by the title of Pic-
turefque Beauty,

I rnuft obferve, however, that I by no
means object to the expreffion itfelf, I
only object to it as a general term for the
character, and as comprehending every kind

of

[ 59 ]

of fcenery, and every fet of objeds which
look well in a picture : That is the fenfe
(as far as I have obferved) in which it is
very commonly ufed, and, confequently,
an old hovel, an old cart horfe, or an old
woman, are often, in that fenfe, full of pic-
turefque 'beauty, and certainly the vapplica~
tion of the laft term to fuch objects muft
tend to confufe our ideas ; but were the
expreffion reftrained to thofe objects only
in which the picturefque and the beau-
tiful are mixed together, and fo mixed>
that the refult, according to common
apprehenfion, is beautiful ; and were it
never ufed when the pidurefque (as it no
lefs frequently happens) is mixed folely
with what is terrible, ugly, or deformed,
I mould highly approve of the expreffion,
#nd wifh for more diftindtions of the fame
kind.

In reality, the pidturefque not only dif-
* fers

[ 6o ]

fers from the beautiful in thofe qualities
which Mr. Burke has fo juftly afcribed to
it, but arifes from qualities the moft dia-
metrically oppofite.

According to Mr. Burke, one of the
moft effential qualities of beauty is fmooth-
nefs ; now as the perfection of fmooth-
nefs is abfolute equality and uniformity of
furface, wherever that prevails there can
be but little variety or intricacy ; as, for
inftance, in fmooth level banks, on a fmall,
or in naked downs, on a large fcale. An-
other effential quality of beauty is gradual
variation; that is (to make ufe of Mr.
Burke's expreffion) where the lines do not
vary in a fudden and broken manner, and
where there is no fudden protuberance :
It requires but little reflection to perceive,
that the exclufion of all but flowing lines
cannot promote variety ; and that fudden
protuberances, and lines that crofs each

other

[ 6i ]

ether in a fudden and broken manner,
are among the moll fruitful caufes of in-
tricacy.

I am therefore perfuaded, that the two
oppofite qualities of roughnefs *, and of
fudden variation, joined to that of irregu-
larity, are the moft efficient caufes of the
pi&urefque.

This, I think, will appear very clearly,
if we take a view of thofe objedls, both
natural and artificial, that are allowed to
be pidturefque, and compare them with
thofe which are as generally allowed to be
beautiful.

* I have followed Mr. Gilpin's example in uflng;
roughnefs as a general term ; he obferves, however, that,
*c properly fpeaking, roughnefs relates only to xhsfurface
of bodies 5 and that when we fpeak of their delineation
we ufe the word ruggednefs." In making roughnefs (in
this general fenfe) a very principal diftin&ion between
the beautiful and the pi&urefque, I believe I am fup»
ported by the general opinion of ail who have confldere4
the fubjedr, as well as by Mr. Gilpin's authority.

A temple

E * 3

A temple or palace of Grecian archi-
tecture in its perfect entire ftate, and with its
furface and colour fmooth and even, either
in painting or reality, is beautiful ; in ruin
it is picturefque. Obferve the procefs
by which time (the great author of fuch
changes) converts a beautiful objecl: into
a picturefque one. Firft, by means of
Weather ftains, partial incruftations, mof-
fes, &c. it at the fame time takes off from
the uniformity of its furface, and of its co*
lour; that is, gives it a degree of rough-
nefs, and variety of tint. Next, the va-
rious accidents of weather loofen the ftones
themfelves ; they tumble in irregular maf-
fes upon what was perhaps fmooth turf or
pavement, or nicely trimmed walks and
fhrubberies; now mixed and overgrown
with wild plants and creepers, that crawl
over, and fhoot among the fallen ruins.
Sedums, wall-flowers, and other vegetables

that

[ H ]

that bear drought, find nouriiliment m the
decayed cement from which the Hones
have been detached : Birds convey their
food into the chinks, and yew, elder, and
other berried plants project from the fides ;
while the ivy mantles over other parts,
and crowns the top. The even regular
lines of the doors and windows are broken,
and, through their ivy-fringed openings is
difplayed, in a more broken and picturefque
manner, that finking image in Virgil :

Apparet domus intus, & atria longa patefcunt 5
Apparent Priami & veterum penetralia reguou

Gothic architecture is generally confidered
as more picturefque, though lefs beautiful,
than Grecian, and, upon the fame princi-
ple that a ruin is more fo than a new edi-
fice. The firft thing that ftrikes the eye
in approaching any building is the general
outline againft the fky (or whatever it may
be oppofed to) and the effect of the open-
ings : • in Grecian buildings the general

lines

t 64 1

lines of the roof are ftrait, and even whetl
varied and adorned by a dome or a pedi-
ment, the whole has a character of fymme-
try and regularity.

Symmetry, which in works of art parti-
cularly, accords with the beautiful, is in
the fame degree adverfe to the pkfturefque,
and among the various caufes of the fuperior
picturefquenefs of ruins, compared with
entire buildings, the definition of fymme-
fry is by no means the leaft powerful.

In Gothic buildings, the outline of the
fummit prefents fuch a variety of forms, of
turrets and pinnacles, fome open, fome
fretted and varioufly enriched, that even
where there is an exact correfpondence of
parts, it is often difguifed by an appearance
of fplendid confufion and irregularity *. In

* There is a line in Dryden's Palamon and Arcitet
which might be interpreted according to this idea, though
I do not fuppofe he intended to convey any fuch mean-
ing:

" And ail appeared irregularly great.'*

the

the doors and windows of Gothic churches,
the pointed arch has as much variety as any
regular figure can well have ; the eye too is
not fo ilrongly conduced from the top of
the one, to that of the other, as by the pa-
rallel lines of the Grecian ; and every per-
fon muft be flruck with the extreme rich-
nefs. and intricacy, of fome of the principal
windows of our cathedrals and ruined ab-
beys. In thefe laft is difplayed the triumph
of the pidturefque ; and its charms to a
painter's eye are often fo great as to rival
thofe of beauty itfelf *.

Some people may, perhaps, be unwilling

* I hope it will not be fuppofed, that by admiring the
picturefque circumfiances of the Gothic, I mean to un-
dervalue the fymmetry and beauty of Grecian buildings ;
whatever comes to us from the Greeks, has an irrefiftible
claim to our admiration ; that diftinguifhed people
feized on the true points both of beauty and grandeur in
all the arts, and their architecture has juftly obtained the
fame high pre-eminence, as their fculpture, poetry, ani
eloquence.

Vol. I. F to

[ 66 ]

to allow, that in ruins of Grecian and
Gothic architecture, any confiderable part
of the fpe&ator's pleafure arifes from the
pifturefque circumftances, and may choofe
to attribute the whole, to what may juftly
claim a great (hare in that pleafure — the
elegance or grandeur of their forms — the
veneration of high antiquity — or the folem-
nity of religious awe; in a word, to the
mixture of the two other characters : but
were this true, yet there are many build-
ings, highly interefting to all who have
united the ftudy of art with that of nature,
in which beauty and grandeur are equally
out of the queftion ; fuch as hovels, cot-
tages, mills, ragged infides of old barns and
ftables, &c. whenever they have any mark-
ed and peculiar efFedt, of form, tint, or light
and fhadow. In mills particularly, fuch is
the extreme intricacy of the wheels and the
wood work y fuch the Angular variety of

forms,

[ 67 ]

forms, and of lights and fhadows, of moffes
and weather flains from the conftant moif-
ture; of plants fpringing from the rough
joints of the ftones ; fuch the affemblage of
every thing which moft conduces to pidlu-
refquenefs, that even without the addition
of water, an old mill has the greateft charm
for a painter.

It is owing to the fame caufes that a
building with fcafFolding has often a more
picturefque appearance, than the building
itfelf, when the fcafFolding is taken away—
that old, moffy, rough- hewn park pales of
unequal heights, are an ornament to land-
fcape, efpecially when they are partially
concealed by thickets ; while a neat poft
and rail, regularly continued round a field,
and feen without any interruption, is one
of the moll unpiclurefque, as being one of
the moft uniformof all boundaries.

But among all the objects of nature,
F 2 there

[ 68 I

there is none in which roughnefs and
ftnoothnefs more ftrongly mark the dif-
tin&ion between the two characters, than
in water. A calm, clear lake, with the re-
flections of all that furrounds it, feen under
the influence of a fetting fun, at the clofe
of an evening clear and ferene as its own
furface, is, perhaps, of all fcenes, the moft
congenial to our ideas of beauty in its
ftricieft and in its moft general fenfe.

Nay, though the fcenery around ihouTd
be the moft wild and pi&urefque (I might
almoft fay the moft favage) every thing is
fo foftened and melted together by the re-
flection of fuch a mirror, that the prevail-
ing idea, even then, might poffibly be that
of beauty, fo long as the water itfelf was
chiefly regarded. On the other hand, all
water whofe furface is broken,, and whofe
motion is abrupt and irregular, as univer-
fally accords with our ideas of the pie-

turefque ^

E 69 3

turefque ; and whenever the word is men-
tioned, rapid and ftony torrents and cata-
racts, and the waves dafhing againM; rocks,
are among the firft images that prefent
themfelves to our imagination. The two
charafters alfo approach and balance each
other, as roughnefs or fmoothnefs, as gentle
undulation or abruptness prevail.

Among trees, it is not the fmooth young
beech, or the frefli and tender afh *, but the

* As the young am (though at any age by no means
a popular tree) is a favourite with painters, it muft feem
inconfiftent to thofe who refer the term to art only, that
I mould deny it to be picture fque. But as I have before
remarked, if all the objects which painters have been
fond of reprefenting were therefore to be called pi£tu^
refque, it would be a term of little diftindlion. The
young aih has every principle of beauty; frefhnefs and
delicacy of foliage, fmoothnefs of bark, elegance of form;
nor am I furprifed that Virgil, whofe poetry has fo much
of thofe qualities, mould call the am the mod beautiful tree
in the woods; but when its own leaves are changed to the
autumnal tint, and when contrafted with ruder or more
maffive (hapes or colours, it becomes part of a pi&urefque
circumfrance, without changing its own nature.

F I rugged

C 7° ]

rugged old oak, or knotty wych elm, that
are picturefque ; nor is it neceffary they
fhould be of great balk; it is fufficient if
they are rough, moffy, with a character of
age, and with fudden variations in their
forms. The limbs of huge trees, /batter-
ed by lightning or tempeftuous winds, are
in the higheft degree picturefque ; but
whatever is caufed by thofe dreaded powers
of destruction , mu ft always have a tincture
of the fublime *.

If

* There is a fiaiile in Ariofto, in which the two cha-
racters are finely united:

Quale flordito, et itupido aratore,
Poi ch'e paflato il fulmine j fi leva
Di la, dove l'altiffimo fragore
Preflb agli uccifi buoi ftefo l'aveva;
Che mira fenfa fronde, et fenza onore
II Pin che da lontan vedar foleva
Tal fi levo'l Pagano.

Milton feems to have thought of this fimile ; but the
fublimity both of his fubjecl:, and of his own genius, made
fiim reject thofe picturefque circumftances,whofe variety,

while

[ 7i ]

If we next take a view of thofe ani-
mals that are called pidhirefque, the fame
qualities will be found to prevail. The afs
is eminently lb, much more than the horfe j
and among horfes, it is the wild forefter
with his rough coat, his mane and tail rag-
ged and uneven, or the worn-out cart-horfe
with his ftaring bones. The fleek, pam-
pered fteed, with his high arched creft,
and flowing mane, is frequently repre-
fented in painting, but his prevailing cha-
racter whether there, or in reality, is that
of beauty.

Among dogs, the Pomeranian and the
rough water-dog, are more picturefque than
the fmooth fpaniel, or greyhound; the

while it amufes, diftrac"ts the mind, and has kept it fixed
on a few grand and awful images :

As when heaven's fire
Has fcath'd the foreft oaks, or mountain pines,
With finged top their flately growth tho' bare
Stands on the Mailed heath.

F 4 &aggy

[ 7* 3

flhaggygoat than the fheep; and thefe iaft are
more fo when their fleeces are ragged, and
worn away in parts, than when they are of
equal thicknefs, or when they have lately
been (horn. No animal indeed is fo conflant-
ly introduced in landfcape as the fheep, but
that (as I obferved before) does not prove
fuperior picturefquenefs ; and I imagine,
that befides their innocent character (fo flut-
ed to paftoral icenes, of which they are the
natural inhabitants) it arifes from their being
df a tint at once brilliant and mellow, and
which unites happily with all objects; and
alfo from their producing broader mafles of
light and fhadow than any other animal.
The reverfe of this is true with regard to
deer ; their wild, appearance, their lively
adion, their fudden bounds, the intricacy
of their branching horns, are circumftances
highly picturefque ; their effect in groups
is apt to be meagre and fpotty.

Am ong

[ 73 1

Among lavage animals, the lion with
Lis fhaggy mane is much more pictu-
refque than the lionefs, though fhe is
equally an object of terror.

The effect of fmpothnefs or roughnefs,
in producing the beautiful or the pictu-
refque, is again clearly exemplified in birds.
Nothing is more ftrictly beautiful, or more
happily conveys that idea, than their plu-
mage when fmooth and undifturbed — when
the eye glides over it without interruption.
Nothing, on the other hand, has a more
picturefque effect than feathers, when they
are placed as detached ornaments, or when
in their natural ftate they are ruffled by any
accidental circumftance — by any fudden
paffion in the animal — or when they appear
fo from their natural arrangement. As all
the effects of paffion and of ftrong emotion
on the human figure and countenance are
picturefque, fuch likewife aire their effects

on

[ 74 ]

on the plumage of birds; when inflamed
with anger, or with defire, the firft fymp-
toms appear in their ruffled plumage *.
The game cock, when he attacks his rival,
raifes the feathers of his neck, the purple
pheafant his creft, and the peacock, when
he feels the return of fpring, fhews his
paffion in the fame manner,

And every feather fhivers with delight.

Many birds have received from nature

* In all animals the fame caufes produce the fame
kind of efFecT:. The briftles of the wild boar, the quills
on the fretful porcupine, are fuddenly raifed by fudden
emotions; and it is curious to obferve how all that dis-
turbs inward calm, creates a correfpondent roughnefs
without.

The firft fymptoms of the interruption of that flate of
the mind, which fo well anfwers to the beautiful, is an
interruption of outward fmoothnefs. In man, when
inflamed with anger, the eye-brows are contracted, the
fkin wrinkled -, and the moft terrible of animals {hews
the fame picturefque marks of rage and fiercenefs.

JlaV fo T ETSrUTHimOV HWTOi bjCEjai OCTJB KaKV7TTW.

the

t 75 3

the fame picturefque appearance as in
others happens only accidentally : fuch are
the birds whofe heads and necks are adorn-
ed with ruffs, with crefts, and with tufts of
plumes; not lying fmcothly over each other
as thofe of the back, but loofely and irre-
gularly difpofed. Thefe are, perhaps, the
moft finking and attractive of all birds (and
it is the fame in all other objeds) as hav-
ing that degree of roughnefs and irregula-
rity, which gives a fpirit to fmoothnefs and
fymmetry; and as thefe laft qualities pre-
vail, the refult of the whole is juftly called
beautiful.

Birds of prey have generally more of the
pi&urefque, from the angular form of their
beaks, the rough feathers on their legs,
their crooked talons, their colour (on which
I fhall fay more hereafter) as alfo from
their action and energy 5 all this counter-
balances the general fmoothnefs of the plu-
mage

C 76 3

mage on their backs and wings, which
they have in common with the reft of the
feathered creation. Laftly, among our
own fpecies, beggars, gypfies, and all fuch
rough tattered figures as are merely pic-
turefque, bear a clofe analogy, in all the
qualities that make them fo, to old hovels
•and mills, to the wild fore ft horfe, and
other objects of the fame kind.

More dignified characters, fuch as a Be-
lifarius — a Marius in age and exile % haT*e
the fame mixture of picturefquenefs, and
of decayed grandeur, as the venerable re-
mains of the magnificence of paft ages,

If we afcend to the higheft order of
created beings, as painted by the grandeft
of our poets, they, in their ftate of glory

* The noble picture of Salvator Rofa, at Lord
Townfend's, which in the print is called Belifarius, has
been thought to be a Marius among the ruins of
Cartilage.

an$

L 77 1

and happinefs, raife chiefly ideas of beauty

and fublimity : like earthly objefts, they

become piclurefque when * ruined — when

fhadows have obfcured their original bright-

nefs, and that uniform, though angelic

expreffion of pure love and joy, has been

deftroyed by a variety of warring paf-

fions :

Darken'd fo, yet fhone
Above them all the archangel ; but his face
Deep fears of thunder had entrench'd, and care
Sat on his faded cheek ; but under brows
Of dauntlefs courage and confiderate prids
Waiting revenge ; cruel his eye, but caft
Signs of remorfe and paflion.

If from nature we turn to that art from
which the expreffion itfelf is taken, wc
fhall find all the principles of picturefque*-
nefs confirmed. Among painters, Salvator

* Nor appear'd
Lefs than archangel rutti'd, and the excefs
Of glory obfcured,

Rofa

[ 7§ ]

Rofa is one of the moft remarkable for
his pifturefque effects, and in no other
matter are (ccn fuch abrupt and rugged
forms, fuch fudden deviations both in his
figures and his landfcapes ; and the rough -
nefs and broken touches of his pencilling,
admirably accord with the objects they
ehara&erife.

Guido, on the other hand, was as emi-
nent for beauty -y in his celeftial counte-
nances are the happieft examples of gra-
dual variation — of lines that melt, and flow
into each other; no fudden break — no-
thing that can difturb that pleafing lan-
guor which the union of all that confti-
tutes beauty imprefles on the foul. The
ftile of his hair is as fmooth as its own
character, and its effect in accompanying
the face will allow \ the flow of his dra-
pery— the fweetnefs and equality of his
pencilling— and the filvery clearnefs and

purity

[ 79 ]

purity of his tints, are all examples of the
juftnefs of Mr. Burke's principles of beau-
ty. But the works even of this great
mailer, mew us how unavoidably an at-
tention to mere beauty, and flow of out-
line, will lead towards famenefs and infi-
pidity. If this has happened to a painter
of fuch high excellence, who fo well
knew the value of all that belongs to his
art, and whofe touch, when he painted a
St. Peter or a St. Jerome, was as much
admired for its fpirited and characleriftic
roughnefs, as for its equality and fmooth-
nefs in his angels and madonnas, — what
muft be the cafe with men who have
been tethered all their lives in a clump
0£ a belt ?

There is another inftance of contraft be-
tween two eminent painters, which I can-
not forbear mentioning, as it confirms the
alliance between roughnefs and piclu-

[ 8o ]

refquenefs, and between fmoothnefs and
beauty, and ihews, in the latter cafe, the
confequent dangdr of famenefs. Of all
the painters who have left behind them a
high reputation, none, perhaps, was more
uniformly fmooth than Albano, or lefs de-
viated into abruptnefs of any kind; none
alfo have greater monotony of character y.
but, from the extreme beauty and delica-
cy of his forms, and his tints (particularly
in his children) and his exquifite finifh-
ing, few pictures are more generally cap-
tivating.

His fcholar, Mola, (and that circum-
flance makes' it more lingular) is as re-y
markable for many of thofe oppofite qua-
lities which diftinguifh S. Rofa, though he
has not the boldnefs and animation of that
original genius. There is hardly any
painter whofe pictures more immediately
catch the eye of a connoifleur, than thofe
§ of

[ 8i ]

of Mola, or that lefs attradt the notice of
a perfon unufed to painting. Salvator has
a favage grandeur, often in the higheflr de-
gree fublime ; and fublimity, in any fhape,
will command attention ; but Mola's
fcenes and figures, for the moft part, are
neither fublime nor beautiful; they are
purely pi&urefque : his touch is lefs
rough than Salvator's j his colouring has,
in general, more richnefs and variety -> and
his pictures feem to me the moft perfect
examples of the higher ftile of pidturefque-
nefs : infinitely removed from vulgar na-
ture, but having neither the foftnefs and
delicacy of beauty, nor that grandeur of
conception which produces the fublime .

Vol. I. G CHAP-

[ s* ]

CHAPTER IV.

FROM all that has been ftated in the
laft chapter, picture fquenefs appears
to hold a ftation between beauty and fubli-
mity \ and on that account, perhaps, is more
frequently, and more happily blended with
them both, than they are with each other,
It is, however, perfe&ly diftindl from either;
for in the firft place it is evident that piclu-
refquenefs and beauty are founded on very
oppofite qualities -y the one on fmoothnefs %

the

* Baldnefs feems to be an exception, as there fmooth*
nefs is pi&urefque, and not beautiful. It is, however,
an exception, which, inftead of weakening, confirms
what I have faid, and (hews the conftant oppofition of
the two characters, even where their caufes appear to be
confounded.

Baldnefs, is the fmoothnefs of age and decay, not of
youth, health, and frefhnefs : it is piclurefque, from pro-
ducing

i 83 i

the other on roughnefs ;— the one on gra-
dual, the other on fudden variation ;— the
one on ideas of youth and frefhnefs, the
other on that of age, and even of decay.

But as moll of the qualities of vifible
beauty (excepting colour) are made known
to us through the medium of another
fenfe, the fight itfelf is hardly more to be
attended to than the touch, in regard to all
thofe fenfations which are excited by
beautiful forms ; and the diftin&ion be-
tween the beautiful and the pidturefque
will, perhaps, be moft ftrongly pointed
out by means of the latter fenfe, 1 am

ducing variety and peculiarity of character ; from de-
flroying the ufual fymmetry and regularity of the face,
and fubftituting an uncertain, inftead of a certain boun-
dary*

When a bald head is well plaiitered and flowered, and
the boundary of the forehead diftinctly marked in po-
matum and powder, it has as little pretention to pic*
turefquenefs as t« beauty.

G a aware

L U ]

aware that this is liable to a grofs and ob-
vious ridicule; but for that reafon none but
grofs and common-place minds will dwell
upon it.

Mr. Burke has obferved, that * " men
are carried to the fex, in general, as it is
the fex, and by the common law of na-
ture 5 but they are attached to particulars
by perfonal beauty-" he adds, " I call
beauty a foeial quality ; for where women
and men, and not only they, but when other
animals give us a fenfe of joy and pleafure
in beholding them (and there are many
that do fo) they infpire us with fentiments
of tendernefs and affection towards their
perfons ; we like to have them near us,
and we enter willingly into a kind of rela-
tion with them."

Thefe fentiments of tendernefs and af-
fection, nature has taught us to exprcfs by
* Sublime and Beautiful, p. 66.

careffes,

[ 85 ]

carefles, by gentle preflure ; thefe are the
endearments we make ufe of (where fex is
totally out of the queftion) to beautiful
children, to beautiful animals, and even to
things inanimate ; and where the fize and
character (as in trees, buildings, &c) ex>-
clude any fuch relation, ftill fomething of
the fame difference of fenfation between
them, and rugged objects, appears to fub-
fift; that fenfation however is diminifhed
as the fize of any beautiful object is en-
creafed ; and as it approaches towards gran-
deur and magnificence, it recedes from
lovelinefs.

As the eye borrows many of its fenfa-
tions from the touch, fo that again feems
to borrow others from the fight. Soft,
frefh, and beautiful colours, though " not
fenfible to feeling as to fight," give us an
inclination to try their effect on the touch ;
whereas, if the colour be not beautiful*
G 3 that

C 86 ]

that inclination, I believe, is always dim}-
nimed, and, in obje&s merely pi&urefque,
and void of all beauty, is rarely excited *♦

I obferved in a former part, that fymme-
try, which perfectly accords with the beaur
tiful, is in the fame degree adverfe to the
pidlurefque : irregularity is therefore a
ftrongly marked diftindtion between the
two chara&ers. The general fymmetry
which prevails in the forms of animals, is
obvious, but as no precife ftandard of it \x\
each fpecies has been made, or acknow-
ledged, any flight deviation from what is
moft ufual, is fcarcely attended to. In the
human form, from our being more nearly
interefted in all that belongs to it, fymme-

* I have read, indeed, in fome fairy tale, of a country,
where age and wrinkles were loved and care/Ted, and
youth and frefhnefs neglected ; but in real life, I fancy,
the rnoft pi&urefque old woman, however her admirer
may ogle her on that account, is perfectly fafe from hi?
carefTes»

try

[ *7 1

try has been more accurately defined ; and
as far as human obfervation and feledtion
can fix a ftandard for beauty, that ftandard
has been fixed by the Grecian fculptors,
and is acknowledged in all the moft civilized
parts of Europe : a near approach to that
ftandard makes the perfon to be called re-
gularly beautiful j a departure from it,
(whatever ftriking and attractive peculia-
rity it may beftow) is ftill a departure from
that perfection of ideal beauty, fo dili-
gently fought after, and fo nearly attained
by thofe great artifts ; from the few pre*
cious remains of whole works, we have
learned the rudiments of that fcience (as
it might almoft be called) which gave
birth to them, the fcience of diftinguifhing
what is moft exquifite and perfect, from the
pore ordinary degrees of excellence.

There are fome expreffions in the lan^

guage of a neighbouring people of lively

G 4 imagina-

[ 88 ]

imagination, among whom gallantry and
attention to the other fex has been particu-
larly cultivated, which feem to imply an
uncertain idea of fome character, which
was not precifely beauty, but which, from
whatever caufes, produced ftriking and
pleafing effects : fuch are une phyjionomie de
fantaijie, and the well known expreffion
of un certain je ne fgais quoi ; it is alfo com-
mon to fay of a woman — que fans etre belle
elle eft piquante — a word by the bye that in
many points anfwers very exadly to pictu-
refque, The amufing hiftory of Roxalana
and the Sultan, is at the fame time the
hiftory of the pidturefque or the piquant,
both in regard to perfon and manners, and
alfo of its effeds. Marmontel certainly did
not intend to give the petit nez retroufse as
a beautiful feature, but to fhew how much
fuch a ftriking irregularity, might accord and
co-operate with the fame fort of irregularity

in.

[ «9 |

in the chara&er of the mind. The playful,
unequal, coquetifh Roxalana, full of fudden
turns and caprices, is oppofed to the beau-
tiful, tender, and conftant Elvira ; and the
effe&s of irritation, to thofe of foftnefs and
languor : the tendency of the qualities of
beauty alone towards monotony, are no lefs
happily infmuated.

Although there are no generally received
ftandards with refpeCt to animals, yet thofe
who have been in the habit of breeding
them, and of attending to their forms, have
fixed to themfelves certain ftandards of per-
fection ; Mr. Bakeweil, like Phidias or
Apelles, had probably formed in his mind
an idea of perfection *, beyond what he had

feen

* It may be faid, that this perfe&ion relates only to
their difpofition to produce fat upon the moll profitable
parts ; a very grazier-like, and material idea of beauty it
muft be fairly owned. But {till, if a ftandard of {hape
(from whatever caufe) be acknowledged, and called

beautiful,

[ 90 ]

feen in nature ; and which, like them, but
by a different procefs, he was conftantly
endeavouring to imbody. Any departure
from the moll perfect ftandard which he
had realized, both he, and all thofe who
acknowledged it, would probably confider
as an irregularity in the form, — as a de-
viation from their idea of beauty, how-
ever ftriking the animal might be to others
in its general appearance. More mark-,
ed and fudden deviations from the general
fymmetry of animals, whether arifing from
particular conformation, from accident, or
from the effects of age or difeafe, often
very flrongly attrad: the painter's notice, .
and are recorded by him; but they never
can be thought to make the ohje£l more
beautiful : many of thefe would, on (he
contrary, by moil men be called deformi-

beautiful, any departure from that fettled correfpondence

and fymmetry of parts, will certainly, within that jurif-

di&ion, be confidered as a departure from beauty.

ties,

c n 3

ties, and not without reafon. I mall here-
after have occafion to mew the connexion,
as well as the diftin£tion that fubfifts be-
tween deformity and pi&urefquenefs.

If we turn from animal to vegetable
nature, many of the moil beautiful flowers
have a high degree of fymmetry ; fo much
fo, that their colours appear to be laid on
after a regular and finifhed defign : but
beauty is fo much the prevailing charac-
ter of flowers, that no one feeks for any
thing pifturefque among them. In trees,
on the other hand, every thing appears fo
loofe and irregular, that fymmetry feems
put of the queflion $ yet ftill the fame ana-
logy fubfifts. A beautiful tree, conlidered
jn point pf form only, mud have a certain
correfpondence of parts, and a comparative
regularity * and proportion, whereas ine-
quality
* Cowley has very accurately enumerated the chief
qualities of beauty, in his defcription of what he confiders

as

r 92 ]

quality and irregularity alone, will give to a
tree a fitturefqiie appearance; more efpe-
daily if the effeds of age and decay, as
Well as of accident are confpicuous j when,
for inftance, fome of the limbs are {bat-
tered, and the broken flump remains in the
void fpace; when others, half twilled round
by winds, hang downwards ; while others
again, flioot in an oppofite direction, and
perhaps fome large bough projects fideways

as one of the mcft beautiful of trees, — the lime. He
has not forgot fymmetry in the catalogue of its charms,
though it is probable that few readers- will agree with
him in admiring the degree, or the ftyle of it, which is
difplayed in the lime : but exact fymmetry in ail things,
was then as extravagantly in famion, as it is now (per-
haps too violently) in difgrace.

Stat Philyra; haud omnes formofior altera furgit
Inter Hamadryades ; molliffima, Candida, laevis,
Et viridante coma, & bene olenti flore fuperba,
Spargit odoratam late atque esqualiter umbram.

If we take Candida for clear, as candidi fontes; and
viridante as peculiarly frefh and verdant, we have every
quality of beauty Separately confidered,

from

[ 93 J

from below the ftag-headed top, and then
as fuddenly turns upwards, and rifes above
it. The general proportion of fuch trees,
whether tall or fhort, thick or flender, is
not material to their character as piBur-
refque objects, but where elegance and
gracefulnefs are concerned, a fhort thick
proportion will not give an idea of thofe
qualities. There certainly are a great va-
riety of pleaiing forms and proportions in
trees, and different men have different pre-
dilections, juft as they have with refpedl to
their own fpecies; but I never knew any
perfon, who (if he obferved at all) was not
ftruck with the gracefulnefs and elegance
of a tree, whofe proportion was rather tall,
whofe ftem had an eafy fweep, but which
returned again in fuch a manner, that the
whole appeared completely poifed and ba-
lanced, and whofe boaghs were in fome
degree pendent, but towards their extremi-
ties

C 94 1

ties made a gentle curve upwards : if to
fuch a form you add frem and tender foliage
and bark, you have every quality afligned
to beauty.

In the laft chapter I defcribed the pro-
cefs by which a beautiful artificial objecl:
becomes picfturefque ; I will now mew the
iimilar effect of the fame kind of procefs, in
natural objedts ; and what may more point-
edly illuftrate the fubjecl, will compare at
the fame moment the effedl of that procefs
on animate and inanimate obje&s. It can-
not be faid that there is much general ana-
logy between a tree, and a human figure ;
but there is a great deal in the particular
qualities which make them either beautiful >
or pidlurefque : almofl all the qualities of
beauty, as it might naturally be expected,
belong to youth; and, among them all,
none is more confonant to our ideas of
beauty, or gives fo general an impreffion of
I it,

I 95 ' 1

it, as frefhnefs : without it, the moil: perfect
form wants its moft precious finifh ; where-
ever it begins to fade, wherever marks of
age, or of unhealthinefs appear, — though
other effects, other fympathies, other cha-
racters may arife, — there mult be a diminu-
tion of beauty. Frefhnefs belongs equally
to human, and to vegetable beauty, and is
diffufed over the whole appearance ; many
particular parts have likewife a mutual ana-
logy : the luxuriancy of foliage, anfwers to
that of hair ; the delicate fmoothnefs of
hark*, to that of the fkin; and the clear, even,
and tender colour of it to that of the com-
plexion : there is in both alfo (though
much more fenfibly in the fkin) another

* Many forts of trees, like many individuals of the
human fpecies, never have the frefhnefs of youth ; the
one in the bark, or the foliage ; the other is the fkin, or
the complexion, or both of them in their general appear-
ance. I am here fuppofmg the change to be made, from
what is in every part, moft frefh and beautiful in each.

beautv

[ 96 ]

beauty arifing from a look of foftnefs, and
fupplenefs, fo oppofite to the hard and dry
appearance, which, as well as roughnefs, is
brought en by age ; and which peculiar
foftnefs (arifing in this cafe from the free
circulation of juices to every part, and in
contra-diftinfrion to what is dry, though
yielding to preffure) is well expreffed by
the Greek word 'vygorvis; a word whole
meaning I fhall have occafion to dwell
more fully upon hereafter*. The earlier!,
and moil perceptible attacks of time, are
made on the bark, and on the fkin, which at
firft, however, merely lofe their evennefs of
furface, and perfect clearnefs of colour : by
degrees, the lines grow ftronger in each; the
tint more dingy; often unequal and in fpots $
and in proportion as either trees, or men or
women, advance towards decay, the regular
progrefs of time, and often the effe&s of

* See Appendix.

accident*

r 9? 3

accident, occafion great and partial changes
in their forms. In trees, the various hol-
lows and inequalities which are produced
by fome parts failing, and others in confe-
quence falling in — from accidental marks
and protuberances — and from other circum-
ftances, which a long courfe of years gives
rife to, are obvious; and many correfpondent
changes, and from fimilar caufes, in the hu-
man form, are no lefs obvious. By fuch
changes, that nice fymmetry and correfpon-
dence of parts_, fo effential to beauty, is in
both deftroyed ; in both, the hand of time
traces ftill deeper furrows, and roughens
their furface ; a few leaves, a few hairs,
are thinly fcattered on their fummits ; that
light, airy, afpiring * look of youth is gone,

* With refpect to trees I have heard it remarked by
timber-merchants, that when the top-fhoots of a tree ceafe
to afpire, and feem rather to turn downwards, it will grow
no more, however well the buds and leaves may appear.

Vol. I. H and

[ 98 ]

and both feem fhrunk and tottering, and
ready to fall with the next blaft.

Such is the change from beauty ; and to
what ? 'iu rely not to a higher, or an equal
degree, or to a different ftyle of beauty, no,
nor to any thing that refembles it : and yet,
that both thefe objects, (even in this laft
ftate) have often ftrong attractions for pain-
ters-^-their works afford fufficient teftimo-
ny ; that they are called picturefque — the
general application of the term to fuch ob-
jects, makes it equally clear; and that they
totally differ from what is beautiful— the
common feelings of mankind no lefs con-
vincingly prove. One mifapprehenfion I
would wiih to guard againft; I do not
mean, by the inftances I have given, to
affert, that an object, to be pidurefque,
muft be old and decayed ; but that the moft
beautiftil objects will often become fo, by
age, and by decay : and I believe it is equally

true,

[ 99 ]

true, that thofe which are naturally of a
ftrongly marked, and peculiar character, are
likely to become frill more pidturefque, by
the procefs I have mentioned.

I have now very fully ftated the principal
circumftances by which the piclurefque, is
feparated from the beautiful. It is equally
diftind: from the fublime ; for though there
are fome qualities common to them both,
yet they differ in many eiTential points, and
proceed from very different caufes. In the
firft place, greatnefs of dimenfion * is a
powerful caufe of the fublime ; the pidhi-
refque has no connection with dimenfion
of any kind (in which it differs from the
beautiful alfo) and is as often found in the

* I would by no means lay too much ftrefs on great-
nefs of dimenfion ; but what Mr. Burke has obferved
with regard to buildings, is true of many natural ob-
jects, fuch as rocks, cafcades, &c. : Where the fcale is too
diminutive, no greatnefs of manner will give them
grandeur.

H 2 fmaUeft

[ ICO ]

fmalleft as in the largeft objects.— -The fu>
blime, being founded on principles of awe
and terror, never defeends to any thing
light, or playful ; the picturefque, whofe
characteriftics are intricacy and variety, is
equally adapted to the grandeft, and to the
gayeft fcenery.- — Infinity is one of the moil
efficient caufes of the fu'blime ; the bound-
lefs ocean, for that reafon, infpires awful
fenfations : to give it picturefquenefs, you
mud deftroy that caufeofits fublimity ; for
it is on the fhape, and difpofition of its
boundaries, that the picture fque mufl, in
great meafure, depend.

Uniformity (which is fo great an enemy
to the picturefque) is not only compatible
with the fublime, but often the caufe of
it. That general, equal gloom which is
fpread over all nature before a ftorm*
with the ftillnefs, fo nobly defcribed by
Shake'fpear, is in the higher! degree fub-

[ i°i 3

lime *. The picturefque, requires greater va«*
riety, and does not fhew itfelf, till the dread-
ful thunder has rent the region, has toffed
the clouds into a thoufand towering forms,
and opened (as it were) the receffes of the
Iky. A blaze of light unmixed with made,
on the fame principles, tends to the fublime
only : Milton has placed light, in its moft
glorious brightnefs, as an inacceffible bar-
rier round the throne of the Almighty :

For God is light.
And never but in unapproached light,
Dwelt from eternity.

And fuch is the power he has given even
to its diminifhed fplendor,

That the brighteft feraphim
Approach not, but with both wings veil their eyes.

* And as we often fee againft a florm
A fdence in the heavens, the wrack ftand ftill.
The bold winds fpeechlefs, and the orb itfelf
As hufh as death, anon the dreadful thunder
Does rend the region.

H3 I*

[ I°2 1

In one place, indeed, he has introduced
very pi&urefque circumftances in his fit-
blime reprefentation of the deity ; but it is
of the deity in wrath, — it is when from the
weaknefs and narrownefs of our concep-
tions, we give the names, and the effects of
our paffions, to the all-perfect Creator :

And clouds began
To darken all the hill, and fmoke to roll
In dulky wreaths reluctant flames, the fign
Of wrath awak'd.

In general, however, where the glory.,
power, or majefty of God are reprefented,
he has avoided that variety of form, and of
colouring, which might take off from Am-
ple and uniform grandeur, and has encom-
paffed the divine effsnce with unapproached
light, or with the majefty of darknefs.

Again, (if we defcend to earth) a per-
pendicular rock of vail bulk and height,
though bare and unbroken, — a deep chafm
under the fame circumftances, are objects

which

[ i°3 ]

which produce awful fenfations; but without

fome variety and intricacy, either in them-

felves, or their accompaniments, they will

not be picturefque. — Laftly, a moft effential

difference between the two characters is,

that thefublime, by its folemnity, takes off

from the lovelinefs of beauty *, whereas

the picturefque renders it more captivating.

According to Mr. Burke *f-, the paffion

caufed by the great and fublime in nature,

when thofe caufes operate moft powerfully,

is aftonifhment ; and aftonifhment is that

ftate of the foul, in which all its motions are

fufpended with fome degree of horror : the

fublime alfo, being founded on ideas of pain

and terror, like them operates by ftretch-

ing the fibres beyond their natural tone.

* Majefty and love, fays the poet who had moft
ftudied the art of love, never can dwell together ; and
therefore Juno, whofe beauty was united with majefty,
had no captivating charms till fhe had put on the ceftus, j
that is, till flie had changed dignity for coquetry.

f Sublime and Beautiful, Part II. Se£t. i.

H4 The

[ io4 ]

The paffion excited by beauty, is love and
complacency; it acts by relaxing the fibres
fomewhat below their natural tone *, and
this is accompanied by an inward fenfe of
melting and languor.

Whether this account of the effects of
fublimity and beauty be ftrictly philofophi-

* I have heard this part of Mr. Burke's book criti-
cized, on a fuppofition that pleafure is more generally
produced from the fibres being ftimulated, than from'their
being relaxed. To me it appears, that Mr. Burke is
right with refpect to that pleafure which is the effect of
beauty, or whatever has an analogy to beauty, according
to the principles he has laid down.

If we examine our feelings on a warm genial day, in
a fpot full of the fofteft beauties of nature, the fragrance
of fpring breathing around us — pleafure then feems to be
our natural ffate ; to be received, not fought after ; it is
the happinefs of exifHng to fenfations of delight only ;
we are unwilling to move, almoft to think, and defire
only to feely to enjoy.

How different is that active purfuit of pleafure, when
the fibres are braced by a keen air, in a wild, romantic
jfituation; when the activity of the body, almoft keeps
pace with that of the mind, and eagerly fcales every
rocky promontory, explores every new recefs. Such is
the difference between the beautiful, and the picturefque.

cals

[ *°5 3

cal, has, I believe, been queftioned; but
in any cafe, whether the fibres are really
ftretched, or are relaxed, it prefents a lively
image of the fenfations often produced by
love and aftonimment. To purfue the fame
train of ideas, I may add, that the effect
of the picturefque is curiofity ; an effect,
which, though lefs fplendid and powerful,
has a more general influence ; it neither re-
laxes, nor violently ftretches the fibres, but
by its active agency keeps them to their
full tone; and thus, when mixed with either
of the other characters, corrects the languor
of beauty, or the horror of fublimity. But
as the nature of every corrective muft be
to take off from the peculiar effect of what
it is to correct, fo does the picturefque
when united to either of the others. It
is the coquetry of nature; it makes beauty
more amufing, more varied, more playful,
but alfo,

* Le& winning foft, lefs amiably mild."

Again,

[ io6 ]

Again, by its variety, its intricacy, its
partial concealments, it excites that active
curiofity Which gives play to the mind,
loofening thofe iron bonds with which
aftonifhment chains up its faculties *.

Where characters, however diltinct in
their nature, are perpetually mixed together
in fuch various degrees and manners, it is
not always eafy to draw the exact line of
Reparation : I think, however, we may con-
clude, that where an object, or a fet of ob-
jects, are without fmoothnefs or grandeur,
but from their intricacy, their fudden and
irregular deviations, their variety of forms,
tints, and lights and fhadows, are interefling
to a cultivated eye — they are limply pictu-
re fque; fuch, for inftance, are the rough
l^anks that often inclofe a. bye-road, or a hol-

* This feems to be perfectly applicable to tragi-
epmedy, and is at once its apology and condemnation.
Whatever relieves the mind from a ftrong impreffion, of
courfe weakens that impreilion*

low

[ io7 ]

low lane: Imagine thejize of thefe banks,
and the /pace between them, to be increafed,
till the lane, becomes a deep dell — the coves,
large caverns- — the peeping flones, hanging
rocks, fo that the whole may imprefs an idea
of awe and grandeur; — the fublime will
then be mixed with the pifturefque, though
the fade only, not the Jiyle of the fcenery,
would be changed, On the other hand, if
parts of the banks were fmooth, and gently
floping— or if in the middle fpace the turf
was foft and clofe-bitten — or if a gentle
ftream pafled between them, whofe clear,
broken furface, reflected all their varieties- — >
the beautiful and the pidturefque, by means
of that foftnefs and fmoothnefs, would then
be united.

I may here obferve, that as foftnefs is
become a vifible quality, as well as fmooth-
nefs, fo alfo, from the fame kind of iym-
pathy, it is a principle of beauty in many vi-

fible

[ ioS ]

fible objects : but as the hardeft bodies, are
thofe which receive the higheft poliih, and
confequently the higheft degree of fmooth-
nefs, there muff be a number of objects in
which fmoothnefs and foftnefs are for that
reafon incompatible. The one however is
not unfrequently miftaken for the other, and
I have more than once heard pictures, which
were fo fmoothly finiihed that, they looked
like ivory, commended for their foftnefs.

The fkin of a delicate woman, is an ex-
ample of foftnefs and fmoothnefs united ;
but if by art, a higher poliih is given to the
fkin, the foftnefs (and in that cafe I may add
the beauty) is deftroyed. Fur, mofs, hair
wool,&c. are comparatively rough; but they
are foft, and yield to preffbre, and therefore
take off from the appearance of hardnefs,
and alfo of edginefs. A ftone, or rock, when
polifhed by water, is fmoother, but lefs foft,
than when covered with mofs; and upon

this

[ I09 1

this principle, the wooded banks of a river,
have often a fofter general effect, than the
bare, (haven border of a canal. There is
the fame difference between the grafs of a
pleafure-ground mowed to the quick, and
that of a frefh meadow; and it frequently
happens, that continual mowing deftroys the
verdure, as well as the foftnefs. So much
does exceffive attachment to one principle
deftroy its own ends.

All this fhews, that the two characters,
though diftinct, are feldom wholly unmixed:
for as there are picture fque circumftances
in many beautiful, entire buildings; fo there
are alfo circumftances of beauty, in many
picturefque ruins.

Before I end this chapter, I mail wifti to
fay a few words with refpect to my adop-
tion of Mr. Burke's doctrine. It has been
afTerted, that 1 have pre-fuppofed our ideas
cf the fublime and beautiful, to be clearly

fettled ;

[ no ]

fettled* ; whereas the leaft attention to what
I have written, would have fhewn the con-
trary. As far as my own opinion is concern-
ed, I certainly am convinced of the general
truth and accuracy of Mr. Burke's fyftem,
for it is the foundation of my own $ but I
mu-ft be very ignorant of human nature, to
fuppofe u our ideas clearly fettled" on any
queilion of that kind : I therefore have
always fpoken cautioufly, and even doubt-
ingly, to avoid the imputation of judging for
others ; I have faid — ifwQ agree with Mr.
Burke— according to Mr. Burke, — and in

hi

the next chapter to this, I have ftated that
Mr. Burke has done a great deal towards
fettling the vague and contradictory ideas,
&c. Thefe paffages fo very plainly fhew,
how little I prefumed to fuppofe our ideas
were clearly fettled, that no perfon, who had

* EfTay on Defign in Gardening, by Mr. George
Mafon, page 20 1.

2 read

[ III ]

read the book with any degree of attention,
could have made fuch a remark; and I muft
fay, that whoever does venture to criticize
what he has not confidered, is much more
his own enemy, than the author's.

By way of proving that Mr. Burke's
ideas of the fublime, are unworthy of be-
ing attended to, Mr. G. Mafon has the
following remark, which I have taken care to
copy very exactly \ <c The majority of think-
ing and learned men, whom it has been my
lot to converfe with on fuch fubjects, are
as well perfuaded of terror s being the caufe
of fublime, as that Tenterden fteeple is of
Goodwin fands." As Mr. Mafon feems
very converfant with the claffics, as well as
with Englifh authors, and as the fublime in
poetry has been difcuffed by writers of high
authority, and the fublirnity of many paf-
fages very generally acknowledged — I could
wifh that he, and his learned friends, would

take

E II2 ]

take the trouble of examining fuch pafTages
in Homer, Virgil, Shakefpear, Milton, and
all the poets who are moll eminent for their
fublimity : and mould they find, (as furely
they will) that almoft all of them are ma-
aifeftly founded upon terror, or on thofe
modifications of it which Mr. Burke has-
fo admirably pointed out— rlet them reflect
what muft have been the depth and pene-
tration of that man's mind, who, fcarcely
arrived at manhood, clearly law how one
great principle,* (the acknowledged caufe
of the fublime in poetry*) was likewife

the

* That the fublime in poetry is founded upon terror,
feems to be taken for granted (and probably on the autho-
rity of Ariflode) by Longinus; for in many places he has
ufed the word terrible as almoft fynonymous withfublime.
Speaking of a bombaft .pallage, he fays, if you examine
it ek T8 (poo£pa noa bhiyov wtovootei ispo$ to evHarotpponrrov y
and again, where he difcriminates between a fublime,
and a difgufting image, he fays, « yap foivw mows.
to Eidoohov, ofiOa /uurvrroy. Should it be faid, that htvov
fjgnifies alfo what is excelienj, or finking, hi various

ways,

r us J

tiie moft powerful caufe of fublimity, in all
obje&s whatfoever ; purfued it through all
the works of art, and of nature ; and ex-
plained, illuftrated, and adorned his dif-

ways, as well as terrible*, I mould afk how it came by
fuch a fignification ? clearly, becaufe terror, in its
various modifications* is the caufe of all that is moft
ftriking. The Italians apply fuch expreflions to any
ftriking words of art; a fine picture or ftatue (no matter
what the fubje£r.) is called un fpavento j and the ftyle of
the grandeft of modern artifts is called

Di MicheP Agnol' la terrihiF viai

A more familiar inftance may be given to the Englifk
reader, of the ufe which is continually made of the word
terrible, for the purpofe of raifingour ideas of the objects
to which it is applied ; and certainly by perfons who
never read Ariftotle, ©r Longinus, or even Mr. Burke.
Who can hear at a horfe race, of the terrible high bred
cattle, and not feel how univerfally the fame idea has
prevailed.

Were it not that fome perfons, of whom I think very
highly, had doubts with regard to particular parts of this
iubjedt, which I wiflied to combat more at large than I
could well do in converfation, I fhould perhaps have
contented myfelf with oppofing the terrible high bred cat-
tle, to Tenterdenjleeple,

Vol. I. I covery,

[ H4 1

covery, with that ingenuity, and that bril-
liancy of language, in which he ftands un-
rivalled. Then let Mr. Mafon read over
his own paflage of Tenterden fteeple, and
I wifh him no greater humiliation.

A number of fublime paflages in poetry
will of courfe prefent themfelves to a perfon
fo well read in the claffics as Mr. Mafon,
who, under the title of claffical landfcapes •*,
has proved by fo many quotations, that the
ancients had eyes juft like our own, and
were ftruck and pleafed with rocks, woods
and water juft: as we are •f. Were I not
authorized by his example, and by the ob-

* Our ideas of art^ vary in different ages, but thofe
of natural fcenery remain the fame j and in all poets, of
every age and country, the defcriptions of what is beau-
tiful, or fublime, are founded on the fame general no-
tions. Had Mr. Mafon undertaken to fhew, that among
the ancients, Hounflow heath would have been reckoned
a paradife, and Richmond and the Thames deferted, it
would have been very unfair to have cenfured the
number of his quotations.

f Effcy on Defign in Gardening,, page 28.

je&ions

C "5 ]

jeftions he has raifed, I fhould really feel
afhamed of proving in the fame manner,
what is hardly lefs evident j but being fo
authorifed, I will beg leave to put him in
mind of a few paffages, in which, if terror
is not the caufe of the fublime, I have no
idea of any caufe, of any effect.

It is natural to begin by the great father
of all poetry, and by one of the paifages
cited, and particularly dwelt upon by Longi-
nus*, in his famous treatife on the fublime.

Aeivov (? &povm<re Trarvp avtyav te Sscov te
'T^oQev ctvrag eve^Qe Tlotreidauv etiv<z%e
Tatav aTTEigEtTtYiv, ogEcov t' aiTTEivot Kagwa.

XlaVTE$ V EtTOSlOVTO <7T0QE$ TtO^VTTlOaKii iSlJf,

K.M KOgUtpCU) T^fiWW T£ 7TQhl$y KM VYl£$ A %«{«','.

JLd&UTEV ^' UWEVEgOEV CtVa% EVEgUV AiftuVEUS)

AEidag ^ eh. fyovfs u?.T0y km <#%e, /jw oi bwifis
Tmm> avapfwZsiE HocrEidaav Evoax^h

OlKUZ 3fi SvYITOHTl KM O$tXVlXT0l<ri <P<ZVEIYI

^LlAEftoChi y EuguEvra, ia te ruyEam Seoi TTEp. II. u. 56.

* Longinus has only quoted the latter part of this paf-
fage, and has begun his quotation by a vtrte taken from
a different part of the fame book; but this does not at all
affe& the argument,

I 2 The

E "6 3

The moft fublime paffage (according to
my idea) in Virgil, or perhaps in any other
poet, is that magnificent perfonification of
a thunder ft orm.

Ipfe Pater, media nimborum in no&e, corufca
Fulmina molitur dextra, quo maxima motu
Terra tremet, fugere ferae, & mortalia corda
Per gentes humilis ftravit pavor, — Ille flagranti
Aut Atho aut Rhodopen, aut alta Ceraunia telo
Dejicit.

Diveft thefe two paffages of terror, what
remains ? In this laft: particularly, the
fublime oppolition between the caufe, and
the efFedt of terror, more ftrongly than in
any other, illuftrates the principle. And I
may here obferve, that one circumftance
which gives peculiar grandeur to perfoni-
fications, is, the attributing of natural events,
to the immediate adtion of fome angry, and
powerful agent.

Ipfe Pater media, &c.

Neptunus muros faevoque emota tridente

Fundaments quatit.

When-

[ "7 )

Whenever Dante is mentioned, the in-
fcription over the gates of hell, and the
Conte Ugolino, are among the firft things
which occur. Milton's Paradife Loft is
wrought up to a higher pitch of awful
terror than any other poem ; to a mind full
of poetical fire, he added the moft ftudied
attention to effecT: ; and I think there is a
fingular inftance of that attention, and of
the ufe he made of terror, in one of his
moft famous fimiles :

As when the fun new rifen,
Looks through the horizontal mifty air
Shorn of his beams, or from behind the moon
In dim eclipfe, difaftrous twilight flieds
On half the nations,

Thefe circumftances are perfectly appli-
cable to the fallen archangel ; but Milton
pofiibly felt that the fun himfelf, when
fhorn of his beams, and in eclipfe, was a
Icfs magnificent objecT: than when in full
I 3 fplendour.

C "8. ]

fplendour, and therefore added * that dig-
nified image of terror

And with fear of change
Perplexes monarch's.

From Shakefpear alfo, a number of de-
tached paffages might be quoted, to prove
what furely needs no additional argument ;
but that moft original creator, and moft ac-
curate obferver, of whom no Englifhmaa
can fpeak without enthufiafm, has furniihed
a more ample proof of the fublime effect of
unremitting terror. Let thofe who have
read, or feen his tragedies, confider which
among them all is moft ftrikingly fublime;

* It might even be conjectured, that he had literally
added that laft image ; for the paufe (which no poet took
more pains to vary) is the fame as in the preceding line,
and the half verfe which follows

" Darken'd fo, yet fhone"

would do equally well in point of metre, and of fenfe
after

On half the nations.

which

[ U9 ]

which of them moft fufpends all our facul-
ties in aftonifhment : I believe almoft every
voice will give it for Macbeth*. In that all
is terror ; and therefore either Ariftotle,
Longinus, Shakefpear, and Burke, or Mr,
G. Mafon, and his learned friends, have
been totally wrong in their ideas of the
fublime, and of its caufes.

That the fame principle prevails in all
natural fcenery, has been fo fully, and clearly
explained by Mr. Burke, that any further
arguments feem fuperfluous ; yet as it
fometimes happens, that what is placed in a
different, though lefs ftriking light, may

* The paffage from Ariftotle, lately prefixed by a
poet of great eminence, to a wild and . marvellous tale,
which he has tranflated from the German, will not
affect the tragedy of Shakefpear ; for no one can fay that
in Macbeth the marvellous only prevails, It furnifbes,
however, another proof (if proofs were wanting) that
terrible and fublime were frequently ufed as nearly fyno-
nymous terms. 'Ot &, y^ ro QoSegw, oOO^x, to jt^oeruihq

I 4 chance

[ 120 ]

chance to ftrikc particular minds, I will
mention a few things which have occurred
to me. I am perfuaded that it would be
difficult to conceive any fet of objects, to
which, however grand in themfelves, an
addition of terror, would not give a higher
degree of fublimity -, and furely that muft
be a caufe, and a principal caufe, the in-
creafe of which increafes the effect; the ab-
fence of which, weakens, or deftroys it.
The fea is at all times a grand objecT: ; need
I fay how much that grandeur is increafed
by the violence of another element ? and
again, by thunder and lightning ? how
ihips in diftrefs, and amongft rocks ftili
add to it ? Why are rocks and precipices
more fublime, when the fea dafhes at the
foot of them, forbids all accefs, or cuts off
all retreat, than when we can with eafe
approach, or retire from them ? How is it
£hat Shakefpear has heightened the fubli-
mity

[ **« 3

mity of Dover cliffs, fo much beyond what
the real fcene exhibits ? by terror •> he has
placed terror on the fummit, with Glou-
cefter, ready to throw himfelf down the
abyfs ; he has fufpended it in the middle,
where

<* Half way dowfl
* Hangs one who gathers famphire; dreadful 'trade."

He has again ftationed it on the beech be-
low, and has drawn an idea of terror from
the comparative deficiency of one ftxifc :

The murmuring furge
That on the unnumber'd idle pebbles chafes
Cannot be heard fo high ; I'll look no more
Left my brain turn.

The nearer any grand and terrible ob-
jects in nature prefs upon the mind (pro-
vided that mind is able to contemplate
them with awe, but without abjec~t fear *)

the

* In what manner, and by what fympathies, terror, in its
various degrees and modifications, produces an idea of

fublimity,

[ 122 ]

the more fublime will be their effe&s.
The moft favage rocks, precipices, and ca-
taracts, as they keep their ftations, are only
awful; but mould an earthquake fhake
their foundations, and open a new gulph
beneath the cataradr, — he, who removed
from immediate danger, could dare at fuch
a moment, to gaze on fuch a fpeftacle,
would furely have fenfations of a much
higher kind, than thofe which were im-
prefled upon him when all was ftill and
unmoved.

fublimity, is a curious, but not an eafy fubje& of difcuffion;
certain it is, that we never fympathize with what is mean
and cowardly, and that the effect of the fublime (how-
ever produced) muft in all cafes be that of exalting the
mind of the reader, or fpectator. That effect Longinus
has defcribed with equal juftnefs and energy.

CHAP.

C *23 1

CHAPTER V,

f\F the three characters, two only, are
^-^ in any degree fubjedt to the im-
prover ; to create the fublime is above our
contracted powers, though we may fome-
times heighten, and at all times lower its
effe&s by art. It is, therefore, on a pro-
per attention to the beautiful, and the pic-
turefque, that the art of improving real
landfcapes muft depend.

As beauty is the moft pleafing of all ideas
to the human mind, it is very natural that it
mould be moft fought after, and that the name
mould have been applied to every fpecies of

excellence.

[ I24 ]

excellence. Mr. Burke has done a great
deal towards fettling the vague and contra-
di&ory ideas which were entertained on that
fubjedr, by inveftigating its principal caufes
and effects ; but as the beil things are oft
perverted to the worft purpofes, fo his ad-
mirable treatife has, perhaps, been one caufe ■
of the infipidity which has prevailed under
the name of improvement. Few places have
any claim to fublimity, and where nature
has not given them that character, art is
ineffectual ; beauty, therefore, is the great
object, and improvers have learned from
the higheft authority, that two of its prin-
cipal caufes are fmoothnefs, and gradual
variation ; thefe qualities are in themfelves
very feducing, but they are ftill more fa
(when applied to the furface of ground)
from its being in every man's power to
produce themj it requires neither tafte, nor
invention, but merely the mechanical hand

an4

I ms ]

and eye of many a common labourer ; and
he who can make a nice afparagus bed, has
one of the moft effential qualifications of an
improver, and may foon learn the whole
myftery of flopes, and hanging levels.

If the principles of the beautiful, ac-
cording to Mr. Burke, and thofe of the
piclurefque, according to my ideas, are juft*
it feldoms happens that they are perfectly
unmixed ; and, I believe, it is for want of
obferving how nature has blended them,
and from attempting to make objects beau-
tiful, by dint of fmoothnefs and flowing
lines, that fo much infipidity has arifen.

The moft enchanting objecl: the eye of
man can behold — that which immediately
prefents itfelf to his imagination when
beauty is mentioned — that, in comparifon
of which all other beauty appears taftelefs
and uninterefting — is the face of a beautiful
woman ; but even there, where nature has

fixed

[ 126 ]

fixed the throne of beauty, the very feat of
its empire, me has guarded it, in her moft
perfect models, from its two dangerous foes
— inlipidity and monotony. The Greeks
(who cannot be accufed of having neglected
the ftudy of beauty, or, like Dutch painters,
of having fervilely copied whatever was be-
fore them) judged that a line nearly ftrait of
the nofe and forehead, was neceffary to give
a zeft to all the other flowing lines of the
face y then the eye brows, and the eyelafhes,
by their projecting made over the tranfpa-
rent furface of the eye, and above all the
hair, by its comparative roughnefs, and its
partial concealments, accompany and re-
lieve the foftnefs, clearnefs, and fmooth-
nefs of all the reft. Where the hair has no
natural roughnefs, it is often artificially
curled and crifped *, and it cannot be fup-

pofed

* The instrument for that purpofe is certainly of

very ancient date, as Virgil (who probably ftudied the

x coflume

[ "7 1

pofed that both fexes have been fo often
miftaken in what would beft become them.
Flowers are the moft delicate and beau-
tiful of all inanimate obje&sj but their

queen,

coflume of the heroic age) fuppofes it to have been in
ufe at the time of the Trojan war, and makes Turnus
fpeak contemptuoufly of iEneas, for having his locks
perfumed, and as Madame de Sevigne exprefTes it, frifes
naturellement avec des fers ;

Vibratos calido ferro, myrrhaque madentes.

The natural roughnefs or crifpnefs of hair is often men-
tioned as a beauty — Pauree crefpe crini — capelli crejpe,
Sc lunghe, & d'oro,

In many points the hair has a finking relation to
trees ; they refemble each other in their intricacy, their
ductility, the quicknefs of their growth, their feeming to
acquire frefh vigour from being cut, and in their being
detached from the folid bodies whence they fpringj
they are the varied boundaries, the loofe and airy fringes,
without which mere earth, or mere flefh, however beau-
tifully formed, are bald and imperfect, and want their
moft becoming ornament.

In catholic countries, where thofe unfortunate victims
of avarice and fuperftition, are fuppofed to renounce all

idea

t ^ 1

queen, the rofe, grows on a rough builv
whofe leaves are fefrated, and which is full
of thorns. The mofs rofe has the addition
of a rough hairy fringe, which almoft makes
a part of the flower itfelf. The arbutus*
with its fruit, its pendant flowers, and rich
glofiy foliage, is, perhaps, the moft beauti-
ful of all the hardier ever-green, fhrubs ;
but the bark of it is rugged, and the leaves
(which, like thofe of the rofe, are fa wed
at the edges) have thofe edges pointed up-
wards, and cluttering in fpikes -, and it may
poffibly be from that circumftance, and
from the boughs having the fame up-
right tendency, that Virgil calls it arbutus
horrida, or, as it ftands in fome manu-

idea of pleafing our fex, the firft ceremony is that of
Slitting off their hair, as a facriflce of the moft feducing
ernament of beauty ; and the formal edge of the fillet-,
which prevents a fingle hair from efcaping, is well con-
trived to deaden the effect of features.

fcripts^

[ i29 ]

fcripts *, horrens. Among the foreign
oaks, maples, &c. thofe are particularly

efteemed,

* This epithet is frequently applied to fharp pointed
and jagged objects, in the fame upright pofition— hor-
rentibus haftis— cautibus horrens Caucafus-— horridior
rufco, &c; The Delphin edition fuppofes it to be called
horrida, quia raris eft foliis ; but the arbutus is far from
being thin- of leaves, when in a flourifhing ftate. Ruseus
may probably have taken this idea from a verfe in the
7th Eclogue— rara tegit arbutus umbra, which he in-
terprets, raris inumbrat foliis; but in another place
Virgil calls it^frondentia arbuta ; and if rara, in the firft
pafTage, does mean thin (as Martyn has alfo rendered it)
it accords but ill with tegit, and with the fhepherd's re-
queft— lblftitium pecori defendite : I therefore imagine
rara may mean, in that place, (as it does in many lan-
guages) excellent — rarum, quod non ubiqiie reperitur,
unde pro praeftanti fumitur. Stef. Thef. Martyn thinks
it is called horrida from the roughnefs of the bark; but
an epithet, which applies to the tree in general, is more
likely to be given from the general outward form, than
from a particular part lefs apparent, and often entirely
hidden. Many plants point their leaves downwards^ as
the lilac, chefnut, Portugal laurel, &c. Whoever will
compare the arbutus, and the Portugal laurel, both whofe
VOL. I. K leaves

[ H* ]

efteemed, whofe leaves (according to a
common, though perhaps contradictory
phrafe) are beautifully jagged.

The oriental plane has always been
reckoned a tree of the greateft beauty.
Xerxes's paffion for one of them is well
known, as alfo the high eftimation they
were held in by the Greeks and Romans.
The furface of their leaves is fmooth and
glofly, and of a bright pleafant green ; but
they are fo deeply indented, and fo full of
fharp angles, that the tree itfelf is often
diftinguifhed by the name of the true jagged
oriental plane.

The vine leaf has, in * all refpe&s, a

leaves are ferrated, will find how ftrongly the epithet,
horrens, applies to the former. Of the verb horreo,
Stephens fays, proprie cum pili fetseque in animante
eriguntur. Vulgarly ftand an end -y capilli horrent.

* The leaf of the Burgundy vine is rough, and its in-
feriority, in point of beauty, to the fmooth-ieaved vines*
is, I think, very apparent, and clearly owing to that cir-

cumftance.

ftrong

t m 1

ftrong refemblance to the leaf of the plane j
and that extreme richnefs of effect, which
every body muft be ftruck with in them
both, is greatly owing to thofe fharp an-
gles, to thofe fudden variations, fo contrary
to the idea of beauty when conlidered by
itfclf. — On the other hand, a clufter of fine
grapes, in point of form, tint, and light and
ihadow, is a fpecimen of unmixed beauty i
and the vine, with its fruit, may be cited>
as one of the mofi ftriking inftances of the
union of the two characters, in which, how
ever, that of beauty infinitely prevails : and
who will venture to affert, that the charm of
the whole would be greater, by feparating
them ? by taking off all the angles and
fharp points, and making the outline of the
leaves, as round and flowing as that of the
fruit ? — The effect of thefe jagged points
and angles, is more ftrongly marked in
fculpture, [ efpecially of vafes of metal ;
K 2 where

[ *32 3

where the vine leaf, if imprudently hand-
led, would at leaft prove that fharpneis
is very contrary to the beautiful in feeling y
and the analogy between the two fenfes is
Purely very jufr. It may alfo be remarked,
that in all fuch works fiarpnefs of exe-
cution is a term of high praife.

I muft here obferve (and I muft beg to
call the reader's attention to what in my
idea throws a ftrong light on the whole
of the fubjecl:) that almoft all ornaments
are roughs and moft of them fharp, which
is a mode of roughnefs ^ and, confiderecT
analogically, the moil contrary to beauty
of any mode. But as the ornaments are
rough, fo the ground is generally fmooth ^
which fhews, that though fmoothnefs is
the ground, the eiTential quality of beauty,
without which it can fcarcely exift- — yet that
roughnefs, in its different modes and de-
gree^ is the ornament, the fringe of beauty
§ that

[ *33 1

that which gives it life and fpirit, and pre-
ferves it from baldnefs and infipidity **

* The moft beautiful, or at leaft the moll touching,
and exquifitely modulated of all founds, that of a fine hu-
man voice, appears to the greateft advantage when there
is fome degree of fharpnefs in the inftrument which ac-
companies it; as in the harp, the violin\or the harpfi-
chord. The flute, or even the organ, have too much of
the fame quality of found ; they give no relief to the
voice; it is like accompanying fmooth water, with
fmooth banks. Often in the fweeteft and moft flowing
melodies, difcords, (which are analogous to angles and
fharpnefs) are introduced, to relieve the ear from that lan-
guor and wearinefs, which long continued fmoothnefs
always brings on ; yet will any one fay, that, confidered
feparately, the found of a harpfichord is as beautiful as
that of a flute, or of a human voice ; or that they ought
to be claffed together ? or that difcords are as beautiful
as concords ; or that both are beautiful, becaufe when
they are mixed with judgment the whole is more de-
lightful ? Does not this mew, that what is veryjuftly
called beautiful from the effential qualities of beauty
being predominant, is frequently, nay, generally compo-
fite ; and that we acl againft the conftant practice of
nature, and of judicious art, when we endeavour to make
objects more beautiful, by depriving them of what gives
beauty fome of its moft powerful attractions.

K3 The

i m 1

The column is fmooth, the capital i%
rough ; the facing of a building fmooth,
the frize and cornice rough, and fuddenly
projecting : fo it is in vafes, in embroidery,
in every thing that admits of ornament * ;
and as ornament is the moft prominent
and ftriking part of a beautiful whole, it is
frequently taken for the moft effential part,
and obtains the firft place in defcriptions.
A plain ftone building, without any fharp
ornaments, may be very beautiful, and by
many perfons be thought peculiarly fo from
its fimplicity ; but were an architect to
ornament the (hafts, as well as the capitals of

* A goblet, rich with gems and rough with gold. — >
Pallarn fignis aurcque rigeniem.

Confider what is the natural, the only procefs in
ornamenting any fmooth furface, independently of co-
lour ; it muft be by making it lefs fmooth, that is, com-
paratively rough : there muft be different degrees and
modes of roughnefs, of fharpnefs, and this is the
character of thofe ornaments that have been admired for
ages,

his

his columns, and all the fmooth ftone work
of hishoufe or temple, there are few people
who would not be fenfible of the difference
between a beautiful building, and one richly
ornamented. This, in my mind, is the
fpirit of that famous reproof of Apelles
(among all the painters of antiquity the moft
renowned for beauty) to one of his fcholars
who was loading a Helen with ornaments ;
" Young man," faid he, " not being able
to paint her beautiful, you have made her
rich/'

K4 CHAP-

[ 136 ]

CHAPTER VL

AS, notwithftanding the various and
ftriking lights in which Mr. Burks
has placed the alliance between fmooth-
nefs and beauty, and in fpite of the very
clofe and convincing arguments he has
drawn, by analogy, from the other fenfes,
that pofition has been doubted *.— I hope

it

* A perfon of the moft unquestioned abilities, and
general accuracy of judgment, but who had not paid
much attention to this fubjecl:, afferted that a variety of
objects were beautiful, without the leaft fmoothnefs ; and
that the piclurefque was always included either in the
fublime, or the beautiful. I aflced him what he would
call an old rugged mofly oak, with branches twifted

into

[ l37 3

it will not be thought prefumptuous in me
to offer fome farther illuftrations, on a
fubjeel: which he has treated fo copioufly,
and in fo mafterly a manner. I am, in-
deed, highly interefied in the queftidn,
for if his principles be falfe, mine are
equally fo.

I imagine the doubt to have arifen, from
its being fuppofed that all which flrongly
attracts and captivates the eye, is included
in the fublime? and the beautiful ; but I
cannot help nattering myfelf, that the
having confidered and compared the three
characters together, has thrown a reciprocal
light on each -y and that the pi&urefque fills
up a vacancy between the fublime and the

into fudden and irregular deviations, but which had no
character of grandeur ? He faid, he mould call it a pretty
tree. He would probably have been furprifed if I had
called one of Rembrant's old hags a pretty woman ; and
yet they are as much alike as a Jree and a woman can
well be,

beautiful,

I '38 ]

beautiful, and accounts for the pleafure we
receive from many objects on principles dif-
tindt from them both ; which objedts fhould
therefore be placed on a feparate clafs.

One principal effe& of fmoothnefs (and
to which perhaps it owes its fo general
power of pleafing) is, that it gives an ap-
pearance of quiet and repofe. Rough-
nefs,* on the contrary, a fpirit and ani-
mation.

* By roughnefs, I mean what is in any way contrary
to fmoothnefs ; whatever is rough, rugged, or angular,
whether the object bepolifhed, or unpolifhed. Accord-
ing to this definition, polifhed furfaces if cut into an-
gles, (as polifhed fieel, glafs or diamond) can no longer
be confidered as fmooth objects, though parts of them
will be fmooth,

A diamond when fmooth, has, like other polifhed fur-
faces, a confiderable degree of ftimulus ; but when its
furface is cut into fharp points and angles, it becomes
infinitely more ftimulating. It is by means of thefe
angles, of thefe fharp points, that a diamond acquires
its diftinguifhed title of a brilliant; without them a
piece of cut-glafs (as it is termed) would deferve it
better.

Again

[ J39 I

mation. Thefe feem to me the moft pre*
vailing effects of the beautiful and the pic-
turefque, as likewife the means by which
they generally operate : and if thefe pre-
mifes be true, it will be juft to conclude,
that where there is a want of fmoothnefs,
there is a want of rcpofe, and confequently
of beauty; and on the other hand, that
where there is no roughnefs, there is a
wrant of fpirit and ftimulus, and confe-
quently of pi&urefquenefs.

The fenfe of feeing (as I before ob-
ferved) is fo much indebted to that of feel-
ing for a number of its perceptions, that
there is no confidering the one, abftractedly

Again (to confider broken lights in another point
of view) we can bear the full uninterrupted fplendor
of the fetting fun. nay, can gaze on the orb itfelf
with little uneafinefsj but when its rays are broken
by paifing through a thin fcreen of leaves and
branches (as in a lane) no eye is proof againft the ir-
ritation.

from

from the other : he therefore would reafon
very ill on the effects of virion, who fhould
leave out our ideas of rough and fmooth,
of hard and loft, of thicknefs, diftance, &c.
becaufe they were originally acquired by
the touch. I fhould on that account fup-
pofe, that befides the real irritation which
they produce by means of broken lights,
all broken, rugged furfaces have alfo, by
fympathy, fome thing of the fame effect on
the fight, as on the touch ; and if it be
true (as it probably v/ill be acknowledg-
ed) that fmooth furfaces (where there is
no immediate irritation from light) give a
repofe to the eye ; rugged and broken
ones, muft produce a contrary impref-
fion.

But though it feems highly probable
that broken and angular furfaces, both
from fympathy, and from real irritation of
the organ, ftimulate more than fuch as are

fmooth,

t Ht ]

fmooth, yet the ftimulus from which the
moftconftant and .marked effects proceed—
that, which in a peculiar manner belongs
to the pidurefque, and diftinguifhes it
from the beautiful, — afifes principally from
its two great characlerifties, intricacy and
variety, as produced by roughnefs and
fudden deviation; and as oppofed to the
comparative monotony of fmoothnefs, and
flowing lines.

If for inftance, we take any frncoth ob-
ject, whofe lines are fiowkig,..fuch as a down,
of the fineft turf, with gently f welling knolls
and hillocks of every foft and undulating
form — though the eye may repofe on this
with pleafure, yet the whole is {qqxi at once,
and no farther curiofity is excited. But let
thofe fwelling knolls (without altering the
fcale) be changed into bold, broken pro-
montories, with rude overhanging rocks;
inflead of the imooth tnrf, let there be furze,

heath,

[ 142 ]

heath, or fern, with open patches between,
and fragments of rocks and large ftoncs
lying in irregular maffes — it is clear, (on the
fuppofition of thefe two fpots being of the
fame extent, and on the fame fcale) that
the whole of the one may be compre-*
hended immediately, and that if you tra-
verfe it in every direction, little new can
occur \ while in the other, every ftep
changes the whole of the compofition.
Then each of thefe broken promontories and
fragments, have as many fuddenly varying
forms and afpefts, as they have breaks, even
without light and made ; but when the fun
(Joes mine upon them, each break is the occa-
sion of fome brilliant light, oppofed to ibme
fudden fhadow : All deep coves, hollows,
and fiflures (fuch as are ufually found in
this ftyle of fcenery) invite the eye to pene-
trate into their receffes, yet keep its curiofity
alive, and unfatisfied ; whereas in the other,

the

[ 143 1

the light and fhadow has the fame uniform,
unbroken chara&er, as the ground itfelf.

I have in both thefe fcenes avoided any
mention of trees ; for in all trees of every
growth, there is a comparative roughnefs
and intricacy, which, unlefs counteracted
by great fkill in the improver, will always
prevent abfolute monotony: Yet the dif-
ference between thofe which appear plant-
ed, or cleared for the purpofe of beauty,
with the ground made perfectly fmooth
about them, and thofe which are wild and
uncleared, with the ground of the fame
character, is very apparent. Take, for in-
ftance, any open grove, where the trees,
though neither in rows nor at equal dis-
tances, are detached from each other, and
cleared from all underwood ; the turf on
which they ftand fmooth and level; and
their flems diftinctly feen. Such a grove,

of full-grown flourifhing trees, that have

had

E H4 ]

liad room to extend their heads and
branches, is defervedly called beautiful j>
and if a gravel road winds eafily through it>
the whole will be in character.

But whoever has been among foreftsj
and has attentively obferved the oppofite
character of thofe parts, where wild tangled
thickets open into glades, half feen acrofs
the ftems of old flag- headed oaks, and
twilled beeches — has remarked the irregu-
lar tracks of wheels, and the foot-paths of
men and animals, how they feem to have
been fee king and forcing their way, in every
direction— -mull have felt how differently
the ftimulus of curiofity is excited in two
fuch fcenes ; and the effect of the lights
and fhadows, is exactly in proportion to the
intricacy of the objects.

From all this it appears, that as a cer-
tain degree of ftimulus or irritation is ne-
ceftary to the picturefque, fo, on the other

hand*

t HS 1

hand, a foft and pleafing repofe, is equally
the effect, and the characteriftic, of the
beautiful.

The peculiar excellence of the painter,
who moft ftudied the beautiful in landfcape,
is charadlerifed by il ripofo di Claudia \ and
when the mind of man is in the delightful
ftate of repofe, of which Claude's pictures
are the image,— when he feels that mild and
equal funfhine of the foul, which warms
and cheers, but neither inflames nor irri-^
tates* — his heart feems to dilate with hap*
pinefs, he is difpofed to every a£t of kind-
nefs and benevolence, to love and cherifh
all around him, Thefe are the fenfations,
which beauty, confidered generally, and
without any diftinction of nature, or fex,
does, and ought to infpire. A mind in fuch
a ftate, is like the furface of a pure and
tranquil lake \ in both, the flighted impulfe
excites a cofrefpondent mdtion -, and the af-

Vol. I. L fections,

[ H6 ]

fe&ions, like the waters, feem gently to ex-
pand themfelves on every fide. But if the
heavier!: mafs be thrown into a rapid ftream,
theeffed: is fhort-lived; if into a river tum-
bling over ftones, or dafhing among rocks,
it is momentary. The one is an emblem of
irritation, as the other of repofe.

Irritation * is indeed the fource of our
moft a&ive and lively pleafures ; but its na-
ture, like the pleafures which fpring from
it, is eager, hurrying, impetuous: and when
the mind, from whatever caufe, becomes
agitated, thofe mild and foft emotions which
flow from beauty, and of which beauty is the
genuine fource, are fcarcely perceived. Let
thofe who have been uied to obferve the

* I am aware that irritation is generally ufed in a
bad fenfe; rather as a fource of pain, than of pleafure :
but that is the cafe with many words and expreffions
which relate, to our more eager and tumultuous emo-
tions, andrfeems to point out their diftindt nature and
origin.

works

f H7 1

Works of nature, reflect on their fenfations
when viewing the fmooth and tranquil
fcene of a beautiful lake, — or the wild,
abrupt, and noify one, of a picturefque ri-
ver : I think they will own them to have
been as different as the fcenes themfelves,
and that nothing but the poverty of lan-
guage* makes us call two fenfati©ns fo dif-
tinct from each other, by the common
name of pleafure. v

Having confidered the effects of repofe
and irritation, as caufed by the fixed pro-
perties of material objects, I will now ex-
amine how they are produced by what is
immaterial and uncertain; and how far
the various accidents of light and fhadow
(two oppofite though almofl infeparable
ideas, and which therefore in the language
of painters are often combined into one) cor-
refpond with the inherent qualities of objects,
and with their operation on the mind.

L 2 Nothing

[ 148 ]

Nothing is more obvious, than that all
ftrong and brilliant lights, and all fudden
contrafts of them with deep fhadows, Sti-
mulate the organ of fight. It is equally
obvious, that all foft quiet lights, fuch as
infenfibly melt into fhadow, and emerge
from it again in the fame gradual manner,
give a pleafing * repofe to the eye. Thefe
pofitions will be moft aptly illustrated, and
their application to the beautiful and the
picturefque moft clearly pointed out, by
attending to the practice of two painters,
whofe works are in the higheft efteem, and

* It is on this charm of repofe and of foftnefs, that
poets lay fo much ftrefs, when they defer ibe the beau-
ties of moon-light ; which many of them feem to do
with peculiar fondnefs.

<c Now reigns
<c Full-orb'd the moon, and with more pleafing light
" Shadowy fets off the face of things.' '

And that feeling paftage in Shakefpear :
H How fweet the moon-light fieeps upon yon bank."

of

[ H9 1

of which the ftyle and character is efta-
blifhed by general confent.

The genius of Rubens was ftrongly
turned to the pidturefque difpofition of his
figures, fo as often to facrifice every other
confideration to the intricacy, contrail, and
flriking variations of his groups. Such a
difpofition of objects, feems to call for
fomething fimilar in the management of the
light and fhade; and accordingly we owe
fome of the moft ftriking examples of both,
to his fertile invention. In point of brilli-
ancy, of fuch extreme fplendour of light
as is on the verge of glare *, no pictures
can fland in competition with thofe of
Rubens : fometimes thofe lights are almoft

* I fpeak of thofe pictures (and they are very nume-
rous) in which he aimed at great brilliancy. As no
painter poflefTed more entirely all the principles of his
art, the folemn breadth of his light and (hade is, on fome
©ccafions, no lefs flriking than its force and fplendor
on others,

L 3 unmixed

[ i5o ]

unmixed with fhade ; at other times they
burft from dark fhadows, they glance on
the different parts of the pifture, and pro-
duce that flicker (as it fometimes is called)
fo captivating to the eye ; but fo dangerous
alfo, when attempted by inferior artifts, or
by thofe who are lefs thoroughly mailers of
the principles of harmony, than that great
painter, All thefe dazzling effe&s are
heightened by the fpiritcd management of his
pencil, by thofe fbarp, animated touches *,
which give life and energy to every objed:.

Correggio's

* Many painters, when they reprefent any ftriking
effects of light, leave the touches of the pencil more
rough and flrongly marked, than the quality of the ob-
jects themfelves feems to juftify Rembrant, who fuc-
ceeded beyond ail others in thefe forcible effects, carried
alfo this method of creating them farther than any other
mailer. Thofe who have feen his famous picture in the
fladthoufe at Amfterdam, may remember a figure highly
illuminated, whofe drefs is a filver tiffue, with fringes,
taffels, and otner ornaments nearly of the fame brilliant

colour.

Correggio's principal attention (in point
of form) was directed to flow of outline
and gradual variation : Of this he never
entirely loft fight, even in his moft capri-
cious fore-fhortenings ; and the ftyle of his
light and fhadow is fo congenial, that the

colour. It is the moft furpriling inftance I ever faw of
the effect of that rough manner of pencilling, in pro-
ducing what moft nearly approaches to the glitter, and
to the irritation, which is caufed by real light when act-
ing powerfully on any object ; and this too, with a due
attention to general harmony, and with fuch a com-
manding truth of reprefentation, as no high finifhing can
give.

It feems to me, that this may be accounted for on the
principle I have before mentioned, of roughnefs in ma-
terial objects being a caufe of irritation. Light in itfelf
has nothing that bears any relation to rough or fmooth ;
but when ftrong, irritates in a high degree : As painting
cannot attain to the full fplendor even of reflected light,
and as that fplendor acts by ftimulating, it is natural
that painters {hould have helped out the infufficiency of
the art by fome other ftimulus, and by increafing the
irritating quality of the objeel: illuminated, have ftriven
to make a nearer approach to that of light itfelf.

L 4 one

[ *J* ]

one feems the natural confequence of the
other. He is always cited as the moft
perfect model of thofe foft and infenfible
tranfitions, of that union of effedt, which,
above every thing elfe, imprefles the gene-
ral idea of lovelinefs. The manner of his
pencilling is exaftly of a piece with the reft $
all feems melted together, but with fo nice
a judgment, as to avoid, by means of certain
free, yet delicate touches, that laboured hard-
nefs and infipidity, which arife from what is
called high finifhing, Correggio's pictures
are indeed as far removed from monotony,
as from glare -3 he feems to have felt be-
yond all others, the exadl degree of bril-^
liancy which accords with the foftnefs of
beauty, and to have been, with regard to
figures, what Claude was in landfcape.

The pi&ures of Claude are brilliant in a
high degree -> but that brilliancy is fo dif-
fufed over the whole of them, fo happily

balanced^

[ 153 ]

balanced, fo mellowed and fubdued by
that almoft vifible atmofphere, which per-
vades every part, and unites all together,
that nothing in particular catches the eye ;
the whole is fplendor, the whole is repofe ;
every thing lighted up, every thing in fweet-
eft harmony. Rubens in his landfcapes dif-
fers as ftrongly from Claude, as he does from
Correggio in his figures -, they are full of
the peculiarities, and pi&urefque accidents
in nature ; of ftriking contrails of form,
colour, and light and fhadow: fun-beams
burfting through a fmall opening in a dark
wood — a rainbow againft a ftormy fky —
effedts of thunder and lightning — torrents
rolling down trees torn up by the roots, and
the dead bodies of men and animals ; with
many other fublime and pidturefque cir-
cumftances. Thefe fudden gleams, thefe
cataradts of light, thefe bold oppofitions of
^louds and darknefs, which he has fo no-

bly

[ *54 ]

bly introduced, would deftroy all the beauty
and elegance of Claude : On the other
hand, the mild and equal fun-fhine * of

that

* Nothing is Co captivating, or feems fo much to ac-
cord with our ideas of beauty, as the fmiles of a beautiful
countenance ; yet they have fometimes a ftriking mix-
ture of the other character. Of this kind are thofe fmiles
which break out fuddenly from a ferious, fometimes from
almoft a fevere countenance, and which, when that gleam
is over, leave no trace of it behind —

Brief as the lightning in the collied night,
That in a fpleen unfolds both heaven and earth ;
And e'er a man has time to fay, behold !
The jaws of darknefs do devour it up.

This fudden effecT: is often hinted at by the Italian
poets, as appears by their allufion to the moft fudden and
dazzling of lights ; — gWfcintilla un rifo — tampeggia un
rifo — il balenar' d'un rifo.

There is another fmile, which feems in the fame de-
gree to accord with the ideas of beauty only : It is that
fmile which proceeds from a mind full of fweetnefs and
fenfibility, and which, when it is over, ftill leaves on the
countenance its mild and amiable impfeffion ; as after
the fun is fet, the mild glow of his rays is ftill diffufed

over

[ *5S ]

that charming painter, would as ill accord
with the twifted and Angular forms, and
the bold and animated variety of the land-
fcapes of Rubens.

Thefe few inftances from the art of
painting (and many more might eafily be
produced) fhew in how great a degree
foftnefs, fmoothnefs* gradual variation of
form, infenfible transitions from light to
fhadow, and general repofe, are the charac-
teristic marks of artifts, whofe works are
moft celebrated for their beauty ; and
thefe caufes operate fo powerfully when
united, that notwithstanding the pure out-
line, and the happy mixture of the an-
tique character in Raphael ; the angelic

over every obje£r. This fmile, with the glow that ac-
companies it, is beautifully painted by Milton, as moft
becoming an inhabitant of heayen :

To whom the angel, with a fmile that glow'd
Celeftial rofy red, love's proper hue,
Thus anfwer'd.

9 air

[ '5* 1

air of Guido ; and the peculiar and feparate
beauties of others painters, I believe that
if a variety of perfons converfant in paint-
ing, were afked what pidlures (taking every
circumftance together) appeared to them
moft beautiful, and had left the fofteft, and
molt pleafing impreffion — the majority of
them would fix upon Correggio.

In beauty of landfcape, Claude (lands
quite ajone, without a competitor.

CHAP.

[ *S7 3

CHAPTER VIL

THESE efFecls of harmony and re-
pofe naturally lead me to that great
principle of the art of * painting (for it
is the great connecting, and harmonizing
principle of nature) breadth of light and
fhadow.

What is called breadth, feems to bear
nearly the fame relation to light and (ha-

* Or rather (in a more juft and comprehend ve view)
of that art, which chiefly by means of light and fhadow,
bodies forth the forms of things from a plain furface, and
which, being independent of colours, includes every fpe-
cies of drawing and engraving.

dow,

[ 158 ]

dow, as fmoothnefs does to material ob-
je&s ; for as all uneven furfaces caufe more
irritation than thofe which are fmooth,
and thofe moil of all which are broken into
little inequalities -, fo thofe lights and fha-
dows which are fcattered and broken, are
infinitely more irritating than thofe which
are broad and continued. Every perfon of
the leaft obfervation, muft have remarked
how broad the lights and ihadows are on
a fine evening in nature, or (what is al-
moft the fame thing) in a picture of
Claude. He mufl equally have remark-
ed the extreme difference between fuch
lights and ihadows, and thofe meagre and
frittered ones, that fometimes difgrace the
works of painters, in other refpects of great
excellence ; and which prevail in nature,
when the fun-beams, refraded and difperfed
in every direction by a number of white
flickering clouds, create a perpetual (Lifting

glare,

glare, and keep the eye in a ftate of conftant
irritation. All fuch accidental effects arif-
ing from clouds, though they flrongly fhew
the general principle, and are highly proper
to be ftudied by all lovers of painting or of
nature, yet not being fubjecl: to our con-
troul, are of lefs ufe to improvers ; a great
deal however it fubjecl; to our controul,
and I believe we may lay it down as a very
general maxim, that in proportion as the
objects are fcattered, unconnected, and in
patches, the lights and fhadows will be fo
too ; and vice verfa.

If, for inftance, we fuppofe a continued
fweep of hills, either entirely wooded, or
entirely bare, and under the influence of a
low cloudlefs fun — whatever parts are ex-
pofed to that fun, will have one broad light
upon them ; whatever are hid from it, one
broad fhade. If we again fuppofe this
wood to have been thinned in fuch a man-
ner,

t *te }

ner, as to have left mafTes, groups, and
fingle trees fo difpofed, as to prefent a
pleafing and connected whole, though with
detached parts; or, if we fuppofe the bare
hills to have been planted in the fame ftyle
—-the variety of light and ihadow will be
greatly increafed* and the general breadth
ftill be preferved* Nor would that breadth
be injured if an old ruin, a cottage, or any
building of a quiet tint, was difcovered
among the trees. But if the wood were fo
thinned, as to have a poor, fcattered, un-
connected appearance ; or the hills planted
in clumps, patches and detached trees — *
the lights and fhadows would have the
fame broken and disjointed effect as the
objects themfelves. If to this were added
any harfh contraft (fuch as clumps of firs
and white buildings) the irritation would be
greatly increafed. In all thefe cafes, the
eye, inftead of repofing on one broad, con-
nected

i 161 ]

hefted whole, is ftopt and harafled by lit*
tie difunited, difcordant parts : I of courfe
fuppofe the fun to adt on thefe different ob-
jects with equal fplendourj for there are
fomc days, when the whole fky is fo full of
jarring lights, that the fhadieft groves and
avenues hardly preferve their folemnity ;
and there are others, when the atmofphere
(like the laft glazing of a pi&ure) foftens
into mellownefs, whatever is crude through-
out the landfcape.

This is peculiarly the effe&of * twilight;

for

* Milton, whofe eyes feem to have been moft fen-
fibly affected by every accident, and gradation of light,
(and that poffibly in a great degree from the weaknefs,
snd confequently the irritability of thofe organs) fpeaks
always of twilight with peculiar pleafure. He has even
reverfed what Socrates did by philofophy ; he has called
up twilight from earth, and placed it in heaven :

From that high mount of God whence light and fhade
Spring forth, the face of brighteft heaven had changed
To grateful twilight.

Vol. I, M w^t

[ ,62 ]

for at that delightful time, even artificial
water, however naked, edgy, and tame its
banks, will often receive a momentary
charm ; when all that is fcattered and cut-
ting, all that difgufts a painter's eye, is
blended together in one broad and footh-
ing harmony of light and fhadow. I
have more than once, at fuch a moment,
happened to arrive at a place entirely new
to me, and have been ftruck in the higher!
degree with the appearance of wood, wa-
ter, and buildings, that feemed to accom-
pany and fet off each other, in the happieft

What is alfo fmgular, he has in this pafTage made
fhade an efience equally with light, not merely a priva-
tion of it ; a compliment, never, I believe, paid to fha-
dow before, but which might be expected from his
averfion to glare, fo frequently, and fo ilrongly expreffed 3

Hide me from day's garijh eye.

When the fun begins to fling
His faring beams.

manner^

manner ; and I have felt quite impatient to
examine all thefe beauties by day-light :

" At length the morn, and cold indifference came."

The charm which held them together, and
made them act fo powerfully as a whole,
was gone.

It may, perhaps, be faid, that the imagi-
nation, from a few imperfect hints, may
form beauties which have no existence,
and that indifference may naturally arife,
from thofe phantoms not being realized.
I am far from denying the power of par-
tial concealment and obfcurity on the ima-
gination ; but in thefe cafes, the fame fet
of objects, whenfeen by twilight, is often
beautiful as a picture, and would appear
highly fo, if exactly reprefented on the can-
vafs ; but in full day-light, the fun, as it
were, decompounds what had been fo
happily mixed together, and feparates a
M 2 ftriking

[ i64 ]

ftriking whole, into detached unimpreffive
parts.

Nothing, I believe, would be of more
fervice in forming a tafte for general effect,
and general compofition, than to examine
the fame fcenes, in the full diftinctnefs of
day, and again after fun-fet. In fact, twi-
light does, what an improver ought to do j it
connects what was before fcattered -y it fills
up flaring, meagre vacancies ; it deftroys
edginefs ; and by giving fhadow as well as
light to water, at once increafes both its
brilliancy and foftnefs. It muft however
be obferved, that twilight, while it takes
off the edginefs of thole objects which are
below the horizon, more fenfibly marks the
outline of thofe which are oppofed to the
fky ; and confequently difcovers the defects,
as well as the beauties of their forms*
From this circumftance, improvers may-
learn a very ufeful leffon, that the outline

againft

againft the iky mould be particularly at-
tended to, fo that nothing lumpy, meagre, or
difcordant mould be there ; for at all times,
in fuch a fituation, the form is made out,
but moft of all when twilight has melted the
other parts together* At that time many
varied groups, and elegant fhapes of trees,
which were fcarcely noticed in the more
general diffufion of light, diftinctly appear;
then too the ftubborn clump (which before
was but too plainly feen) makes a ftill fouler
blot on the horizon : while there is a glim-
mering of light he maintains his poft, nor
yields, till even his blacknefs is at laft con-
founded in the general blacknefs of night.

Thefe are the powers and effects of that
breadth I have been defcribing, and which
may juftly be confidered as a fource of vifual
pleafure diftindt from all others ; for objects,
which in themfelves are neither beautiful,
nor fublime, nor picturefque, are inciden-
M 3 tally

[ 166 1

tally made to delight the eye, from their be-
being produdlive of breadth. This feems to
account for the pleafure we receive from
many maffive, heavy objefts, which, when
deprived of the effedl of that harmonizing
principle, and considered fingly, are even
pofitively ugly. Such, indeed, is the effed of
breadth, that pi&ures or drawings eminently
poffeffed of it (though they fhould have no
other merit) will always attract the atten-
tion of a cultivated eye ; while others, where
the detail is admirable, but where this
mafter-principle is wanting, will often, at
the firft view, be pafled by without notice.
The mind, however, requires to be ftimu-
lated as well as foothed, and there is in this,
as in fo many other inftances, a ftrong ana-
logy between painting and mufic: the fir ft
effed of mere breadth of light and fhadow
is to the eye, what that of mere harmony of
founds is to the ear ; both produce a pleafing
repofe, a calm fober delight, which, if not re-
lieved

[ 16/ 3

lieved by fomething lefs uniform, foon finks
Into diftafte and wearinefs : for repofe and
fleep, which are often ufed as fynonymous
terms, are always nearly allied. But as the
principle of harmony muft be preferved in the
wildeft and moft eccentric pieces of mufic,
in thofe where fudden, and quickly varying
emotions of the foul are expreffed; fo muft
that of breadth be equally attended to in
fcenes of buftle, and feeming confufion, in
thofe where the wildeft fcenery, or moft vio-
lent agitations of nature are reprefented;
and I am here tempted to parody that fre-
quently quoted paffage of Shakefpeare, " in
the very torrent, tempeft, and wThirlwind of
the elements, the artiuy in painting them,
muft acquire a breadth that will give them
fmoothnefs."

There is, however, no fmall difficulty

in uniting breadth, with the detail, the

fplendid variety, and marked characler of

M 4 nature.

[ ,68 ]

nature. Claude is admirable in this, as in aU
moft every other refpect* With the greateft
accuracy of detail, and truth of character,
his pictures have the breadth of the fim-
pleft warned drawing, or aquatinta print ;
where little elfe is expreffed, or intended.
In a ftrong light, they are full of interefting
and entertaining particulars; and as twi-
light comes on (an effect I have obferved
with great delight) they have the fame
gradual fading of the glimmering landfcape,
as in real nature.

This art of preferring breadth with detail
and brilliancy, has been fludied with great
fuccefs by Teniers, Ian Steen, and many
of the Dutch mafters. Oftade's pictures
and etchings are among the happieft exam-
ples of it ; but above all others, the works
of that fcarce and wonderful mafter, Gerard
Dow. His eye feems to have had a micro-
fcopic power in regard to the minute tex-
ture

[ i69 3

tare of objects (for in his paintings they
bear the fevere trial of the ftrongeft magni-
fier) and at the fame time the oppofite fa-
culty of excluding all particulars with re*=
fpect to breadth and general effect.' His
mailer, Rembrant, did not attend to minute
detail $ but by that commanding manner, fo
peculiarly his own, and which marked with
equal force and juftnefs, the leading charac-
ter of each object, he produced an idea of
detail, much beyond what is really expreffed.
Many of the great Italian mailers have done
this alfo, and with a tafte, a grandeur, and
a noblenefs of ftile, unknown to the in-
ferior fchools ; though none have exceeded,
or even equalled Rembrant, in truth, force,
and effect. But when artifls, neglecting
the variety of detail, and thofe characteriftic
features that well fupply its place, content
themfelves with mere breadth, and propofe
that as the final object of attainment — their

productions,

[ 17° ]

productions, and the intereft excited by
them, will be, in comparifon of the ftyles
I have mentioned, what a metaphyfi-
cal treatife is to Shakefpeare or Fielding;
they will be rather illuflxations of a prin-
ciple, than reprefentations of what is real ;
a fort of abftracl idea of nature, not very
unlike Crambe's abftracl: idea of a lord
mayor.

As nothing is more flattering to the
vanity and indolence of mankind, than the
being able to produce a pleafing general
effect, with little labour or ftudy ; fo no-
thing more obftru&s the progrefs of the
art, than fuch a facility. Yet ftill thefe ab-
ftrafts are by no means without their com-
parative merit, and they have their ufe as
well as their danger ; they fliew how much
may be effected by the mere naked princi-
ple, and the great fuperiority that alone
gives to whatever is formed upon it, over

thofe

[ i7i J

thofe things which are done on no princi-
ple at all -, where the feparate objects are
fet down, as it were, article by article ; and
where the confufion of lights fo perplexes
the eye, that one might fuppofe the art hi
had looked at them through a multiplying
glafs.

I may, perhaps, be thought to have
dwelt longer on this article, than the prin-
cipal defign of my book feemed to require;
but though (as I mentioned in a former
part) the ftudy of light and fhadow ap-
pears, at firft light, to belong exclufively
to the painter, yet, like every thing which
relates to that charming art, it will be
found of infinite fervice to the improver.
Indeed, the violations of this principle of
breadth and harmony of light and fhadow,
are, perhaps, more frequent, and more dif-
guftingly orTenfive, than thofe of any other.

Many people feem to have a fort of callus

over

[ I72 ]

over their organs of fight, as others over
thofe of hearing; and as the callous hearers
feel nothing in mufic but kettle-drums and
trombones; fo the callous fe-ers can only be
moved by ftrong oppofitions of black and
white, or by fiery * reds. I am therefore fo
far from laughing at Mr. Locke's blind
man for likening fcarlet to the found of a
trumpet, that I think he had great reafon to
pride himfelf (as he did) on the difcovery.

It might reafonably be fuppofed, that the
natural colour, of brick were fufriciently
ftimulating $ but I have feen brick houfes
painted of fo much more flaming a red, that
(to ufe Mr. Brown's expreffion) they put
the whole vale in a fever. White, though
glaring, has not that hot fultry appearance;

P Red properly belongs to colouring, as it cannot
be expreffed by a mere black and white drawing, or
engraving j yet, where a tint is fo glaring as to deltroy
the harmony of colouring, I am apt to think it will have
the fame erTedr. on breadth of light and fhadow.

and

[ *73 ]

and there is fuch a look of neatnefs and
gaiety in it, that we cannot be furprifed,
if, where lime is cheap, only one idea
mould prevail — that of making every thing
as white as poffible. Wherever this is
the cafe, the whole landfcape is full of little
fpots, which can only be made pleafing to
a painter's eye, by their being almoft buried
in trees : But where a country is without
natural wood, and is improved by dint of
white-warn and clumps of firs, a painter
(were he confined there) would be abfo-
lutely driven to defpsiir ; and feel ready to re-
nounce, not only his art, but his eyefight.

One of the moft charming effects of fun-
fhine,isits giving to objects, not merely light,
but that mellow golden hue fo beauti-
ful in itfelf, and which, when diffiifed, as
in a fine evening, over the whole landfcape,
creates that rich union and harmony, fo en-
chanting in nature and in Claudg, But if
i either

either in Claude, or in nature, any one ob^
jecT: fhould be introduced of fo glaring a
white, as not to partake of that general hue,
the whole attention, in fpite of all our efforts
to the contrary, will be drawn to that one
point ; if there are feveral, the eye will be
diftradted among them*. Again, (to confider
it in another view) when the fan breaks out
in gleams, there is fomething that delights
and furprifes, in feeing an object, before
only vifible, lighted up in fplendor; and
then gradually finking into fhade. But

* From that analogy fo often mentioned, it is ufuaf
to fay, that an object in a picture, or in nature, is out of
tune. The expreffion is perfectly juft : in mufic, one
fuch note will invincibly fix our attention upon it, and
feveral diftracl: it; and in either cafe, it is impoifible to
enjoy the harmony of the reft. There is, however, this
difference; a palling note, however falfe, is quickly
over; but a glaring object, is like an eternal holding note
held firmly out of tune, and which, in that cafe well de-
ferves the name an unmufkal friend once gave to hold-
ing notes in general ; " I don't know what you call
them," faid he, « I mean one of thofelong noifes."

a whitened

[ *7S 3

a whitened object is already lighted up, it
remains fo when every thing has retired into
obfcurity ; it ftill forces itfelf into notice ;
ftill impudently flares you in the face.

A cottage of a quiet colour, half con-
cealed among trees, with its bit of garden,
its pales and orchard, is one of the mod
tranquil and foothing of all rural objects ;
and when the fun ftrikes upon it, and dif-
covers a number of lively picture fque cir-
cumftances, one of the mofl chcarful : but
if cleared, round and whitened, its modeft
retired character is gone, and fucceeded by a
perpetual glare.

Sunihine, when it gilds fome object of a
fober tint, is like a fmile that lights up a
ferious countenance; a * whitened object,
is like the eternal grin of a fool.

Iwifh

* Even very white teeth (where excefs of whitenefs
is leaft to be feared) if feen too much, have often a kind
of filly look that feems to belong to the part itfelf: no-

thing

£ 176 J

I wifli, however, to be underftood, that
when I fpeak of white-wafh, and whitened
buildings, I mean that glaring white which
is produced by lime alone, or without a fuf-
ficient quantity of any lowering ingredient $
for there cannot; be a greater, or a more im-
mediate improvement, than that of giving to
a fiery brick building, the tint of a ftone one.
No perfon, I believe, has any doubt that
ftone (fuch as Bath and Portland, and many
others which pafs under the general name of
free-Hone) is the moft beautiful material
for building ; and I imagine there is no in-
ftance of an architect's having painted fuch
Hones white, in order to make them more
beautiful, though dingy, or red ftone may
fometimes have been painted of a free ftone

thing can be more chara&eriftic of that effect, than the
well known expreffion of, the gentleman with the foolifh
teeth. Thofe gentlemen who deal much in pure white-
warn, might well be diftinguifhed by the fame complU
ment being paid to their buildings.

colour.

[ *77 1

colour. The true object of imitation feems
therefore to be the tint of a beautiful ftone ;
and if thofe who whiten their buildings,
would pique themfelves on matching ex-
actly the colour of Bath, or Portland ftone,
fo as to be neither whiter, nor yellower, the
greateft neatnefs and gaiety might prevail,
without glare.

Befides the glare, there is another cir-
cumftance which often renders white- wafti
extremely offenfiye to the eye, efpecially
when it is applied to any uneven furface ;
and that is, a fmeared, dirty appearance.
This is the cafe where old, or rough ftone -
work is dabbed with lime, while the dirt
is left between the joints 5 as likewife
where the coarfe wood-work that feparates
the plaiftered wails of a cottage is brufhed
over, as well as the fmooth walls them-
felves : in thefe, however, the object is in-
con fiderable, and the effect in proper -

Vol. I. N tioni

I 178 ]

tlon ; but when this pitiful tafle is employ-
ed upon fome antient caftle-like maniion,
or the * moffy weather- ftained tower of an
old church, it becomes a fort of facrilege.
Such a building, daubed over and plaiftered,
is, next to a painted old woman, the moft
difgufting of all attempts at improvement j
on both, when left in their natural ftate,
time often ftamps a pleafing and venera-
ble imprefiion; but when thus fophifti-
cated, they have neither the frefhnefs of
youth, nor the mellow piclurefque cha-
racter of age; and inftead of becoming

* I mufl here beg leave to remind the reader, that
when I mentioned the great and immediate improvement
of giving to a brick building, the colour of ftone, it was.
to a fiery brick. When brick becomes weather flaine4
and moiTy, it harmonifes with the colours that ufually
accompany it, and has often a richnefs, mellownefs, and
variety of tintrinfinitely pleaflng to a painter's eye; for.
{he cool colour of the greenifh mofs lowers all the fiery
quality, while the fubdued fire beneath, gives a glow to.
what without it would be cold and infipid.

attractive,

I *79 ]

attractive, are only made horribly confpi-
cuous.

I am afraid it will not be eafy to check
the general paffion for diftindnefs and
confpicuity. Each profpecl hunter (a moft
numerous tribe) like the heroic Ajax, forms
but one prayer ;

Let them fee but clearly, and fee enough,
they are content ; and much may be faid
in their favour; compofition, grouping,
breadth and effect of light and fhadow,
harmony of colours, &c. are comparatively
attended to and enjoyed by few; but ex~
tenfive profpects are the moil popular of
all views, and their refpe&ive fuperiority is
generally decided by the number of churches
and counties. Diftinclnefs is therefore the
great point; a painter may wiih feveral hills
of bad fhapes^and thoufands of uninterefting
N a acres

[ *8o ]

acres, to be covered with one general fhadej
but to him who is to reckon up his counties,
the lofs of a black or a white fpot, of a clump
or a gazabo, is the lofs of a voucher.

Then again, as the profpeft-fhewer has
great pleafure and vanity in pointing out
thefe vouchers, fo the improver, on his fide,
has full as much in being pointed at ; we
therefore cannot wonder that fo many
churches have been converted into thefe
beacons of tafte, or that fo many hills have
been marked with them*

CHAP-

[ i8i ]

CHAPTER VIIL

I HAVE hitherto endeavoured to trace
the pifturefque, in all that relates to
form, and to the effe&s of light and
(hade ; I have endeavoured to diftinguifh it
from the beautiful, and from the fublime,

and to fhew the general influence of breadth
on them all. It now remains to examine
how far the fame general principles hold
good with regard to colours.

Mr. Burke's idea of the beautiful in co-
lour, feems to me in the higheft degree fa-
tisfadtory, and to correfpond with all his
other ideas of beauty. I muft obferve at
the fame time, that the beautiful in colour,
is of a pofitive and independent nature;
N 3 whereas

t ifc 3

whereas the fublime in colour is in 2
great degree relative, and depends on
other circumftances. A beautiful colour,
is a common and a juft expreffion; na
one hefitates whether he fhall give that
title to the leaf of a rofe, or to the
fmalleft bit of it. But though the deep
gloomy tint of the fky before a ftorm, and
its effed: on all nature, is fublime, no one
would call that colour (whether a dark
blue or purple, or whatever it might be) a
fublime colour, if fimply fhewn him with-
out the other accompaniments*

It is as little the cuflom to fpeak of
pidturefque, as of fublime colours; many,
however, without impropriety, might be
called fo> for there are many, which hav-
ing nothing of the foftnefs, frefhnefs, and
delicacy of beauty, are generally found in
fcenes highly pidturefque, and admirably
accord with them. As that term has ufu-

ally

t m 1

&lly a reference (though not ari exclufive
one) to the art from which it is named, fo
it may be remarked that painters, from
having obferved the deep, rich, and mellow
effe&s of thefe colours, have been particu-
larly fond of introducing them into their
pictures; and fometimes to the abfolute ex-
clufion of thofe that are more ftridly beau^
tiful: Among the former kind may be reck-
oned the autumnal hues in all their varie-
ties; the various gradations in the tints of
broken ground, and of the decayed parts in
old trees | the weather ftains, and many
of the mofies on ftones and trunks of trees ;
with a thoufand more, equally diftincl: from
thofe which are beautiful. If to thefe be
oppofed the foft and tender colours of the
ftems of young trees, the frefh greens of
fpring, both in trees and herbage, its flowers
and bloflbms, it will mew in how many
N 4 inftances

[ i84 3

iniiances picturefque colours as well as
forms, arife from age and decay.

Autumn (which is metaphorically ap-
plied to the decline of human life, when
" fallen into the fere, the yellow leaf")
and not the fpring, the dolce primavera-,
gioventu delV anno, is generally called the
painter's feafon. And yet there is fome-
thing fo very delightful in the real charms
of fpring, as well as in the affociated ideas
of the renewal of life and vegetation, that
it feems a perverfion of our natural feelings*
to prefer to all its blooming hopes, the firft
bodings of the approach of winter.

Autumn niuft therefore have very pow-
erful attractions, though of a different kind,
and which muft be intimately connected
with the art of painting ; for that reafon>
as the picturefque (though equally founded
in nature with the beautiful) has been more

particularly

t tfj ]

particularly pointed out, illustrated, and as
it were brought into light by that art, an in-
quiry into the reafons why autumn, and not
fpring, is called the painter's feafon, will, I
imagine, give great additional infight into
the diftincl: characters of the pidturefque
and the beautiful; efpecially with regard to
colour.

If there is any thing in the univerfal
range of the arts, that is peculiarly re-
quired to be a whole, it is a pidture : in
pieces of mufic, particular movements
may, without injury, be feparated from
the whole ; and in every fpecies of poetry,
of writing in general, detached fcenes,
epifodes, Stanzas, &c. may be confidered
and enjoyed by themfelves; nor, indeed, is
it every mind that, in the progrefs of a
work of any length, can obferve and re-
tain the connection of the different parts,
and their dependance on each other : But

in

t 186 3

In a picture, the forms, tints, lights arid
fhadows ; all their combinations, effe&s*
agreements, and oppolitions, are at once
fubjecled to the eye ; all at one glance
brought into companion : And, therefore,
however beautiful particular colours may
be — however gay and brilliant the lights — ■
if they want union, breadth, and harmony,
the picture wants its moft efTential qua*
lity-^ — it is not a whole. According to my
ideas, therefore* it is from this circumfiance
of union and harmony, joined to that of*
richnefs, depth, and mellownefs of tint* that
the decaying charms of autumn often tri«=
umph in the painter's eye, over the frefh
and blooming beauties of fpring*

The colours of fpring deferve the name
of beauty in the trueft fenfe of the word j
they have every thing that gives us that
idea ; frelhnefs, gaiety* and livelinefs, with
foftnefs, and delicacy. Their beauty, in-

8 deed,

E 187 J

deed, is of all others, the moft unhrerfally
acknowledged; fo much fo, that from them
every comparifon and illuftration of beauty
is taken.

The earlier trees, befides the frefhnefs
of their colour, have a remarkable light*
nefs and tranfparency, without nakednefs 1
their new foliage ferves as a decoration*
not as a concealment, and through it the
forms of their limbs are feen, as thofe of the
human body under a thin drapery : while a
thoufand quivering lights, play around and
amidft their branches in every dire£Hon5
even into the innermoft parts of the woods.
The circumftances which moft peculiarly
diftinguifh trees at this feafon are charae**
terifed by Mr. Gray, in two lines of his
beautiful lyric fragment 1

And lightly o'er the living fcene
Scatters his tendereft, frefheft green.

it

t 188. y

It feems to me, that from thefe two
lines, in which the beauties of the early
foliage have been feled;ed with fuch acU
mirable tafte and accuracy, may alfo be
colle&ed the reafons why thofe beauties are
in general lefs happily adapted to paint-
ing.

In order to produce a whole, painters
deal very much in broad maffes ; thefe are
rarely compatible with a general air of
lightnefs; ftill lefs with what is fcattered.

It might naturally be fuppofed that frefli
and tender greens, which are fo pleafing
in nature to every eye, would be equally
fo on the canvas ; and fo they often are
when balanced by other tints, but not
when fcattered lightly, and over the ge-
nera/ fcene. Freflinefs, in one fenfe, is
fimply coolnefs, and I believe that idea
in fome degree almoft always accompa-
nies

[ i«9 1

nies it ; and though in nature real f jnfhine
(poffibly from its real warmth as well as its
fplendor) may give a glow and animation
to a landfcape entirely green, yet nothing
is more difficult in painting, or more rarely
attempted ; for who would confine himfelf
to cold monotony, when all nature is full of
examples of the greateft variety, with the
moft perfect harmony ?

As the green of fpring, from its compa-
rative coldnefs, is lefs favourable to land-
fcape than the warm and mellow tints of
autumn j in like manner its flowers and
blorToms, from their too diftinct and fplen-
did variety, are apt to produce a glare and a
fpottinefs, deftructive of that union and
harmony, which is the very effence of a
picture, either in nature, or imitation.

Whatever objects moft ftrongly attract

the eye, are of courfe moft apt to create

fpots ; and confequently none more fo

§ than

[ *9° 1

than * white objects; and it is greatly on
that account, that water fo particularly re-
quires the accompaniment of trees, as they
take off from the glare of its whitenefs.
I therefore have often thought that the
expreffion of a &nt'Jheet of water, which is
always meant and taken as a compliment,
is a very juft fatire on thofe naked, glaring
imitations (if they be fo called) of lakes
and rivers.

A tree or bum covered with white blof-
foms, fuggefts the fame idea of a white
fheet thrown over them ; and white iheets

* I rauft beg leave to refer the reader to fome remarks
on this fubject by Mr. Lock in Mr. Gilpin's Tour down
the Wye, page 97, which I mould have inferted here,
were not that book in every perfon's hands.

It is impoffible to read thofe remarks without regret-*
ting, that the obfervations of a mind fo capable of en^
lightening the public, mould be withheld from it ; a re->
gret which thofe who have enjoyed the pleafure and ad-
vantage of his converfation, feel in a much higher de-
gree,

flattered

C 191 3

Scattered about a landfcape, would not very
readily unite with other objects.

The apple bloffoms, whofe colours when
feen near, and when their different Ibades
and gradations can be diftinguifhed, are £o
beautiful, at a diftance lofe all their rich-
nefs and variety : they appear only red,
glaring, and fpotty ; and the effect of a great
number of pear, apple, and cherry trees
in full blow, ftrongly proves that red and
white ought never to predominate in the
* general landfcape,

In the opening of fpring alfo, the early
trees in all their freihnefs of leaves, and

* Having heard that at the time of the blow the whole
county of Hereford looked like a garden, I many years
ago came down at that feafon expecting to be in rap-
tures. Mydifappointment was equal to my expectation,
when I crofTed the Malvern hills, and faw the country
fpread out before me ; it anfwered indeed to the defcrip-
tion, and did look like a garden ; but from that time I
have never wifhed to fee a garden of feveral hundred
$cres.

gaiety

[ 19* ]

gaiety of bloffoms, form too ftrong a con-
trail with the lifelefs boughs of the oak
or afh ; and no painter, I believe, has ever
deferved to have it faid of him, that like
Mezentius,

Mortua quinetiam jungebat corpora vivis.

It muft not however be concluded, that
the painter has no pleafure in any fet
of obje&s, unlefs they make a picture i
the charms of fpring are univerfally felt,
and he enjoys them in common with all
mankind, unlefs he has narrowed his mind
by that art, which ought moil to have
enlarged it. But then his enjoyment is
greatly heightened and varied, when the
blofibms and flowers of fpring are fo mixed
in, and grouped with the earlier decidu-
ous trees, with ever-greens, with build-
ings, and other obje&s, that the glare and
gaudinefs is taken away, while the gaiety

remains.

[ *93 1

remains. All fuch combinations as form
pictures (that is, in other words, where the
forms and colours are moft happily balanced
and connected) are only new fources of
pleafure added to thofe which are more ge-
neral * ; they are alfo pleafure s which may
be dwelt upon, and returned to, after the
firft enchanting, but vague delight of fpring
is diminifhed.

Such indeed are the charms of reviving
nature, that he who does not feel them,
and feel them with rapture, becaufe in
many cafes they are lefs fuited to pictures,
muft have a very pedantic love of painting.
The profufion of frefh, gay, and beautiful
colours, and of fweets, united with the ideas

* This is precifely the cafe with regard to profpe&s :
the painter adds thofe new fources of pleafure to the ge-
neral and vague delight he feels in common with the
fuperficial obferver. — For a farther difcuifion of 'that
fuhjedt, vide my letter to Mr. Repton, page 113.

Vol. L O ©f

i 194 J

of fmitfulnefs, have altogether an effecS
fimilar to that of the fublime 5 they abforh
for the moment all other confiderations t
and on a genial day in fpring, and in a place
where all its charms are difplayed, every
man, whofe mind is not infenfible or de-
praved, mull feel the full force of that ex-
clamation of Adam, when he firft wakened
to the pleafure of exiftence :

<c With fragrance and with joy my heart o'erflow'd."

I have now mentioned what feem to me
the principal beauties and defefts of the
earlier part cf fpring, at which time, how-
ever, the change is moft finking : for as the
feafon advances, and the leaves are more
and more expanded, they no longer retain
their vernal hue, their glofs of youth -, and
the trees, in the height of fummer, lofe
perhaps as much in the freihnefs, variety,
and Jightnefs of their foliage, as they gain
•f in.

[ m 3

In the general fullnefs of it, and the fupe«
rior lize of their leaves.

The Midfummer moot relieves the uni-
form green that immediately precedes it;
in many trees (and in none more than the
oak) the effed: is Angularly beautiful ; the
old foliage forms a dark back ground, on
which the new appears relieved and de-
tached, in all its frefhnefs and brilliancy;
it is fpring engrafted upon fummer. This
effedt, however, is confined to the nearer
objedts ; the great general change in all
vegetation from the green of fummer, is
produced by the firft frofts of autumn.
Then begins that variety of rich glowing
tints, which, at the early period of their
change, fo admirably accord with each
other, and form fo fplendid a mafs of co-
louring ; fo fuperior in depth and richnefs,
to that of any other part of the year.

It has often ftruck me, that the whole
O 2 fyftem,

[ 196 ]

fyftem of the Venetian colouring (particu-
larly that of Giorgione and Titian, which
has been the great object of imitation) was
formed upon the tints of autumn; and that
their pictures have thence that golden hue,
which gives them (as Sir Jofhua Reynolds
obferves) fuch a fuperiority over all others.
Their trees, foregrounds, and every part of
their landfcapes, have, more ftrongly than
thofe of any oth&r painters, the deep and
rich browns of that feafon. The lame
general hue prevails in the draperies of
their figures, and even in their * flefh, which

* A ftrong proof of this is in the Ganymede of Ti-
tian, in the Colonna palace, to which, by the order of
the old Cardinal, Carlo Maratt put a new fky of the fame
tone as thofe in his own pictures ; and I may fay, that
none but fuch a cold infipid artift could have borne to
execute, what fuch grofs unfeeling ignorance had com*
manded. Such a fky would have been a fevere trial to
the flelh of any warm picture, but it makes that of the
Ganymede appear almoir. black ; which certainly would
not have been the cafe, if it had been painted by Rubens,

or Corrcggio.

has

[ *97 3

has neither the filver purity of Guido, nor
the frefhnefs of Rubens, but a glow per-
haps more enchanting than either. Sir
Jofhua has remarked, that the filver pu-
rity of Guido is more fuited to beauty,
than that glowing golden hue of Titian :
it was natural for him to mention Guido, as
being the painter who had moft fucceeded
in beauty of form ; but with lefs of that
purity and evennefs of tint, there is a frefh- .
nefs in that of Rubens which would ad-
mirably accord with beauty, though, there
are but few inftances in his works of fuch
a union.

It feems to me that if any one of the qua-
lities which Mr. Burke has fo juftly afcribed
to beauty, is more effential than the others,
it is freihnefs ; and it is that, which makes
the moft diftinct line of feparation, between
the beautiful and the pidturefque in co-
O 3 louring.

[ i9» ]

louring *. I fhould on that account be in-
clined to call the Venetian ftyle of colouring,
and that of Mola, of Domenico Feti, and
others who have imitated it, the pidturefque
ftyle, as being formed upon the deep and
glowing tints of autumn, and not upon the
frefh and delicate colours of fpring; and al-
though this Venetian colouring may not upon
the whole be fo congenial to the fublime, as
the feverer ftyles of the Roman and Flo-
rentihe fchools, yet it is infinitely more fo,
than the freiher and more fenfual ftyle of

* Claude always mixed a much larger proportion of
cool, frefh colours in his landfcapes than the Venetians
did in theirs. In fome of his early pictures, thofe cool
tints prevail too much, and give them a cold fickly ap-
pearance ; his beft works, however, are entirely free
from that, as well as the oppofite defect, and his autho-
rity for the due proportion of cool and warm colours
which beauty requires, is as high as any man's can be ;
for no one ftudied beauty more diligently, more fuccefs-
fully, or for a greater number of years.

Rubens,

I *99 3

Rubens *, or the filvery tone of Guido; and
in that it accords with the general character
of the pi&urefque, more readily mixing with
the fublime, than the beautiful does. Some*
times alfo, the grandeft effecls have arifen
from the broken tints of the Venetian
paiaters ; effects, that are difplaid in their
higheft perfection in the back grounds, and
fldes of Titian f-, and which could not be
produced by the unbroken, and diftinct co-
lours of the Roman fchool.

* Rubens feems to have had iuch great delight in
beauty of colour, as often to have placed it, where a tint of
a coarfer kind would have been more in character. I
remember obferving, in that wonderful fketch of a battle
.on a bridge, in the Orleans collection, a robuft ibldier's
knee, of {o beautiful a carnation, blended with fuch
pure white, as is only feen in the moft delicate woman's
complexion.

•j- That, for inftance, in the St. Margaret, at Lord
Harcourt's, at Nuneham. Thofe of Rubens and Van-
dyke are frequently very grand where the fubjecl: re-
quired it ; and in that refpect they made Titian and the
Venetians their model,

O 4 Many

[ 200 ]

Many of Rubens's works have quite the
frefhnefs of the early feafon of the year $
and the whole of that well-known piflure
of the Duke of Rutland's, has the fpring-
like hue of thofe flowers, which with fo gay
and fpring-like a profufion (but ftill with a
painter's judgment) he has thrown about it.
But when Titian introduces flowers,, they
alfo are made to accord with his general
principle; they are not the children of
fpring -, they feem to belong to a later fea-
fon ; for he fpreads over them an autum-
nal hue and atmofphere, that would make
even Rubens's flowers (much more thofe
of a mere flower painter) Jook raw in
comparifon.

This leads me to obferve, that it is not
only the change of vegetation which gives
to autumn that golden hue, but alfo the
atmofphere itfelf, and the lights and iha-
dows which then prevail. In September

and

[ 201 ]

and Oftober the fun defcribes a much
lower circle above the horizon than in May
and April ; and confequently the lights and
fhadows, during a much larger portion of the
day, are broader, and more refembling thofe,
which in all feafons are produced at the clofe
of it *. The very characters of the fky and
the atmofphere are of a piece with thofe
of the two feafons ; fpring has its light and
flitting clouds, with fhadows equally flitting
arid uncertain ; refre filing mowers, with
gay and genial burfts of funfhine, that feem
fuddenly to call forth, and to nourifh the
young buds and flowers. In autumn all is

* In winter (when that circle is moft contracted) even
the mid-day lights and fhadows, from their horizontal
direction, are fo finking, and the parts fo finely illumi-
nated, and yet fo connected and filled up by them, that
I have many times forgotten the nakednefs of the trees,
frjom admiration of the general malTes. In fummer, the
exadt reverfe is as often the cafe ; the rich cloathing of
the parts makes a faint impreffion, from the vague and
general glare of light without (hadow.

matured,

[ 202 ]

matured ; and the rich huefc of the ripened
fruits, and of the changing foliage, are ren-
dered Mil richer by the warm haze, which,
on a fine day in that feafon, fpreads the
laft varnifh over every part of the picture*

CHAP.

[ 20J ]

CHAPTER IX.

I HAVE endeavoured, to the beft of
my abilities, and according to the ob-
fervations I have made in a long habit of
reflection on the fubjed:, to trace the ideas
we have of the pi&urefque, through the
different works of art and nature ; and it
appears to me, that in all objects of light,
in buildings, trees, water, ground, in the
human fpecies, and in other animals, the
fame general principles uniformly prevail;
and that even light and fhadow, and co-
lours, have the ftrongefl conformity to
thofe principles. I have compared both
its caufes and effedts, with thofe of the
fublime and the beautiful -, I have fhewn

its

[ 2o4 ]

its diftin&nefs from them both, and in what
that diftindtnefs confifts.

Of thefe three charters*, beauty is that
which moft nearly interefts us ; and it is
lingular, that two of thofe who have moil:
ftudied it, and heft written upon it, mould
differ in their ideas fo very widely, that the
one mould make beauty, and the other
uglinefs, proceed from the fame caufe. Mr,
Burke has obferved, * " that the idea of
variation, without attending fo accurately
to the manner of the variation, has led Mr.
Hogarth to confider angular figures as
beautiful."

Though I have never happened to meet
with this pofition (fo contrary to Hogarth's
general fy-ftem) in the analyfis of beauty, I
have no doubt of Mr. Burke's accuracy;
and I can eafily conceive, that a painter

* Sublime and Beautiful, page 21$,

like

[ 205 ]

like Hogarth, who had obferved the rich
and fplendid effects produced by fudden va-
riations, mould call angles beautiful. Mr.
Burke has, I think, clearly mewn that idea
to be founded on falfe principles ; but I alio
imagine that he himfelf, had he thought it
worth his while to inveftigate fo ungrateful
a fubjeel: as uglinefs, with the fame accuracy
as he has that of beauty, would hardly have
reckoned thofe objects the ugliejl which ap-
proach moil nearly to * angular ; for in that
cafe, the leaves of the vine and plane, would
be among the uglieft of the vegetable
kingdom.

It feems to me, that mere unmixed ugli-
nefs does not arife from (harp angles, or from
any fudden variation ; but rather from that
want of form, that unmapen lumpifh ap-
pearance, which, perhaps, no one word ex-

* Subline an4 Beautiful, page 217.

a&ly

[ *o6 ]

^B:ly expreffes ; a quality (if what is nega-
tive may be fo called) that never can be
miftaken for beauty, never can adorn it, and
which is equally unconnected with the fub-
lime and the pidturefque. In Latin, forma
is fometimes ufed fingly for beauty; and it
feems to imply, that beauty, is form in its
mofl exquifitely finished ftate, when the
laft touches of the matter's hand have left
nothing to add, nothing to diminifh — fuch
as we find in the moft perfect Grecian
fculpture. But were an artift to model,
in any foft material, a head from the Venus
or the Apollo, and then by way of expe-
riment to make the nofe longer or (harper
— rifing more fuddenly towards the middle
— or ftrongly aquiline ; were he to give a
ftriking proje&ion to the eye brow — or to
break the outline of the face into angles —
though he would deftroy beauty, yet he
might create character ; and fomething

grand

[ 207 ]

grand, or picturefque, might be produced by
fuch a trial. But let him take the contrary
method, let him clog and fill up all thofe
nicely marked variations, of whofe happy
union and connexion beauty is the refult
— uglinefs, and that only, malt be the con-
fequence. Were he afterwards to place
warts and carbuncles on the nofe, or any
other unnatural wens and excrefcencies on
the face ; were he to twift the mouth, or
make the nofe awry, or of an enormous
fize — he would then add deformity to
uglinefs.

Deformity is to uglinefs, what picfru-
refquenefs is to beauty ; though diftindt
from it, and in many cafes ariiing from
oppofites caufes, it is often miftaken for
it, often accompanies it, and greatly height-
ens its effedl. .Uglinefs alone, is merely
difagrceable ; when any ftriking deformity

k

[ 208 ]

is added, it becomes hideous ; when ter-
ror, fublime. All thefe are mixed in the

Monftrum horrendum, informe, ingens, cui lumen
ademptum.

Milton, in his defcription of death, has
left out the deformity which is ufual in the
reprefentation of that king of terrors *;
poffibly from judging that its diflindtnefs
would take off from the myfterious uncer-
tainty, which has rendered his pidlure fo
awfully fublime :

The other fhape,
If (hape it might be called, which fhape had none
Diftinguifiiable in member, joint, or limb ;
Or fubftance might be call'd, which fhadow feem'd,

* That deformity is only fuch with rcfpedt to the
human body in its perfecx ftate ; death being conftantly
painted as a fkeleton, that mufi be considered as his na-
tural form.

For

[ 2°9 ]

For each feem'd either; black it flood as night,
Fierce as ten furies, terrible as hell,
And fhook a dreadful dart ; what feem'd his head
The likenefs of a kingly crown had on.

Some of thofe who think that all beauty-
depends on flowing lines, have criticifed
the Grecian nofe as being too ftrait, and
forming too fharp an angle with the reft
of the face : Whether the Greek artifts
were right or not, it clearly fhews that
in their opinion ftrait and cutting lines,
and what nearly approached to angles* were
not merely compatible with beauty; but that
the effecl: of the whole would thence be
more attractive, than by a continual iweep
and flow of outline in every part #.

Thofe hills and mountains which nearly
approach to angles, are often called beau-

* The application of this to modern gardening is too
obvious to be enforced. It is the higheft of all autho-
rity againfr. continual flow of outline, even where beauty
of form is the only object.

Vol. I. P tiful,

[ 2IO ]

tiful, feldom, I believe, ugly; and when
diftance has foftened their roughnefs,
brownnefs, and apparent bulk, they ac-
cord with the fofteft and moft plealing
fcenes, and form the diftance of fome of
Claude's moft polifhed landfcapes. The
uglieft forms of hills (if my ideas are juft)
are thofe which are lumpiA, and, as it were,
unformed ; fuch, for inftance, as, from on§
of the uglieft and moft fhapelefs animals ;
are called pig-backed. When the fummits
of any of thefe are notched into paltry di-
vifions, or have fuch infignificant rifings
upon them as appear like knobs or bumps ;
or when any improver has imitated thofe
knobs and knotches, by means of patchess
and clumps, they are then both ugly and
deformed.

The fame diftinftions hold good in

trees; the uglieft forms, are not thofe

whofe branches make fudden angles, (for

6 they

[ u* )

they are often highly piftiirefque,) but
fuch fhapelefs ones as we fee in trees which
have been preifed by others, or in ftripped
or pollard ones that have juft begun to re-
cover; in thefe laft (while the marks of
the axe are ftill vifible) that moft horrid of
all deformity, ocafioned by mangled limbs,
added to uglinefs, makes them the moft
difgufting of all inanimate objects; they
bring to our mind the mocking fpecTxe of
Deiphobus :

Priamiden toto laniatum corpore vidio

The uglieft ground is that which has
neither the beauty of fmoothnefs, verdure,
and gentle undulation, nor the picturefque-
mefs of bold and fudden breaks, and varied
tints of foil : of fuch kind is ground that
•has been diftutbed, and left in that unfi-
nifhed ftate, as in a rough ploughed field run
to fward. Such alfo are the flimy mores of
P 2 a flat

[ 2*2 1

a flat tide river, or the ftorsy ones of &
mountain torrent when it defcends into the
plain. The fteep mores of rivers, where
the tide rifes at times to a great height,
and leaves promontories and caves of (lime ;
and thoie on which torrents among the
mountains leave huge mapelefs heaps of
ftones, may certainly lay claim to fome
mixture of deformity; which is often
miftaken for another character. Nothing,
indeed, is more common than to hear per-
fons who come from a tame cultivated
country (and not thofe only) miftake bar-
rennefs, defolation, and deformity, for gran-
deur and pic%urefqAienefs f -.

Deformity

* It might be fuppofecl, on the other hand, that the
being continually among pidturefque fcenes, would of
itfelf, and without any afliftance from pictures, lead to a
diftinguifhing tafte for them. Unfortunately it often
)eads to a perfect indifference for that ftyle, and to a
liking for fomething dire<5tly oppofite.

I once

t 213 3

Deformity in ground is indeed lefs obvious
than in other objects : deformity feems to
be fomethmg that did not originally belong
to the object in which it exifts ; fomething
ftrikingly and unnaturally difagreeable, and
not foftened by tliofe circumftances which
often make it picturefque. The fide of a
fmooth green hill torn by floods, may at fir ft
very properly be called deformed \ and on the
fame principle (though not with the fame
impreffion) as a gafli on a living animal.

I once walked over a very romantic place in Wales
with the proprietor, and itrongly exprelTed how much I
was ftruck with it, and, among the reft, with federal na-
tural cafcades. He was quite uneafy at the pleafure I
felt, and feemed afraid I mould waile my admiration
« Don't flop at theie things," laid he, " I will fliew you
by and by one worth feeing." A laft we came to a part
where the brook was conducted down three long fleps of
hewn ftone: "There/' faid he, with great triumph,
tC that was made by Edwards, who built Pont y pridd,
and it is reckoned as neat a piece of mafon-work as any
m the country."

P 3 When

[ 214 ]

When the rawnefs of fuch a gafh in the
ground is foftened, and in part concealed
and ornamented by the effects of time, and
the progrefs of vegetation-— deformity, by
this ufual procefs, is converted into pic-
turefquenefs ; and this is the cafe with
quarries, gravel-pits, &c. which at firft are
deformities, and which, in their moft pic-
turefque ftate, are often confidered as fuch
by a levelling improver. Large heaps of
mould or ftones, when they appear ftrongly,
and without any connection or conceal-
ment, above the furface of the ground,
may alfp at firft be confidered as deformities,
and may equally become picturefque by the
fame procefs.

This connection between pidlurefquenefs
and deformity cannot be too much ftudied
by improvers, and, among other reafons,
from motives of ceconomy. There are in
many places deep hollows and broken

ground

[ m 1

ground not immediately in view, and which
do not interfere with any fweep of lawn
neceflary to he kept open. To fill up,
and level thefe, would often be difficult
and expenfive ; to drefs and adorn them,
cofts little trouble, or money. Even in the
moft fmooth and polifhed fcenes, they may
often be fo mafked by plantations, and fo
united with them, as to blend with the
general fcenery at a diftance, and to pro-
duce great novelty and variety when ap-
proached.

With regard to hills and mountains,
their fymmetry and proportions are not
indeed marked out and afcertained, like
thofe of the human figure ^ but the ge-
neral principles of beauty and uglinefs, of
picturefquenefs and deformity, are eafily to
be traced in them, though not in fo ftrik-
ing and obvious a manner.

In buildings, and all artificial objects,
P4 the

[ 2i6 ]

the fame effects are produced by the fame
means. Whatever is neatly finifhed, ancl
the form (whatever it may be) accurately
expreffed, will be lefs ugly than the fame
ftyle of form executed in a flovenly and
unfinished manner. A neat brick- wall, for
inftance, is lefs ugly, though perhaps more
unpicturefque, than a flovenly mud- wall;
a brick-cottage, than a mud one. A clamp
of brick no one will deny to be completely
ugly, and it is melancholy to reflect how
many hcufes in this kingdom are built
upon that model ; the chief difference,
and that which makes them a degree lefs
ugly, is the fharpnefs of their angles.

With refpect to colours, it appears to
me that as tranfparency is one effential
quality of beauty, fo the want of that
tranfparency, or what may be termed mud-
dinefs, is the moil general and efficient
caufe of uglinefs. A colour, for inftance,

may

f 217 3

may be harm, glaring, or tawdry, and yet
pleafe many eyes, and by fome be called
beautiful ; 'but a muddy colour no one
ever was pleafed with, or gave that title to.
If this idea of uglinefs in colour be juft, it
very much ftrengthens what I have before
remarked with refpedt to form ; for in thatt
uglinefs is faid to arife from clogging thofe
nicely marked variations which produce
beauty ; and in this it „will in a limilar
manner arife, from clogging, thickening,
and altering the nice proportion and ar-
rangement of thofe particles (whatever they
be) which produce clearnefs and beauty of
colour *.

Uglinefs, like beauty, has no prominent
features ; it is in fome degree regular and

* I am here fpeaking of colours considered feparately j
not of thofe numberlefs beauties and effe&s which are
produced by their numberlefs connections and oppofr*
lions.

uniform,

um£mmr and at a diffance, and even oh &
flight infpecT:ion,is not immediately linking.
Deformity, like picture fqeenefa, makes a
cpicker impreffion, and the moment it ap~
years* ftrongly roufes- the attention. On this
principle, ugly mufic is what is compofed
according to rule and common proportion ;
hut which has neither that felection of
Iweet and flawing melody, which anfwers
to the beautiful; nor that marked character,
that variety, thofe fudden and mafterly
changes, which correfpond with the pic-
tmefque. If fuch mufic be executed in
the fame ftyle in which it is compofed, it
will eaufe no ftrong emotion ^ but if play-
ed out of tune, it will become deformed*
and every fuch deformity will make the
mufical hearer Hart. The enraged mufi-
eian flops both his ears againft the defor-
mity of thofe founds, which Hogarth has
lb powerfully conveyed to us through an-
other

[ 2I9 ]

other fenfe, as almoft to juftify the bold
expreffion of iEfchylus, 'SeSogna Quvtjv. Ap-
ply this to the other fenfe : Mere uglinefs
is looked upon without any violent emo-
tion 5 but deformity, in any ftrong degree,
would probably caufe the fame fort of ac-
tion in the beholder, as in Hogarth's mufi-
cian ; by making him afraid to truft fingly
to thofe means of exclufion, which nature
has placed over the fight.

The effects of the picturefque, when
mixed with the fublime, or the beautiful,
have been already confidered. It will be
found as frequently mixed with uglinefs;
and its effects when fo mixed will appear to
be perfectly conliftent with all that has been
mentioned of its effects and qualities. Ug-
linefs, like beauty, in itfeif is not pictu-
refque, for it has, limply confidered, no
ftrongly marked features : but when the
laft-mentioned character is added either to

beauty

[ 220 ]

beauty or to uglinefs, they become more
ilriking and varied j and whatever may be
the fenfations they excite, they always, by
means of that addition, more ftrongly at-
tract the attention. We are amufed and
occupied by ugly objects if they are alfo
picturefque, juft as we are by a rough,
and in other refpects a difagreeable mind,
provided it has a marked and peculiar cha-
racter ; without it, mere outward ugli-
nefs, or mere inward rudenefs, are limply
difagreeable.

An ugly man or woman with an aqui-
line nofe, high cheek bones, beetle brows,
and ftrong lines in every part of the face,
will, from thefe picturefque circumilances
(which might all be taken away without
deftroying uglinefs) be much more Jink-
ingly ugly, than a man with no mere fea-
tures than an oyflxr. I before obierved,
that uglinefs, like beauty, is rendered more

ajnufmg

[ 221 ]

amufing and diversified, as well as more
flriking, by the addition of the picturefque:
and therefore when thofe circumftances of
difguft, which often attend reality, are fof-
tened and difguifed, as in the drama, by
imitation, picturefque uglinefs (a diftinc-
tion to which it has juft as good a right as
beauty) becomes a fou'rce of pleafure. He
who has been ufed to admire fuch pictu-
re fqiie uglinefs in painting, will from the
fame caufes look with pleafure (for we
have no other word to exprefs the degree,
or character of that fenfation) at the ori-
ginal in nature ; and one cannot think
Hightly of the power and advantage of
that art, which makes its admirers often
gaze with fuch delight on fome ancient lady,
as by the help of a little vanity might per-
haps lead her to miftake the motive*.

As

* A celebrated anatomift is faid to have declared,
that he had received in his life more pleafure from dead

than

[ 222 ]

As thcetfcefs of thofe qualities which
chiefly conftitute beauty, produces infipi-
dity ; Co likewife the excefs of thofe which
conftitute pidhirefquenefs, produces defor-
mity. Though thefe mutual relations may
perhaps be fufficiently obvious in inani-
mate objects, yet -as every thing which relates
to beauty ftrikes us more forcibly in our
own fpecies, the progrefs of that excefs to-
wards infipidity on one fide, and towards
deformity on the other, will be more clear-
ly perceived, if we obferve what its effects
would be on the human countenance ; and
if we fuppofe the general form of the coun*
tenance to remain the fame, and only what

than from living women. This might perhaps be
brought as a parallel inftance of perverted tafle ; but I
never heard of any painter's having made the fame de*
claration with refpect to age and youth. Whatever
may be the future refinements of painting and anatomy,
I believe young and live women, will never have reafon
to be jealous of old, or dead rivals*

may

[ 223 3

may be coniidered as the accompaniment i©
he changed,

Suppofe then (what is no uncommon
Hile or degree o£ beauty) a woman with
line features, but the character of whofe
eyes, eyebrows, hair, and complexion, .are
more Unking and fhowy than delicate 2
imagine then the fame features-, with the
eyebrows lefs marked, and both tfaofe and
the haic of the head of a fofter texture; — >
the general glow of complexion changed to
a more delicate gradation of white and reck
— the fkin more fmooth and even, — and
the eyes of a milder colour and expreffiom
you would by this change take off from
Che ftriking, the fhowy effect ; but fuch &
face would have in a greater degree that
£nifhed delicacy, which even thofe who
might prefer the other ftile would allow to
be more in unifon with the idea of beauty,
and the other would appear comparative!/

coarfe

[ 224 ]

coarfe and unfinifhed. If we go on ftill
farther, and fappofe hardly a ay mark of
eyebrow -, — the hair, from the lightnefs of
its colour, and from the lilky foftnefs of its
quality, giving fcarce any idea of rough-
nefs \ — the complexion of a pure and almorl
tranfparent whitenefs, with hardly a tinge
of red ; — the eyes of the mildeft blue, and
the expreflion equally mild, — you would
then approach very nearly to iniipidity, but
frill without deftroying beauty ; on the
contrary, fuch a form, when irradiated by a
mind of equal fweetnefs and purity, united
with fenfibility, has fomething angelic ; and
feems farther removed from what is earthly
and material. This mews how much foft-
nefs, fmoothnefs, and delicacy, even when
carried to an extreme degree, are congenial
to beauty : on the other hand it muft be
owned, that where the only agreement be-
tween fuch a form and the foul which inha-
bits

f 225 I

bits it is want of character and animation,
nothing can be more completely vapid than
the whole compofition.

If now we return to the fame point at
which we began, and conceive the eye-
brows more ftrongly marked — the hair
rougher in its effect and quality — the com-
plexion more dufky and gipfy-like — the
fkin of a coarfer grain, with fome moles on
it— a degree of caft in -the eyes, but fo
flight, as only to give archnefs and peculia-
rity of countenance— this, without alter-
ing the proportion of the features, would
take off from beauty, what it gave to cha-
racter and picturefquenefs. If we go one
Irep farther, and encreafe the eyebrows to
a prepofterous fize — the caft into a fquint
— make the Ikin fcarred, and deeply pitted
with the fmall-pox — the complexion full of
fpots — and encreafe the moles into excre-
fcencies — it will plainly appear how clofe
Vol. I. Q_ the

[ 226 ]

the connection is between beauty and in*
fipidity, and between pidturefquenefs and
deformity, and what " thin partitions do
their bounds divide."

The whole of this applies mod exactly to
improvements. The general features of a
place remain the fame, the accompani-
ments only are changed ; but with them its
character^ If the improver (as it ufually
happens) attend folely to verdure, fmooth-
nefs, undulation of ground, and flowing
lines, the whole will be infipid. If, on the
contrary (what is much more rare) the
oppofite tafte mould prevail; mould an
improver, by way of being picturefque,
make broken ground, pits, and quarries
all about his place ; encourage nothing but
furze, briars, and thirties ; heap quantities
fiones on his banks ; or* to crown
'r. Kent, plant dead trees; — the
ha place would, I believe,

be

t ~m ]

be very generally allowed, though the in*
fipidity of the other might riot be fo readily
confeffed.

I may here remark, that though pidlii-
refquenefs and deformity are by their ety-
mology fo ftriftly confined to the fenfe of
feeing, yet there is in the other fenfes a
mod exadt refemblance to their effedls ;
this is the cafe, not only in the fenfe of
hearing (of which fo many examples have
been given) but in the more contracted
ones of tailing and fmelling; and the pro-
grefs I have mentioned, is in them alfo,
equally plain and obvious* It can hardly
be doubted, that what anfwers to the beau-
tiful in the fenfe of tailing, has fmoothnefs
and fweetnefs for its bafis, with fuch a de-
gree of ftimulus as enlivens, but does not
overbalance thofe qualities j fuch, for in-
fiance, as in the moil delicious fruits and
liquors. Take away the ilimulus, they
Q^2 become

[ 22S ]

become infipid -, encreafe it fo as to over-
balance thofe qualities, they then gain a
peculiarity of flavour, are eagerly fought
after by thofe who have acquired a relifh
for them, but are lefs adapted to the gene-
ral palate, This correfponds exactly with
the picturefque ; but if the ftimulus be
encreafed beyond that point, none but de-
praved and vitiated palates will endure,
what would be fo juftly termed deformity
in objects of fight *. The fenfe of fmell-
ing has in this, as in all other refpects, the
clofeft conformity to that of tailing.

* The old maxim of the fchools, de guftibus non eft
difputandum, is by many extended to all taftes, and
claimed as a fort of privilege not to have any of their's
called in queftion. It is certainly very reafonable, that a
man fhould be allowed to indulge his eye, as well as his
palate, in his own way ; but if he happened to have a tafte
for water -gruel without fait, he fhould not force it upon
his guefts as the perfection of cookery; or burn their in-
fides, if, like the king of Pruflia, he. loved nothing but
what was fpiced enough to turn a living man into a
mummy,

Thefe

[ 229 ]

* Thefe are the chief arguments that have
occurred to me, for giving to the pi&u-
refque a diftinft character. I have had
the fatisfa&ion of finding many perfons,
high in the public eftimation, of my fenti-
ment j and among them, fome of the mod
eminent artifts, both profeffors and dilet-
tanti. On the other hand, I muft allow,
that there are perfons, whofe opinion carries
great weight with it, who in reality, hold
the two words, beautiful and pi&urefque, to
be fynonymous, though they do not fay fo
in exprefs terms : with thofe, however, I do
not mean to argue at prefent, though well
prepared for battle. Others there are, who
allow, indeed, that the words have a different
meaning, but that there is no difiind: cha-
racter of the pi&urefque; to thofe, before I
clofe this part of my effay, I {hall offer a
few reflections.

Taking it then for granted, that the two
Q^3 terms

[ 230 ]

terms are not fynonymous, the word pi<3:u~
refque, muft have fome appropriate mean-
ing ; and therefore, when any perfon choofes
to call a figure, or a fcene, pidturefque,
rather than .beautiful, he muft have fome
reafon for that choice. The moft common,
and a very natural reafon, is, that fuch a
figure or fcene appears peculiarly fuitecj to the
painter ; but as no effect can be without a
caufe, there muft be fome diftincl: and appro-
priate caufe of that peculiar fuitablenefs.

Whoever has read with attention what
I have written on the qualities of the pic-
turefque, will, I think, very readily af-
fign that caufe : I truft that I have clearly
fhewn, that all rough, rugged, and abrupt
forms—- all fudden, irregular deviations,
produce more Jlriking oppofitions and
varieties, more firongly marked characters,
and fuch therefore, as are more eafily
imitated with effecl:, than that which is

fmooth

[ 23I ^

fmooth and flowing, and of which the
deviations are gradual ; although it is no
lefs certain that fmoothnefs, undulation,
&c. are more popular qualities, and more
fuited to the general tafte. It has been
obferved, for example, that painters gene-
rally fucceed better in men, than in women
—in old, than in young fubjeCts j— from.
what reafon ? Clearly, becaufe they have
more of thofe qualities which I have afiigned
to the picturefque. But are not the frefh-
jiefs and fmoothnefs of youth, more gene-
rally attractive, than the furrows, and the
autumnal tint of old age ? Certainly -, and
on that account it cannot be faid, that they
are peculiarly fuited to the painter $ for that
expreftion implies feme qualities (fuch, for
inftance, as ruggednefs, abruptnefs, &c.)
which, though not fuited to the general
tafte, are fuited to his art. But are they
exclufively fo ? Are they even fuited in a
higher degree, than the oppofite qualities
Qj. which

[ 232 ]

which are affigned to beauty ? that ques-
tion may be anfwered by another ; by afk-
ing, what is the rank which Correggio,
Guido, Albano, hold among painters ? Ra«^
phael, the higheft name among the mo-
derns, was far from neglecting beauty, or
the qualities affigned to it ; and if we go
back to the ancients, what are the pictures
that were moft admired while they exifted,
and whofe fame is now as frefh as ever ?
The Venus of Apelles, the Helen of Zeuxis;
pictures in which ruggednefs, abruptnefs,
and fudden deviation, could have no place.
From all this, to me it appears quite evi-
dent, that the qualities affigned to beauty
are no lefs fuited to painting (and that of
the higheft ftyle) than thofe affigned to
picturefquenefs -, and yet, that from the
reafons I have given, thofe figures, or fcenes,
in which the laft mentioned qualities pre-
vail, may be faid, without impropriety, to
be peculiarly fuited to painting j and there-
to r q

[ *33 1

fore may j'uftly claim a title taken from that
art, without having an exclufive reference to
it. If it be true with refpedt to landfcape,
that a fcene may, and often does exift,
in which the qualities of the pifturefque,
almoft exclusively of thofe of grandeur and
beauty, prevail — if it be true, (and the proof
frequently occurs) that perfons unacquaint-
ed with pictures, either take no intereft
in fuch fcenes, or even think them ugly,
while painters, and lovers of painting, ftudy
and admire them. — If, on the other hand, a
fcene may equally exift, in which the quali-
ties affigned to the beautiful (as far as the
nature of the cafe will allow) are alone ad-
mitted, and from which thofe of the pic-
turefque are no lefs ftudiouily excluded,
and that fuch a fcene will at once give
delight to every fpedlator, to the pain-
ter no lefs than to all others, and will by
all, without hefitation, be called beautiful*.
* Letter to Mr. Repton, page 137,

6 If

I 234 ]

If this be true, yet ftill no diftindion of
charader be allowed to exift — what is it,
then, which does create a diftindion be-
tween any two characters ? That I ihall
now wifh to examine ; and as the right of
the pidurefque to a character of it's own5
is called in queftion, I fhall do, what is
very ufual in fimilar cafes, enquire into the
right of other characters, whofe diftindion
has hitherto been unqueftioned : Not for
the fake of difputing their right, but of
eftablifhing that of the pidurefque ; by
fhewing, on Low much ftronger and broader
foundations it has been built. Envy, and
revenge, are by all acknowledged to be
diftind characters ; nay both of them, as
well as many of our better affediorts, have
been fo often perfonified by poets, and im-
bodied by painters and fculptors, that we
have as little doubt of their diftind figurative
existence* as of the real exiftence of any of

our

[ 235 3

our acquaintance, and almoft know them
as readily. But from what does their dis-
tinction arife ? — from their general effecS: on
the mind ? Certainly not ; for their general
effect that which is common to them both,
and to others of the fame clafs, is ill-will
towards the feveral obje&s on which they
are exercifed; juft as the general effedt of
the fublime, of the beautiful, and of the
pi&urefque, is delight or pleafure of fome
kind to the eye, to the imagination, or to
both. It appears therefore from this in-
ftance, (and I am inclined to think it uni-
yerfally true) that diftin&ion of character
does not arife from general effedts, but that
we muft feek for it's origin in particular
caufes ; I am alfo perfuaded, that it is from
haying purfued the oppofite method of rea-
ibning, that the diftin&ion between the
beautiful, and the pi<3urefque5 has been de-
nied.

[ 236 I

filed. The truth of thefe two pofitionsr
will be much more evident, if it fhould be
ihewn, that the caufes of envy, and revenge,
no lefs plainly mark a dijlinc~lion> than their
general effeoi, if fingly confidered, would
imply a unky of character. The caufe
of envy is the merit, reputation, or good
fortune of others ; that of revenge, an in-
jury received. Thefe feem to me their moft
obvious and ftriking caufes, and certainly
fufficient to diftinguifh them from each
other: but let the moft acute metaphy-
fieian, place in one point of view whatever
may, in any way, mark the nice boundaries
which feparate them from each other, and
then let his difcriminations be compared,
for clear, and ftrongly marked difference
and oppofition, with thofe I have ftated to
exift between the beautiful, and .thepidfcu-
refque \ and if his difcriminations are not

more

t 237 ]

more clear, and more ftrongly marked, but
on the contrary much lefs fo, why mould
they have a power, which is denied to
mine?

It has been argued by fome, that the fub-
lime, as well as the pidturefque, is included
in the beautiful; that fuch diftindtions as Mr*
Burke and myfelf have made are too minute,
and refined ; and that the pidturefque efpe-
cially, is only a mode of beauty*. What then
are envy, and revenge ? are they in a lefs
degree modes of hatred ? are they not fo in
a much clofer degree ? are they not much
more nearly allied to that general title of
ill-will towards our fellow -creatures, and
to each other, than any of the three cha-
racters, whofe diitin&ion has been fo quef»

* The difference between the general, and the con-
fined tenfe of beauty, is difcuffed in my letter to Mr*
Repton, page 135.

tioned r

[ *3* ]

tioned ? I mttft here alfo obferve, (and it
will greatly corroborate what I have before
advanced) that hatred, from being general,
an not referring, like the others, to any
determinate cauie, is a lefs familiar per-
fonification, lefs diftinguifhed by peculiar
attributes, lefs in ftiort of a diftindl cha-
racter; and if reprefented in allegorical
painting, might eafily be miftaken for fome
other character.

It may here very naturally be afked, how
it could happen that certain diftindtions of
characters, which, according to my ftate-
ment, are plain and manifeft, fhould fo long
have been very inaccurately made out,-
and fhould ftill by many be called in
queftion; when a number of others, which,
as I have aflerted, are feparated by very thin
partitions, have for ages been univerfally
acknowledged. This may eafily be ac-
counted

[ *39 ]

counted for, and the caufes of accurate dis-
tinction, and of general agreement in the
one cafe, will lead to thofe of inaccuracy and
doubt in the other.

All that concerns our fpeculative ideas
and amufements, all obje&s of tafte, and
the principles belonging to them, are
thought of by a fmall part of mankind j
the great mafs never think of them at all.
They are ftudied in one age, negledted in
another, fometimes totally loft; but the
variety of human paffions and affe&ions, all
their raoft general and manifeft effedts, and
their minuteft difcriminations, have never
ceafed to be the involuntary ftudy of all
nations and ages. They have, indeed, at
various times been inveftigated by fpecula-
tive minds, but every man has occafion to
feel but too ftrongly, the truth of their
fcparate caufes and effeds, either from his

own

[ H* ]

own experience, or that of perfons near
and dear to him; nor are we in any
cafe unconcerned fpedlators where they
operate.

Had it in the nature of things been pof-
fible, that the fame eager, conftant, and
general intereft, (hould have prevailed with
refped; to objects of tafte — the difcrimina-
tions might have been hardly lefs nume-
rous, or lefs generally underftood and ac-
knowledged y and it is by no means im-
poffible, fhould the diftinftions in queftion,
continue for a long time together the fub-
jedt of eager difcuffion, and likewife of
practical application, that new difcrimina-
tions, and new terms for them, may take
place. The pidturefque might not only be
diftinguifhed from the fublime, and from
the beautiful, but its mixture, when nearly
balanced with either of them, or (what no

lefs

[ H* ]

lefs frequently occurs) with uglinefs, might
have an appropriate term. At prefent, when
we talk of a pidturefque figure, no one
can guefs, by that expreffion alone, to which
of the other characters it may be allied ;
whether it be very handfome, or very
ugly ; in gauze and feathers, or in rags.
Again, if we fpeak of a pidurefque fcene,
or building, it is equally uncertain, whether
it be a bit of a hollow lane, or heathy
common -, an old mill, or hovel : Or, on the
other hand, a fcene of rocks and mountains,
or the ruin of fome ancient caftle or tem-
ple. We can, indeed, explain what we mean
by a few more words ; but whatever en-
ables us to convey our ideas with greater
precifion and facility, muft be a real im-
provement to language. The Italians do
mark the union of beauty, with greatnefs
of fize or character, in a picture or any

R other

[ 242 ]

other objefl:, by calling it, una gran-btlfa
cofa ; I do not mean to fay that the term
is always very accurately applied, but it
ihews aftrong tendency to fuch a diftindion.
But in Englifh, were we to add any part
of the word pi&urefque to handfome, or
ugly, or grand, though fuch compofed
words would not be more uncouth than
many which are received into the language,
they would be fufficiently fo, to place a
very formidable barrier of ridicule between
them and common ufe : To invent new
terms (fuppofing the objeft of fufficient
confequence) is perhaps ftill more open to
ridicule. Mr. Burke decided in favour of
the word delight, to exprefs a peculiar
fenfe of pleafure arifing from a peculiar
caufe 5 but the fenfe we are accuftomed to-
is perpetually recurring during his effay,
and out of it, the word of courfe returns

to

[ 243 ]

to its general meaning ; had he rifqued an
entirely new word, and had it got over the
firft inevitable onfet of ridicule, and grown
into ufe, the Englifli language would have
owed one more obligation to one of it's
greateft benefaftors.

R 2 PART

PART II.

HAVING now examined the chief
qualities that in fuch various ways
render objects intereftjng $ haying fhewn
how much the beauty, fpirit, and effect
of landfcape, real or imitated, depend
upon a due mixture of rough and fmooth,
of warm and cool tints; and of what
extreme confequence variety and intricacy
are in thofe, as well as in our other
pleafures; having fhewn top, that the ge-
R 3 neraj

E 246 ]

ncral principles of improving are in reality
the fame as thofe of painting, I mail next
enquire how far the principles of the laft-
mentioned art (clearly the beft qualified
to improve and refine our ideas of nature)
have been attended to by improvers ; and
how far alfo thofe who firft produced, and
thofe who have continued the prefent
fyftem, were capable of applying them5
even if they had wifhed to do fo.

It appears from Mr. Walpole's very in-
genious and entertaining Treatife on Mo-
dern Gardening, that Kent was the firft
who introduced that fo much admired
change from the old to the prefent fyftem $
the great leading feature of which change,
and the leading character of each ftyle, is
very aptly exprefled in half a line of

Horace -,

Mutat quadrata rotundis,

6 Formerly*

[ 247 1

Formerly, every thing was in fquares
and parallellograms ; now every thing is in
fegments of circles, and ellipfes : the for-
mality ftill remains ; the character of that
formality alone is changed. The old canal,
for inftance, has loft, indeed, its ftraitnefs
and its angles; but it is become regularly
ferpentine, and the edges remain as naked,
and as uniform as before : avenues, viftas,
and ftrait ridings through woods, are ex-
changed, for clumps, belts, and circular
roads and plantations of every kind : ftrait
alleys in gardens, and the platform of the
old terrace, for the curves of the gravel
walk. The intention of the new improvers
was certainly meritorious ; for they meant
to banilh formality, and to reftore nature ;
but it muft be remembered, that ftrongly
marked, diftincl, and regular curves, un-
R 4 broken

[ 248 ]

broken and undifguifed, are hardly lefs un-
natural or formal, though much lefs grand
and fimple, than ftrait lines ; and that, in-
dependently of monotony, the continual and
indifcriminate ufe of fuch curves, has an ap-
pearance of affedtation and of ftudied grace,
that always creates difguft.

The old ftyle had indifputably defefts
and abfurdities of the rnoft obvious and
ftriking kind. Kent, therefore, is entitled
to the fame praife as many other reformers,
who have broken through narrow, invete-
rate, long eftablifhed prejudices ; and who,
thereby, have prepared the way for more
liberal notions, although, by their own prac-
tice and example, they may have fubftituted
other narrow prejudices and abfurdities in
the room of thofe which they had banifhed.
Jt muft be owned at the fame time, that,

like

[ 249 3

like other reformers, he and his followers
demolished, without diftinftion, the coftly
and magnificent decorations of pad times,
and all that had long been held in venera-
tion; and among them (I fpeak folely of
gardening) many things that ftill deferved
to have been refpe&ed, and adopted. Such,
however, is the zeal and enthufiafm with
which, at the early period of their fuccefs,
novelties of every kind are received, that
the fafcination becomes general ; and thofe
few, who may then fee their, defedls, hardly
dare to attack openly, what a multitude is
in arms to defend. It is referved for thofe,
who are farther removed from that moment
of fudden change, and ftrong prejudice, to
examine the merits and defeats of both
ilyles, in every particular of what is called
improvement : But how are they to be ex-
amined ? by the general and unchanging

principles,

I *5° ]

principles, to which the effefts of all vifi-

bfe objects are to be referred, but which

(for the reafons I before have mentioned)

are very commonly called the principles of

painting*. Thefe general principles, not

thofe peculiar to thepraffice of the art, are,

In my idea, univerfally to be referred to in

every kind of ornamental gardening -y in the

moil confined, as well as the moft enlarged

fenfc of the word : my bufinefs at prefent

is almoft entirely with the latter — with

what may be termed the landfcapes, and the

general fcenery of the place, whether under

the title of grounds, lawn, park, or any

other denomination.

With refpecT: to Kent, and his particular

mode of improving, I can fay but little

from my own knowledge, having never fcQn

$ny works of his that I could be fure had

undergone no alteration from any of his fuc-

ceflbrs $
* Page 15.

[ Ml ]

ceflbrs; but Mr. Walpole, by a fewcharac-
teriftic anecdotes, has made us perfectly ac-
quainted with the turn of his mind, and the
extent of his genius.

A painter, who, from being ufed to plant
young beeches, introduced them, almofl
exclufively, into his landfcapes *, and who

even

* The circumftance of Kent's having painted nothing
but young beeches, becaufe he had been ufed to plant
them, is taken from Mr. Walpole. His works are fa
much read, and his manner of treating all fubje&s is fa
lively and amufing, as well as ingenious, that I fuppofed
this anecdote was familiar to every body j nor could I
have thought it necefTary to put the words painter^ plants
and landfcapes in Italics, in order to prevent any mifap-
prehenfion of my meaning. But Mr. G, Mafon has con-
ceived, from what I have faid, that I difapprove of plan-
tations of young beeches, and afks with fome triumph^
whether I would have had Kent plant old ones, as a
Burfery for dead groves ? and then goes on in praife of
$he beech *.

* Eflay on Defign in Gardening, page 109.

I Hatter

t *5* 3

even in his defigns for Spencer (whofe fcenes
were fo often laid, " infra Pombrofe piante
d'antica felva") ftill kept to his little beeches,
muft have had a more paltry mind than
falls to the common lot ; it muft alfo have
been as perverfe as it was paltry ; for as he
painted trees without form, fo he planted
them without life, and feems to have ima-
gined that alone would compenfate for
want of bulk, of age, and of grandeur of
chara&er.

I may here obferve, that it is almoft
impoffible to remove a large old tree, with
all its branches, fpurs, and appendages ; and

I flatter myfelf, that hitherto I have not mirtated the
meaning of any author, whom I have taken the liberty to
criticife, and I mail certainly be very careful in future ;
for I feel how infinitely afhamed I mould be? were I ever
to be convicted of having grofsly perverted. another per-
fon's ideas, and then triumphed over my own miftate-
ment.

i without

[ 253 3

without fuch qualities as greatnefs of fize,
joined to an air of grandeur, and of high
antiquity, a dead tree fhould feldom be
left in a confpicuous place ; to entitle it to
fuch a ftation, it fhould be " majeftic
even in ruin :" A dead tree which could be
moved, would, from that very circum-
ftance, be unfit for moving. Thefe dead
trees of Kent's were probably placed where
they would attract the eye ; for it is rare
that any improver wifhes to conceal his ef-
forts. Some other parts of his practice I
mall have occafion to confider hereafter.

If I have fpoken thus ftrongly of a man,
who has been celebrated in profe and in
verfe, as the founder of an art almoft peculiar
to this country, and from which it is fup-
pofed to derive no flight degree of glory, I
have done it to prevent (as far as it lies in me)
the bad effect which too great a veneration

for

[ 254 J

for firft reformers is fure to produce — that
of interefting national vanity in the conti-
nuance and protection of their errors. The
talk I have taken upon myfelf,has been in all
ages invidious and unpopular, but with re-
gard to Kent, I thought it particularly in-
cumbent upon me to fhew, that he was not
one of thofe great original geniufes, who,
like Michael Angelo, feem born to give the
world more enlarged and exalted ideas of art;
but that on the contrary, in the art he did
profefs, and from which he might be fup-
pofed to have derived fuperior lights on that
of gardening, his ideas were uncommonly
mean, contra<Sed,and perverfe. Were I
not to fhew this plainly and flrongly, and
without any affedted candour or referve, it
misht be faid to me with <*reat reafon—
you affert that a knowledge of the princi-
ples of painting is the firft qualification for

an

[ *ss J

an improver ; the founder of Englifh gar-
dening was a profeffed artift, and yet you
object to him.

Kent, it is true, was by profeffion a
painter, as well as an improver; but we
may learn from his example, how little a
certain degree of mechanical practice will
qualify its pofferTor to direct the tafte of
a nation, in either of thofe arts *.

The

* It is but fair to mention, that a very appofite quota-
tion has been cited in defence of Kent, from a poem of
Dr. Warton's, called the Enthu/iaft, which quotation
I fhall give at length, as it {lands in Mr. G. Mafon's
work.

Can Kent defign like Nature? Mark where Thames
Plenty and pleafure pours through Lincoln's meads ;
Can the great artift, though with tafte fupreme
Endued, one beauty to this Eden add ?
Though he by rules unfetter'd, boldly fcorns
Formality and method— round and fquare
Difdaining, plans irregularly great.

There cannot be a more decided and pointed opinion
againft all I have faid of Kent ; it remains only to conii-

R 7 dcr

I 256 ]

The moft enlightened judge, both of his

own art, and of all that relates to it, is a

painter of a liberal and comprehensive

mind,

der what degree of weight is due to that opinion. I am
very ready to acknowledge, that the fentiments of poets
with refpe& to the general beauties of nature, ought
always to have great weight; for poetical and picturefque
ideas are very congenial : but where a poet means to
celebrate the talents of a particular perfon, the cafe is
very different ; as he is apt, from a very natural enthu~»
fiafm, to beftow upon him his own ideas of excellence,
and freedom from defects, without weighing too minutely
whether he is entitled to fuch unreferved praife. And be-
fides, poetry for the moft part deals in ftrong general
praife, or cenfure, and does not often ftop to difcriminate.
I have great refpect for Dr. Warton's character, both
as a man, and as a poet, and I am forry that the defence
of my own judgment, mould oblige me in any way to
queftion the accuracy of his ; but as I hold that, without
a knowledge of the principles of painting, and an ac-
quaintance with the works of the higher artifts, it is dif-
ficult to acquire any juft ideas of the effects and combinat-
ions in natural fcenery, I am led to doubt of Dr.
Warton's judgment in thefe points, from the lines that
immediately fellow thofe which have been quoted.

Creative

[ 257 3

mind, who has added extenfive obferva-
tion and reflection, to practical execution ;

and

Creative Titian, can thy vivid ftrokes,
Or thine, O graceful Raphael, dare to vie — with what?
With the rich tints that paint the breathing mead ?
The thoufand colour'd tulip, violet's bell
Snow-clad and meek, the vermil-tin&ured role,
And golden crocus.

Had it fo happened, that Dr. Warton had applied to
the ftudy of pictures, and of the principles on which
their excellence depends, thofe talents which in other
ftudies have gained him fuch deferved reputation, he
would have known, that to challenge Titian to vie with
tulips and crocufles, is hardly lefs improper than to make
*he fame challenge to Raphael — that in truth he might
almoft as well have pitted nature again{l nature, and
challenged a foreft in autumn, to vie with a flower-
garden in fpring — and that although Titian is renowned
above all other painters, for the glow and richnefs of his
tints, yet that Van Huyfiiim came infinitely nearer to
thofe of flowers, in point of exacl: imitation, and proba-
bility of deception, without afpiring to his high fame as
a colourift. The fame ftudy might alfo have difcovered
to him, that Kent, and thofe who followed him3 difekuned

S indeed

[ 258 ]

and the moft capable of enlightening others,
if in addition to thofe natural and acquired
talents, he likewife poflefs the power of
expreffing his ideas clearly and forcibly in
words. To fuch a rare combination, we
owe Sir Jofhua Reynolds's difcourfes, the
moil original and impreffive wof k that
ever v/as publifhed on his, or poffibly on
any other art *. On the other hand, no-
thing

indeed the fquare and meafured formality and metho i of
the old ftyle, but fubftituted a method and formality of
their own, in which diftincl: and regular curves had no
little ftiare; and I am very fure that if Dr. Warto%
when his- mind was full of the compofitions of eminent
matters, had been fhewn the prints of the Fairy Queen*
he would not have ventured to aik — " Can Kent defign
like nature ?"«— the obvious ridicule would have ftruck
him too forcibly.

* I cannot fo well defcribe the flrong imprefiion, aruj
the various inftruction that I received from Sir Jofhua
Reynolds's difcourfes, as in the words which Madame
Roland has applied to a very different guide. " II
fembla que c'etoit Taliment qui me fut propre, & Tin~

terpret«

i 259 J

thing fo contra&s the mind as a little prac-
tical dexterity, unaffifted and . uncorrected

terprete des fentimens que j'avois avant lui, mais que
lui feul pouvoit m'expliquer." The fame impreflion,
and with additional delight, I received from his conver-
fation. It was as pleafmg as it was inftru£tive. I
never miffed any opportunity of enjoying it, and I
never think of it without regret.

Few men had more numerous friends, in more va-
rious ranks of life, or more warmly attached. Thofe
among them, who now honour and cherifh his memory, as
they loved and admired him when living, muft furdy
be hurt at the publication of certain letters afcribed to
him, which, it will readily be allowed, are very unlike
his printed works — the noble produce of the vigour and
maturity of his age. Thefe letters (whatever they may
be) appear to be written with the hafty negligence of
early and unfufpicious youth : if they be genuine, they
may indeed fuggeft very fevere reflections on the perfons
who gave them up, and on thofe who publifhed them,
but can little afFecl the high, and firmly eftablifhed
reputation of their fuppofed author ; for, in my opinion,
it would be juft as fair to draw an inference from his for-
mer ignorance in painting, as from his former ignorance
in writing; juft as eonclufive, to produce fome of his
S 2 ea*ty

[ 26o ]

by general knowledge and obfervation, and
by a ftudy of the great mafters. An artift,
whofe mind has been fo contracted, refers
every thing to his own narrow circle of

early bad pictures, to prove that he did not paint Mrs„
Siddons, or Cardinal Beaufort, as to bring forth early-
letters, to fhew that he did not compofe his difcourfes.

The moft valuable part of every man's education,
is that which he receives from himfelf, from his own
untutored reflections ; efpecially when the active energy
of his character, makes ample amends for" the want of
a more,finiihed courfe of ftudy. Such a man, and fo
formed was Sir Jofhua Reynolds; his obfervations on a
variety of fubjects, as well as on his own art, were
thofe of a ftrong original mind, and his language, both
in fpeaking and writing, gave them their full value.
In his converfation, there was a peculiar mildnefs, and
a fimplicity, highly interefting, but which promifed
little elfe ; and I have often been ftruck with the con-
trail, between that fimplicity of manner, and the vigour
of his thoughts and expreflions. Some of our common
friends have made the fame reflexion, and incfeed many
parts of his difcourfes, (and thofe not the leaft impref-
iive) appeared like tranfcripts gf what he had fpoken.

ideas

C 26x ] .

Ideas and execution*, and wim.es to confine
within that circle all the reft of mankind.

Before I enter into any particulars, I will
make a few obfervations on what I look
upon as the great general defedt. of the pre-
fent fyftern ; not as oppofed to the old
ftyle (though I believe the latter to have
b^cn infinitely more free from it) but con-
fidered by itfelf fingly, and without com-
parifon. That defe<S, the greateft of all, and
the moft oppofite to the principles of paint-
ing, is want of connection — a paflion for
making every thing diftin£t and feparate.
All the particular defects I fhall have occa-

* I remember a gentleman, who played very prettily
on the flute, abufing all Handel's mufic, and to give me
every advantage, like a generous adverfary, he defied me
to name one good chorus of his writing. It may well
be fuppofed that I did not accept the challenge ; c'etoit
bien l'embarras des richefles -, and indeed he was right
in his own way of confidering them, for there is not one
that would do well for his inftrument,

S .-3 GoJ\

[ 262 ]

lion to notice, in fome. degree arife from this
original fin, and tend towards it. The
new creations, and the alterations of what
was already in exiftence, have been all
conducted on the fame plan of diftindtnefs ;
and in confequence of that ruling princi-
ple, thofe numberlefs ties, thofe bonds of
union (as they may be called) by which the
different parts of landfcape are fo happily
connected with each other, are unthought of
in what is newly planned, and where they do
exift, are deftroyed. Yet thofe are the ties,
(minute and trifling as they may often ap-
pear) by which trees, in all their different
arrangements, are reciprocally combined,
and on which their balance, and even their
contrail, depends j by which water, when
accompanied by trees thus varioully ar-
ranged, is often fo imperceptibly united
with land, that in many places the eye can-
not difcover the perfect fpot and time of

their

[ *6a ]

their union ; yet is no lefs delighted with
that myftery, than with the thoufand re-
flexions and intricacies which attend it.
What is the effect, when thofe ties are
not fuffered to exift ? You trace every
where the exadt line of feparation ; the
water is bounded by a diftincl and uniform
edge of grafs ; the grafs by a fimilar edge of
wood ; the trees, and often the houfe, are
diftin&ly placed upon the grafs ; all feparated
from whatever might group with them, or
take off from their folitary infulated appear-
ance : in every thing you trace the hand of a
mechanic, not the mind of a liberal artift.

I will now proceed to the particulars,
and will beg the reader to keep in his mind
the ruling principle I havejuft defcribed,
and of which I fhall difplay the different
proofs and examples.

No profeffor of high reputation, feems for

fome time to have appeared after Kent, till,

S4 at

[ W ]

at length, that the fyftem might be carried
to its ne plus ultra (no very diftant point)
afofe the famous Mr. Brown y who has fo
fixed and determined the forms and lines of
clumps, belts, and ferpentine canals, and has
been fo fteadily imitated by his followers,
that had the improvers been incorporated,
their common feal, with a clump, a belt, and
a piece of made water, would have fully
exprerTed the whole of their fcience, and
have ferved for a model as well as a
feal *.

It is very unfortunate, that this great

* What Arioflo fays of a grove of cyprefles, has al-
ways ftruck me in looking at made places,

— che parean ttMXs&Jlampa tutte impreffe.

They feem cc caft in one mould, made in one frame ;"■
fo much fo, that 1 have feen places on which large fums
had been lavifhed, unite fo little with the landfcape
around them, that they gave me the idea of having been
made by contract in London, and then fent down in
pieces, and put together on the fpot.

legiflator

[ 2^5 1

legiflator of our national tafte, whofe laws
ftill remain in force, mould not have re-
ceived from nature, or have acquired by
education, more enlarged ideas. Claude
Lorraine was bred a paftry-cook, but in
every thing that regards his art as a painter,
he had an elevated and comprehenfive mind;
nor in any part of his works can we trace
the meannefs of his original occupation.
Mr. Brown was bred a gardener, and hav-
ing nothing of the mind, or the eye of a
painter, he formed his flyle (or rather h^s
plan) upon the model of a parterre -y and
transferred its minute beauties, its little
clumps, knots, and patches of flowers,
the oval belt that furrounds it, and all its
twifts and crincum crancums, to the great

fcale of nature *.

We

* This ingenious device of magnifying a parterre,
calls to my mind a flory I heard many years ago. A

country

[ 266 ]

We have* indeed, made but a poor pro-*
grefs by changing the formal, but fimple

Country parfon, in the county where I live, fpeaking
of a gentleman of low ftature, but of extremely pom-
pous manners, who had juft left the company, exclaim-
ed, in the fimplicity and admiration of his heart, " quite
grandeur in miniature, I proteft." This compliment
reverfed, would perfectly fuit the fhreds and patches
that are fo often ftuck about by Mr. Brown and his
followers, amidft the noble fcenes they disfigure; where
they are as contemptible, and as much out of character^
as Claude's firft edifices in paftry would appear, in the
dignified landfcapes he has painted. ». .

I mufl obferve, however, that when I blame Mr,
Brown for having transferred the minutiae of a parterre
to the great fcale of nature, it is not becaufe they aH3
little in fize,but in character. There is. indeed no more
common error, than that of miftaking greatnefs of fize,
for greatnefs of manner ; it continually happens that the
fmalleft clafs of rocks, mountains, cafcades, lakes, &c.
have infinitely more grandeur of ftile, and afford more
dignified fubjecls to a painter, than others of three
times their magnitude. Indeed, if a certain elevation
of character is wanting, mere magnitude, in many cafes,
only creates difguft; nothing is more contemptible
than a tame giant. — " Bulk without fpirit van1."

and

[ 267 ]

and majeftic avenue, for the thin circular
verge called a belt ; and the unpretending
uglinefs of the ftrait, for the affected fame-
nefs of the ferpentine canal : But the great
diftinguifhing feature of modern improve-
ment, is the clump ; whofe name, if the firfl
letter was taken away, would moft accu-
rately defcribe its form and effedh Were
it made the object of fludy, how to con-
trive fomething which, under the name of
ornament, mould disfigure whole diftridts,
nothing could be imagined that would an-
fwer that purpofe like a clump. Natural
groups, being formed by trees of differ-
ent ages and fizes, and at different diftances
from each other, often too of a mixture of
timber trees with thorns, hollies, and
others of inferior growth, are full of variety
in their outlines ; and from the fame caufes,
jio two groups are exadly alike. But

clumps,

[ 268 }

dumps, from the trees being generally of
the fame age and growth, planted nearly
at the fame diflance in a circular form,
and from each tree being equally preiTed by
his neighbour, are as like each other as fo
many puddings turned out of one com-
mon mould. Natural groups, from the
caufes I have mentioned, are full of open-
ings and hollows ; of trees advancing be-
fore, or retiring behind each other; all
productive of intricacy, and of variety of
deep fliadows, and brilliant lights. The
others are lumps. In walking about a
natural group, the form of it changes at
each ftep; new combinations, new lights
and (hades, new inlets prefent themfelves
in fucceffion. But clumps, like compact
bodies of foldiers, refift attacks from all
quarters : examine them in every point of
view; walk round and round them; no

openings

t 269 ]

opening, no vacancy, no ftragglers* ! but
in the true military chara&er, ih font face
partout.

The next leading feature to the clump
in this circular fyftem (and one which, in
romantic fituations, rivals it in the power
of creating deformity) is the belt. Its
fphere, however, is more contracted :
Clumps, placed like beacons on the fum-
mits of hills, alarm the pifturefque tra-
veller many miles off, and warn him of
his approach to the enemy -, the belt lies
more in ambufcade, and the wretch who

* I remember hearing, that when Mr. Brown was
high-meriff", fome facetious perfon obferving his at-
tendants ftraggling, called out to him, <c Clump your
javelin men." What was intended merely as a piece
of ridicule, might have ferved as a very inftructive lef-
fon to the object of it, and have taught Mr. Brown, that
fuch figures mould be confined to bodies of men drilled
for the purpofes of formal parade, and not extended to
the loofe and airy fhapes of vegetation*

x fail

I *7° 1

falls, into it, and is obliged to walk the
whole round in company with the im-
prover, will allow that a fnake with its
tail in its mouth is, comparatively, but a
faint emblem of eternity. It has, indeed,
all the famenefs and formality of the ave-
nue, to which it has fucceeded, without
any of its fimple grandeur; for though
in an avenue you fee the fame objects
from beginning to end, and in the belt a
new fet every twenty yards, yet each fuc-
ceffive part of this infipid circle is fo like
the preceding, that though really different,
the difference is fcarcely felt -y and there is
nothing that fo dulls, and at the fame time
fo irritates the mind, as perpetual change
without variety.

The avenue has a moft ftriking effect,
from the very circumftance of its being
ftrait ; no othec figure can give that
image of a, grand gothic aide with its

natural

[ 27 1 ]

natural * columns and vaulted roof, whofe
general mafs fills the eye, while the par-
ticular parts infenfibly fteal from it in
a long gradation -f- of perfpedtive. The
broad folemn made adds a twilight calm
to the whole, and makes it, above all
other places, mod fuited to meditation.
To that alfo its ftraitnefs contributes; for
when the mind is difpofed to turn in-
wardly on itfelf, any Terpentine line would
diftradl the attention.

All the characteriftic beauties pf the ave-
nue, its folemn flillnefs, the religious awe it
infpires, are greatly heightened by moon-
light. This I once very ftrongly experienced

* Mr. Burke's Sublime and Beautiful, page 270,
f By long gradation I do not mean a great length of
avenue 5 I perfe&ty agree with Mr. Burke, u that colo-
nades and avenues of trees, of a moderate length, are
without comparifon far grander, than when they are
fuffered to run to immenfe difcances." — Sublime an!
beautiful, fe&. x. p. 136.

in

[ 272 ]

in approaching a venerable, caftle - like
xnanfion, built in the beginning of the 15th
century ; a few gleams had pierced the deep
gloom of the avenue ; a large maffive
tQwer at the end of it, ken through a
long perfpedtive, and half lighted by the *
uncertain beams of the moon, had a grand
myfterious effect. Suddenly a light ap-
peared in this tower — then. as fuddenly its
twinkling vaniihed — and only the quiet,
filvery rays of the moon prevailed; again,
more lights quickiy fhifted to different .
parts of the building, and the whole fcene
moft forcibly brought to my fancy the
times of fairies and chivalry. I was much
hurt to learn from the mafter of the place,
that I might take my leave of the avenue
and its romantic effects, for that a death
warrant was figned.

The deftruction of fo many of thefe ve-
nerable approaches, is a fatal confequence

of

C *73 ]

of the prefent exceflive horror of ftrait
lines. Sometimes, indeed, avenues do cut
through the middle of very beautiful and
varied ground, with which the ftiffnefs of
their form but ill accords, and where it
were greatly to be wifhed they had never
been planted, as other trees, in various po~
fitions and groups, would probably have
fprung up, in, and near the place they
occupy : But being there, it may often be
doubtful whether they ought to be de-
ftroyed ; for whenever fuch a line of trees
Is taken away, there muft be a long vacant
fpace that will feparate the grounds, with
their old original trees, on each fide of it;
and young trees planted in the vacancy, will
not in half a century connect the whole
together. As to faving a few trees of the
line itfelf for that purpofe, I own I never
faw it done, that it did not produce a con«
trary effect, and that the fpot was not

T haunted

[ 274 1

haunted by the ghoft of the departed ave-
nue. They are, however, not unfrequently
where a boundary of wood approaching to
a ftrait line would be proper *, and in fuch
places they furnifh a walk of more perfect
and continued fhade than any other difpa-
fition of trees, without interfering with the
reft of the place. When you turn from it
either to the right or to the left, the whole
country, with all its intricacies and varie-
ties, is open before you ; but there is no
efcaping from the belt; it hems you in on
til fides, and if you pleafe yourfelf with
having difcovered fome wild fequeftered
part (if fuch there ever be when a belt-
maker has been admitted) or fome new

* At a gentleman's place in Chefhire, there is an
avenue of oaks fituated much in the manner 1 have de-
fcribed ; Mr.- Brown abfolutely condemned it; but it
now Hands, a noble monument of the triumph of the na-
tural feelings of the owner, over the narrow and fyftema-
viQ ideas of a profeiTed improver.

pathway*

t 275 ]

pathway, and are in the pleafing uncer-
tainty whereabouts you are, and whither it
will lead you, the belt foon appears, and
the charm of expectation is over. If
you turn to either fide, it keeps winding
round you ; if you break through it,
it catches you at your return ; and the
idea of this diftindt, unavoidable line of
feparation, damps all fearch after novelty.
Far different from thofe magic circles of
fairies and enchanters, that gave birth to
fuch potent and fplendid illufions, the pa-
laces and gardens of Alcina and Ar«
mida, this, like the ring of Angelica, in-
ftantly diffipates every illufion, every en-
chantment.

If ever a belt be allowable, it is where
the houfe is fituated in a dead flat, and in
a naked ugly country; there at leaft it can-
not injure any variety of ground, or of dif-
tant profpedtj it will alfo be the real
T % boundary

t 276 ]

boundary to the eye, however unvaried,
and any exclufion in fuch cafes is a bene-
fit ; but where there is variety of ground,
and a defcen-t from the houfe, it more
completely disfigures the place than any
other improvement. What moft delights
us in the intricacy of varied ground, of
fwelling knolls, and of vallies between
them, retiring from the fight in different
directions amidft trees or thickets, is, that
it leads the eye (according to Hogarth's
expreffion) a kind of wanton chace; this
is what he calls the beauty of intricacy, and
is that which diilinguifhes what is produced
by foft winding ihapes, from the more fud-
den and quickly- varying kind, which arifes
from broken and rugged forms. All this
wanton chace, as well as the effects of
more wild and pifturefque intricacy, are im-
mediately checked by any circular planta-
tion; which never appears to retire from

the

[ *77 ]

the eye, and lofe itfelf in the diftance, nor
ever admits of partial concealments. What-
ever varieties of hills and dales there may
be, fuch a plantation muft ftiffly cut acrofs
them, and the undulations, and what m
feamen's language may be called the
trending of the ground, cannot in that cafe
be humoured ; nor can its playful character
be marked by that ftyle of planting, which
at once points out, and adds to its beautiful
intricacy.

This may ferve to fhew how impoffible
it is to plan any forms of plantations that
will fiiit all places *, however convenient

it

* In the art of medicine, after general principles are
acquired, the judgment lies in the application ; and
every cafe (as an eminent phyfician obferved to me)
muft be confidered as a fpecial cafe.

This holds precifely in improving, and in both art
the quacks are alike ; they have no principles, but
only a few noftrums which they apply indifcriminately
to all fituations and all conftitutions. Clumps and belts,

T 3 pilk

[ ?7« 3

it m&y be to the profeffor to eftablifh fuch
a dodtrine.

I have perhaps expreffed myfelf more
ftrongly, and more at length than I other-
wife fhould have done, on the fubjed of
this paltry invention, from the extreme dif-
guft I felt at feeing its effed in a place, the
general features of which are among the
pobleft in the kingdom. In front, the fea
embayed amidft iflands, mountains, and
promontories $ a hanging defcent of un-
equal ground from the houfe to the fhore;
on which defcent, different maffes of wood,
groups, and . (ingle trees, more pr lefs dif-
perfed or connected together, with lawns

pills and drops, are diftributed with equal fkill ; the one
plants the right, and elears the left, as the other bleeds
the eaft, and purges the weft ward. The belt, improver
or phyfician is he who leaves mod to nature, who watches
and takes advantage of thofe indications which fhe points
out when left to exert her own powers, but which, when
once deftroyed or fuppreffed by an empyric of either
kind, prefent themfelves no more.

2 and

[ *79 ]

and glades between them, gently leading
the eye among their intricacies to the fhore,
might have been planted, or left if grow-
ing there : this would have formed a rich
and varied foreground to the magnificent
diftance ; and in the approach to the fea-
fide, which ever way you took, would have
broken that diftance, and have formed, in
conjun&ion with it, a number of new and
beautiful compofitions. One of Mr. Brown's
fucceflbrs has thought differently, and this
uncommon difpky of fcenery is difgraced
by a belt,

I do not remember this place in its un-
improved ftate; but I was told that there was
a great quantity of wood between the houfe
and the fea, and that the verTels appeared
(as at that wonderful place, Mount Edge-
cumbe) as if failing over the tops, and
gliding among the items of the trees; if fo,
this profeflbr

" Has left fad marks of his deftrudtive fway.'*

T 4 The

[ 28o ]

The method of thinning trees, which
(under the idea of improvement) has been
adopted by layers out of ground, perfectly
correfponds with their method of planting;
for in both cafes they totally neglect- what
(in the general fenfe of the word) may be
called picturefque effects. Trees of re-
markable fize, indeed, ufually efcape; but
it is not fufficient to attend to the giant
fons of the foreft; often the lofs of a few
trees, nay of a fingle tree of middling fize,
is of infinite confequence to the general
effect of the place, by making an irrepara-*
ble breach in the outline of a principal
wood 3 often fome of the mod beautiful
groups owe the playful variety of their
form, and their happy connection with other
groups, to fome apparently insignificant,
and (to common obfervers) even ugly trees*.

* Vide Sir Jofhua Reynolds's Notes to Mafon's Du
JFrefnoy, page 89.

To

E 281 3

To attend to all thefe niceties of outline,
connexion, and grouping, would require
much time as well as fkill, and therefore a
more eafy and compendious method has
been adopted : the different groups are to
be cleared round, till they become as clump-
like as their untrained natures will allow ;
and even many of thofe outiide trees that
belong to the groups themfelves (and to
which they owe, not only their beauty,
but their fecurity againft wind and froft)
are cut down without pity, if they will
not range according to their model ; till
mangled, ftarved, and cut off from all
connection, thefe unhappy newly drilled
corps

iC Stand bare and naked, trembling at themfelves */'

Even

* Mr. Walpole mentions, that " where the plumage
of an ancient wood extended wide its undulating ca-
nopy, and flood venerable in darknefs- — Kent thinned

the foremoft ranks,"

It

[ 282 ]

Even the old avenue, whofe branches
had intertwined with each other for ages,
mult undergo this fafhionable metamor-
phofis. The object of the improver is to
break its regularity, but fo far from his pro-
ducing that effect by dividing it into clumps,
he could fcareely invent a method by which
its regularity would be made fo apparent
from every point. W hen entire, its ftraitnefs
can only be feen when you look up or down
it ; viewed fideways, it has the appearance
of a thick mafs of wood; if other trees arc
planted before it, to them it gives confe-
quence, and they give it lightnefs and va-
riety : But when it is clumpt, and you can
fee through it, and compare each of the
feparate clumps with the objects before and
behind them, the ftrait line is apparent from

It is impoflibie to read Mr. Walpole's defcription*
without feeling how much the character of fuch woods
muft be deftroyed by fuch zfyftem of improvement.

whatever

[ a«3 1

whatever point you view it. In its clofc
array the avenue is like the Grecian phi-
lanx ; each tree, like each foldier, is firmly
wedged in between its companions ; its
branches, like their fpears, prefent a front
impenetrable to all attacks ; but the mo-
ment this compact order is broken, their
fides become naked and expofcd. Mr.
Brown, like another Paulus iEmilius, has
broken the firm embodied ranks of many a
noble phalanx of trees *, and in this, per-
haps, more than in any other inftance, he
has fhewn how far the perverfion of tafte
may be carried ; for at the very time when
he deprived the avenue of its made and

* I do not know a more interefting account of a
battle than Plutarch's defcription of that between Per-
feus and Paulus iEmilius, in which, after repeated efforts,
the Roman legions at length completely broke and van-
quifhed the famous Macedonian phalanx. It is in his
life of P. /EmiliuSj which, if any of my readers mould
not be acquainted with, and mould be tempted to read
from this allufion, I think they will feel highly obliged
to me. ,

its

[ *84. ]

its folemn grandeur, he encreafed its for-
mality **

* I will take this opportunity of mentioning a very
ftriking example, of an obvious, but moft material diftinc-
flon between painting and improving. When an avenue
is broken into clumps, the painter may felect a view be-
tween two of them, which will form a very pleafing com-
gofition ; for as he takes in only a part of each clump, and
as they are the boundaries of his landfcape, their fepara-
tion from all other objects, is not perceived. No one
could fufpect from fuch a picture, that there were other
clumps, which ftrongly marked the old line from other
parts of the place, and injured the character of the whole
fcenery..- This is perfectly fair in the painter with refer-
ence to his own art; but were he employed to mew what
would be the future effects of breaking an avenue into
clumps, it would be in the fame degree unfair : it would,
in fact, be a deception, and tend to miflead his employer.
Yet this is precifely what M. Repton has done, for the
purpoie of {hewing how an avenue may be broken with
good effect f. He has alfo taken a very painter-like li-
berty— that of varying the forms, and the difpofition of
thofe trees he fuppofes to be left, fo as to give them the
appearance of two natural groups ; whereas he has made
all thofe, which are to be taken away, of one uniform
height and fhape, and in (trait lines. It is lingular that
the perfon who has moft ftrongly written againft the ufe
of applying painting to landfcape gardening, mould have
furnifhed the moft flagrant inftance of its abufe.

f Sketches and Hints on Landfcape Gardening, page 23. plate S.

8 C H A P.

I 285 ]

CHAPTER II

IT is in the arrangement and manage-
ment of trees, that the great art of im-
provement confifts : earth is too cumbrous
and lumpifh for man to contend much
with, and its effects when worked upon, are
flat and dead like its nature. But trees,
detaching themfelves at once from the fur-
face, and riling boldly into the air, have
a more lively and immediate effect on the
eye *. They alone, form a canopy over

us*

* I have generally obferved, that perfons not conver*
fant in pictures and drawings, are in travelling muck
more pleafed with diftant, than with near objects, and that
not from curiofity alone ; and yet the variety, and quick
fucceffion of pictures, depends infinitely more on the lat-
ter,

[ z86 1

lis, arid a varied frame to all other objects $
which they admit, exclude, and group with,
almoft at the will of the improver. In
beauty, they not only far excel every thing
of inanimate nature, but their beauty is com-
plete and perfect in itfelf -, while that of al-
moft every other object requires their affift-
ance. Without them, the moft varied ine-
quality of ground — rocks, and mountains*—

tcr. Diftant obje&s do not rife (o fuddenly, or fo im-
mediately and powerfully ftrike upon the fight, as near
ones. Trees on the foreground, as you proceed, alter
their pofition every inftant -, diftant woods remain the
fame for a long way. An extenfive profpect, which,
feen continually and uninterruptedly, had tired the eye,
if it be afterwards viewed partially through trees, has the
e£Fe£r., and almoft the reality, of novelty. Inftead of one
unchanging view of remote objects, each divHion of that
view, becomes a fubordinate, though a highly interefting
part in a new com pofition, of which the trees and the
foreground are the principal.

* It is not meant that the mountains themfelves muft
be wooded, but that there muft be wood in the landfcape ?
fcenes of mere defolation, however grand, foon fatigue
the mind.

evefr

t 23; f

evci> water itfelf, in * all its characters
of brooks, rivers, lakes, cataradls, are com-
paratively

* I have not mentioned the Tea, as in this country at
leaftj trees will not fucceed near it, unlefs when it is
land-locked; and then (though their combination, as at
Mount Edgcumbe, is no lefs beautiful than uncommon)
the fea itfelf lofes its grand impofmg character, and puts
on fomething of the appearance of a hke; There trees
are neceflary ; for a lake bounded by naked rocks is a
rude and dull landfcape ; but change the character o£
the one element only, let the fea break againft thofe
rocks, and trees will no longer be thought of. The
fublimity of fuch a picture, abforbs all idea of leiTer or-
naments ; for no one can view the foam, the gulphs, the
impetuous motion of that world of waters, without a
deep impreilion of its deftruclive and irrefiftible power.
But fublimity is not its only character; hi after that fir&
awful fenfation is weakened by ufe, the infinite variety^
In the forms of the waves, in their light and fhadow, in
the darning of their fpray, and, above all, the perpetual
change of motion, continue to amufe the eye in detail, as
much as the grandeur of the whole poiiefTed the mkf4
It is in this that it differs not only from motionlefs ob-
jects, but even from rivers and cataracls, however di~
verfiiied in their parts. In them, the fpeclator fees no

[ 288 ]

paratively cold, favage, and uninterefting*
With them, even a dead flat may be full
of variety and intricacy; and it is perhaps
from their poflefling thefe two laft quali-
ties in fo eminent a degree, that trees are
almoft indifpenfibly neceffary to picturefque
and beautiful fcenery.

The infinite variety of their forms* tints,
and light and fhade, mult ftrike every
body; the quality of intricacy they poflefs,
if poflible, in a ftill higher degree, and in
a more exclusive and peculiar manner.
Take a fingle tree only, and confider it in
this point of view. It is compofed of
millions of boughs, fprays, and leaves in-
termixed with, and croffing each other in
as many directions ; while through the va-

change from what he faw at firft ; the fame breaks In.

the current, the fame falls continue ; and poffibly on that

account they require the aid of trees : but the intricacies

and varieties of waves breaking againft rocks, are as

endlefs as their motion.

rious

[ *89 ]

rious openings the eye ftill difcovers new
and infinite combinations of them : yet,
in this labyrinth of intricacy, there is
no unpleafant confufion ; the general ef-
fect is as fimple, as the detail is com-
plicate. Ground, rocks, and buildings,
if the parts are much broken, become
fantaftic and trifling; befides, they have
not that loofe pliant texture fo well adapted
to partial concealment ; a tree, therefore, is
perhaps the only objeel: where a grand
whole (or at leaft what is moft confpicuous
in it) is chiefly compofed of innumerable
minute and diflindt parts.

To fhew how much thofe who ought to
be the beft judges, confider the qualities I
have mentioned, no tree, however large
and vigorous, however luxuriant the fo-
liage, will be admired by the painter, if it
prefent one uniform unbroken mafs of
leaves ; while others, not only inferior in
U fize,

t 293 ]

fize, and in thicknefs of foliage, but of
forms which would induce many improvers
to cut them down, will attract and fix their
attention. The reafons of this preference
are obvious ; but as on thefe reafons, accord-
ing to the ideas I have formed, the whole
fyftem of planting, pruning, and thinning,
for the purpofe of beauty (in its moft ge-
neral acceptation) depends, I muft be al-
lowed to well a little longer on them.

In a tree whofe foliage is every where
full and unbroken, there can be but little
variety of form : then as the fun ftrikes
only on the furface, neither can there be
much variety of light and Jhade : and as
the apparent colour of objects changes
according to the different degrees of light
or of fhade in which they are placed, there
can be as little * variety of //;// .- and kit-

* -Lux varium vivumque dabit, nullum umbra co-
lorem. Du Frefnoy.

t 291 ]

5y, as there are none of thofe openings that
excite and nourifh curiofity, but the eye
can be every where oppofed by one uniform
leafy fkreen, there be as little intricacy as
variety. What is here faid of a Jingle tree
is equally true of all combinations of them,
and appears to me to account perfectly for
the bad effecT: of clumps, and of all plan-
tations and woods where the trees grow
clofe together : Indeed, in all thefe cafes
the effeft is in one refpecl: much worfe ;
we are difpofed to admire the bulk of a
lingle tree, the ipfe nemus, though its
formjhould be heavy ; but there is a mean-
nefs, as well as a heavinefs, in feeing a
lumpy mafs, produced by a multitude of
little ftems.

What the qualities are that painters do

admire in fingle trees, groups, and woods,

may eafily be concluded from what they

do not; the detail would be infinite, for

U 2 luckily

[ 292 ]

luckily where art does not interfere, the
abfolute exclufions are few. If their tafte
is to be preferred to that of gardeners,
it is clear that there is fomething radically-
bad in the ufual method of making and
managing plantations -, it otherwife would
never happen, that the woods, and arrange-
ments of trees, which they are leaft dif-
pofed to admire, fhould be thofe made for
the exprefs purpofe of ornament. Under
that idea, the fpontaneous trees of the coun-
try are often excluded as too common,
or admitted in fmall proportions; whilft
others of peculiar form and colour, take
place of oak and beech. But of what-
ever trees the ejiablijhed woods of the coun-
try are compofed, the fame, I think, fhould
prevail in the new ones, or thofe two grand
principles, harmony and unity of charac-
ter, will be deftroyed. It is very ufual,
however, when there happens to be a va-
cant

[ 293 1

cant fpace between two woods, to fill it
up with firs, larches, &c. ; if this be done
with the idea of connecting thofe woods
(and that Jhould be the objedt) nothing can
be more oppofite than the effedt: even
plantations of the fame fpecies, require
time to make them accord with the old
growths; but fuch harfh and fudden con-
trafts of form and colour, make thefe in-
fertions for ever appear like fo many awk-
ward pieces of patch-work * ; and furely

if

* It is not enough that trees fhould be naturalized
to the climate, they mull alfo be naturalized to the
landfcape, and mixed and incorporated with the natives.
A patch of foreign trees planted by themfelves in the
out-fkirts of a wood, or in fome open corner of it, mix
with the natives, much like a group of young Englifh-
men at an Italian converfazione : But when fome
plant of foreign growth appears to fpring up by acci-
dent, and (hoots out its beautiful, but lefs familiar fo-
liage among our natural trees, it has the fame pleafing
effect, as when a beautiful and amiable foreigner has
U 3 acquired

[ 294 ]

if a man were reduced to the neceffity of
having his coat pieced, He would wifh to
have the joinings concealed, and the co-
lour matched, and not to be made a
harlequin.

Thefe dark fhades, and fpire-like forms,
which when planted in patches, have fuch
a motley appearance, may be fo grouped
with the prevailing trees of the country as
to produce infinite richnefs and variety,
and yet feem part of the original defign ;
but I imagine it to be an eftablifhed rule,
that plantations made for ornament, fhould,
both in form and fubftance, be as diitinct
as poffible from the woods of the country $
fo that no one may doubt an inftant what
are the parts which have been improv-
ed. Inftead, therefore, of giving to na-

acquired our language and manners fo as to converfe
With the freedom of a native, yet retains enough of
original accent and character, to give a peculiar grace
and zeft to all her words and actions,

6 ture

[ 295 1

ture * that " rich, ample, and flowing
robe which fhe Jhould wear on her throned
eminence/ ' inftead of *' hill united to hill
with iweeping train of foreft, with prodi-
gality of fliade," £he is curtailed of her fair
proportions, pinched and fqueezed into
fhape ; and the prim fquat clump is perked
up exactly on the top of every eminence.
Sometimes, however, the extent is fo great,
that common fized clumps would make no
figure, unlefs they were exceffively multi-
plied ; hi that cafe, it has been very inge-
nioufly contrived to confolidate (and I am
fure the word is not improperly ufed) a
number of them in one great lump, and

* Mr. Mafon's Poem on Modern Gardening, is fo
well known to all who have any tafte for the fubjec'r,
or for poetry in general, that it is hardly neceflary to fay,
that the words between the inverted commas are chiefly
taken from it. In the part from which I have taken
thefe two paflages, he has pointed out the nobl.eft ftyle
of planting, in a ftyle of poetry no lefs noble and
elevated.

- U 4 thefe

[ 296 ]

thefe condenfed, unwieldly maffes, arc,
without much choice, ftuck about the
grounds.

I have ken two places, on a very large
fcale, laid out in this manner by a pro-
feffed improver of high reputation*. The
trees which principally fhewed themfelves
were -j- larches, and from the multitude of

* Some perfons have imagined, that by a profeflbr of
[high reputation I rauft have meant Mr. Repton ; but
thefe two places, which were laid out before he took to
the profeffion, clearly -prove that it did not then require
his talents to gain a high reputation : I hope in future
it will be Ids eafily acquired.

f Wherever larches are mixed (though in fmall pro-
portions) over the whole of a new plantation, the
quicknefs of their growth, their pointed tops, and the
peculiarity of their colour, make them fo confpicuous,
that the whole wood feems to confift of nothing elfe.

The fummits of all round-headed trees (efpecially
oak) vary in each tree; but there can be but one fum-
mit to all pointed trees.

Linea recta velut fola eft, & mille recurvae.

Du Frefnoy.

their

[ 297 ]

their fharp points, the whole country ap-
peared en heriffbn, and had much the fame
degree of refemblance to natural fcenery,
that one of the old military plans, with
fcattered platoons of fpearmen, has to a
print after Claude or Pouffin. With all
my admiration of trees, I had rather be
without them, than have them fo difpof-
ed; indeed, I have often feen hills, the
outline of which, — the fwellings, — and the
deep hollows were fo finking ; and whofe
furface was fo varied by the mixture of
fmooth, clofe-bitten turf, with the rich,
though fhort cloathing of fern, heath, or
furze, and by the different openings and
fheep tracks among them, that I mould
have been forry to have had the whole
covered with the firieft wood 3 nay, I could
hardly have wifhed for trees the moft hap-
pily difpofed, and of courfe mould have
dreaded, in the fame proportion, thofe

which

E 298 3

which are ufually placed there by art.
An improver has rarely fuch dread: in
general the firft idea that ftrikes hini, is
that of diftinguifhing his property, nor is
he eafy till he has put his pitch-mark on
all the fummits*. Indeed this grati-
fies

* Vanity is a general enemy to all improvement,
and there is no fuch enemy to the real improvement of
the beauty of grounds, as the foolifh vanity of making
a parade of their extent, and of exhibiting various unin-
terefting marks of the owner's property, under the
title of " Appropriation.'* Where there are any noble
features, that are debafed by meaner objects — where
greater extent would mew a rich and varied boundary,
and that boundary proportioned to that extent — what-
ever choaks up, or degrades fuch fcenes, mould of courfe
be removed ; but where there are no fuch features, no
fuch boundaries — to appropriate, by deftroying many a
pleafant meadow, and by fhewing you, when they are
laid into one great common, green enough to furfeit a
man in a calenture ; to appropriate, by clumping their
naked hedge-rows, and planting other clumps and patches
of exotics which feem to flare about them, and wonder
how they came there; to appropriate, by demolifhing

many

[ 299 3

fies his defire of celebrity by exciting
the curiofity and admiration of the vulgar ;
and travellers of tafte will naturally be
provoked to enquire, though from another
motive, to whom thofe unfortunate hills
belong.

It is melancholy to compare the flow
progrefs of beauty, with the upftart growth
of deformity ; trees and woods planted in
the nobleft ftyle, will not for years ftrongly
attract the painter's notice, though luckily
for their prefervation, the planter is like a
fond * mother, who feels the greatefl ten-
many a cheerful retired cottage, that interfered with no-
thing but the defpotic love of exclufion (and make
amends, perhaps, by building a village regularly piclu-
refque) is to appropriate by difgufting all whofe tafte
is not infenfible or depraved, in the fame fenfe that an
alderman appropriates a plate of turtle, by iheezing
over it.

* Madame de Sevigne, whofe maternal tendernefs
feems to have extended itfelf to her plantations, fays,
" Je fais jetter a bas de grands arbres, parce qu'ils font
ombrage, ou qu'ils incommodent mesjeunesenfants."

dernefs

t 3°° ]

dernefs for her children, at the time they
are leaft interefting to others.

But to the deformer (a name too often
fynonymous to the improver) it is not ne-
ceffary that his trees mould have attained
their full growth ; as foon as he has made
his round fences, and planted them, his
principal work is done ; the eye which
tifed to follow with delight the bold fweep
of outline, and all the playful undulation
of ground, finds itfelf fuddenly checked,
and its progrefs ftopt, even by thefe em-
bryo clumps. They have the fame effefl:
on the great features of nature, as an ex-
crefcence on thofe of the human face ; in
which, though the proportion of one fea-
ture to another greatly varies in different
perfons, yet thefe differences (like fimilar
ones in inanimate nature) give variety of
character, without difturbing the general ac-
cord of the parts : But let there be a wart,

or

[ 301 1

or a pimple, on any prominent feature — no
dignity or beauty of countenance can detach
the attention from it -, that little, round,
diftind: lump, while it difgufts the eye,
has a fafcinating power of fixing it on its
own deformity. This is precifely the ef-
fed of clumps ; the beauty or grandeur of
the furrounding parts only ferve to make
them more horribly confpicuous -, and the
dark tint of the Scotch fir (of which they
are generally compofed) as it feparates them
by colour, as well as by form, from every
other objeft, adds thelaft finifh.

But even large plantations of firs, when
they are not the natural trees of the coun-
try, and when (as it ufually happens) they
are left too thick, have, in my mind, a
harfh look, and that on the fame principle
of their not harmonizing with the reft of the
landfcape. A planter very naturally wifhes
to produce fome appearance of wood as
3 foon

t 3°* 1

foon as poffible ; he therefore fets his trees
very clofe together, and fo they generally
remain, for his paternal fbndnefs will feldom
allow him to thin them fufficiently. They
are confequently all drawn up together*
nearly to the fame height; and as their
heads touch each other, no variety, no dif«
tinftion of form can exift, but the whole is
one enormous, unbroken, unvaried mafs
bf black. Its appearance is fo uniformly
dead and heavy, that inftead of thofe cheer-
ing ideas which arife from the frefh and
luxuriant * foliage> and the lighter tints

* Perhaps, in Ariel: propriety, the term of foliage
ihould never be applied to firs, as they have no leaves ;
and, I believe, it is partly to that circumftance, that they
owe their want of cheerfulnefs. Thofe among the
lower evergreens that have leaves-, fuch as holly, laurel*
arbutus,, are much more chearful than the juniper, cy-
prefs, arbor vitae, &c. The leaves (if one may fo cali
them) of the yew> Have much the fame character as
Come of the firs.

of

{ 3°3 3

.of deciduous trees, it has fomething of that
dreary image — that extinction of form and
colour, which Milton felt from blindnefs 5
when he, who had viewed obje&s with a
painter's eye, "as he defcribed them with a
poet's fire, was

Prefented with an univerfal blank
Of nature's works.

It muft be confidered alfo, that the eye
feels an impreffion from objefts analogous
to that of weight, as appears from the ex-
preflion, a heavy colour, a heavy fornix
hence arifes the neceffity in all landfcapes
of preferving a proper balance of both, and
this, is a very principal part of the art of
painting. If in a pidiure the one half were
to be light and airy, both in the forms and
in the tints, and the other half one black
heavy lump, the moft ignorant perfon
would probably be difpleafed (though he

might

[ 3°4 ]

might not know upon what principle)
with the want of balance, and of harmony;
for thofe harfh difcordant effedts, not only
aft more forcibly from being brought to-
gether within a fmall compafs, but alfo
becaufe in painting they are not autho-
rized by faflrion, or rendered familiar by
cuftom.

The infide of thefe plantations fully
anfwers to the dreary appearance of the
*outfide: Of all difmal fcenes it feems to

me

* I have known perfons who acknowledged that the
infide of a clofe wood (either evergreen or deciduous)
was poor and fhabby, yet thought that at fome diftance
its outftde looked as well as that of a more open one.
The defects of all objects are of courfe diminifhed as
they are more removed from the eye, but as far as
form can be diftinguifhed (and that includes a large
circuit) the difference is very perceptible between a
wood where the trees have been cramped by each other,
and one where their heads have had full room to extend
themfelves. If two fuch woods, even at the extremity

of

t 305 ]

me the moft likely for a man to hang him-
felf in; he would, however, find fome
difficulty in the execution, for, amidft. the
endlefs multitude of ftems, there is rarely
a fingle fide branch to which a rope could
be fattened. The whole wood is a col-
lection of tall naked poles, with a few
•ragged boughs near the top; abov 'lie
uniform nifty cope, feen through decayed
and decaying fprays and branches ; below
* — the foil parched and blafted with the
baleful droppings ; hardly a plant or a
blade of grafs, nothing that can give ap
idea of life, or vegetation. Even its gloom
is without folemnity ; it is only dull and
difmal ; and what light there is, like that
of hell,

of an extenfive view, are lighted up by a gleam of furi-
fhine, the depth of fhadow, and the fulnefs and nchnefs
of the one, would clearly diftinguifh it from the uniform
heavinefs of the other.

X a Serves

C 306 3

a Serves only to difeover fcenes of woe,
Regions of forrow, doleful (hades."

In a grove where the trees have had room
to fpread (and in that cafe I by no means ex-
clude the * Scotch fir or any of the pines)
the gloom has a character of folemn gra ndeur ;
that grandeur arifesfrom the broad and varied
canopy over head, from the fmall number
and great iize of the trunks by which that
canopy is fup ported "(r, and from the large
undiflurbed fpaces between them: but a
clofe wood of firs, is, perhaps, the only
one from which the oppofite qualities of

* Mr. Gilpin has admirably pointed out the pi&u-
refque character of the Scotch fir (where it has had room
to fpread) in his remarks on foreft fcenery ; and he as
juftly condemns the ufual method of planting and leaving
them in clofe array.

f This circumflance feems to have itruck Virgil in
the cafe of a Angle tree :

Media ipfa ingentem fuftinct umbram.

cheerfulnefs

[ 3°7 ]

dieerfulnefs and grandeur, of fymmetry
and variety, are equally excluded ; and in
which, though the fight is perplexed and
haraffed by the confufion of petty ob-
jects, there is not the fmalleft degree of
intricacy.

Firs, planted and left in the fame clofe
array, are very commonly made ufe of as
fcreens and boundaries ; but as the lower
part is of moft confequence where con-
cealment is the object, they are, for
the reafons I mentioned before, the moft
improper trees for that purpofe* I will,
however, fuppofe them exactly in the
condition the planter* would with -, that
the outer boughs (on which alone
they depend) were preferred from ani-
mals; and that though planted along the
brow of a hill, they had efcaped from
wind and fnow, and the many accidents
to which they are expofed in bleak fitua-
' X 2 tions ;

C 3°8 ]

tions; they would then exactly anfwer to
that admirable defcription of Mr. Mafon :

« The Scottish fir
In murky file rears his inglorious head
And blots the fair horizon."

< Nothing can be more accurately, or more
forcibly exprefTed, or raife a jufter image
in the mind. Every thick unbroken mafs
of black (efpecially when it can be com-
pared with fofter tints) is a blot ; and has
the fame effecT: on the horizon in nature,
as if a dab of ink were thrown upon that
of a Claude. This, however, is viewing
it in its moil favourable ftate, when at
leaft it anfwers the purpofe of a fcreen,
though a heavy one ; but it happens full as
often, that the outer bourfis do not reach
above half way down; and then, befides
the long, black, even line which cuts the
horizon at the top, there is at bottom a
ftreak of glaring light that pierces every

where

[ 3°9 1

where through the meagre and naked poles
(ftill more wretchedly meagre when op-
pofed to fuch a back ground) and fhews
diflinclly the poverty and thinnefs of the
boundary. Many a common hedge that
has been filtered to grow wild, with a few
trees in it, is a much more varied and effec-
tual fcreen ; but there are hedges, where
yews and hollies are mixed with trees and
thorns, — fo thick from the ground upwards,
— fo diverfified in their outline, — in the
tints, and in the light and made, — that the
eye, which dwells on them with pleafure,
is perfectly deceived ; and can neither fee
through them, nor difcover (hardly even
fufpeft) their want of depth.

This ftriking contraft between a mere
hedge, and trees planted for the exprefs
purpofe of concealment and beauty, affords
a very ufeful hint, not only for fcreens and
boundaries, but for every fort of orna-
X 3 mental

[ 310 ]

mental plantation. It feems to point out,
that concealment cannot well be produced
without a mixture of the fmaller growths,
fuch as thorns and hollies, which, being
naturally bufliyv nil up the lower parts
where the larger trees are apt to be bare ;
that fuch a mixture muft produce great va-
riety of outline, as thefe fmaller growths
will not hinder the larger from extending
their heads ; while, at the fame time, by
reafon of their different -heights, more or
lefs approaching to thofe of the timber
trees, they accompany and group with
them, and prevent that fet formal appear-
ance, wrhich trees generally have when
there are large fpaces between them,- even
though they fhould not be planted at regu-
lar diftances.

It feems to me, that if this method
were followed in all ornamental planta-
tions, it would, in a great meafure, obviate

th«

[ 3» 3

the bad effedls of their being left too clofe,
either from foolifh fondnefs, or negled.
Suppofe, for inftance, that inftead of the
ufual method of making an evergreen plan*-
tation of firs only, and thofe ftuck clofe to-
gether, the firs were planted eight, twelve,
or more yards afunder (of courfe varying
the diftances) and that the fpaces between
them were filled with the lower ever-
greens *. All thefe would for fome years

* I believe there are only three forts natural to this
country, holly, box, and juniper; to which, on account
of the flownefs of its growth, and its doing fo well un-
der the drip of other trees, may be added the yQw. There
is, however, a great variety of exotics which are per-
fectly hardy, and many others that will fucceed in fhel-
tered fpots ; and the moft. fcrupulous perfon wiil allow,
that among firs (the greateft part of which are exotics)
they are perfectly in character. — Whoever has been at
Mount Edgcumbe, and remembers the mixture of the
arbutus, &c. with the fpreading pines, will wan!. r;o far-
ther recommendation of this method : I mult own, that
amidft all the grand features of that noble place, it made
jio flight impreflion on me.

X 4 grow

[ 31* ]

grow up together, till at length the firs
would moot above them all, and find no-
thing afterwards to check their growth in
any direction. Suppofe fuch a wood, upon
the largeft fcale, to be left to itfelf, and not
a bough cut for twenty, thirty, any number
of years ; and that then it came into the
hands of a perfon who wifhed to give va-
riety to this rich, but uniform mafs. He
might in fome parts choofe to have an
* open grove of firs only ; in that cafe he
would only have to clear away all the lower
evergreens, and the firs which remained,
from their free unconftrained manner of

* A grove of large fpreading pines is very folemn,
but that folernnity might occafionally be varied, and in
fome refpe£ts heightened, by a mixture of yews and cy-
prefies, which at the fame time would give an idea of ex-
treme retirement, and cf fepulchral melancholy. In other
parts a very pleafing contraft in winter might be formed
by hollies, arbutus, lauruftinus, and others that bear ber-
ries and flowers at that feafon.

growing.

[ 3*3 1

growing, would appear as if they had been
planted with that defign. In other parts
he might make that beautiful foreft-like
mixture of open grove, with thickets and
loofely fcattered trees ; of lawns and glades
of various fhapes and dimenfions, varioufly
bounded. Sometimes he might find the
ground fcooped out into a deep hollow,
forming a fort of amphitheatre ; and there,
in order to fhew its general fhape, and yet
preferve its fequeftered character, he might

only make a partial clearing; when all that
can give intricacy, variety, and retirement
to a fpot of this kind, would be ready to
his hands.

It may indeed be objected, (and not
without reafon) that this evergreen under-
wood will have grown fo clofe, that, when
thinned, the plants which are left will look
bare; and bare they will look, for fuch
muft necefiarily be the effect of leaving

any

[ 3*4 ]

any trees too clofe. There are, however,
feverai reafons why it is of lefs confequence
in this cafe : The firft and moft material
is, that the great outline of the wood,
formed by the higheft trees, would not be
affedted ; another is, that thefe lower trees
being of various growths, fome will have
outftripped their feliows in the fame pro-
portion as the firs outstripped them; and,
confequently, their heads will have had
room to fpread, and form a gradation from
the higheft firs, to the loweft underwood.
Again, many of thefe evergreens of lower
growth, fucceed well under the drip of
taller trees, and alfo (to ufe the figurative
expreffion of nurfery-men) love the knife :
by the . pruning of fome, therefore, and
cutting down of others, the bare parts of
the taller ones would in a fhort time be
covered ; and the whole of fuch a wood
might be divided at pleafure into openings

and

[ 3*5 3

and groups, differing in form, in fize, and
in degrees of concealment; from fkirtings
of the loofeft texture, to the clofefl and
moft impenetrable thickets.

This method is equally good in making
plantations of deciduous trees, though not
in the fame degree neceffary as in thofe of
firs ; and though I have only mentioned
orname?ttal plantations, yet, I believe, if
thorns were always mixed with oak, beech,
&c. befides their ufe in preventing the fo-
reft trees from being planted too clofe to
each other, they would by no means be un-
profitable. If they were taken out before
they were too large to be moved eafily,
their ufe for hedges, and their ready fale
for that purpofe, is well known ; if left
longer, they are particularly ufeful for
planting in gaps, where fmaller ones would
be ftifled; and if they remained, they would
always make excellent hedge-wood, and an-

fwer

[ 3*6 3

fwer all the common purpofes of under-
wood. For ornament, a great variety of
lower growths might be added ; and, among
the reft, of thorns of different fpecies, the
maple leaved, &c. &c.

It is not meant, that the largeft growths
fhould never be planted near each other ;
fome of the moft beautiful groups are often
formed by fuch a clofe junction, but not
when they have all been planted at the fame
time, and drawn up together. A judicious
Improver will know when, and how, to
deviate from any method, however gene-
rally good.

There are few operations in improvement
more pleafant, than that of opening gradually
a fcene, where the materials are only too
abundant ; but in which they are not abfo-
lutely fpoiled, as they are in a thick wood of
firs. In that, there is no room for feleclion ;
no exercife of the judgment in arranging the

groups,

[ 3'7 ]

groups, mafTes, or fingle trees -, no power
of renewing vegetation by pruning or cut-
ting down ; no hope of producing the final!-
eft intricacy or variety. If one bare pole
be removed, that behind differs from it fo
little, that one might exclaim with Mac-
beth,

" Thy air

cc Is like the firfl: — a third is like the former—

« Horrible fight !"—

and fo they would unvariedly go on,

" tho' their line
<c Stretch'd out to the crack of doom*"

In defcribing thefe two woods, I do not
think I have at all exaggerated the uglinefs,
and the incorrigible famenefs of the one,
and the variety and beauty of which the
other is capable. I mean, however, that
variety which arifes from the manner in
which thefe evergreens may be difpofed,
not from the number of diftinct fpecies. I

have

[ 3>8 1

have indeed often obferved in forefts,
(thofe great ftorehoufes of pidurefque dif-
pofitions of trees) that merely from oak,
beech, thorns, and hollies, arofe fo many
combinations, fuch different effects from
thofe which are gained by ever fo great a
diverfity of trees lumped together, that one
could hardly wifh for more variety ; it put
me in mind of what is mentioned of the
more ancient Greek painters ;. that with
only four colours, they did, what, in the
more degenerate days of the art, could
not be performed with all the aid of che-
miftry.

The true end of variety is to relieve
the eye, not to perplex it ; it does not con-
fift in the diverfity of feparate objects., but
in the diverfity of their effects when com-
bined together ; in diverfity of compofi-
tion, and of character. Many think, how-
ever, they have obtained that grand object,
2 when

[ 3^9 ]

when they have exhibited in one body all
the hard names of the Linnaean fyftem*;
but when as great a diveriity of plants, as
can well be got together, is exhibited in
every fhrubbery, or in every plantation, the
refult is a famenefs of a different kind, but
not lefs truly a famenefs than would arife
from there being no diveriity at all j for
there is no having variety of character,
without a certain diftindinefs, without cer-
tain marked features on which the eye can
dwell.

In forefts and woody commons we

* In a botanical light, fuch a collection is extremely
curious and entertaining ; but it is about as good a fpe-
cimen of variety in landfcape, as a line of Lilly's gram-
mar would be of variety in poetry :

Et poftis, ve&is, vermis focietur et axis.

A collection of hardy exotics may alfo be confidered as
a very valuable part of the improver's palet, and may fug-
ged: many new and harmonious combinations of colours;
but then he muft not call the palet a picture.

fometimes

[ 3*> ]

fometimes come from a part where hollies
had chiefly prevailed* to another where
junipers or yews are the principal ever-
greens -y and where, perhaps, there is the
fame fort of change in the deciduous trees
and underwood. This ftrikes us with a new
impreffiori ; but mix them equally toge-
ther in all parts, and diverfity becomes a
fource of monotony.

Two of the principal defe&s in the
compofition of landfcapes, are the oppofite
extremes of objects being too crouded, or
too fcattered. The clump is a happy union
of thefe two grand defefts ; it is fcattered
with refpedt to the general compofition,
and clofe and lumpifh when confidered by
itfelf.

One great caufe of the fuperior variety
and richnefs of unimproved parks and fo-
refts,when compared with lawns and dreffed
ground, and of their being fo much more

admired

[ 321 ]

admired by painters, is, — that the trees
and groups are feldom totally alone * and
unconnected; of this, and of all that is mod
attractive in natural fcenery, the two great
fources are accident and neglect *f\

* In the Liber Veritatis, confiding of above three
hundred drawings by Claude, I believe there are not
more than three fingle trees. This is one ftrong proof
(and I imagine the works of other painters would fully
confirm it) that thofe who moft ftudied the effect of
vifible objects, attended infinitely more to connection,
than to feparate forms. The practice of improvers is
directly the reverfe.

f I remember hearing what I thought a very juft cri-
ticifm on a part of Mr. Crab's poem of the Library.
He has there perfonified Negieff, and given her the
aftive employment of fpreading duft on books of an-
cient chivalry. But in producing picturefque effects,
1 begin to think her vis inertias is in many cafes a very
powerful agent.

Should this criticifm induce any perfon who had not
read the Library^ to look at the part I have mentioned,
he will foon forget his motive for looking at it, in his
admiration of one of the moft animated, and highly poe*
tical defcriptions I ever read,

Y In

[ 322 1

In fore/Is and in old parks, the rough
bullies nurfe up young trees, and grow up
with them; and thence arifes that infinite
variety of openings, of inlets, of glades, of
forms of trees, &c. The effecl: of all thefe
might be preferred, and rendered more
beautiful, by a judicious ftyle and degree of
clearing and poliihing, and might be fuc-
cefsfully imitated in other parts.

Lawns are very commonly made by
laying together a number of fields and
meadows, the infides of which are gene-
rally cleared of buihes : when thofe hedges-
are taken away, it muft be a great piece of
luck if the trees that were in them, and
thofe which were fcattered about the open
parts, mould fo combine together as to
form a connected whole. The cafe is much
more defperate, when a layer out of grounds
has perfuaded the owner,

To improve an old family feat,
By lawning a hundred good acres of wheat ;

for

[ 323 ]

For the infides of arable grounds have fel-
dom any trees in them, and the hedges
but few; and then clumps and belts are
the ufual refources.

Such an improvement, however, is great-
ly admired $ and I have frequently heard it
wondered at, that a green lawn, which is
fo charming in nature, fhould look fo ill
when painted. It muft be owned, that it
does look miferably flat and infipid in a
pi&ure ; but that is not entirely the fault
of the painter * $ for it is hardly poflible

to

* It is, I believe, out of the power of the art to make
a long extent of fmooth, unbroken green interesting ;
but it muft alfo be allowed, that it might be made lefs
bad, than the reprefentations of lawns that I have hap-
pened to fee. Mr. Gilpin obferves, that " were a lake
" fpread out on the canvafs in one fimple hue, it would
" be a dull fatiguing object;" he might have added, a
Very unnatural one : it would then bear the fame fort of
refemblance to a lake, as fome portraits of gentlemen's
feats do to a lawn* which, though in general a fuffi-

Y 2 ciently

[ 324 1

to Invent any thing more infipid than one
uniform, green furface, clotted with clumps,
and furrounded by a belt. If you will
fuppofe a lawn, with trees of every growth
difperfed ill the happier! manner, and with
as much intricacy and variety as mere grafs
and trees can give to a lawn, without de-
stroying its character,— fuch a fcene? paint-
ed by a Claude, would be a foft pleafing
picture ; but it would want precifely what
it wants in nature, — that happy union of
warm and cool, of fmooth and rough, of
picturefque and beautiful, which makes the
charm of his beft compoiitions. Were two
fuch pictures (both equally well painted)
hung up by each other, the defects of the
fmooth green landfcape would be felt im-
mediately; and were it poiTible to bring two

ciently dull and fatiguing objeft, yet has tints, and
lights and fhadows, but ill reprefented by one iimple hue
of green fpread upon the canvas.

fuch

[ 325 3

fuch fcenes in nature into as immediate a
.comparifon, he muft be a fturdy improver
who would hefitate between the two.

But though fuch fcenes, as the great
mailers made choice of, are much more
varied and animated than one of mere grafs
can be, yet I am very far from wiihing the
peculiar character of lawns to be deftroyed.
The ftudy of the principles of painting
would be very ill applied by an improver,
who fhould endeavour to give to each fcene,
every variety that might pleafe in a picture
feparately confidered, inftead of fuch varie-
ties as are confiftent with its own peculiar
character and fituaticn, and with the con-
nections and dependencies it has on other
objects, Smoothnefs, verdure, and undula-
tion, are the moft characteriftic beauties of
a lawn, but they are in their nature clofely
allied to monotony ; improvers, inftead of
endeavouring to remedy that defedt, which

Y 3 is

[ 3^6 ]

is inherent in thofe effential qualities of
beauty, have, on the contrary, added to it,
and made it much more*ftriking, by the dif-
pofition of their trees, and their method of
forming the banks of artificial rivers : nor
have they confined this fyftem of levelling
and turfing, to thofe fcenes where fmooth-
nefs arid verdure ought to be the ground-
work of improvement, but have made it
the fundamental principle of their art.
With refpecft to thofe things, in which a
very different art is concerned, our fenfa-
tions are alfo very different : a perfectly flat
fquare meadow, furrounded by a neat hedge,
&nd neither tree nor bufh in it, is looked
upon not only without difguft, but with
pleafure ; for it pretends only to neatnefs
and utility : the fame may be faid of a piece
of arable of excellent hufbandry. But when
a dozen pieces are laid together, and called
a lawn, or a pleafure-ground, ^ith manifefl

pretenfions

[ 3^7 1

pretenfions to beauty, the eye grows, fafti-
dious, and has not the fame indulgence for
tafte, as for agriculture. Men of property,
who either from falfe tafte, or from a fordid
defire of gain, disfigure fuch fcenes or build-
ings as painters admire, provoke our indig-
nation : not fo when agriculture, in its ge-
neral progrefs (as is often unfortunately the
cafe) interferes with pidurefquenefs, or
beauty. The painter may indeed lament ; but
that fcience, which of all others moll bene-
fits mankind, has a right to more than his
forgivenefs, when wild thickets are con-
verted into fcenes of plenty and induftry,
and when gypfies and vagrants give way to
the lefs pidurefque figures of hufbandmen,
and their attendants.

I believe the idea, that fmoothnefs and

verdure will make amends for the want of

variety and pidurefquenefs, arifes from our

not diftinguifhing thofe qualities that are

Y 4 grateful

[ 328 ]

grateful to the mere organ of fight, from
thofe various combinations, which, through
the progreffive cultivation of that fenfe,
have produced inexhauftible fources of de-
light and admiration. Mr. Mafon obferves,
that green is to the eye what harmony is to
the ear ; the comparifon holds throughout,
for a long continuance of either, without
fome relief, is equally tirefome to both
fenfes. Soft and fmooth founds, are thofe
which are moft grateful to the mere fenfe ->
the leaft artful combination (even that of a
third below fung by another voice) at firft
diftracts the attention from the tune ; when
that is got over, a Venetian duet appears
the perfection of melody and harmony. By
degrees however the ear, like the eye, tires
of a repetition of the fame flowing ftrain ; it
requires fome marks of invention, of ori-
ginal and ftriking character, as well as of
fweetnefs, in the melodies of a compofer ;

it

[ 3*9 1

It takes in more and more intricate combi-
nations of harmony and oppofition of parts,
not only without confufion but with de-
light ; and with that delight (the only laft-
ing one) which is produced both from the
effect of the whole, and the detail of the
parts *. At the fame time the having ac-
quired a relifli for fuch artful combinations,
fo far from excluding (except in narrow
pedantic minds) a tafte for fimple melo-
dies, or iimple fcenes, heightens the enjoy-

* This I take to be the reafon why thofe who are
real connoifleurs in any art, can give the moft unwea-
ried attention to what the general lover is fo on tired of.
Both are ftruck (though not in the fame manner or de-
gree) with the whole of a fcene ; but the painter is alf®
eagerly employed in examining the parts-) and all the
artifice of nature in compofing fuch a whole. The ge-
neral lover ftops at the firft gaze, and I have heard it faid
by thofe, who in other purfuits mewed the moft drfcrimi-
nating tafte; u Why mould we look at thefe things any
more— we have feen them/'

Non piu parlar di lor', ma guarda h pafia.

ment

[ 33° 1

mcnt of them. It is only by fuch ac-
quirements, that we learn to diftinguifh
what is iimple, from what is bald and com-
mon-place ■$ what is varied and intricate^
from what is only perplexed.

CHAP.

[ 33* ]

CHAPTER III.

OF all the effects in landfcape, the
moil brilliant and captivating are
thofe produced by water, on the management
of which, (as I have been told,) Mr. Brown
particularly piqued himfelf. If thofe beau-
ties in natural rivers and lakes which are
imitable by art, and the felections of them
in the works of great painters, are the beft
guides in forming artificial ones, Mr. .Brown
grollly rniflook his talent ; for among all
his tame productions, his pieces of made
water are perhaps the mofl fo.

One of the mofl: linking properties of
water, and that which mofl diftinguifhes

it

[ 332 1

It from the groffer element of earth, is its
being a mirror, and a mirror that gives a
peculiar frefhnefs and tendernefs to the
colours it reflects -, it foftens the flronger
lights, though the lucid veil it throws
over them feems hardly to diminifh their
brilliancy -y it gives breadth to the fhadows,
and in many cafes a greater depth, while
its glaffy furface preferves, and feems even
to encreafe their tranfparency. Thefe
beautiful and varied effects, however, are
chiefly produced by the near objects ; by
trees, and bufhes immediately on the banks;
by thofe which hang over the water, and
form dark coves beneath their branches ;
by various tints of the foil where the
ground is broken ; by roots, and old trunks
of trees -, by tufTucks of rufhes, and by large
ftones that are partly whitened by the air,
and partly covered with moffes, lychens,
and weather- frains 5 while the foft tufts

of

[ 333 3

of grafs, and the fmooth verdure of mea-
dows with which they are intermixed, ap-
pear a thoufand times more foft, fmooth,
and verdant by fuch contrails *.

But to produce reflections there muft
be objects > for according to a maxim I
have heard quoted from the old law of
France (a maxim that hardly required the
fandlion of fuch venerable authority) on
il riy a rien le rot perd fes droits ; and
this is generally a cafe in point with re-
fpecl to Mr. Brown's artificial rivers -f.

Even

* If a man really wiflies to form a juft and unpreju-
diced comparifon, between a beautiful natural river, and
an artificial one, as they have hitherto been made — let
him obferve the circumftances I have juft mentioned, at
different times of the day, and in different degrees of light
and fhadow j and afterwards, while all their varied effects
are freih in his recollection, as attentively examine an
artificial river; then let him judge how far mere green-
nefs and fmoothnefs, make amends for the total abfence
of every thing elfe.

f I confider Mr. Brown as the Hercules, to whom

the

[ 334 ]

Even when, according to Mr. Walpole's *
defcription, " a few trees, fcattered here1

the labours of the lefTer ones are to be attributed, and
when I fpeak of his artificial water, I mean to include
all that has been done by his followers after his model, for
they have fucceeded, and without any difficulty, in copy-
ing that model exactly. Natural rivers, indeed, can only
be imitated by the eye either in painting or reality; but
his may be furveyed, and an exact plan taken of them
by admeafurements and though a representation of them
would not accord with a Claude or a Gafpar, it might
with great propriety be hung up with a map of the de~
mefne lands*

* The pafFage I have quoted is in his treatife on
Modern Gardening. The general tenor of that part,
is in commendation of the prefent ftyle of made water,
but this paffage contains more juft, and pointed fatire,
than ever was conveyed in the fame number of words : a
few ivee$,fcGtferedhsre and there on its edges ^fprinkle the
tame bank. It feems to me that in the midft of praifes,
his natural tafte breaks out into criticifm, perhaps unin-
tended, and which, on that account, may well (ling the
improver who reads them ; for the fling is always muck
(harper when

Medio de fonte leporum
Surgit amari aliquid, quod in ipfis floribus angat.

4 and

[ 335 ]

and there on its edges, fprinkle the tame
bank that accompanies its maeanders," the
reflections would not have any great variety,
or brilliancy.

The maeanders of a river, which at every
turn prefent fcenes of a different character,
make us ftrongJy feel the ufe, and the
charm of them ; but when the fame fweeps
return as regularly as the fteps of a mi-
nuet, the eye is quite wearied with fol-
lowing them over and over again. What
makes the fweeps much more formal, is
their extreme nakednefs: The fprinkling of
a few, fcattered trees on their edges, will
not do ; there muft be maffes, and groups,
and various degrees of openings, and con-
cealment ; and by fuch means, fome little
variety may be given even to thefe tame
banks, for tame they always will remain :
and it may here be obferved, that the fame

objects

[ 336 ]

objects which produce reflections, produce
aifo variety of outline, of tints, of lights
and fhadows, as well as intricacy. So in-
timate is the connection between all thefe
different beauties ; fo often does the ab-
fence of one of them, imply the abfence
of the others.

In the turns of a beautiful fiver, the
lines are fo varied with projections, coves,
and inlets ; with Smooth, and broken ground
— -with open parts, and with others fringed
and overhung with trees and bufhes — with
peeping rocks, large mofly ftones, and all
their foft and brilliant reflections — that the
eye lingers upon them; the two banks
fee mas it were to protract their meet-
ing, and to form their junction infenfibly,
they fo blend, and unite with each other*
In Mr. Brown's naked canals, nothing de-
tains the eye a moment ; and the two bare

fliarp

[ 337 ]

fliarp extremities appear to cut into each
other *. If a near approach to mathema-
tical exadtnefs were a merit inftead of a
defeft, the fweeps of Mr. Brown's water
would be admirable j for many of them
feem not to have been formed by degrees
with fpades, but fcooped out at once by an
immenfe iron crefcent, which, after cutting
out the indented part on one fide, was ap-
plied to the oppofite fide, and then reverfed

* c< When we look at a naked wall, from the even-
nefs of the object the eye runs along its whole fpace,
and arrives quickly at its termination.'* Mr. Burke's
Sublime and Beautiful, p. 27. — This accounts for the
total want of all that is pi&urefque, and of all interefl
whatfoever, in a continuation of naked, edgy lines ; for
where there is nothing to detain the eye, there is nothing
to amufe it. I may add, that wherever ground is cut
with a fharp inftrument, it has that ideal effect on the
eye ; it is a metaphor which naturally prevails in man/
languages, where lines (from whatever caufe) are hard
and edgy. When A. Caracci fpeaks of the edginefs of
Raphael compared with Correggio, he ufes the expref-
fton, cofi duro, & tagliente-- couleurs tranchanttSj &c.

Z to

[ 338 )

to make the fweeps j fo that in each fweep,
the indented, and the projecting parts, if
they could be ftioved together, would fit
like the pieces of a diflfe&ed map.

Where thefe pieces of water are made,
if there happen to be any fudden breaks
or inequalities in the ground ; any thickets
or buihes ; any thing, in fhort, that might
cover the rawnefs and formality of new
work-r-inftead of taking advantage of fuch
accidents, ail muft be made level and bare ;
and, by a ftrange perverfion of terms, drip-
ping nature ftark-naked, is called dreffing
her.

A piece of ftagnant water, with that thin,
uniform, grafly edge, which always remains
after the operation of levelling, is much more
like a temporary overflowing in a meadow
or pafture, than what it profefles to imi-
tate— a lake or a river: for the principal
diftindtion between the outline of fuch an

overflowing,

t 339 1

overflowing, and that of a permanent piece
of water, neither formed nor improved by
art, is, that the flood-water is in general
every where even with the grafs— that
there are no banks to it— nothing that ap-
pears firmly to contain it. In order, there-
fore, to imprefs on the whole of any artifi-
cial water a character of age, permanency,
capacity, and above all, of naturalnefs as
well as variety, fome degree of height, and
of abruptnefs in the banks, is required, and
different degrees of both ; fome appearance
of their having been in parts gradually worn,
and undermined by the fucceffive action of
rain, and froft, and even by that of the wa-
ter, when put in motion by winds : for the
banks of a mill-pond, (which is proverbial for
ftillnefs,) are generally undermined in parts
by a fucceflion of fuch accidental circum-
ftances. All this diverfity of rough, broken
ground, varying in height and form, and
Z 2 accompanied

[ 340 J

accompanied with proje&ing trees and
bufhes, will readily be acknowledged to
have more painter-like effe&s, than one
bare, uniform, flope of grafs ; that acknow-
ledgment is quite fufficient, and the ob-
jections, which are eafily forefeen, are eafily
anfwered; for there are various ways in
which rudenefs may be corrected and dif-
guifed, as well as blended with what is
fmooth and polifhed, without deftroying the
marked charader of nature on the one
hand, or a drefled appearance on the other ;
of this I have already given fome few in-
ftances *. But as artificial lakes and rivers
are ufually made, the water appears in every
part fo nearly on the fame level with the
land, and fo totally without banks, that
were it not for the regularity of the curves,
a ftranger might often fuppofe, that when
dry weather came the flood would go oft

* Vide my Letter to Mr, Repton, page 142*

and

E 34« ]

and the meadow be reftored to its natural
ftate. Indeed, it not unfrequently happens,
that the bottoms of meadows and paftures
fubjedi to floods, are in fome places bound-
ed by natural banks againft which the
water lies ; where it takes a very na-
tural and varied form, and might eafily
from many, and thofe not diftant points,
be miftaken for part of a river : I of
courfe do not mean to allude to fuch
overflowings : the companion would do a
great deal too much honour to thofe pieces
of water whofe banks Mr. Brown had
formed ; for it is impoffibJe to fee any part
of fuch artificial rivers, without knowing
them to be artificial.

Among the various ways in which the
prefent ftyle of artificial water has been de-
fended, certain paflages from the poets have
been quoted*, to fliew that it is a great beauty

* EfTay on Defign in Gardenings page 203,

Z3 in

[ 342 ]

in a river to have the water clofe to the edge
of the grafs :

May thy brimmed waves for this
Their full tribute never mifs.

Vivo de pumice fontes
• Rofcida mobilibus lambebant gramma rivis *.

To which might be added the well known
paflage :

Without o'erflowing full.

I have fuch refpeft for the feeling which
mod poets have fhewn for natural beauties*
and think they have fo often, and fo happily
exprefled what is, and ought to be* the ge-
neral feeling of mankind, that wherever
they were clearly and uniformly againft me,
I fhould certainly (as far as that general
fenfation was concerned) allow myfelf to
be in the wrong. In this cafe, however, I
can fafely agree with the poets, and yet
condemn Mr. Brown. With refped to

* Claudiaa de raptu Proferpinae.

the

[ 343 J

the firft inftance, I might fay, that, without
thinking of beauty, it is a very natural com-
pliment to a river-god or goddefs, to wifh
their ftreams always full j but I am ready
to admit, that by brimmed waves the poet
meant as full as the river could be without
overflowing, and that it were to be wifhed, for
the fake of beauty, that rivers eould always
be kept in that ftate. All this is clearly in
favour of an equal height of the water** but
can it be inferred from this, or, I will
venture to fay, from any paffage whatever,
that Milton, or any other poet, were of
opinion that the banks * ought every where

to

* It is difficult to define, with any predion, what may
properly be called the bank of a river: in its moft ex-
tended acceptation, it may mean whatever is fecn from
the water ; I wim it to be taken here in its moil con-
fined fenfe,as that which immediately rifes above the water
till another level begins, or fome diftinc^ termination*
This, in certain inftances, will be very clear 3 as where a

Z 4 flat

[ 344 ]

to be of an equal height above the water,
and the ground equally floped down to it.
If it be allowed (as 1 prefume it mull)
that no fuch idea is to be found amongft
the poets, I am fure it can as little be juf-
tified by natural fcenery : for let us ima-
gine the river to be brimful, like a canal,
for a certain diftance from any given point,
and then (as it perpetually happens) the bank
to rife fuddenly to a confiderable height :
the water muft remain on the fame level,

flat meadow (but not Hoped down to the water by art)
joins the river. It will be equally clear, where the ge-
neral bank is fteep, if a road be carried near the bot-
tom ; for fuch an artificial level will form a diftincl: near
bank, and which would be diftindtly marked in a pic-
ture. The higheft part to which the flood generally
reaches, is alfo a very ufual boundary, and in moft places
there is fomething which feparates the immediate bank,
from the general fcenery that enclofes the river. This
near bank being in the foreground, is of the greateft con-
fequence : wherever that is regularly floped and fmooth-
ed, whatever beauty or grandeur there may be abotue^
the character of the river is gone.

but

I 345 3

but the brim would be changed, and m->
Head of being brimful, according to an idea
taken from Mr. Brown, not from Milton,
the river though full, would in that place
be deep within its banks. But ftill, it ha*
been argued, when the water rifes to the
upper edge of the banks, the figns of be-
ing worn in them cannot appear : certainly
not in Mr. Brown's canals, where monotony
is fo carefully guarded, that the full ftream
of a real river would, for a long time, hardly
produce any variety : but do rivers, in their
natural ftate, never fwell with rain or fnowy
and, before they difcharge themfelves over
the loweft parts, tear and undermine their
higher banks ? two di£tin£tions which do
not exift in what are called imitations of
rivers. Do not the marks of fuch floods
on the higher banks, remain after the river
has retired into its proper channel, that is,
nearly to the height of the lower banks ?

But

C 346 I

But even on a fuppofition of it's never over-
flowing, and never finking, the fame thing
would happen in fome degree ; for it does
hsappen in ftagnant water, and muft where -
ever there are any fteep banks expofed to
rain and froft, and unfecured by art.

The image in Claudian is extremely
poetical, and no lefs pleafing in reality 3 the
paffage relates, however, to a fmall rivulet*
not to a river ; but fuppofing it did relate
to a river, are we thence to infer that, ac-
cording to the poet's meaning, nothing but
grafs ought any where to be in contadt with
the water, and that the turf muft every
where be regularly floped down to it ? that
there muft be no other image ? When trees
from a fteep and broken bank, form an
arch over the water, and dip their foliage in
the ftream — when the clear mirror beneath
refle&s their branching roots, the coves un-
der them, the jutting rocks they have

fattened

[ 347 ]

faftened upon, and feem to hold in their
embrace— the bright and mellow tints of
large mofs-crowned ftones, that have their
foundation below the water, and rifing out
of it fupport and form a part of the
bank — would the poet figh for grafs only,
and wifh to deftroy, level, and cover with
turf, thtfQ and a thoufand other beautiful and
picturefque circumftances ? Would he ob-
ject to the river, becaufe it was not every
where brimful to the top of #//its banks, and
did not every where kifs the grafs ? And are
we to conclude, that when poets mention one
beauty, they mean to exclude all the reft ?

It may poffibly be faid, that there are
natural rivers whofe banks, like thofe of
Mr. Brown's, keep for a long time together
the fame level above the water -y there cer-
tainly are fuch rivers, but I never heard of
their being admired, or frequented for their
beauty. It is poffible alfo, that there may
6 be

C 34s 1

found fome lake or meer, with a uniform
grafly edge all round it: I can only fay,
that fuch an inftance of complete natural
monotony, though it may be admired for its
rarity, cannot be a proper objedt of imita-
tion. But if an improver happens to be
placed in a level country, mould he not
even there confult the genius loci? without
doubt, and therefore he will not attempt
hanging rocks and precipices ; but he may
furely be allowed to ileal from the better
genius of fome other fcene, a few circum-
stances of beauty and variety that will not
be incompatible with his own. By fuch
methods, many pleafing effefts may be
given to an artificial river, even in a dead
flat; but where there is any natural va-
riety in the ground, with a tendency lo
wood, and other vegetation, nothing but
art fyftematically abfurd, and diligently em-
ployed in counteracting the efforts of na-
ture '

[ 349 ]

ture, can create and preferve perfed mono-
tony in the banks of water.

And yet, however fond of art, and even
of the appearance of it, fome improvers
feem to be, I fancy, if a ftranger were to
miftake onQ of their pieces of made water
for the Thames, fuch an error would not
only be forgiven, but confidered as the
higheft compliment; notwithftanding Mr,
Brown's modeft * apoftrophe to that river.

But though an imitation of the moil
ftriking varieties of nature, fo fkilfully ar-
ranged as to pafs for nature herfelf, would
be acknowledged as the higheft attainment
of art j yet no one feems to have thought
of copying thofe circumftances, which
might occafion fo flattering a deception.

* a Thames ! Thames ! Thou wilt never forgive
Hie." — A well known exclamation of Mr. Brown, when
he was looking with rapture and exultation at one of his
•wn canals,

if

[ 35° 3

If it were propofed to any of thefe profef-
fors to make an artificial river without re*»
gular curves *, Hopes, and levelled banks,
but with thofe charae'teriffcic beauties, and
negligencies, which give a certain air of
naturalnefs, as well as variety to real rivers,
and which diftinguifh them from what is
univerlally done by art, they would, in
Briggs's language, " ftare like ftuck pigs—
*« do no fuch thing/' Their talent lies an-
other way ; and if you have a real river,
and will let them improve it, you will be
furprifed to find how foon they will make

* The lines in natural rivers, in bye roads, in the
fkirtings of glades of forefts, have fometimes the appear-
ance of regular curves, and feem to juftify the ufe of
them in artificial fcenery; but fomething always faves
them from fuch a crude degree of it. If, on a iubje£fc
fo very unmathematical) I might venture to ufe any al-
lufion to that fcience, or any term drawn from it, fuch
lines might be called picturefque afymptotes \ however
they may approach to regular curves, they never fall into
them.

it

[ 35* ]

It like an artificial one ; fo much fo, that
the mod critical eye could fcarcely difcover
that it had not been planned by Mr. Brown,
and formed by the fpade and the wheel-
barrow.

All thefe defects in the banks of made
water, may, I am perfuaded, be got over
by judicious management * ; but there is

another

* Mr. Repton (who is defer vedly at the head of his
profeffion) might effectually correct the errors of his
predeceffors, if to his tafte and facility in drawing (an
advantage they did not poflefs) to his quicknefs of ob-
fervation, and to his experience in the practical part, he
were to add an attentive ftudy of what the higher artifts
have done, both in their pictures and drawings : Their
felections and arrangements would point out many beau-
tiful compofitions and effects in nature, which, without
fuch a ftudy, may efcape the moft experienced ob-
ferver.

The fatal rock on which all profefTed improvers are
likely to fplit, is that of fyftem ; they become mannerifls,'
both from getting fond of what they have done before,
and from the eafe of repeating what thev have fo often
practifed ; but to be reckoned a mannerift, is at leafi as

great

[ 35^ ]

another confideration on this fubjecT: that
deferves to be weighed by every improver*
To make an artificial river, you mud ne-
ceflarily begin by deftroying one of the
greateft charms of a natural one ; and mo-
tion is fuch a charm, fo fuited to all taftes,
that before a running brook, is forced into
ftagnant water, the advantages of fuch an
alteration ought to be very apparent : if it
be determined, nothing that may compen-
fate for fuch a lofs ihould be neglected ; and
as the water itfelf can have but one uni-
form furface, every variety of which banks
are capable, fhould be ftudied both from
nature and painting, and thofe fele&ed,
which will beft accord with the general

great a reproach to the improver as to the painter. Mr-
Brown feems to have been perfectly fatisfied, when he had
made a natural river look like an artificial one ; I hope
Mr. Repton will have a nobler ambition — that of hav-
ing his artificial rivers and lakes mlflaken for natural
•nes.

fcenery.

[ 353 1
fcenery. Objects of reflexion, feem pecu-
liarly fuited to ftill water, for, befides their
diftinft beauty, they foften the cold, white
glare, of what is ufually called a fine meet*
of water. This expreffion, as I before oh-
ferved (and I believe it is the cafe with
other common forms of compliment) con-
tains a very juft criticifm, on what it feems
to commend, and the origin of fuch mix-
tures of praife, and cenfure may, I think*
be eafily accounted for. The perfon who
iirft makes ufe of fuch a form, and brings
it into vogue, only expreffes a fudden idea
that ftrikes him, without examining it ac-

* Collins, in his Ode to Evening, has ufed this kind of
expreffion very juftly : Where fome fheety lake,

" Cheers the lone heath.* '

Water upon a heath, from the want of reflexions, will
have a Jhtety appearance ; but at that time of the day, to
which Collins has addreiTed his ode, its foftened white-
nefs (and particularly when twilight has rendered other
objects dufky) will cheer the lone heath.

A a curately.

[ 354 ]

curately. Any perfon, for inftance, who
was (hewn, for the firft time, a piece of
made water, would probably be ftruck
with the white glare of the water itfelf,
and with the uniform greennefs, and. exact'
level of its banks, or rather its border ; the
idea of linen fpread upon grafs might thence
very naturally occur to him, which, in civil
language, he would exprefs by a fine (heet
of water; and this is always meant, and
taken as a flattering exprefiion, though no-
thing can more pointedly defcribe the de-
fects of fuch a fcene * : had there been any

* I happened to be at a gentleman's houfe, the ar-
chitect of. which (to ufe Colin Campbell's expreffion)
« had not preferved the majefty of the front from the ill
effect of crowded apertures." A neighbour of his,
meaning to pay him a compliment on the number and
clofenefs of his windows, exclaimed. " What a charm-
ing houfe you have ! upon my word it is quite like a
lanthorn." I muft own I think the two compliments
equally flattering ; but a charming lanthorn has not yet

had the fuccefs of a fine fheet.

variety

[ 355 1

variety in the banks, with deep fhades,
brilliant lights, and reflections, the idea of
a meet would hardly have fuggefted itfelfj
or if it had, he who made fuch a compa-
rifon would have made a very bad one ;

" And liken'd things that are not like at all."

Eut in the other cafe, nothing can be more
like than a fheet of water, and a real meet;
and wherever there is a large blanching
ground, the moft exact imitations of Mr.
Brown's lakes and rivers might be made
in linen ; and they would be juft as proper
objects of jealoufy to the Thames, as any of
his performances.

I am aware that Mr. Brown's admirers,
with one voice will quote the great water
at Blenheim, as a complete anfwer to all
I have faid againft him on this fubjecl:.
No one can admire more highly than I do
that moft princely of all places; but it
A a 2 would

[ 356 ]

would be doing great injuftice to nature
and Vanbrugb, not to diftinguifh their
merits in forming it, from thofe of Mr.
Brown,

If there be an improvement more obvi-
ous than all others, it is that of damming
up a ftream, which flows gently through a
valley * ; and it required no effort of genius
to place the head in the narrower!:, and moft
concealed part j this is all that Mr. Brown
has done. He has, indeed, the negative
merit (and to which he is not always en-
titled) of having left the oppolite bank of
wood in its natural ftate *f* -, and had he

profited

* I will not go quite fo far as a friend of mine, well
known for his love of maintaining lingular opinions.
When we were talking, upon the fpot, of the great water,
and of Mr. Brown's merit in conceiving it, he de-
clared he was quite certain, that there was not a houfe-
maid in Blenheim to whom it would not immediately
have occurred.

t lam convinced, however, that a Mr. Brown,

though

t 357 1

profited by fo excellent a model— *had he
formed and planted the other more diftant
banks, fo as to have continued fomething of
the fame ftyle and character round the lake,
(though with thofe diverfities which would
naturally have occurred to a man of the
leaft invention) he would, in my opinion,

though he may not often venture on fo flagrant a piece
of mifchief as clumping and fhaving fuch a bank of wood
as that at Blenheim, yet feldom, if ever, feels and diftin-
guifhes the peculiar beauties of its unimproved ftate. A
profefled improver is in all refpe&s like a profefled pic-
ture-cleaner ; the one is always occupied with grounds,
and the other with pictures ; but the eyes and tafle of both
are fo vitiated by their practice, that they fee nothing in
either, but fubjedts for fmoothing and polifhing; and they
work on, till they have fkinned and flead every thing
they meddle with. Thofe charadteriftic, and Ipirited
roughnefTes, together with that patina, the varnifh of
time, which time only can give (and which in pictures
may fometimes hide crudities which efcape even the laft
glazing of the painter J immediately difappear ; and pic-^
tures and places are fcoured as bright as Scriblerus's
fhield, and with as little remorfe on the part of the
fcourers,

A a 3 have

[ 358 3

have had fome claim to a title created fine©
his time ; a title of no fmall pretention, that
of land/cape gardener. But if the banks
above, and near the bridge were formed, or
even approved of by him, his tafte had
more of the engineer than the painter ; for
they have fo ilrong a refemblance to the
glacis of a fortification, that it might well
befuppofed, that fhape had been given them
in compliment to the firft duke of Marl-
borough's campaigns in Flanders.

The bank near the houfe, which is op-
pofite to the wooded one, and which forms
part of the pleafure-ground, is extremely
well done; for that required a high degree
of poliih, and there the gardener was at
home. Without meaning to detract from
his real merit in that part (but at the fame
time to reduce it to what appears to me
its juft value) I muft obferve, that two
things have contributed to give it a rich

5 effecl

[ 359 1

effect at a diftance, as well as a varied and
drefled look within itfelf ; in both refpects
very different from his other plantations.
In the firft place, there were feveral old
trees there, before he began his works ;
-and their high, and fpreading tops, would
unavoidably prevent that dead flatnefs of
outline, cet air ecrase, which his own clofe *,

lumpy

* It may perhaps be thought unjuft to make Mr.
Brown anfwerable for the neglect of gardeners ; it may
be faid, that an improver's bufinefs is to firm, not to thin
plantations. But a phyfician would deferve very ill of
his patient, who, after prefcribing for the moment, fhould
abandon him to the care of his nurfe; and who in his fu»
ture vifits fhould concern himfelf no farther, but let the
diforder take its courfe, till the patient was irrecoverably
emaciated, and exhaufted. Mr. Brown, during a long
practice, frequently repeated his vifits ; but as far as I
have obferved, the trees in his plantations bear no mark
of his attention : indeed, his clumps ftrongly prove his
love of compaclnefs. There is another circumftance in
his plantations, which deferves to be remarked : A favou-
rite mixture of his was that of beech, and Scotch firs, and
in nearly ecjual proportion : but if unity and fimplicity
Aai . of

[ 36° 3

lumpy plantations of trees always exhibit.
In the next place, the fituation of this fpot
called for a large proportion of fhrubs, with
exotick trees of various heights ; thefe
fhrubs and plants of lower growth, though
chiefly put in clumps, the edgy borders of

of chara&er in a wood is to be given up, it fliould be for
the fake of a variety that will harmonize; which two-,
trees, fo equal in fize and in numbers, and fo ftrongly
contrafted in form and colour, can never do.

This puts me in mind of an anecdote I heard of a per-
fon, very much ufed to look at objects with a painter's
eye : — He had three cows ; when his wife, with a very
proper ceconomy, obferved, that two were quite fufficient
for their family, and defired him to part with one of
them. tc Lord, my dear," faid he, " two cows you know
will never group. ?'

A third tree (like a third cow) might have connected
and blended the difcordant forms and colours of the beech
and Scotch fir; but every thing I have feen of Mr.
Brown?s works, have convinced me that he had, in a
figurative fenfe, no eye ; and if he had had none in the
literal fenfe, it would have only been a private misfor-
tune,

And partial evil, univerfal good.

which

E 361 1

which have a degree of formality*, yet
being fubordinate, and not interfering with
the higher growths, or with the original
trees, have, from the oppofite bank, the
appearance of a rich underwood ; and the
beauty, and comparative variety of that

* All fuch edges are no lefs adverfe to the beautiful,
than to the picturefque : they are hard, cutting, and
formal ; they deftroy all play of outline — all beauty of
intricacy. Digging, with the edges it occafions, is a
blemifn, which is endured at firft (and with great reafon)
for the fake of luxuriant vegetation ; and in fome cafes,
as for inftance, where the plants are very fmall, or where
flowers are cultivated, muft always be continued ; but
when the end is anfwered, why continue the blemifh ?
No one, I believe, would think it right to dig a circle or
an oval, and keep its edges pared, round a group of kal-
meas, azaleas, rhododendrons, &c. that grew luxuriantly
in their own natural foil and climate, in order to make
the whole look more beautiful. Why then continue to
dig round them, or any other foreign plants in this coun-
try, after they have begun to grow as freely as our own 1
Why not fuffer them to appear, without the marks of
culture,

As glowing in their native bed ?

garden

[ 362 ]

garden fcene, from all points, are ftrongly
in favour of the method of planting I de-
fcribed in a former part. It is clear to me,
however, that Mr. Brown did not make ufe
of this method from principle ; for in that
cafe, he would fometimes at leaft have
tried it in left polifhed fcenes, by fub-
ftituting thorns, hollies, &c. in the place
of fhrubs. Of the rich, airy, and even
dreffcd effect of fuch mixtures, he mail
have feen numberlefs examples in forefts,
in parks, on the banks of rivers $ and from
them he might have drawn the moft ufe-
ful inftruftion, were it to be expefted that
thofe who profefs to improve nature,
mould ever deign to become her fcho-
lars.

But to judge properly of Mr. Brown's
tafte and invention in the accompaniments
of water, we muft obferve thofe which he
has formed entirely himfelf -, and that we

may

[ 363 ]

may do without quitting Blenheim * : Be-
low the cafcade all is his own, and a more
complete piece of monotony could hardly
be furnifhed even from his own works.
When he was no longer among fhrubs
and gravel walks, the gardener was quite
at a lofs; for his mind had never been
prepared by a ftudy of the great matters

* As Blenheim is the only place I have criticifed by
name, an apology is due to the noble poffeffor of it (to
whom, on many accounts, I mould be particularly forry
to give offence) for the freedom I have taken. I trufir,
however, that the liberality of mind, which naturally ac-
companies that love and knowledge of the fine arts for
which he is fo diftinguimed, will make him feel that in
criticifing modern gardening, it would have been unfair
to Mr. Brown, not to have mentioned his rnoft famous '
work 3 and that my filence on that head, would have
been attributed to other motives than thofe of delicacy
and refpedt. I mufl alfo add in my defence, that I can
hardly look upon Blenheim in the light of common pri-
vate property 3 it has the glorious and fingular diftinc-
tion, of being a national reward, for great national fer-
vices ; and the public has a more than common interefr,
in all that concerns fo noble a monument.

of

[ 364 ]

of landfcape, for a more enlarged one of
nature. Finding, therefore, no inven-
tion, no refources within himfelf— he-
copied what he had moft feen, and mofl
admired — his own little works ; and in the
fame fpirit in which he had magnified a
parterre, he planned a gigantic gravel walk.
When it was dug out, he filled it with
another element, called it a river, and
thought the nobleft in this kingdom muft
be jealous of fuch a rival *.

* Mr. Brown and his followers are great ceconomifts
of their invention: with them walks, roads, brooks^
and rivers are, as it were, convertible works. Dry one
of their rivers, it is a large walk or road — flood a
walk or a road, it is a little brook or river — and the ac-
companiments (like the drone of a bagpipe) always re-
main the fame.

A brook, indeed, is not always damned up ; it fome-
times (though rarely) is allowed its liberty ; but, like
animals that are fuffered by the owner to run loofe, it is
marked as private property by being mutilated. No
operation in improvement has fuch an appearance of
barbarity, as that of deftroying the modeft, retired cha-
racter

[ 365 3

ra&er of a brook : I remember fome burlefque lines on
the treatment of Regulus by the Carthaginians, which
perfectly defcribe the effect of that operation :

His eyelids they pared,
Good God ! how he flared I

Juft fo do thefe improvers torture a brook, by widening
it, cutting away its beautiful fringe, and expofing it to
day's garifh eye.

If, inftead of being always turned into regular pieces
of water, brooks were fometimes flopped partially, and
to different degrees of height (particularly where there
appeared to be natural beds, and where natural banks
with trees or with thickets, would then hang over them)
there would be a mixture, and a fucceflion of ftill and
of running-water ; of quick motion, and of clear re-
flection.

I HAVE

[ 366 J

I have now gone through the
principal points of modern gardening ; but
the obfervations I have made relate almoft
entirely to the grounds, and not to what
may properly be called the garden *, The
embellifhments near the houfe, and thofe
decorations which would belt accord with
architecture, and with buildings of every
kind, defer ve to be treated feparately, and
more at large ; as likewife the different
charafters and effedts of buildings, as con-

* A gentleman, whofe tafte and feeling, both for art
and nature, rank as high as any man's, was lamenting to-
me the exUnt of Mr. Brown's operations :-*- " Former
improvers," faid he, " at leaft kept near the houfe ; but
this fellow crawls like a fnail all over the grounds, and
leaves his curfed flime behind him wherever he goes/'

nested

[ 367 ]

nefted with landicape, whether real, or
imitated. It was my . intention to have faid
fomething on thefe two fubjedts in- this
edition, but I found that they would carry
me much farther than I at firft conceived,
and that they would almoft furnim a vo-
lume by themfelves. I have therefore laid
them a fide for the pre fen t, in hopes of of-
fering my ideas to the public at fome future
period,, more fully prepared and digefted.

As the art of gardening, in its extended
fenfe, vies with that of painting, and has
been thought likely to form a new fchool
of painters; I think I am juftified in hav-
ing compared its operations and effects,
with thofe of the art it pretends to rival,
nay, to inftruft. Thefe two rivals (whom
I am fo defirous of reconciling) have hi-
therto been guided by very oppofite princi-
ples, and the character of their productions
have been as oppofite; but the cold flat

monotony

[ 368 1

monotony of the new favourite, has been
preferred by many (" aye, and thofe great
ones too") to the fpirited variety of her
elder lifter; £he has, indeed, been fo puffed
up by this high favour, that fhe has hardly
deigned to acknowledge the relationship,
and has even treated her with contempt :
Thofe alfo, who from their fituation and
influence were beft qualified to have brought
about an union between them, have, on the
contrary, contributed to keep up her vanity,
and to widen the breach : for I have heard
an eminent profefthr treat the idea of judg-
ing, in any degree, of places as of pictures*
or of comparing them at all together, as
quite abfurd. In real life, the nobleft part a
man can ad — the part which moft conciliates
the efteem and good-will of all mankind —
is that of promoting union and harmony
wherever occafion offers : In the prefent
cafe, though a breach between thefe figura-
tive

[ 369 ]

tive perfons, is not of ferious confequence
to fociety, yet I fhall feel no fmall pleafure
and pride, mould my endeavours be fuc-
cefsful. I have fhewn, to the beft of my
power, how much it is their mutual in-
terefl to aft cordially together, and have
offered every motive for fuch an union;
and I hope that prejudices, however ftrongly
rooted — however enforced by thofe who
may be interefted in the feparation, will at
laft give way. I may, perhaps, be thought
fomewhat cauftick for a peace-maker, and,
I muft own,

" My zeal flows warm and eager from my bofom."

But if war be to be made for the fake of
peace (however the wifdom of the expe-
dient may be doubted) all will agree, that
it ought to be profecuted with vigour if
once begun.

I never was in company with Mr.
B b Brown,

I 370 ]

Bfowri, nor even knew him by fight, m&
therefore can have no perfonal diflike to
him; but I have heard numberlefs in*
ftances of his arrogance and defpotifm, and
fuch high pretenfions feem to me little
juftified by his works. Arrogance and
imperious manners, which, even joined to
the trueft merit, and the moft fplendid
talents, create difguft and oppofition, when
they are the offspring of a little narrow
mind, elated with temporary favour, pro-
voke ridicule, and deferve to meet with
it.

Mr. Mafon's poem on Modern Garden^
ing, is as real an attack on Mr. Brown's
iyftem, as what I have written. He has
as ftrongly guarded the reader againft the
infipid formality of clumps, &c. and has
equally recommended the ftudy of paint-
ing, as the beft guide to improvers;
but the praife he has bellowed on Mr.

Brown

[ 37i ]

Brown himfelf (however generally convey-
ed) has fpoiled the effect of fo powerful
an antidote. Moft people, from a very
natural indolence, are more inclined to
copy an eftablifhed and approved prac-
tice, than to correct its defects, or to form
a new one from theory -, Mr. Mafon's
eulogium has therefore fanctioned Mr.
Brown's practice more effectually, than
his precepts have guarded againft it. That
eulogium, however, (if I may be allowed
to make a fuggeftion which I think is au-
thorized by the tenor of the poem) has
been given from the moft amiable motive
—the fear of hurting thofe with whom.
he lived on the moft friendly terms, and
who had very much employed and ad-
mired Mr. Brown. Silence would, in fuch
a work, have been a tacit condemnation -y
ftill worfe to have " damned with faint
praife :" my idea may poffibly be taken
B b 2 upon

[ 372 ]

upon wrong grounds, but I have often
admired Mr. Mafon's addrefs in fo delicate
a fituation. Had Mr. Brown transfufed
into his works any thing of the tafte and
fpirit, which prevail in Mr. Mafon's pre-
cepts and defcriptions, he would have de-
ferved (and might poflibly have enjoyed)
the high honour of having thofe works
celebrated by him and Mr. Walpole; and
not have had them referred, as they have
been by both, to future poets and hiito-
rians.

It may, perhaps, be thought prefumptuous
in an invididual, who has never diftinguifhed
himfelf by any work that might give au-
thority to his opinion, fo boldly to con-
demn, what has been admired and pra£tifed
by men of the moft liberal tafte and edu-
cation : but the force of fafhion and exam-
ple are well known, and it requires no
little energy of mind, and confidence in

one's

[ 373 1

one's awn principles, to think and act for
one's felf, in oppofition to general opinion
and practice. Some French writer (I do
not recollect who) ventures to exprefs a
doubt, whether a tree waving in the wind,
with all its branches free and untouched,
may not poffibly be an object more worthy
of admiration, than one cut into form in
the gardens of Verfailles. — This bold fcep-
tic in theory, had moft probably his trees
Ihorn like thofe of his fovereign.

It is equally probable, that many an
Englifh gentleman may have felt deep re-
gret, when Mr. Brown had improved fome
charming trout ftream, into a piece of
water ; and that many a time afterwards,
when difgufted with its glare and formality,
he has been heavily plodding along its
naked banks, he may have thought how
beautifully fringed thofe of his little brook
once had been ; how it fometimes ran ra-
B b 3 pidty

[ 374 1

pidly over the ftones and (hallows -, and
ibmetimes in a narrower channel, ftole
filently beneath the over-hanging boughs.
Many rich natural groups of trees he might
remember — now thinned and rounded into,
clumps ; many fequeftered and fhady fpots
which he had loved when a boy — now all
open and expofed, without fhade or variety ;
and all thefe facrifices made, not to his own
tafte, but to the fafhion of the day, and
againfl: his natural feelings.

It feems to me, that there is fomething
of patriotifm in the praifes which Mr. Wal-
pole and Mr. Mafon have beftowed on
EnglWh gardening ; and that zeal for the
honour of their country, has made them
(in the general view of the fubjecl:) over-
look defects, which they have themfelves
condemned. My love for my country, is, I
truft, not lefs ardent than theirs, but it
has taken a different turn; and I feel anxi-
ous

[ 375 J

<Diss to free it from the difgrace of propa-
gating a fyftem, which, fhould it become
univerfal, would disfigure the face of ail
Europe. I wifh a more liberal and ex-
tended idea of improvement to prevail ;
that inftead of the narrow, mechanical
practice of a few Englifh gardeners— the
noble and varied works of the eminent
painters of every age, and of every coun-
try, and thofe of their fupreme miftrefs,
Nature, fliould be the great models of
imitation.

If a tafte for drawing and painting, and
a knowledge of their principles, made a
part of every gentleman's education; if,
inftead of hiring a profeifed improver to
torture their grounds after an eftablifhed
model, each improved his own place, ac-
cording to general conceptions drawn from
nature and pictures, or from hints that
favourite mafters in painting, or favourite
B b 4 parts

[ 376 ]

parts of nature fuggefted to him — there
might in time be a great variety in the
ftyles of improvement, and all of them
with peculiar excellencies. No two pain-
ters ever faw nature with the fame eyes ;
they tended to one point, by a thoufand
different routes, and that makes the charm
of an acquaintance with their various modes
of conception and execution : but any of
Mr. Brown's followers might fay, with
great truth, we have but one idea among
us.

I have always underftood, that Mr. Ha-
milton, who created Painfhill, not only
had ftudied pi&ures, but had ftudied them
for the exprefs purpofe of improving real
landfcape. The place he created (a talk
of quite another difficulty from correcting,
or from adding to natural fcenery) fully
proves the ufe of fuch a ftudy. Among
many circumftances of more ftriking er7e£t,

I was

[ 377 1

I was highly pleafed with a walk, which
leads through a bottom fkirted with wood-;
and I was pleafed with it, not from what
had, but from what had not, been done ;
it had no edges, no borders, no diftinct:
lines of feparation ; nothing was done, ex-
cept keeping the ground properly neat,
and the communication free from any ob-
ftru&ion. The eye and the footfteps were
equally unconfined; and if it is a high com-
mendation to a writer or a painter, that he
knows when to leave off, it is not lefs fo to
aji improver.

In a place begun (I believe) by Kent,
and finifhed by Brown, a wood, with many
old trees covered with ivy, mixed with
thickets of hollies, yews, and thorns; a
wood, which Rouffeau might have dedi-
cated a la reverie— 'is fo interfered by
walks and green alleys, all edged and bor-
dered, that there is no efcaping from them ;

they

[ 378 ]

they act like flappers in Laputa, and in-
stantly wake you from any dream of re-
tirement. The borders of thefe walks (and
it is a very common cafe) are fo thickly
planted, and the reft of the wood fo im-
practicable, that it feems as if the improver
faid, '* You fhall never wander from my
walks — never exercife your own tafte and
judgment — never form your own compofi-?
tions; , neither your eyes nor your feet fhall
be allowed to ftray from the boundaries I
have traced" — a fpecies of thraldom unfit
for a free country.

There is, indeed, fomething defpotic in
the general fyftem of improvement; all
mull be laid open — all that obftru&s, level-?
led to the ground — houfes, orchards, gar-
dens, all fwept away. Painting, on the
contrary, tends to humanize the mind :
where a defpot thinks every perfon an in-
truder who enters his, domain, a.nd wifhes

to

[ 379 3

to deftroy cottages and pathways, and tq
reign alone ; the lover of painting, confi-
ders the dwellings, the inhabitants, and the
marks of their intercourfe,, as ornament?
to the landfcape #.

For the honour of humanity, there are
minds, which require no other motive than
what paries within. And here I cannot
relift paying a tribute to the memory of a
beloved uncle, and recording a benevo-
lence towards all the inhabitants around
him, that ftruck me from my earlieft re-

* Sir Jofhua Reynolds told me, that when he and
Wilfon the landfcape painter were looking at the view
from Richmond terrace, Wilfon was pointing out fome
particular part; and in order to direct his eye to it,
« There," faid he " near thofe houfes — there I where
the figures are." — Though a painter, faid Sir Jofhua,
I was puzzled. I thought he meant ftatues, and was
looking upon -the tops of the houfes; for I did not at
iirft conceive that the men and women we plainly faw
walking about, were by him only, thought of as figures
in the landfcape.

membrancej

[ 3*° ]

membrancc ; and it is an impreffion I wife
always to cherifh. It feemed as if he had
made his extenfive walks, as much for
them as for himfelf ; they ufed them as
freely, and their enjoyment was his. The
village bore as ftrong marks of his and of
his brother's attentions (for in that refpect
they appeared to have but one mind) to
the comforts and pleafures of its inhabi-
tants. Such attentive kindneffes, are am-
ply repaid by affectionate regard and reve-*
rence ; and were they general throughout
the kingdom, they would do much more
towards guarding us againft democratical
opinions,

* Than twenty thoufand foldiers arm'd in proof."

The cheerfulnefs of the fcene I have
mentioned, and all the interefling circum-
stances attending it (fo different from thofe
of folitary grandeur) have convinced me,

that

[ 3*i ]

that he who deftroys dwellings, gardens,
and inclofures, for the fake of mere extent,
and parade of property, only extends the
bounds of monotony, and of dreary, felfifh
pride ; but contracts thofe of variety, amufe-
ment, and humanity.

I own it does furprife me, that in' an age
and in a country where the arts are fo
highly cultivated, one fingle plan (and that
but moderate) mould have been fo gene-
rally adopted; and that even the love of
peculiarity, mould not fometimes have
checked this method of levelling all dif-
tinctions, of making all places alike * ; all.
equally tame and in lipid.

Few perfons have been fo lucky as ne-
ver to have feen, or heard the true profer ;

* A perfon well known for his tafte and abilities, be-
ing at a gentleman's houfe where Mr. Brown was ex-
pected, drew a plan by anticipation; which proved Co
exac~t, that I believe the ridicule it threw on the ferious
plan, helped to prevent its execution.

fmiling,

[ 3§2 ]

toiling, and diftindHy uttering his flowing

common - place nothings, with the fame

placid countenance, the fame even-toned

voice : he is the very emblem of ferpentine

walks, belts, and rivers, and all Mr. Brown's

works ; like him they are fmooth, flowing,

even, and diftind: * -, and like him they

wear one's foul out.

There

* The language (if it may be fo called) by which
objects of fight make themfelves intelligible, is exactly
like that of fpeeeh. To a man who is ufed to look at
'nature, pictures, or drawings, with a painter's eye, the
flighteft hint, on the flighteft infpe£tion, conveys a per-
fect and intelligible meaning j juft as theilighteft found,
with the moft negligent articulation, conveys meaning
to an ear that is well acquainted with the language of the
ipeaker : But to a perfon little verfed in that language,
fuch a found is quite unintelligible ; he miift have every
word pronounced diftin£r.ly and articulately.

Then again, as thefe flight hints, and flurred articula-
tions, have often a grace and fpirit in language which is
loft when words are diftinctly pronounced ; fo many of
thefe flight and expreflive touches, both in art and in na-
ture, give moft pleafure to thofe who are thoroughly
verfed in the language. This may, perhaps, in fome de-
gree

t 383 3

There is a very different being, of a
much rarer kind, and who hardly appears
to be of the fame fpecies; full of un-
expected turns, — -of flames of light : ob-
jects the moft familiar, are placed by him
in fuch Angular, yet natural points of view,
— he ftrikes out fuch unthought of agree-
ments and contrails, — fuch combinations,
fo little obvious, yet never forced or af-
fected, that the attention cannot flag ; but
from the delight of what is paffed, we
eagerly liften for what is to come. This is
the true picturefque, and the propriety of
that term will be more felt, if we attend to
what correfponds to the beautiful in con-
verfation. How different is the effect of

gree account for the plainly marked diftinctions in im-
provement ; for as in order to convey any idea to a man
unufed to a language in one fenfe, you mud mark every
word', fo to a man unufed to it in another fenfe you mult
mark every objeft ; mull cut fharp lines, muft whiten,
redden, blacken, &c, &c.

x that

[ 3*4 3

that foft infinuating ftyle, of thofe gentle
transitions, which, without dazzling or fur-
prifingj keep up an increafing intereft, and
infenfibly wind round the heart.

It requires a mind of fome fenfibility*
and habit of obfervation, to diftinguifh
what is really beautiful and interefting,
from what is merely fmooth, flowing, and
infipid, and to give a decided preference
to the former. It is not more common to
have a true relifh for piclurefque fcenery s
and even the quick turns and intrica-
cies of converfation are not relifhed by all.
I have fometimes fctn a profer quite for-
lorn in the company cf a man of brilliant
imagination ; he feerned " dazzled with
" excefs of light," his dull faculties to-
tally unable to keep pace with the other's
rapid ideas. I have afterwards obferv-
ed the fame man, get cl°fe to a brother
profer; and the two fnails have travelled

9 on

[ to I

on fo comfortably on their own flime, that
they feemed to feel no more impreffion,
either of pleafure or envy, from what they
had heard, than a real fnail may be fuppofed
to do, at the active bounds and leaps of a
(tag, or of a high-mettled courfer.

This is exactly the cafe with that prac-
tical prefer, the true improver : carry him
to a fcene merely picturefque, he is bewil-
dered with its variety and intricacy, the
charms of which he neither reliflies, nor
comprehends ; and longs to be crawling
among his clumps, and debating about the
tenth part of an inch, in the turn of a gra-
vel walk. The mafs of improvers feem
to forget that we are diftinguifhed from
other animals, by being (as Milton de->
fcribes it)

<c Nobler far, of look ereft ;"

they go about

" With leaden eye that loves the ground,"

C c and

C 386 ]

and are fo continually occupied with turns
and fweeps, and manoeuvring flakes, that
they never gain an idea of the firft elements
of compofition:

Such a mechanical fyftem of operations
little deferves the name of an art. There
are indeed certain v/ords in all languages
that have a good and a bad fenfe ; fiich
as Jimplicity and Jim pie, art and artful,
which as often exprefs our contempt as
our admiration. It feems to me, that
whenever art, with regard to plan or dif-
polition, is ufed in a good fenfe, it means to
convey an idea of fome degree of invention ;
— of contrivance that is not obvious, — of
fomething that raifes expectation, — which
differs, and with fuccefs, from what we re-
colled having feen before. With regard
to improving, that alone I fhould call art
in a good fenfe, which was employed in
collecting from the infinite varieties of ac-
3 cidmt

t 387 ]

cident (which is commonly called nature*
in oppofition to what is called art) fuch
circumftances as may happily be intro-
duced, according to the real capabilities
of the place to be improved. This is
what painters have done in their art, and
thence it is, that many of thefe lucky acci-
dents, being ftrongly pointed out by them,
are called picturefque.

He therefore, in my mind, will mew
moft art in improving, who leaves (a very
material point) or who creates the greateft
variety of pictures, — of fuch different com-
pofitions as painters will leaft wifh to alter*
Not he who begins his work by general
clearing and fmoothing, that is, by dcftroy-
ing all thofe accidents, of which fuch ad-
vantages might have been made; but
which afterwards, the moft enlightened
and experienced art, can never hope to re-
ftore.

C c 2 When

[ 388 ]

When I hear how much has been done
by art, in a place of large extent, — in no
one part of which, where that art has been
bufy, a painter would take out his {ketch
book; when I fee the fickening difplay of
that art, fuch as it is, and the total want of
effecT: ; I am tempted to reverfe the fenfe
of that famous line of Taffo, and to fay of
fuch performances :

L'arte che nulla fa, tutta fi fcuopre *•

* No line is more generally known, than

L'arte che tutto fa, nulla fi fcuopre ;

and no precept more univerfally received ; yet ftill it
muft not be too ftri£Hy followed in all cafes.

Near the houfe, artificial fcenery ought to have place
in proportion to the ft vie and character of the building;
and one great defect of modern gardens (in the confined
fenfe of the word) is an affectation of fimplicity, and
what is called nature ; that eafily degenerates into a
plainnefs (to fay no more) which does not accord with
the richnefs and fplendour of architectural ornaments.
In other parts the precept {hould have its full effect, and

the

[ 3«9 ]

the improver mould conceal himfelf, like a judicious au«?
thor ; who fets his reader's imagination at work, while he
feems not to be guiding, but to be exploring new regions
with him.

In the fame manner, the improver mould facilitate the
means of getting at the moft ftriking parts, but feldom
force the fpedtator to one fingle route, — to one fmgle
point; in many cafes he mould even conceal, if poffible,
that he has made any walk at all. There is in our
nature a repugnance to defpotifm, even in trifles ; and
we are never fo heartily pleafed as when we fancy
ourfelves unguided and uncenftrained, and that we have
made the difcovery ourfelves. Homer rarely appears
in his own perfon. Fielding often does, and fome-
limes oftentatioufly : amidft all his beauties (and no
writer has more).; it is a ftriking defec/L

C c * APPENDIX,

APPENDIX.

GREAT part of my eflay was written
before I faw that of Mr, Gilpin on
pi&urefque beauty. I had gained fo much
information on that fubjedt from his other
works, that I read it with great eagernefs,
on account of the intereft I took in the fub-
jedt itfelf, as well as from my opinion of
the author. At firft I thought my work
had been anticipated ; I was pleafed how-?
ever to find fome of my ideas confirmed,
and was in hopes of feeing many new lights
ftruck out. But as I advanced, that diftinc-^
tion between the two characters, that line
of feparation which I thought would have
been accurately marked out, became lefs and
lefsvifible; till at length the beautiful and
the pi&urefque were more than ever mixed
and incorporated together, the whole fubjecT:
C c 4 involved

[ 392 ]

involved in doubt and obfcurity, and a fort
of anathema denounced againft any one
who fhould try to clear it up. Had I not
advanced too far to think of retreating, I
might poffibly have been deterred by fo
abiolute a veto, frornfuch authority; but I
hope I fhall not be thought prefumptuous
for having ftill continued my refearches,
though fo diligent and acute an obferver
had given up the enquiry himfelf, and pro-
nounced it hopelefs.

Mr. Gilpin's authority is defervedly fo
high, that where I have the misfortune to
differ from him, his opinion will of courfe
be preferred to mine, unlefs I can clearly
fhew that it is ill-founded: I muft there-
fore endeavour to fhew in what refpecls it
is ill-founded as often as thefe points
occur, and with the befl of my abilities ;
for any thing fhort of victory, is in this cafe
a defeat.

I will firft mention, in general, the diffi-
culties into which fo ingenious a writer
Jias been led, from lofing fight of that

genuine

[ 393 1

genuine and univerfal diftindtion between
the beautiful and the pidturefque, which
he himfelf had begun by eftabliming, and
which feparates their characters equally in
nature and in art ; and from confining him-
felf to that unfatisfadtory notion of a mere
general reference to art only.

He has given it as his opinion, that
*' roughnefs forms the moft effential point
of difference between the beautiful and the
pidturefque, and feems to be that particular
quality which makes objects chiefly pleafe
in painting." He therefore has thought
it neceffary, in fome inftances, to exclude
fmooth objedts from painting, and to mew,
in others, that what is fmooth in reality
is rough in appearance; fo that when we
fancy ourfelves admiring the fmoothnefs,
which we think we perceive (as in a calm
lake) wre are n fact admiring the roughnefs
which we have not obferved. I will now
proceed to give the particular inftances of
thofe points in which we differ.

Mr.

[ 394 1

Mr, Gilpin obferves, that " a piece of
Palladian architecture (which, I prefume,
is only another term for regular Grecian
architecture) may be elegant in the laft
degree; the proportion of its parts, the
propriety of its ornaments, the fymmetry
of the whole, may be highly pleafing ; but,
if we introduce it in a picture, it immediately
becomes a formal object, and ceafes to pleafe."
He adds, " mould we wifh to give it pictu-
refque beauty, we mull, from a fmooth
building, turn it into a rough ruin."

Mr. Gilpin's firft point was, to mew
that a building, to be pidturefque, mud:
neither be fmooth nor regular ; and fo far
we agree. But then, to (hew how much
pidlurefque beauty (to ufe his expreffion) is
preferred by painters to all other beauty,
nay, how unfit beauty alone is for a pic-
ture, he makes the two affertions I have
quoted, viz, that a piece of regular and
finifhed architecture becomes a formal ob-
ject, and ceafes to pleafe when introduced

in

[ 395 ]

in a picture ; and that no painter, who had
his choice, would hefitate a moment be-
tween that and a ruin.

Were this really the cafe, we muft give
up Claude as a landfcape painter ; for he
not only has introduced a number of perfect,
regular, and fmooth pieces of architecture
into his pictures, but they frequently oc-
cupy the mofl: confpicuous parts of them. I
mould even doubt whether he may not have
painted more entire buildings, as principal
objects, than he has ruins, though many
more of the latter as Jul '^ordinate ones.

Claude delighted in reprefenting fcenes
of feftive pomp and magnificence, as well
as of paftoral life and retirement; but if
we fuppofe his temples abandoned, his pa-
laces deferted and in ruins, the whole cha-
racter of thofe fplendid compofitions, which
have fo much contributed to raife him
above the level of a mere landfcape pain-
ter, would be destroyed. Mr. Gilpin can-
not but remember that beautiful fea-port
pf his which did belong to Mr. Lock, and

which

[ 396 ]

which (could pictures choofe their own
poffeffors) would never have left him. He
muft have obferved, that the architecture
on the left hand was regular, perfect, and
as fmooth as fuch fmifhed buildings ap-
pear in nature.

But with regard to entire buildings, in
contradiftinction to ruins, the back grounds
and landfcapes of all the great mafters,
(particularly of N. and G. Pouffin,) are
full of them, and the ruins few in pro-
portion -, fo much fo, that in the numer-
ous fet of Gafpars, publiflied by Vivares*
there are fcarce any ruins to be found among
numberlefs entire buildings.

No painter more diligently ftudied pic-
turefque difpofition and effect than Paul
Veronefe -y yet architecture of the mod: re-
gular and finiihed kind forms a very eiTen-
tial part of his magnificent compofitions.
Many of thefe fplendid edifices have the
moft truly beautiful appearance in pictures,
efpecially when they are accompanied (as
in Claude's) by trees of elegant forms, and

by

[ 397 3

byafcenery, each part of which accords with
their character. I believe indeed, that we
might reverfe Mr. Gilpin's pofition, and with
more truth affert, that a piece of Palladian
architecture, however elegant, however well
proportioned its parts, however well dif-
pofed and felected its ornaments, how per-
fect foever the fymmetry of the whole, yet,
in the mere elevation, or placed (as it fre-
quently is in reality) at the top of a lawn,
naked and unaccompanied, is a formal object,
and excites only a cold admiration of the ar-
chitect's ability ; but, when introduced in a
picture, becomes a highly interefting object,
and univerfally pleafes. I of courfe mean
introduced as the beft matters have intro-
duced and accompanied fuch buildings,
for there can be no doubt of the ten-
dency of all regular architecture to for-
mality.

The fkill with which that formality has
been avoided by the great painters, with-
out deftroying fmoothnefs or fymmetry,

is*

r 393 3

is, perhaps, one of the ftrongeft arguments
for ftudying their works for the purpofes of
improvement.

I have equally the misfortune of differing
from Mr. Gilpin on the fuhjecT: of water;
he fays, " * If the lake be fpread out on
the canvas [and in this cafe it cannot be
different in nature] the marmoreum a^quor,
pure, limpid, fmooth as the polithed mirror,
we acknowledge it to be pifturefque." No
one, I believe, will be lingular enough to
deny that a lake in fuch a ftate is beauti-
ful ; then either the two terms are perfectly
fynonymous, or the two characters are mix-
ed : in the latter cafe I muff beg leave to
quote a paffage from Mr. Locke -j-, on a
different fubject indeed, but of general ap-
plication. " Thefe paffions (fear, anger,
fhame, envy, &c.) are fcarce any of them
fimple and alone, and wholly unmixed with

* EfTay on Pi6turefque Beauty, page 22.
f On the Human Underftanding, o£tavo edit, page
208.

others,

[ 399 ]

others, though ufually, in difcourfe and con-
templation, that carries the name which
operates ftrongeft, and appears moil in the
prefent ftate of the mind." Nov/ if fmooth-
nefs (as Mr. Gilpin acknowledges) is at
leaft a confiderable fource of beauty; and
if roughnefs (as he does not fcruple to af-
fent) is that which forms the moft effential
point of difference between the beautiful
and the picturefque, it furely is rather a
contradiction to his own principles to call
a lake in its fmootheft ftate picturefque, on
account of fuch interruptions to the a.b fo-
late fmoothnefs (or rather uniformity) of
its furface, as not only accord with beauty,
but are often in themfelves fources of beau-
ty; fuch as (hades of various kinds, undu-
lations, and reflections.

Upon the fame grounds that he afferts the
fmooth lake to be picturefque, he alfo gives
that character to the high-fed hone with his
fmooth and fhining coat. If, however * " a
play of mufcles appearing through the fine-

* Eflay on Picturefque Beauty, page 22.

fiefs

[ 4°o ]

nefs of the ikin, gently fwelling and fink-
ing into each other — his being all over lu-
bricus afpici, with reflections of light con-
tinually fhifting upon him, and playing into
each other," make an animal picturef]ue,
what then will make him beautiful ? The
interruption of his fmoothnefs, by a variety
of fhaaes and colours (not fudden and
ftrong, but " playing into each other, fo
that the eye glides up and down among
their endlefs transitions") certainly will not
fupply the room of roughnefs in fuch a de-
gree as to over-balance the qualities of
beauty, and aboliih (as in the prefent in-
ftance) the very name."

It is true, that according to Mr. Gilpin's
two definitions *, both the lake and the
horfe, in their fmoo theft poffible ftate, are
picturefque ; but they are no lefs oppofite
to that character, according to his more
ilricl: and pointed method of defining it, by
making roughnefs the moft elTential point
of difference between that and the beau-
tiful. After fo plain and natural a diftinc-

* Vide page 48.

tion

C 401 ]

tiori between the two characters, it furely
would have been more fimple and fatisfac-
tory to have named things according to
their obvious and prevailing qualities; and
to have allowed that painters fometimes
preferred beautiful, fometimes pidurefque,
fometimes grand and fublime objects, and
fometimes objects where the two or the
three characters were equally, or in differ-
ent degrees, mixed with each other*

Many of the examples I have given of
pidurefque animals, are taken from Mr.
Gilpin's very ingenious work on fore ft
fcenery. He there obferves, that among all
the tribes of animals fearce any one is more
ornamental in landfcape than the afs. He
adds u in what this pidurefque beauty con-
" lifts, whether in his peculiar eharader,
" in his ftrong lines, in his colouring, ill
" the roughnefs of his coat, or in the mix-
kc ture of them, would perhaps be difficult
** to afcertain." When I read this parTage
I had not feen the erfay on pidurefque
beauty, and it gave me great fatisfadion to

D d find

[ 402 ]

find my ideas of the caufes of the picftu-
refque confirmed by fo attentive an ob-
ferver as Mr. Gilpin, though he fpoke
doubtingly ; and I could not help flattering
myfelf, that as his authority had confirmed
me in my ideas, fo by tracing them through
a greater variety of objects than his fubjeft
led him to confider, I might fhew the jufi>
nefs and accuracy of his fuppofitions. Pe-
culiarity of character, on which Mr. Gilpin
very properly lays a flrefs, naturally arifes
from ftrong lines and fudden variations :
What is perfectly fmooth and flowing has
proportionably lefs of peculiar chara&er,
and lofes in pifturefquenefs, what it may
gain in beauty.

This leads me to confider a part of Mr*
Gilpin's Eflay on Pi&urefque Beauty, that
I own furprifed me in the author of the laflr
quoted pafTage, as well as of feveral others in
the effay juft mentioned; all of which mark
the- true character and caufe of the pidtu-
refqtie in a mafterly manner, and fhew how
much and how wtell he had obferved* If

the

[ 403 3

the criticifm I am going to make be juft,
Mr. Gilpin has, I think, laid himfelf open,
to it by his exclufive fondnefs for the pic-
turefque, and by having carried to excefs
his pofition, that roughnefs is that parti-
cular quality which makes objecls chiefly
pleafe in painting. From his partiality to
this doftrine, he ridicules the idea of having
beauty reprefented in a pidture, and addref-
fing himfelf to the perfon he fuppofes to
make fo un-painter-like arequeft, he fays*,
" The art of painting allows you all you
" wifh ; you defire to have a beautiful ob-
" jed: painted ; your horfe, for inftance, is
" led out of the liable in all his pampered
" beauty. The art of painting is ready to
u accommodate you ; you have the beauti-
€i ful form you admired in nature exactly
" transferred to canvafs. Be then fatisfied;
" the art of painting has given you what
" you wanted. It is no injury to the
44 beauty of your Arabian, if the painter

* Effay on Pi&urefque Beauty,

D d a " think

f 4°4 1

" think he could have given the graces of
" his art more forcibly to your cart-horfe."
- If a perfon ignorant of the art of paint-
ing were to be told, that a painter who
wifhed to give forcibly the graces of his art,
would prefer a cart-horfe to an Arabian, he
would be apt to think there was fomething
very prepofterous both in the art and the
artift. This will always be the cafe, when
inftead of endeavouring to (hew the agree-
ment between art and nature, even when
they appear moft at variance, a myfterioits
barrier is placed between them to furprize
and keep at a diftance the uninitiated. To
me the fact feems to be what we might
naturally fuppofe ; that Rubens, Vandyk,
or Wovermans, when they wifhed to fhew
the graces of their art, painted beautiful
horfes > fuch as the general fenfe of man-
kind would call beautiful: gay pampered*
fteeds with fine coats, and high in flefh.
V/hen they added (as they often did) a
greater fhare of pi&urefquenefs to thefe
beautiful animals, it was not by degrading

them

[ 405 ]

them to cart-horfes and beafts of burthen ;
it was by means of fuch fudden and fpi-
rited action, with fuch a correfpondent and
ftrongly marked exertion of mufcles, fuch
wild diforder in the mane, as might height-
en the freedom and animation of their cha-
racter, without injuring the elegance or
grandeur of their form. If by giving for-
cibly the graces of his art, is to be under-
flood the giving them with powerful im-
preffion, I cannot help thinking that Ru-
bens, when he was transferring from na-
ture to the canvafs one cf thefe noble ani-
mals, in all the fulnefs and luxuriancy of
beauty, little imagined that he was throw-
ing away his powers; and that any of the
rough high -boned cart-horfes he had
placed in fcenes with which they accorded,
were more ftriking fpecimens of the graces
of his art. In Wovermans alfo, the num-
ber of beautiful pampered fteeds greatly ex-
ceeds that of his rough and pidturefque
ones.

It would indeed be a wretched degrada-
D d 3 tion

[ 4°6 }

tion of the art,' mould the horfes of Ra-
phael, Giulio Romano, Polidore, N. Poufiin*
the forms and characters of which, fuch great
artids had ftudied with alm'oft the lamer
attention as thofe of the human figure ; in
"which too (as in the human figure) they
had corrected the defects of common na-
ture from their own exalted ideas of beau-
ty, and from thofe of their great models the
ancient fculptors ; and in which they cer-
tainly meant to difplay (and not feebly) the
graces of their art, — mould fuch ennobled
animals, not only be rivalled, but furpaffed
even in thofe graces, by a jade of Berchem,
or Paul Potter.

The next and laft point of difference be-
tween us, is with refpecT: to the plumage of
birds : Mr. Gilpin thinks the refult of plu-
mage (and he makes no exception) is pic-
turefque ; and the whole feems to me an-
other ftriking inftanc'e of his exclufive fond-
nefs for that character, and of his unwil-
lingnefs, on that account, to allow any
beauty, or merit to fmoothnefs. Indeed, as
x he

r 407 1

he fuppofes the pifturefque folely to refer
to painting, and that pictures can fcarcely
admit of any objecSs which are not of that
character, and as he alfo allows (or rather
afferts) that roughnefs is its diftinguifhing
quality — it became neceflary either to allow
that an objedt might be pidturefque with^
out being rough, which would contradidt
his aifertion, or to mew that there were
other qualities which would render it fo in
fpite of its fmoothnefs; or, to ufe his own
expreffion, would fupply the room of rough-
nefs.

Speaking of the plumage of birds *,
" nothing,' ' he fays, " can be fofter, no-
thing fmoother to the touch; yet it cer-
tainly is pi&urefque." He then obferve$,
" it is not the fmoothnefs of the furface
which produces the efFedt ; it is not this
we admire ; it is the breaking of the co-
lours ; it is the bright green or purple,
changing perhaps into a rich azure or vel-

* EfTay on Pi#urefque Beauty, page 23.

D $ 4 vet

[ 4o3 ]

vet black ; from thence taking a femitint^
and fo on through all the varieties of car
Jours : or if the colour be not changeable^
it is the harmony we admire in thefe eler
gant little touches of nature's pencil."

It is Angular that the colours of birds,
and particularly the changeable ones, from
which Mr. Burke has taken fome of his
happieft illuftrations of the beautiful, Ihould,
by Mr. Gilpin, not only be cited as fources
pf the pifturefque, but as fo abounding in
that quality as to beftow on fmoothnefs the
effect of roughnefs. He has laid it down
as a maxim, that a fmooth building muft
be turned into a rough ope, before it can
be picturefque ; yet, in this inftance, a
fmooth bird may be made fo by means of
colours, many of which, with their grada-
tions and changes, are univerfally acknow-
ledged and admired as beautiful.

I cannot help repeating the fame ques-
tion on this fubjedl as on the preceding
one ; if beautiful and changeable colours,
with their gradations, added to fpftnefs and

fmoothnefs

[ 409 ]

fmoothnefs of plumage, and to the harmony
of the elegant little touches of nature's
pencil, make birds pidturefque, what then
are the qualities which make them beau-
tiful ?

But Mr. Gilpin himfelf has furnimed
me with the ftrongeft proof how natural it
is for all men, when they defign to produce
a piclurefque image, to avoid all idea of
fmoothnefs. He has quoted Pindar's cele-
brated defcription of the eagle, as equally
poetical and piclurefque, and fuch I
believe it always has been thoughts
The ruffled plumage of the eagle (which
Mr. Gilpin has put in Italics, as the cir-
cumftance which moll ftrongly marks
that character) is both in Mr. WefFs
tranflation, and Mr. Gray's imitation; but
as far as I can judge, there is not the leaft
trace of it in the original. I have not the
moft diftant pretentions to any_ critical
knowledge of the Greek language ; yet itill
I think, that by the help of thofe interpre-
ters who have ftudied it critically, an un-
learned

[ 4*o I

learned man, if he feels the fpirit of a paf-
iige, may arrive at a pretty accurate idea
of die force of the expreffions. From them
it appears to me, that far from defcribing
the eagle with ruffled plumes, or with any
circumftance truly picturefque, Pindar has,
on the contrary, avoided every idea that
might difturb the repofe, and majeftic beau-
ty of his image. After he has defcribed
the eagle's flagging wing, he adds vy^y
• mapec, which is fo oppoiite to ruffled,
that it feems to iignify that perfect fmooth-
nefs and fleeknefs given by moifture j that
oily fupplenefs fo different from any thing
crifp or rumpled ; as \r/$ov tkmov exprelTes the
fmooth, fuppling, undrying quality of oil.
The learned Chriftianus Damm in his Lexi-
con, interprets Mao-crav vy^ov vutqv cuu^i,
dormiens incurvatum (vel potius lave J
tergum attollit ; and the action is that of a
gentle heaving from refpiration, during a
quiet repofe. In another place Damm in-
terprets uygoTiis, mollities ; all equally op-
poiite to ruffled. Indeed we might almoft

fuppofe

t 4" 3

iuppofe that Pindar, having intended ft
prefent an image both fublitne and beauti-
ful, had avoided every thing that might
difturb its ilill and folemn grandeur; for he
has thrown as it were into made, the moft
marked and pidturefque feature of that no-
ble bird : xeXa,tvco7rtv S* btti It vzcpzXotv ocyzuXw
wan, (SXstpxotov ciov kXxkttqov, Kocre^Bvag ; a
feature which Homer, in a fimile full of
action and pidturefque imagery, has placed
in its fulleft light :

*Ot d uct cuyvTTiot yocfityuvvxsg, ccyKvXoxEiXxi^
Herovj e<p 'vyyjkri pzyotkoi kXoc^ovte fAczxcvTai.

Having been bold enough to criticife
both the tranflation and imitation of Pindar,
I (hall venture one ftep farther, and try to
account for the paffage having been fo
rendered. I think Mr. Weft and Mr.
Gray might probably have been impreffed
with the fame idea as Mr. Gilpin, that the
imagery in this paffage was highly pi&u-
refque, but might have felt that fmooth fea-
thers would not accord with that charac-
ter;

[ 4" ]

t$r ; and therefore perhaps (as Sir Jofhua
Reynolds obferves on Algarotti's ill-founded
eulogium of a picture of Titian) they chofe
to find in Pindar, what they thought they
ought to have found. With all the *efpedt
I have for their abilities (and Mr. Gray's
cannot be rated too high) I muft think
that by one word they have changed the
charadter of that famous paffage ; and it may
he doubted whether they have improved
it.

Were their image reprefented in painting
it might be more ftriking, more catching to
the eye than Pindar's ; and that is the true
character of the pidlurefque. But his would
have more of that repofe, that folemn
breadth, that freedom from all buftle,
which I believe accords more truly with
the genuine unmixed chara&eis both of
beauty and fublimity *, and with the ideas
of the great original

* Vide Sir Jofhua Reynolds's Notes in Mafon's Du
Frefnoy, p. 86.

I have

t 4*3 1

I have pre fled ftrongly on all the points
of difference between Mr. Gilpin and me>
becaufelthink them very effential to the chief
object I have had in view, — that of recom-
mendiag the ftudy of pictures., and of the
principles of painting, as the bell guide to
that of nature, and to the improvement of
real landfcape. Could it be fuppofed that
for the purpofe of his own art, a painter
would in general prefer a worn-out caft-
horfe to a beautiful Arabian;— or that fuch
pieces of architecture as were univerfally
admired for their beauty and elegance would*
if introduced in a picture, become formal*
and ceafe to pleafe, — no man would be dif-
pofed to confult an art which contradicted
all his natural feelings. But were he to bs
informed that painters have always admired
and copied beauty of every kind, in animals,
as well as in the human fpecies (and ilrange
it would be were it otherwife ) i that they
neither reject fmoothnefs, nor fvmmetry,
but only the ill-judged and tirefome difplay
of them ; that with regard to regular and

perfect

[ 4*4 1

perfect architecture, it made a principal
ornament in pictures of the higheft clafs*
but that while its fmoothnefs, fymmetry,
and regularity were preferved, its formality
was avoided ; in fhort, that the ftudy of
painting, far from abridging his pleafures,
would open a variety of new fources of
amufement, and, without cutting off the
old ones, only direft them into better
channels — he might be difpofed to confult
an art which promifed many frefh and un«
tailed delights, without forcing him to
abandon all thofe which he had enjoyed
before.

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