J ( i^L. I it r^e Zf.V <^*s/^67/e>v/c3/' AN ENQUIRY INTO THE CHANGES LANDSCAPE GARDENING, AN ENQUIRY INTO THE , CHANGES OF TASTE IN LANDSCAPE GARDENING. TO WHICH ARE ADDED, SOME OBSERVATIONS ^ OS ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE, INCLUDING A DEFENCE OF THE ART. //. REPTON, Esq. LONDON: PRINTED FOR J. TAYLOR^ 5Q, HIGH HOLBORN. 1800. I 1. BENSLEY, PRINTER^ BOLT COUHT, FLEET STREET, LONDON, ADVERTISEMENT. The folloAving Enquiry into the Changes of Taste in Landscape Gar- dening has been produced in conse- quence of a request from Professor Martyn, that I would furnish him with some matter for his elaborate edi- tion of Miller's Gardener^s Dictionary, in the preface to which he proposes to " take up the History of Landscape *' Gardening from the period when " Mr. Walpole left off, and to trace it " from Kent, through Brown, to the " present time.'' Having also been called on by my bookseller for a new edition of my " Observations on the Theory and Prac- " ticc of Landscape Gardenings" I have IV directed diat work to be reprinted with- out any alteration or addition, consi- dering it an act of justice to the ori- ginal subscribers and purchasers of so expensive a volume^, not to make the second edition more perfect than the first. I have also been desired to publish a new edition of my rtrst work, enti- tled, " Sketches and Hints on Landscape Gardening" of which only 250 copies being published by Messrs. Boy dells in 1794, the book is become so scarce, that above four times the original price has been paid for some copies. In compliment to the present possessors of that work, I have determined never to publish another costly edition of it with plates; but rather to extract from it such matter as may not interfere Avith the quarto volume, incorporating it with such furdier observations on the Theory and Practice of the Art, as have occurred from more recent prac- tice; to which arc added, answers to the attacks made on the art by some late pubhcations. Although I am aware of the uti- lity of plates to exemplify many parts of this subject, and that one stroke of the pencil will often say more than a page with the pen, yet the enormous expencc of engraving has hitherto so confined my opinions to a certain class of purchasers, that tlu^y have been either not generally known, or they have been rc])cated by some with- out acknowledgment, and misrepre- sented by others without sufiicient quotation. Hare Street, near Romford, 1 805'. CONTENTS. PART I. Page. Fashion 1 Changes in Gardening 4 Different Styles 5 Park and Garden Scenery 9 Changes in Planting 1? Appendages to a Palace 28 Antient and Modern Styles compared 33 Conclusion 41 PART II. Landscape Gardening 43 Situations and Characters 48 Buildings and Works of Art /O Situations for Houses 81 Water cp Park and Forest Scenery distinct Q/ Approaches 103 Park Entrances 112 PART III. Mr, Knight's " iNauiRY " 117 Difference between Painting and Gardening 122 Mr. Knight's " Landscape" 131 Mr. Price I4l Sources of Pleasure from Landscape Gardening 1 6l Conclusion 16/ ^ . :\. '^^ :- -i:- :?:a ENQUIRY, &c. a > i;. I . ' , . . (• : >ART 1. ' JtvERY revolution in the Taste of a coun- Taste , ^ , influenced try may be accounted tor on the same by Fashion. principles with the revolutions in its laws, its customs, and opinions — the love of cJiange or novelty in a few, and of same- ness or imitation in the many. And how- ever the pride of system may revolt at taste being influenced and liable to change with the fashions of tlie da}', it is impos- sible to fix any standard for taste, that may not be shaken by the prevailing opi- nions of the public, whether right or wrong. Thus in whatever relates to the amusements and pleasures of mankind, though an old fashion may be most ra- tional, yet a received new fashion will be deemed in the best taste. This leads me 5 to consider the origin of what is called Fashion, and by the multitude generally considered as Taste. Origin of Although each individual may have Fashion. " p , . , . - ^ the power or thmking, yet the mass or mankind act without thought, and like sheep follow a leader through the various paths of life. Without this natural pro- pensity for imitation, every member of society would hold a diiferent opinion, and the world would be at perpetual war- fare. Indeed every disagreement, from the enmity of nations to the petty squab- bles of a parish, is caused and conducted by some leader, whom the nmltitude fol- low, imitate, and support. This is the origin of changes in cus- toms or fashions in every shape. Opi- nions are declared by one man, and fol- lowed by the many. If persons only of superior sense were the leaders, or if mankind always examined what they fol- lowed, fashion might perhaps be more reasonable: but this suppo'ses mankind always to act like rational beings, which is contrary to every test of experience. Therefore, whether in religion, in po^ litics, in philosophy, in medicine, in lan- guage, in the arts, in dress, in equipage, in furniture, or in the most trifling concerns of life, we see thousands move in the way that some one has gone before: and if it be too great a stretch of thought to mark a new track, it is also too great to investi- gate whether the new track marked out by another be good or bad. Changes in the fashion, or, in other Changes . , by whom words, m the customs or a country, be- made. come a source of wealth and commerce, and contribute to those daily occupations which make life preferable in civilized society. The clown or the savage re- quires no change, no variety; and the vulgar, who are one degree above them, slowly adopt the changes of others, al- though they insensibly slide into the fa- shion. On the contrary, the nice ob- server, the ' elegantice formarum specta- tor'' eagerly seizes and imitates whatever appears ncM'-; and perhaps without en- quiring into its reasonableness or pro- priety. Thus forms and fashions of one climate are often brought into another, without attending to their uses or ori- ginal intentions. Fashions in dress, in furniture, &c. are comparatively harmless; they soon pass away, and become ridiculous, in pro- portion to the distance of their dates. Thus we laugh at the odd figures of our ancestors on canvas, and wonder at the bad taste of old worm-eaten furniture, without reflecting, that in a few years our own taste will become no less obsolete. But in the more lasting works of art, fashion should be guided by common sense, or we may perpetuate absurdities. Of this kind v/as the general rage for destroying those old English buildings called Gothic; and for introducing the Architecture of a hot country, ill adapted to a cold one; as the Grecian and Ro- man portico to the north front of an Eng- lish house, or the Indian *varandah as a shelter from the cold east winds of this climate. In Fashion has had its full influence on '* Gardening as on architecture, importing models from foreign countries. The gar- dens in England have at one time imi- tated those of Italy, and at another those of Holland. The Italian style of gardens consisted itaiianstyi; in ballustraded terraces of masonry, mag- nificent flights of steps, arcades, and ar- chitectural grottos, lofty clipped hedges, with niches and recesses enriched by sculpture. This \yas too costly for gene- ral use; and where it was adopted, as at Nonsuch, and some other palaces, it was discovered to be inapplicable to the cli- mate of England; and no traces now re- main of it, except in some pictures of Italian artists.^ To this succeeded the Dutch Garden, Dutch styic introduced by KingWilliam III, and which prevailed in this country for half a cen- » Some mention of the French Style of Gardening- raay here be expected ; but as tliis was only a corrup- tion of the Italian style, and was never generally adopted in England, it is purposely omitted; although in practicj J have occasionally availed myself of its more massive Trellis, Boccages, and Cabinets de Verdure, to enliven the scenery of a flower garden. tury. It consisted of sloped terraces of grass, regular shapes of land and water formed by art, and quaintly adorned with trees in pots, or planted alternatel}*, and clipped, to preserve the most perfect re- gularity of shape. These were the kind of terraces, and not those of the grand Ita- lian st^d-e, which BroM'n destroyed, by en- deavouring to restore the ground to its original shape. English He observed that nature, distorted by Style. *^ great labour and expence, had lost its power of pleasing with the loss of its no- velty ; and that every place was now be- come nearly alike. He saw that more variety might be introduced by copying „ nature, and by assisting her operations. Under his guidance a total change in the fashion of gardens took place; and as the Dutch style had superseded the Italian, so the English garden became the uni- versal fashion. Under the great leader, Brown, or rather those mIio patronized his discovery, we were taught that nature was to be our only model. He lived to establish a fashion ii> gardening, which snight have been expected to endure as long- as nature should exist. Nature is alike the model to the poet, Nature: the painter, and the gardener, who all Model. profess to be her imitators: but how few have genius or taste to avoid becoming mannerists. Brown copied nature, his il- literate followers copied him; and in such hands, without intending to injure his fame, or to depart from his principles, the fashion of English gardening was in dan- ger of becoming more tiresome, insipid, and unnatural, than the worst style of Italian or Dutch examples. Mr. Brown after his death was imme- Brown's diately succeeded by a numerous herd of corrupted. Lis foremen and working gardeners, who, from having executed his designs, became consulted, as well as e7nployed, in the se- veral works which he had entrusted them to superintend. Among these, one person had deservedly acquired great credit at liarewood, at Holkham, and other places, by the execution of gravel walks, the planting of shrubberies, and other details belonging to pleasure grounds, which were 8 generally divided from the park by a sunk fence, ox ha! ha! and happy would it have been for the country, and the art, if he had confined his talents within such boun- dary. Unfortunately, without the same great ideas, he fancied he might improve by enlaj^ging his plans. This introduced all that bad taste which has been attri- buted to his great master, Brown. Hence came the mistaken notion, that greatness of dimensions would produce greatness of Extant character: hence proceeded the immea- mistakcn , , n i ^ ^ i for Beauty, suraoic cxtcnt ot uakcd lawn; tiie te- dious length of belts and drives; the use- less breadth of meandering roads; the tiresome monotony of shrubberies and pleasure grounds; the naked expanse of waters, unaccompanied by trees; and all the unpicturesque features which dis- grace modern gardening, and which have brought on Brown's system the oppro- brious epithets of bare and bald. Yet such is the fondness for what is great by measurement, that the beauty of parks is estimated by the acre, and the perfection of walks and drives computed by the mile, 9 although we look at them without inte- rest, and fly from them to farms and fields, even preferring a common or a heath, to the dull round of a walk or drive, without ohjects, and without variety. When by this false taste for extent, Pir^ *' Scenery. Parks had become enlarged beyond all reasonable bounds of prudence or econo- my, in the occupation : it then became ad- viseable to allot large portions of land for the purposes of agriculture, Avithin the belt or outline of this useless and extravagant inclosure; and thus great part of the in- terior of a park is become an arable farm. Hence arises thenecessity of contracting that portion of an estate in which beauty, rather than profit, is to be considered. Much of the controversy concerning Garden , ^ 1 • 1 • Scenery. modern Gardening seems to have arisen from the want of precision in our lan- guage. Gardening is alike applied to the park, the lawn, the shrubbery, and the kitchen garden; and thus the scenery of one is blended with that of another, vdien there is as much difference between gar- den scenery, park scenery, and forest 10 scenery, as between horticulture, agricul- ture, and uncultivated nature. The first is an artificial object, and has no other pretence to be natural, than what it de- rives from the growth of the plants which adorn it: their selection, their disposi- tion, their culture, must all be the work of art; and instead of that invisible line or hidden fence, which separates the mown turf from the lawn fed by cattle, it is more rational to shcM' that the two ob- jects are separated, if the fence is not unsightly; otherwise we must either sup- pose that cattle are admitted to crop the flowers and shrubs, or that flowers and shrubs are absurdly planted in a pasture exposed to cattle, or, which is more fre- quently the case, we must banish flowers entirely from the windows of a house, and suppose it to stand on a naked grass field.'' ^ Fences are not objectionable when they mark a separation, and not a boundary of property. Thus a park-pale marks the precise limits of the park, and a hedge before a wood renders it liable to be mistaken for a wood belonging to some other person, and therefore acts as a boundary: but the hurdle, which makes a 11 By the avenues and symmetrical plan- tations of the last two centuries, the arti- ficial garden was extended too far from the mansion; hut in the modern garden- ing, the natural lawn is hrought too near. As there are few Palaces in England Example from that can vie in magnificence with that of wobum. Wohurn, it may furnish an example of greatness in variety and character in its garden scenery, without making its di- mensions the standard of its greatness. The mansion is connected with its ap- pendages, such as the Stables, Riding- house, Tennis-court, Orangerie, Chinese- pavilion, Game-larder, &c. &c. by a cor- ridor or covered passage of considerable leno'th, which is enriched with flowers and creeping plants. This passage is pro- posed to be extended to the hot-houses in the forcing garden, which is to form a centre, for a series of different gardens, under the following heads. temporary division of a lawn, or a light open fence that divides tlie garden from the park, can only offend the fastidious critic, who objects to all fences, without knowing or assigning any reason. 12 The terrace and parterre near the house. The private garden, only used by the I family. The rosary, or dressed flower garden, in front of the green-house. The American garden, for plants of that country only. The Chinese garden, surrounding a pool in front of the great Chinese pavi- lion, to be decorated with plants from China. The botanic garden for scientific clas- sing of plants. The animated garden, or menagerie. And lastly, the English garden, or shrubbery walk, connecting the whole; sometimes commanding views into each of these distinct objects, and sometimes into the park and distant country. 'Hic word By a strange perversion of terms, what misapplied, is Called Modcm, or English Gardening, seldom includes the useful garden, and has changed the name of the ornamental ga?'- den mto pleasure ground; but it is not the name only that has been changed; the 15 character of a garden is now lost in that of the surrounding park ; and it is only on the map that they can be distinguished, M'hile an invisible fence makes the se- paration between the cheerful lawn fed by cattle, and the melancholy lawn kept by the roller and the scythe. Although these lawns are actually divided by a bar- rier as impassable as the ancient garden wall, yet they are apparently united in the same landscape, and * . . , . wrapt all o'er in everlasting green. Make one dull, vapid, smooth and tranquil scene.' R. I'. KNIGHT. The gardens or pleasure grounds near similitude between a house may be considered as so many dif- House and ferent apartments belonging to its state, its comfort, and its pleasure. The mag- nificence of a house depends on the num- ber as well as the size of its rooms; and the similitude betMcen the house and the garden may be justly extended to the mode of decoration. A large lawn, like a large room, when unfurnished, displeases more than a small one. If only in part, Gardens. 14 Of meanly furnished, we shall soon leave it M'ith disgust; whether it be a room co- vered with the finest green baize, or a lawn kept with the most exquisite ver- dure, we look for carpets in one, and flowers in the other. If in its unfurnished state there chance to be a looking glass without a frame, it can only reflect the bare Myalls; and thus a pool of water, without surrounding ob- jects, reflects only the nakedness of the scene. This similitude might be extended to all the articles of furniture, for use or ornament, required in an apartment, com- paring them with the seats and buildings and sculpture appropriate to a garden. Its Thus the pleasure-ground at Woburn requires to be enriched and furnished like its palace, where good taste is every where conspicuous. It is not by the breadth or length of the walk that greatness of cha- racter in garden scenery can ever be sup- ported; it is rather by its diversity, and the succession of interesting objects. In this part of a great place we may ven- ture to extract pleasure from variety^ Application from contrast^ and even from n(welty,\\'i\.\\- out endangering the character of great- ness. In the middle of the last century al- Changes near the most every mansion in the kingdom had House. its kitchen and fruit gardens surrounded by walls in the front of the house. To improve the landscape from the windows Brown was obliged to remove these gar- dens; and not always being able to place them near the house, they were sometimes removed to a distance. This inconvenient part of his system has been most impli- citly copied by his followers; although I observe that at Croome, and some other places, where he found it practicable, he attached the kitchen garden to the offices and stables, &c. behind the mansion, sur- rounding it with a shrubbery; and indeed such an arrangement is the most natural and commodious. The intimate connexion between the Kitchen kitchen and the garden for its produce, and between the stables and the jrarden for its manure, is so obvious, that every 16 one must see the propriety of bringing them as nearly together as possible, con- sistent with the views from the house. Yet we find in many large parks, that the fruit and vegetables are brought from the distance of a mile, or more M^ith all the care and trouble of packing for much longer carriage; and the park is conti- nually cut up by dung carts passing from the stables to the distant gardens. Winter To tlicsc considcrations may be added, that the kitchen garden, even without hot-houses, is a different climate. There are many days in winter, when a warm, dry, but secluded walk, under the shelter of a south wall, would be preferred to the most beautiful but exposed landscape; and in the spring, when ' Reviving natiire seems again to breathe. As loosen'd from the cold embrace of death,' on the south border of a walled garden some early flowers and vegetables may cheer the sight, although every plant is elsewhere pinched with the north east / / 17 winds peculiar to our climate in the months of March and April, when . . i- ' Winter^ still ling'ring on the verge of spring. Retires reluctant, and from time to time Looks back, while at his keen and chilling breath Fair Flora sickens.' stillingfleet. Let us now trace tlie progress of changes 1 • 1 /- 1 <^ 1 • 1 '" Planting. change m the fashions or planting; by which I mean the various systems adopted at different periods for making trees ar- tificial ornaments. The first was doubt- strai-ht Jess that of planting them in a single row '"'^'" at equal distances, which prevailed in the garden mentioned by Pliny. The next step was that of doubling these straight rows to form shady walks, or adding more rows, to make so many parallel lines. But fashion, not content with the simplicity of such avenues of trees placed opposite to each other, invented the quincunx, by which these straight lines Quincunx, were multiplied in three different direc- tions. As the eagerness for adopting this fashion could not always wait the tedious growth of trees, where old woods existed; c 18 Vistas. Regular Curves. Platoons. they were cut through in straight lines and vistas, and in the forms of stars and pates d'oies which prevailed at the begin- ning of the last century. Fashion, tired of the dull uniformity of straight lines, was then driven to adopt something new: yet still acting by geo- metric rules, it was changed to regular forms of circles and curves, in which the trees were always planted at equal dis- tances. This introduced also the serpen- tine avenue for a road. The next bold effort of fashion was that of departing from the equi- distant spaces; and trees M^ere planted in patches or clumps (called in some old maps Pla- toons) : these M^ere either square or round, alternately sheM'ing and hiding the view on each side of the road; and where no view was required, a skreen, or double row of trees, entirely shut up one side, while on the other the view was occasion- ally admitted, but still at regular inter- vals: this prevails in the drives at Wo- burn. 49 1 perfectly remember, when I was about Avenues ten years old, that my father (a man of such general observation, that no innova- tion or novelty escaped him) remarked to me the change which was then taking place in ornamental planting; and then, although little supposing how much it Mould become the future study of my hfe, I recollect his observing the discovery made by some ingenious planter (perhaps Kent or Brown) that the straight line might be preserved in appearance from the ends of a vista or avenue, without ac- tually filling up all the sides; and thus alternate openings of views to the coun- try might be obtained, without losing the grandeur of the straight line, which was then deemed indispensable. He also ob- served, that perhaps this would lead to the abolishing of avenues; and 1 believe . few were planted after that date, viz. the midddle of the last century. About this time a total change in the Natural ,. , . ,1 Xa 11 Plaiitins:. fashion took place. It was asserted, that nature must be our only model, and that nature abhorred a straight line: it was m hot therefore to be wondered at, that . Brown's ilUterate followers should have copied the means he used, and not the model he proposed : they saw him prefer curved lines to straight ones, and hence proceeded those meandering, serpentine, and undulating lines in all their works, which were unfortunately confirmed by Hogarth's recommendation of his imagi- nary line of beauty. Thus we see roads sweeping round, to avoid the direct line, to their object, and fences fancifully tak- ing a longer course, and even belts and plantations in useless curves, with a drive meandering in parallel lines, which are full as much out of nature as a straight one. Thus has fashion converted the belt or skreen of plantation, introduced by Brown, into a drive quite as monotonous, and more tedious, than an avenue or vista, because a curved line is always longer than a straight one. Brown's Browu's belt consisted of a wood, through which a road might wind to va- rious points of view, or scenery shewn un- der various circumstances of foreground; 21 but the drive was only made among tlie trees, and under the shade of their branches. The last fashion of belt, which Brown The modern never made, is an open drive so wide, that Beit. it never goes near the trees, and which admits such a current of air, that the front trees are generally the worst in the plantation: add to this, that two narrow slips of planting will neither grow so well, nor be such effectual harbours for game, as deeper masses, espe,cially when the game are liable to be disturbed by a drive betwixt them. The belt may be useful as a skreen, but unless very deep, it should never be used as a drive, at least till af- ter the trees have acquired their growth, when a drive may be cut through the wood to advantage. It is not only the line of the modern variety belt and drive that is objectionable, but by its excess. also the manner in which the plantations are made, by the indiscriminate mixture of every kind of tree. In this system of planting all variety is destroyed, by the excess of variety, whether it is adopted 22 ill belts or clumps, as they have been tecli- nically called ; for example, if ten clumps be composed often different sorts of trees ill each, they become so many things ex- actly similar; but if each clump consist of the same sort of trees, they become ten diflerent things, of which one may hereafter furnish a group of oaks, another of elms, another of chesnuts or of thorns, &c. In like manner, in the modern belt, the recurrence and monotony of the same mixture of trees of all the different kinds through a long drive makes it the more tedious, in proportion as it is long. vvoburn I must uot hcrc omit the full tribute Evergreen r> ^ i <» i i • i. Unve. of applause to that part or the drive at Woburn, in which evergreens alone pre- vail: it is a circumstance of grandeur, of variety, of novelty; and, I may add, of winter comfort, that 1 never saw adopted in any other place om so magnificent a scale. The contrast of passing from a wood of deciduous trees to a wood of evergreens, must be felt by the most heedless observer; and the same sort of pleasure, though in a weaker degree, ^^o would be felt iin the course of a drive, if the trees of different kinds were collected in small groups, or masses by themselves, instead of being- blended indiscriminately, I do not mean to make separate groves Variety, or woods of different trees, although that produced. has its beauty, but in the course of the drive to let oaks prevail in some places, beech in others, birch in a third; and in some parts to encourage such masses of thorns, hazle, and maple, holleys, or other brush-wood of low growth, as might best imitate the thickets of a forest/ '' It is difficult to lay down rules for any system of planting, which may ultimately be useful to this purpose 5 time, neglect, and accident, will often produce unex- pected beauties. The gardener or nurseryman makes his holes at equal distance, and generally in straight rows; he tlien fills the holes with plants, and care- fully avoids putting two of the same sort near each other; nor is it very easy to make him ever put two or more trees into the same hole, or within a yard of each other : he considers them as cabbages or turnips, which will rob each other's growth, unless placed at equal distances; although in forests we most admire those double trees or thick clusters, whose stems seem to rise from the same root, entangled with the roots of (horns and bushes in every direction. 24 Forest Groups. Avenues. In that part of the forest near Lay- tonstonc and Woodford, and indeed in all forest thickets, it m ill be seen that each mass of thorns or brushwood contains one or more young trees, to which it acts as nurse and protector; these trees require no other defence against the numerous herds of cattle, and they grow to a pro- digious size; but to the latest period of their existence, especially in Windsor fo- rest, we often see an aged thorn at the foot of a venerable oak, forming the most picturesque and interesting group — like the fond but decrepid nurse, still clinging to her foster child, though it no longer needs her assistance. It seems to have been as much the fashion of the present century {o?igi?ialli/ written in 1794) to destroy avenues, as it was in the last to plant them ; and while many people think they sufficiently jus- tify their opinion, in either case, by say- ing, ' I like an avenue,' or ' I hate an avenue,' let us endeavour to analyze this approbation or disgust. The pleasure which the mind derives S5 from tlie love of Or^/er, of Unity ^ of Anti- quity, and of Continuity, are in a certain degree gratified by the long perspective view of a stately avenue; even when it consists of trees in rows so far apart, that their branches do not touch: but where they grow so near as to imitate the gran- deur, the gloomy shade, and almost the shelter of a Gothic Cathedral, we may add the Comfort and Convenience of such an avenue to all the other considerations of its beauty. A long avenue, terminated by a large old mansion, is a magnificent object, although it may not be a proper subject for a picture; but the \'\c\v from such a mansion is perhaps among the greatest objections to an avenue, because it destroys all variety; since the same landscape would be seen from every house in the kingdom, if a view between rows of trees deserves the name of landscape. If at the end of a long avenue be placed &n obelisk, a temple, or any other eye-trap (as it is called), it will only catch or please the eye of ignorance or child- hood. The eye of taste and experience 26 hates compulsion, and turns with disgust from such puerile means of attracting its notice. One great mischief of an avenue is, that it divides a park, and cuts it into two distinct parts, destroying the unity of lawn; for it is hardly possible to avoid dis- tinguishing the ground on the two sides of such an avenue into north and south park, or east and west division of the lawn. But the greatest objection to an ave- nue is, that (especially in uneven ground) it often acts as a curtain drawn across the most interesting scenery : it is in undraw- ing this curtain at proper places that the utility of what has been called breaking an avenue consists. If the fashion in gardening, like the fashion in dress, could be changed witli no other difficulty than that of expence, we might follow its dictates, without any other consideration; we might boldly mo- dernise old places, and reduce all improve- ment to the whim and caprice of the day, and alter them again on the morrow; but the change of fashion in Gardening de- 27 stroys the work of ages, wlien lofty ave- nues are cut down for no other reason but because they were planted in straight rows, according to the fashion of former times. "^ ' " F-very sacrifice of large trees must be made with caution; at the same time there may be situations in wliich trees are not to be respected for their size 3 on the contrary, it is that which makes them objection- able. Wc lind that all trees grow more luxuriantly in valleys than on the hills j and thus it is possible that very uneven ground may be reduced to a level surface, if we judge of it by the tops of the trees. The hills at Long- Jcat have been boldly planted, and at the same period many fast-growing trees were planted in tlie valleys ; these latter are become in many places too tall for their situation. There are some limes and planes and lofty elms near the water, in situations where maples and crabs, thorns and alders, or even oaks and chesnuts, would be far more appropriate. There is no error more common than to suppose, that the planter may not live to see his hiture woods, unless they consist of firs and larches, and Lombardy poplars, and other fastgrowing trees j but every day's experience evinces that man outlives the beauty of his trees, where plantations do not consist of oak. On the contrary, tall mutilated planes, or woods of naked-stemmed firs, remind him that groups of oak and groves of chesntit might have been planted with greater advantage. 28 Works of It is not therefore in compliance with Art. . . the modern fashion for destroying avenues that I advised the removal of a few tall trees near the house at Longleat, hut that the character of greatness in a work of art, like this Palace, should not be obli- terated by the more powerful agency of nature. Without going back to that taste when this vast pile was surrounded by lines of cut shrubs, and avenues of young trees newly planted, much of its grandeur might be restored, by judiciously remov- ing the encroachments of vegetation: of this kind are some of the tall shattered elms remaining of the avenue near the house, Avhich evidently tend to depress its importance. Appcnda-cs Whcn the artificial but magnificent to a Palace. ^ style of Geometric Gardening of Le Notre was changed to the more natural style of Landscape Gardening, it often hap- pened that too little respect was paid to the costly appendages of English palaces; for although near the small houses of coun- try gentlemen the barns and rick-yards, and kitchen gardens, might give way to £9 the shaven lawn in the front of such houses ; yet to place a palace in the mid- dle of a grass field was one of those ex- cesses of innovation, to which all kinds of reform are ever liable. The first object of improvement at Example. T 1 ' ^ • 1 ^ r \ Longleat. Longleat, within the department or Art, should be to restore its architectural im- portance, to increase its greatness, by spreading its influence; but this requires some caution. The stables and the offices should form parts of one great whole; but if they be too much extended, or too rich in design, they will counteract this effect. A palace must not be a solitary object; Appendages , , , atidched. it requires to be supported and surrounded by subordinate buildings, which, like the attendants on Royalty, form part of its state; but a building of greater length than the house becomes a rival, rather than an humble attendant: and there is some dangrerin makino* stables and meaner offices dispute with the house in richness of ornament. It will be sufficient if the gates, or some elevated turrets of such 30 buildings, present the same character and date, without exactly copying the detail of those costly ornaments, in which the palace abounds. . - ' . Detached. This remark is applicable to all such large buildings as may be necessary near the house; but in the small buildings at a distance the same richness of ornament may prevail, where it is not inconsistent with the respective uses of such build- ings. For this reason I recommend the entrance of this place to be marked by magnificent gates, rather than by humble cottages, however picturesque. The farm house and the poultry house, and phea- santry half-buried in wood, may preserve their humble and appropriate character; but if any building be made conspicuous, it should be ornamented in proportion to its situation and uses. Thus a keeper's lodge or a huntsman's kennel in the val- leys may be useful, without aifecting to be ornamental; but when it occupies an elevated station it should make a part of the scenery M^orthy of the general cha- racter of the place. 31 One of the greatest errors in JModern Separate , . Establish- Gardening has been that of placing a ment. large house, not only on a naked lawn, but in the centre of it: to accomplish this, in some places towns have been re- moved, and villages destroyed, that the modern park might surround it in every direction. There are many comforts and agremens, Avhich by this practice must be banished to an inconvenient distance, such as the gardens, the pheasantry or menageries, the dairy farm, paddocks, &c. and where, as at Longleat, each of these are on a very large scale, they become so many separate detached establishments: and provided the lines of communication be well managed, they become so many separate objects of interest in the place/ The dairy farm is as much a part of Dairy Far™ •^ ^ ^ Buildings. the place as the deer park, and in many respects more picturesque; consisting of such varied and pleasing inclosures, and ^ Here the distant kitchen garden is connected with the house by a pleasure ground so perfect in its kind, that it only requires to be brought in closer contact with the house, 32 and 50 enriched by groups of trees, that it would not be improved by the removal of any hedges: its character is strictly preserved by the style of the buildings; an old farm house, a labourer's cottage, a hay stack, or a thatched hovel, are far more appropriate than the pseudo Gothic dairy, or the French painted trellis in a useful dairy farm; but in a park some- thing more is expected. Park The park is an appendage of magni- Building. , , „ .,. 1 • , hcence rather than or utility, and its de- corations therefore should partake of the character of the palace; they should ap- pear to belong to its state and ornament; they should rather consist of covered seats, a pavilion, or a prospect room, than objects of mere use, as a hay barn, or a cottage, because the latter may be found in any grass field, but the former denote a superior degree of importance. It has been a practice of late to erect a lofty tower, column, or obelisk, on the summit of the highest hill in a park; but such practice tends to lessen the apparent greatness of a place ; for as we can seldom lose sight of so conspicuous a landmark, we are in a manner tethered to the same object/ I shall add to this enquiry into the Changes of Taste the following remark, extracted from ' the Sketches and Hints,' pubh'shed in 1794. There is no part of my profession more styles compared; difficult and troublesome than the attempt to modernize, in part only, those places, which have been formerly decorated by theline and square of GeometricTaste. To explain this difficulty, the difference between the principles on Avhich improve- ments are now conducted, and those which governed the style of former pe- riods, may be thus stated. The perfection o^ Landscape Gar de?nng Modem consists in the four following requisites; 8 This would not be the case with the building pro- posed for an eminence in Longleat Park, because this spot is every where surrounded by more lofty hills, and therefore it would only be seen occasionally along the several valleys, and would from eveiy point of view become a pleasing embellishment, and not an obtrusive feature of the place, D 34 I'irst, it must display the natural beau- ties, and hide the natural defects of every situation. Secondly, it should give the appearance of extent and freedom, by carefully disguising or hiding the boun- dary. Thirdly, it must studiously conceal every interference of art, however ex- pensive, by which the natural scenery is improved; making the whole appear the production of nature only; ^nd fourthly, all objects of mere convenience*' or com- fort, if incapable of being made orna- mental, or of becoming proper parts of the general scenery, must be removed or concealed. Ancieit Each of thcsc four objects enume- rated are strictly opposite to the princi- ples of ancient gardening, which may thus be stated : First, the natural beau- ties or defects of a situation had no influ- ence, when it was the fashion to exclude by lofty walls every surrounding object. h This last article, I confess, has occasionally misled modern improvers into the absurdity of not only banish- ing the appearance, but tlie reality, of all comfort and convenience to a distance; frequently exemplified in the bad choice of a spot for the kitchen garden. Recjuisites. Secondly, tliese walls were never consi- dered as defects, but, on the contrary, were ornamented with vases, expensive iron gates, and palisades, to render them more conspicuous. Thirdly, so far from making gardens appear natural, every ex- pedient was used to display the costly efforts of Art, by which Nature had been subdued: the ground was levelled by a line; the water was squared or rounded into regular basons ; the trees, if not clipped into artificial shapes, were at least so planted by line and measurement, that • the formal hand of art could no where be mistaken. And, Fourthly, with respect to objects of convenience, they were placed as near the house as possible: the stables, the barns, and the kitchen garden, were among the ornaments of a place; while the village, the almshouse, the parish school, and church-yard, were not at- tempted to be concealed by the walls or palisades that divided them from the em- bellished pleasure ground. Congruity of style, uniformity of cha- ofUnity. racter, and harmony of parts with the \ 56 whole, are different modes of expressing uniti/j without which no composition can be perfect; yet there are few principles in gardening which seem to be so little understood. This essential unity has often been mistaken for symmetry, or the cor- respondence of similar parts; as where * Grove nods at grove, each alley has a brother. And half the platform just reflects the otiier.' POPE. Indeed this symmetry in the works of art was perfectly justifiable under that style of gardening which confined within lofty walls the narrow inclosure appro- priated to ancient grandeur. When the whole design is meant to be surveyed at a single glance, the eye is assisted in its oflSce, by making its di- visions counterparts of each other; and as it was confessedly the object of the artist to display his labour, and the great- ness of the effort by which he had sub- dued nature, it coidd not possibly be more conspicuous than in such shapes of land and water as were most unnatural o 7 and violent. Hence arose tlie sloped terrace, the square and octagon pool, and all those geometric figures which were intended to contrast, and not to assimi- late with, any scenes in nature : yet within this small inclosure an unity of design was strictly preserved, and few attempts made to extend it farther than the gar- den wall. From the difference of taste in Gar- dening betwixt the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries, it seems at first sight almost impossible to lay down any fixed principles. It appears that in this instance, as in many others, mankind are apt to fly from one extreme to the other: thus, because straight lines and highly finished and correspondent parts prevailed in the ancient style, some modern im- provers have mistaken crookedness for the line of beauty, and slovenly careless- ness for natural ease: they call every spe- cies of regularity formal; and with the hacknied assertion, that nature abhors a straight line, they fatigue the eye with continual curvatures. 38 Symmetry. There appears to be in the human mind a natural love of order and symmetry. Children, who at first draw a house upon a slate, generally represent it with corre- spondent parts; it is so with the infancy of taste. Those who during the early part of life have given little attention to objects of taste, are captivated with the regularity and symmetry of correspond- ent parts, without any knowledge of con- gruity, or an harmony of parts with the whole: this accounts for those numerous specimens of bad taste, M'hich are so com- monly observable in the neighbourhood of great towns, where we see Grecian villas spreading their little Gothic wings, and red brick castles, supported by Gre- cian pavilions: but though congruity may be banished, symmetry is never forgotten. If such be the love of symmetry in the human mind, it surel}' becomes a fair object of inquiry, how far it ought to be admitted or rejected in modern garden- ing. The following observation from Montesquieu on Taste seems to place the subject in a proper light. S9 *' Wherever symmetry is useful to the ^^^^ " soul, and may assist her functions, it is " agreeable to her; but wherever it is " useless, it becomes distasteful, because " it takes away variety: therefore things *' that wc see in succession ought to have " variety, for our soul has no difficulty in "seeing them: those, on the contrary, " that we see at one glance, ought to *' have symmetry;, thus at one glance we " see the front of a building, a parterre, " a temple; in such things there is always *' a symmetry which pleases the soul, by " the facility it gives her of taking the " whole object at once." It is upon this principle that I have frequently advised the most perfect sym- metry in those small flower-gardens which are generally placed in the front of a green-house or orangery, in some inner part of the grounds, where, being secluded from the general scenery, they become a kind of episode to the great and more conspicuous parts of the place. In such small inclosures irregularity would appear like affectation. Symmetry is also allow^ able, and indeed necessary, at or near i6 the front of a regular building; because, Avhere that displays correspondent parts, if the lines in contact do not also corre- spond, the house itself will appear twisted and awry. Yet this degree of symmetry ought to go no farther than a small dis- tance from the house, and should be con- fined to such objects as arc confessedly the works of art, for the use of man ;' such < " In forming plans for embellishing a field, an '^ artist without taste employs straight lines, circles, " and squares, because these look best upon paper. " He perceives not, that to humour and adorn nature " is the perfection of his art, and that nature, neglect- " ing regvalarity, distributes her objects in great variety " with a bold hand. (Some old gardens were disposed " like the human frame, dleys like legs, and arms " answering each other, the great walk in the middle " representing the trunk of the body.) Nature indeed, " in organized bodies comprehended under one view, " studies regularity, which, for the same reason, ought " to be studied in architecture. But in large objects, " which cannot be surveyed but in parts and by suc- " cession, regularity and uniformity would be useless " properties, because they cannot be discovered by the " eye. Nature therefore, in her large works, neglects " these properties, and in copying nature the artist " ought to neglect them." Lord Ka'ims Elements of Criticism. , 41 as a road, a walk, or an ornamental fenoe, whether of wood or iron; but it is not necessary it should extend to plantations, canals, or over the natural shape of the o;round. After tracing the various past changes conclusion of Taste in Gardening and Architecture, Enquiry. I cannot suppress my opinion that we are on the eve of some great future change in both those arts, in consequence of our having lately become acquainted Avith Scenery and Buildings in the interior provinces of India. The beautiful designs published by Daniell, Hodges, and other artists, have produced a new source of beauty, of elegance, and grace, which may justly vie with the best specimens of Grecian or Gothic architecture: and although the misapplication of these novel forms will probably introduce much bad taste in the future architecture of this country, yet we may reasonably expect that some advantage will be taken of such beautiful forms as have never before been 42 adopted in Europe. When a partiality for such forms is patronized and supported by the highest rank, and the most acknow- ledged taste, it becomes the duty of the professor to raise the importance, by in- creasing the variety of his art. It is there- fore with pecuhar satisfaction that my opinion has lately been required in some great works of this style, which are in too early a stage of progress to be referred to in this volume, although an enquiry into the past changes in the general Taste of a country may properly conclude with such notice concerning the future changes probably to be expected. PART II. 1 o improve the scenery of a country, introdus- and to display its native beauties with ad- vantage, is an art Avhich originated iii England, and has therefore been called English Gardening; yet, as this expression is not sufficiently appropriate, especially since Gardening, in its more confined sense of Horticulture, has been likewise brought to the greatest perfection in this country, I have adopted the term Landscape Gardening, because the Landscape art can only be advanced and perfected by wh'y^"o"^* the united powers of the landscape painter and the practical gardener. The former' must conceive a plan which the latter may be able to execute; for though a painter may represent a beautiful landscape on his canvas, and even surpass nature by the combination of her choicest materials; yet the luxuriant imagination of the painter " must be subjected to the gardener's prac- ■ tical knowledge in planting, digging, and 44 moving earth; that the simplest and rea- diest means of accomplishing each design may he suggested; since it is not by vast labour, or great expence, that nature is generally to be improved; on the con- trary, * Ce noble emploi demande un artiste qui pense, Prodigue de genie, mais non pas de depense.' LES JAKDINS. Requisites of a Landscape Gardener. If the knowledge of painting be insuf- ficient without that of gardening, on the other hand, the mere gardener, without somevskill in painting, will seldom be able to form a just idea of effects, before they are carried into e.veciition. This faculty of foreknowing effects constitutes the master in every branch of the polite arts; and can only be the result of a correct eye, a ready conception, and a fertihty of inven- tion, to which the professor adds practical experience. Of this art, painting and gardening are not the only foundations: the artist must possess a competent knowledge of mrveyingi mechanics^ hydraulics, agricul- 45 iure, botany, and architecture. It can hardly be expected that a man bred, and constantly living, in the kitchen garden, should possess all these requisites; yet, be- cause tlie immortal Brown was originally a kitchen gardener, it is too common to find every man, who can handle a rake or a spade, pretending to give his opinion on the most difficult points of improve- ment. It may perhaps be asked, from. whence Mr. BroM'n derived his know- ledge? the answer is obvious: that bein^ at first patronised by a few persons of rank and acknowledged good taste, he acquired by degrees the faculty of pre- judging effects; partly from repeated trials, and partly from the experience of those to whose conversation and intimacy his genius had introduced him : and although he could not design himself, there exist many pictures of scenery, made under his instruction, which his imagination alone had painted.'' k I must not in this place omit to acknowledge my obligations to Launcelot Brown, Esq. late member for 46 Since the art of Landscape Gardening requires the combination of certain por- tions of knowledge in so many different arts, it is no wonder that the professors of each should respectively suggest what is most obvious to their own experience; and thus the painter, the kitchen gardener, the engineer, the land agent, and the archi- tect, will frequently propose expedients different from those which the landscape gardener may think proper to adopt. The difficulties which I have occasionally ex- perienced from these contending interests induced me to make a complete digest of each subject proposed to my consideration, assigning the reasons on which my opinion was founded, and stating the comparative advantages to the whole, of adopting or rejecting certain parts of any plan. Finding that a mere^map was no more capable of conveying an idea of the Land- scape, than the ground plan of an house Huntingdonshire, the son of my predecessor, for having presented me with the maps of tlie greatest works in which his father had been consulted, both in their original and improved states. 47 does of its elevatmi, I not only delivered my opinions in writing, that they might not be misconceived or misrepresented; but I invented the peculiar kind of slides to my sketches, which have been imitated by the engraver in my two large works on this subject. Such drawings, to show the proposed effects, can be useful but in a very few instances : yet I have often remarked, with some mortification, that it is the only part of my labours which the com- mon observer has time or leisure to ex- amine; although it is the least part of that perfection in the art, to which these remarks will, I hope, in some degree con- tribute. I confess that the great object of my ambition was, not to produce a book of pictures, but to furnish some hints for establishing the fact, that true taste in Landscape Gardening, as well as in all the other polite arts, is not an accidental effect operating on the outward senses, but an appeal to the understanding, which i» able to compare, to separate, and to Characters. 48 combine, the various sources of pleasure derived from external objects, and to trace them to some pre-existing causes in the structure of the human mind.' Of All rational improvement of ground? Situations . • i i i and is necessarily founded on a due attention, to the Character and Situationt of the place to be improved : the former teaches what is advisable, the latter what is possible to be done. Nothing can be more distinct than these two objects, yet they must be jointly taken into consi- deration, because one is often influenced by the other. The Situation of a place always de- pends on Nature, which can only b? assisted, but cannot be entirely changed, or greatly controlled by Art: but the ' " Where disposition, Avhere decorum, where con- '* gruity, are concerned^ in short, wherever the best *' taste differs from the worst, I am con\ inced that the " understanding operates, and nothing else," Burkes Preface to Subrime and Beautiful. 49 Character of a place is wholly dependant on Art: thus the house, the buildings, the gardens, the roads, the bridges, and every circumstance which marks the lia- bitation of man, must be artificial; and although in the works of art we may imi- tate the forms and graces of nature, yet, to make them truly natural, always leads to absurdity. In, deciding on the character of any place, some attention must be given to its situation with respect to other places; to the natural shape of the ground on which the house is, or may be, built; to the size and style of the house, and ev'en to the rank of its possessor; together with the use which he intends to make of it, whether as a mansion, or constant residence, a sporting seat, or a villa; which particular objects require distinct and opposite treatment. To give some idea of the great variety that abounds in the characters and situa- tions of different places, it will be proper to insert a few specimens from different subjects. 50 Example of Bvandsbuvy is situated on a broad swel- KnoU. ling hill, the ground gently falling from the house (which looks on rich distances) in almost every direction. Except a very narrow slip of plantation to the north, two large elms near the house, and a fcAV in hedge-rows at a distance, the spot was destitute of trees : the first object, there- fore, was to shelter the house by home shrubberies; as on land of such value ex- tensive plantations would be an unpardon- able want of economy. No general plan of embellishment for a villa can perhaps be devised more eligible than that so often adopted by Mr. Brown, viz. to surround apaddock with afence,in- closing a shrubbery and gravel walk round the premises : this idea was happily exe- cuted by him at Stanmore; which I was desired to imitate at Brandsbury, with- out considering the difference of the two situations; but I had leave to explain pi}?^- self by the following remarks: and as this happened in 1789, it is here recorded as a testimony of my opinion concerning Belts in that early period of my practice. 51 " Where the natural shape of the *' ground is concave, as that at Stanmore, " nothing can be more desirable than to " plant the highest ground, and to flood " the lowest by a lake or river; in such a " situation the most pleasing scenes will " be within the pale, looking on the oppo- " site rising bank enriched with trees, '* or occasionally catching distant views " over or beyond the fence. " On the contrary^ if the natural shape " be convex, any fence crossing the decli- " vity must intercept those distant views " which an eminence should command, " and which at Brandsbury arc so rich " and varied, that nothing can justify " their total exclusion. A walk round a *' paddock in such a situation, inclosed " by a lofty fence, would be a continual '' source of mortification, as every step " would excite a wish, either to peep " through, or look over, the pale of con- " fmement." As all the surrounding country pre- sents the most beautiful pasture, instead of excluding the vast herds of cattle which 52 enliven the scene, I recommended only a sufficient quantity of land round the house to be inclosed, to shelter and skreen the barns, stables, kitchen garden, offices, and other useful but unpleasing objects; and within this inclosure, though not con- taining more than ten or twelve acres, I proposed to conduct walks through shrub- beries, plantations, and small sequestered lawns, sometimes winding into rich inter- nal scenery, and sometimes breaking out upon the most pleasing points for com- manding distant prospects : at such places the pale is sunk and concealed, while in others it is so hid by plantation, that the twelve acres thus inclosed appear consi- derably larger than the sixty acres ori- ginally intended to be surrounded by a park pale. example of MUtoH Park. Where the ground na- in'T'fSt turally presents very little inequality of °"""^^* surface, a great appearance of extent is rather disgusting than pleasing, and little advantage is gained by attempts to let in distant objects; yet there is such infi- mmn^it 53 nite beauty to be produced by judicious management of the home scenery, as may well compensate the want of prospect. There is always great cheerfulness in a view on a flat lawn well stocked with cat- tle, if it be properly bounded by wood at a distance ; neither too far off to lessen its importance, nor too near to act as a con- finement to the scene; and which contri- butes also to break those straight and parallel lines, that are the only causes of disgust in a flat situation. Uneven ground may be more striking as a picture, and more interesting to the stranger's eye; it may be more bold, or magnificent, or romantic; but the character of cheerful- ness is peculiar to the plain. Whether this effect be produced by the apparent ease of communication, or by the larger pro- portion of sky which enters into the land- scape, or by the different manner in which cattle form themselves into groups on a plain, and on a sloping bank, I confess I am at a loss to decide : all three causes may, perhaps, contribute to produce that degree of cheerfulness which every one 54 must have ol)served in tliC scenery of Milton. Exanpie of The Httscls is situated on a plain cle- an eevated ^ plan vated considerably above tlie neighbour- ing vale, and is therefore not like the foregoing example, which was in a low flat country. There are fe\r places M'hose situation and character have undergone a greater change. From the former mode of approaching the house, especially from the Cambridge side, a stranger could hardly suppose there was any uneven ground in the park. Even to the south, where the ground naturally falls towards a deep valley, the mistaken interference of art, in former days, had bolstered it up by flat bowling greens, and formal ter- races; while the declivity was so thickly ' planted, as entirely to choke up the lowest ground, and shut out all idea of inequa- lity. The fust object of improvement is to point out those beautiful shapes of surface which so copiously prevail in several parts of this park; the second is to change its character, of gloom arid 55 sombre dampness, to a more cheerful shade ; and the third is, to mark the whole with that degree of importance and extent, which the size of the house and the surrounding territory demand. If the first impressions made by any character e> ' °^ Crewe. place be greatly difterent from its true character, it becomes necessary to inves- tigate the cause that may have rendered the first judgment erroneous. I had been led, from a consideration of the antiquity of the Crewe family in Cheshire, to expect , a certain degree of magnificence; but my first view ot" the house being from an un- favourable point, and at too great a dis- tance to judge of its real magnitude, I conceived it to be very small; and (mea- suring the surrounding objects by this false standard) the whole place lost that importance which I afterwards found it assume on a closer examination. This may be explained from the following causes. In former days the dignity of a house was supposed to increase in proportion to the quantity of walls and buildings with 56" which it M'as surrounded: to these were sometimes added tall ranks of trees, whose sliade contributed to the gloom at that time held essential to maanificence. Modern taste lias discovered, that greatness and cheerfulness are not incom- patible; it has thrown down the ancient palisade and lofty walls, because it is aware that liberty is the true portal of happiness; yet Avhilc it encourages more cheerful freedom, it must not lay aside becoming dignity. When we formerly approached the mansion through a vil- lage of its poor dependants, we were not offended at their proximity, because the massy gates and numerous courts suffi- ciently marked the distance betwixt the palace and the cottage.™ As it is only from the number and variety of different cases that any general principles can be deduced, I shall briefly add a few more to the preceding (which m I have purposely recorded this example, to shew my early objection to the modem system of hiding the offices and appendages to houses, especially to ancient mansions. 57 are extracted from the " Sketches and Hints"), in which the greatest contrast may be discovered. Where the ground near a mansion is Natural Situations evidently unnatural, it is necessary to changed by begin the enquiry by endeavouring to discover to what extent art has inter- fered : three cases, nearly similar in this respect, have occurred at TVelbecky at JFobum Abbey, and at Kidbrook. The oTound near each of these houses consists of a plain, which has been formed by levelling and filling in the cavities pro- duced by the junction of two brooks, although scarcely any traces remain of their original courses. It has been re- marked that in many parts of America and the West Indies the destruction of woods has rendered the brooks and rivers almost dry; and doubtless the same cause has operated in this country, as may be observed in the vicinity of former great forests. In Leland's Itinerary, Welbeck is described as standing at the conflux of two streams, one of which is now become so small, as to be carried through an arch 58 under ground. The same thing is done at Wohurn Abbey, and also at Kidbrook. It is now perhaps equally impossible and unadvisable to restore the ground to its natural shapes; but an enquiry into such original shape of ground facilitates the operations of any change in the surface. Levelling lu the "Observations, &c.'' many ex- Ground. , . r* 1 • 1 amples are given ot changing the sur- face, or, as it is technically called, "mov- ing ground;" to these I may add, that one of the greatest difficulties I have ex- perienced in practice proceeds from that fondness for levelling, so prevalent in all Brown's workmen : every hillock is by them loM'cred, and every hollow filled, to produce a level surface : when, on the contrary, with far less expence, the sur- face may be increased in apparent extent by raising the hills and sinking the hol- lows. Such operations must of course be confined to subjects of small extent, and it is in these that they produce great beauty and variety." " I may refer to examples of tliis mode of levelling ground at Bulstrode, where two small dells in the flower In disposing of the area opposite Sloane Example Street, a new mode of treatment for a cadogan square was adopted. Instead of raising the surface to the level of the street, as had heen usually the custom, by bringing earth from a distance, I recommended a valley to be formed through its whole length, with other lesser valleys flowing into it, and the hills to be raised by the ground so taken from the valleys. Although, in compliance with the general custom and use of a square, the walk on two sides is carried straight, yet the other walks are made to take such curves as the supposed natural shapes of the ground might warrant; and thus the appearance of nature is in some degree preserved in this evidently artificial subject. I cannot omit to mention, that in the plan, a brook was proposed to pass through the valley, which might have been supplied with the garden are united into one valley : and at Wilton Park, in that neighbourhood, where a small valley has been formed between the house and the orangerie with great effect. Go overflowings from the serpentine river; but tliis was omitted in the execution. Russell The cliflerent character and situation Square. r r n a or liusscU Square may furnish another example. The ground of this area had all been brought to one level plain at too great an ex pence to admit of its being altered; and the great size of this square is in a manner lost by this insipid shape. The Statue. Equestriuii Statues have usually been placed in the centre of public squares, but in one of such large dimensions no com- mon sized object could be sufficiently dis- tinguished: it was therefore very judi- ciously determined (by a committee) to place the fine Statue of the late Duke of Bedford, now ])reparing by the ingenious Mr.Wesmacot, on one side of the square facing Bloomsbury, and forming an a])- propriate perspective, as seen through the vista of the streets crossing the two squares. This pedestrian statue, supported by a group of four figures, on a lofty pedes- tal, will be of sufficient magnitude for tlie breadth of the vista; though it would ■^1 '■;■■. have been lost in the middle of so large a square. Much of the eifect of this splen- did ornament will depend on its back ground ; for although the white pedestal may be relieved by the shrubs immedi- ately behind it, the bronze figures should be seen opposed to the sky. This is a circumstance which 1 hope will be at- tended to in the future pruning of those trees in the grove behind it. As this square is a subject easily re- Details and ferred to, and as for the first few years of its growth it will be liable to some criti- cism, because few are in the habit of an- ticipating the future effects of plantation, the intention of the plan is here inserted. To skreen the broad gravel-walk from the street, a compact hedge is intended to be kept dipt to about six feet high; this, composed of hornbeam and privet, will become almost as impervious as a hedge of laurels, or other evergreens, which will not succeed in a London at- mosphere. Within the gravel -walk is a broad margin of grass, on which the children may be kept always in sight 62 from the windows of the houses imme- diately opposite; and for this reason, (founded on the particular wishes of some motliers) i he lawn is less clothed with plan- tation than it might have been on the principle of beauty only. This circular lawn, or zone of open space, surrounds the central area, in which have been con- sulted the iuture effect of shade, and a greater degree of privacy or seclusion. The outline of this area is formed by a walk under two rows of lime trees, regularly planted at equal distances, not in a perfect circle, but finishing towards the statue in two straight lines directed to the angle of the pedestal. It is possible that some fanciful advocates for natural gardening will olyect to this disposition of the trees as too formal; and they will be further shocked at my expressing a wish that the arch formed by these trees over the walk should be cut and trimmed so as to become a perfect artificial shade, forming a cloister-like walk composed of trees. For this purpose the suckers or sprays from the stems should be encou- 63 vagcd, to make the interior perfectly secluded. In the due attention to the training and trimming such trees by art consists the difference between a garden and a park or forest; and no one will, I trust, contend that a public square should affect to imitate tlie latter. The area inclosed within these lime trees may be more varied; and as it will consist of four distinct compartments, that nearest the statue is proposed to be shaded by a grove of various trees, scat- tered with less regularity, while tlie otlier three may be enriched with flowers and shrubs each disposed in a different man- ner to indulge the various tastes for regu- lar or irregular gardens; yet always bear- ina* in mind that tlie trees should not be suffered to rise too high in the line imme- diately behind the statue. As from the great extent of Russell Square it is advisable to provide some seats for shade or shelter, a Reposoir is proposed in the centre, with four low seats, covered with slate or canvas, to f-liclter from rain, and four open seats to 64 be covered with climbing plants, trained on open lattice, to defend from the sun : these seats surround a small court-yard, to be kept locked, in which may be sheds for gardeners tools, and other useful purposes. A few years hence, when the present patches of shrubs shall have become thick- ets,— when the present meagre rows of trees shall have become an umbrageous avenue, — and the children now in their nurses' arms shall have become the pa- rents or grandsires of future generations, — this square may serve to record, that the Art of Landscape Gardening in the beginning of the nineteenth century was not directed by whim or caprice, but founded on a due consideration of utility as well as beauty, without a bigotted adherence to forms and lines, whether straight, or crooked, or serpentine. Examples I" tliosc placcs whcrc thc house already dependant cxists, aud tlic charactcT is fixed, the on peculiar , . • ^ i circiun- grounds must m a certain degree be accommodated to the style of the house: but where a new house is to be built, its stances. proper site and character will depend on various circumstances, of which I shall give two singular examples. ^ Within the last forty years the property and even the characters of individuals have undergone more change than in any period of the English history: we daily see M'calth acquired by industry, or by fortunate speculations, succeeding to the hereditary estates of the most ancient fa- milies; and we see the descendants of these families reduced, by the vain attempt to vie in expence with the successful sons of commerce: this will often account for the increase of novel or fantastic edifices, and the decrease of those venerable spe- cimens of former grandeur, the baronial castle, or the castellated mansion. Few- instances occur where the honest pride of ancestry is blended with the prudence and success of commercial importance; yet in one of these I had occasion to deliver the following opinion : " The antiquity, the extent, and beauty " of Park," together with the com- " The name is omitted^ at the request of the proprietor, F 66 " mand of adjoining property, might jus- " tify the expenditure of ten times the " sum to which I am instructed to limit " my plans. I shall therefore describe *' what may be done, and not what might " be done, to fix the true character for " this house, since it cannot be a palace, " and perhaps ought not to be a castle: " from its situation it certainly ought not " to be a villa; it ought not to be a cot- " tage, and as a shooting-box, the pre- " sent rooms in the farm-house are suf- " ficient for a bachelor: but this must be " the residence of a family; and being '* amid the mountains of Wales, at some " distance from society, we must not only '* provide for the accommodation of its " own family in all its various branches, " but for the entertainment of other fa- *' milies in the neighbourhood, and for " the reception of friends and visitors " from distant parts; all this cannot be " expected in a very small house; and " since (without great expence) the an- ** cient baronial castle cannot be imi- " tated, we may perhaps with less diffi- 67 " CLilty restore that sort of importance " which was forinerly annexed to the •' old Manor House, where the lord of old Manor House. " the soil resided among his tenants, not " merely for the purpose of collecting *' his rents, but to share the produce of " his estates with his humble dependants, " and where daily plenteous hospitalit}' " was not sacrificed to the occasional " ostentatious refinements of luxury and *' parade." " It is not meant to condemn the im- " provements in comfort or convenience " enjoyed in modern society, or to leave " unprovided for every accommodation •' suited to the present habits of life, but " to furnish the means of enjoying them '' without departing from the ancient " character of the place, by erecting or '• restoring on the same identical spot, " and in nearly a similar style, the Grange^ " or old Manor House, which will not be " found incongruous with the surround- " ing scenery, when spread out and con- " nected with all its appendages on the 68 ' ' cavity between the two hills on the sum- *' mit of this beautiful mountain." ^ Longnor. I shall couclude these examples by a remarkable circumstance of another house being restored in the same style and cha- racter on the original site. At the corner of the old mansion of the Burtons at Longnor, is a tomb erected over the body of an ancestor of the present family, who having early become a protestant, died through excess of joy at the news of Queen Elizabeth's accession to the throne, and was refused burial in St. Chad's church at Shrewsbury. On this tomb (though now P One of these hills, within a short walk from the house, commands a view of a rich cultivated valley wind- ing through this mountainous scene. Such a prospect derives additional interest with the proprietor of an estate, who must naturally feel the satisfaction of look- ing upon hills and dales, and villages and farms, which he may call his own 3 a satisfaction which, however it may be ridiculed, the vanity of property and the pride of possessions may innocently be gratified, when the proprietor has humanity to reflect how far his influence and benevolence may be extended over the prospect he admires. 69 scarcely legible) is the following inscrip- tion in characters of that date. HERE LIETH THE BODY OF » EDWARD BURTON, ESQ. WHO DIED ANNO DOMINI I55S. JVast for denying Christ, or some notorious Jact, That this man's body Christian burial lack't? Oh no, not so! his fait hjn I true profession Was the chief cause, which then was held transgression. When Popery here did reign, the see of Rome Would not admit to any such a tomb Within her idol-temple walls; but he. Truly professing Christianity, Was like Christ Jesus in a garden laid. Where he shall rest in peace till it be said, Come, faithful servant, come receive with me A just reward for thy integrity. I advised this tomb to be repaired, and the inscription preserved on a brass plate, covered with a gothic canopy of the same date with the event. This forms an appro- priate ornament at tlie angle of the house, Avhich stands on a bold terrace in the gar- den, commanding an extensive view of ture. 70 the Severn and the distant Welsh moun- tains."' , ) fi. i, Buildings The perfection of Landscape Gardening of Art. depends on a concealment of those opera- tions of arty hy which nature is emhel- lished ; but where buildings are intro- duced, art declares herself openly. Architcc- This circumstancc renders it abso- lutely necessary for the Landscape Gar- dener to have a competent knowledge of Architecture. I am, however, well aware, that no art is more difficult to be acquired; and although every inferior workman pre- tends to give plans for building, yet per- fection in that art is confined to a very ^t\v gentlemen, who, with native genius, and a liberal education, have acquired good taste by travel and observation. This 'I It was deemed necessary to take down the old house entirely, and I hope it is rebuilt with little varia- tion from the original character : but as in this case I was not consulted as the architect, and have never seen the present house, I can only speak of its situationj and not of its character. . 71 remark proceeds from the frequent in- stances of good houses built without any taste, and attempts to embellish scenery b^ ornamental buildings that are totally incongruous to their respective situations. The country carpenter or bricklayer, or even the London builder, is accustomed to consider detached parts ; the architect, on the contrary, considers the whole. There is some degree of merit in building good rooms; there is more in connecting these rooms together: but the architect alone can add to these an outside according to the established rules of art; and where these rules are grossly violated, the eye of taste will instantly be offended, although it may not always be able to explain the cause of its disgust. To my profession peculiarly belongs External , , /. 1 -^ ^ r Effect of the external part or architecture, or a Building. ' I am happy to defend my predecessor, as well as rtiyself, from tlie imputation of blending architecture with gardening, by the following extract of a letter from the celebrated author of the English Garden; whose advice (I am sorry to say) did not prevail. '' I have lately had some correspondence with Mr. knowledge of effects of buildings on the surrounding scenery, 1 shall therefore take the folloM'ing extract from my MS. relating to Welbeck, in the possesssion of his Grace the Duke of Portland. As every conspicuous building in a park should derive its character from " Penn concerning the intended monument you men- " tion" (to Gray, the poet, who is buried in the church- yard adjoining to Stoke Park) 3 " and finding that he " means to consult you on the subject, I have presumed " to tell him, that he will do well if he gives you the " absolute choice of the spot," as well as the size of tl>e " building, which he means to ei-ect to my excellent " friend's memory : for tliough I hold the architectural " taste of Mr. Wyatt in supreme estimation, I also am " uniformly of opinion, that where a place is to be *' formed, he who disposes the ground and arranges "■ the plantations ought to fix the situation at least, if " not to determine the shape and size of the ornamental " buildings. Brown, I know, was ridiculed for turning " architect, but I always thought he did it from a kind " of necessity, having found the great difficulty \\ Inch " must frequently have occurred to him in forming a " picturesque whole, where the previous building had " been ill placed, or of improper dimensions. " I am. Sir, your most obedient servant, Aston, April 24, 179-2. " W. MasoN." 73 that of the house, it is very essential to fix with some precision what that charac- ter ought to be; yet the various tastes of successive ages have so blended opposite styles of architecture, that it is often dif- ficult, in an old house, to determine the date to which its true character belongs. From the external effect one might pro- nounce that there are only two charac- oniy two ters in buildings; the one may be called in 1 ' 7 • / Huildings. ptrpendicular, and the other norizontal. Under the first I class all buildings erected Perpendi- cular. in England before and during the early part of Queen Elizabeth's reign, whether deemed Saracenic, Saxon, Norman, or - the Gothic of the thirteenth and four- teenth centuries; and even that peculiar kind called Queen Elizabeth's Gothic, in which turrets prevailed, though battle- ments were discarded, and Grecian co- lumns occasionally introduced. Under the horizontal character I include all edi- Horizontal fices built since the introduction of a more regular architecture, whether it copies the remains of Grecian or Roman models. There is, indeed, a third kind, in which Lines. 74 neither the horizontal nor perpendicu- lar lines prevail, but which consists of a confused mixture of both; this is called Chinese. ' ' The two characters of architecture might perhaps be distinguished by merely calling the one Gothic, or of old date, and the other Grecian, or modem; but it is not the style or date that necessarily de- termines the character. If a building is seen from so great a distance that none of its parts can be distinguished, yet the prevalence of horizontal or perpendi- cular lines at once fixes and determines the character. The first we should call a Grecian, or modern house; the latter a Gothic, or an old house. I may here observe, that it is unnecessary to retain the Gothic character within the mansion, at least farther than the hall, as it would subject such buildings to much inconve- nience ; for since modern improvement has added glass sashed windows to the ancient Grecian and Roman architecture, in like manner the inside of a Gothic building may, with the same propriety, 75 avail itself of modern comforts and con- venience. ' To preserve any dea:ree of unity in a t^^ ^ .^ ^. >/ Buildings place, the character of the house should of one ^ Character. prevail in all such buildings as are very conspicuous, or intended as ornaments to the general scenery; such as lodges, pavilions, temples, belvideres, and the like. Yet in adapting the Gothic style to buildings of small extent there may be some reasonable objection: the fasti- diousness even of good taste will per- haps observe, that we always see vast piles of buildings in ancient Gothic re- mains, and that it is a modern, or false Gothic only, which can be adapted to so small a building as a keeper's lodge, a reposoir, or a pavilion. There may be some force in this objection; but there is always so much picturesque effect in the small fragments of those great piles, that without representing them as ruins, it is surely allowable to copy them for the purposes of ornament: and, with re- spect to the mixture of different styles in Gothic edifices, I think there is no incon- !■ 76 gruity, provided the same character of perpendicular architecture be studiously retained; because there is hardly a cathe- dral in England in which such mixture may not be observed: and while the anti- quary only can discover the Saxon and Norman styles from the Gothic of later date, the eye of taste will never be of- fended, except ])y the occasional intro- duction of some Grecian or Roman orna- ments. The characters of Greciaji and Gothic architecture are better distinguished by an attention to their general effects, than to the minute parts peculiar to each. It is in architecture as in painting, beauty depends on light and shade, and these in - . buildings are caused by the openings or projections in the surface: if these tend Horizontal to pioducc liorizoutal Hncs, the building G^edaiu ^^'i^ be dccmcd Grecian, however whim- sically the doors or windows may be con- structed: if, on the contrary, the shadows Upright give a prevalence of perpendicular lines, Gothic. ' the general character of the building will be Gothic: this is evident from the large 77 houses built in Queen Elizabeth's tipne, where Grecian columns arc introduced; nevertheless, we always consider them as Gothic buildings, of which magnificent specimens remain in Longleat and Wool- lerton. In Grecian architecture we expect bold cornices, Avindows ranged perfectly on the same line, and that line often more strongly marked by an horizontal facia. But there are few breaks of any great depth; and if there be a portico, the sha- dow made by the columns is very trifling, compared wilh that broad horizontal sha- dow proceeding from the soffit. The only ornament its roof will admit of, is either a flat pediment departing very little from the horizontal tendency, or a dome still rising from an horizontal base. With such Lines of buildings it may often be observed that how best' ^ . ^ , . , , contrasted trees or a pointed or conic shape have a by Trees, beautiful effect, I believe chiefly from the circumstance of contrast; though an association with the ideas of Italian paint- ings, where mc often see Grecian edifices blended with firs and cypresses, may also 78 hav.e some influence on the mind. Trees of a conic shape, mixed with Gothic buildings, are less pleasing, from their affinity with the prevalent lines of the ' architecture, which are all perpendicular. The play of light and shadow in Gothic structures proceeds from those bold pro- jections, either of towers or buttresses, which cause strong shadows in a perpen- dicular direction: the hne of cornice is hardly }>erceptible, and the horizontal line of roof is broken into an irregular surface by the pinnacles, turrets, and bat- tlements that form the principal enrich- ment of Gothic architecture. It is for this reason that where the shape of the ground occasionally hides the lower part of the building, while its roof is relieved by trees, whose forms contrast with those of the Gothic outline, as at Donnington, this perpendicular, or Gothic style, is pre- ferable to the horizontal, or Grecian. Conclusion. As this observation is new, and may, perhaps, be thought too fanciful, I made my appeal to the eye by the help of plates (which the nature of this work will not 79 admit), from which the following general principle seemed fairly to be deduced, viz. that the prevailing lines of Gothic buildings are best contrasted with round headed trees, or, as Milton calls them, tufted trees: ' Towers and battlements he sees, > Embosom'd high in tufted trees,' While, on the contrary, the prevailing lines of the Grecian will accord either with round or conic trees; but, if the base be hid, the contrast of the latter will be most pleasing.' The Gothic style of architecture be- Gothic ing the best calculated for additions or best^for repairs to an old house, I have occasionally 3 Since most of our pleasures may be traced to mixed sources, and are always heightened by tliose of association, I am indebted to a periodical critic for the following remark : " Round-headed trees are more par- "^ ticularly well associated witli tlie Gothic style of archi- " tecture, as they are the only species of trees in this " country at least, that appear coeval with antique struc- '' tures." Perhaps from hence arises part of the dis- gust at seeing modern Gothic buildings, however well designed, surrounded by firs and Lombardy poplars. 80 ventured to recommend it on the joint principles of utility and economy; to which may be added, that picturesque effect, M'hich is always produced by the mixture of Gothic buildings with round- headed trees. Where the external appearance of a house has been objectionable, instead of clogging all the iniprovements with the dread of shewing the house, I have some- times found it possible, without any very great expence, to convert the house itself into the most pleasing object throughout every part of the grounds from whence it is visible.' I confess there is much danger in adopting the Gothic, not executed under the direction of architects who have had great experience in that style of building; t When Mr. Price originally attacked the art of Landscape Gardening, I was siu-prised to find in his Essay so many of the ideas which I had rhentioned to him in conversation, and particularly the foregoing remarks concerning the prevalent lines in architecture. But in acquiring knowledge, it is natural to remember any new ideas gained, without always recollecting the source from which they were derived. 81 nor does it always happen that the gen- tlemen who have studied their profession in Italy are competent to the task which belongs to the student and observer of English antiquities. However various opinions may be on of the Situation the choice of a situation for a house, yet foraHouse. there appear to be certain principles on which such choice ought to be founded; and these may be deduced from the fol- lowing; considerations: First. The natural character of the surrounding country. Secondly. The style, character, and size of the house. Thirdly. The aspects or exposure, both with regard to the sun and the prevalent winds of the country. Fourthly. The shape of the ground near the house. Fifthly. The views from the several apartments; and Slvthly. The numerous objects of com- fort; such as a dry soil, a supply of good water, proper space for offices, with va- rious other conveniences essential to a mansion in the country; and which in a town may sometimes he dispensed with, or at least very differently disposed. It is hardly possible to arrange these six considerations according to their re- spective weight or influence; this must depend on a comparison of one with the other, under a variety of circumstances; and even on the partiality of individuals, in affixing different degrees of import- ance to each consideration. Hence it is obvious, that there can be no danger of sameness in any two designs conducted on principles thus established; since in every different situation some one or more of these considerations must preponder- ate; and the most rational decision will result from a combined view of all the separate advantages or disadvantages to be foreseen from each. It was the custom of former times, in the choice of domestic situations, to let comfort and convenience prevail over every other consideration* 83 Thus the ancient baronial castles ^vere Bamniai , ., , . p 1 MI • • Castles iti built on the summits or nills, m times lofty bias. when defence and security suggested the necessity of placing them there; and dif- ficulty of access was a recommendation: but when this necessity no longer existed, (as mankind are always apt to fly from one extreme to the other) houses were universally erected in the lowest situa- tions, with a probable design to avoid those inconveniences to which the lofty positions had been subject : hence the frequent sites of many large mansions, and particularly abbeys and monasteries. Abbeys in the residence of persons who were willing to sacrifice the beauty of prospect for the more solid and permanent advantages of why 1 1 •, 1 , . . 1 • 1 situiuedlow liabitable convenience; amongst which, shelter from wind, and a supply of water for store fish-ponds, were predominant considerations. Nor shall I withhold the foUov/ing conjecture, which I hope will not be considered as a mere sujra'cstion of fancy: — When such buildings were surrounded by trees, for the comfort of shade; might not the occasional want 84 of circulation in the air have given the first idea of cutting long narrow glades through the woods, to admit a current of wind? And is it not possible that this was the origin of those avenues which we fre- quently see pointing, from every direc- tion, towards the most respectable habi- tations of the two last centuries? Character Bcsidcs the character which the style and size of the house will confer on a place, there is a natural character of coun- try which must influence the site and dis- position of a house; and though, in the country, there is not the same occasion as in towns for placing offices under ground, or for setting the principal apartments on a basement story, (it being more desir- able to walk from the house on the same level with the ground, ) yet there are situ- ations which require to be raised above the natural surface. This is the case at Wel- beck, wlierc the park not only abounds with bold and conspicuous inequalities, but in many places there are almost im- perceptible swellings in the ground, which art M^ould in vain attempt to remedy, from I 85 their vast breadth; though they are evi- dent defects, whenever they appear to cut across the stems of trees, and hide only half their trunks; for if the whole trunk were perfectly hid by such a swell, the injury would be less, because the imagi- nation is always ready to sink the valley and raise the hill, if not checked in its efforts by some actual standard of mea- , surement. In such cases the best expe- dient is to view the ground from a gentle eminence, that the eye may look over, and of course lose these small inequalities. As the improvement at Welbeck, ori- wdbeck. ginally suggested by his Grace the Duke of Portland, has, I confess, far exceeded even my own expectations, I shall take the liberty of drawing some general con- clusions on the subject, from the success of this bold experiment. x\t the time I liad the honour to deliver my former opi- nion, my idea of raising the ground near the house was confined to the west front alone; and, till it had been exemplified and executed, few could comprehend the seeming paradox of burying the bottom 86 of the house, as the means of elevating the wliole structure; or, as it Mas wittily expressed, "moulding up the roots of the venerable pile, that it might shoot up in fresh towers from its top." Shapes of All natural shapes of ground must ne- cessarily fall under one of these descrip- tions, viz. contex, concave^ plane, or in- ciuied plane. I will suppose it granted that, except in very romantic situations, all the rooms on the principal floor ought to range on the same level, and that there must be a gentle descent from the house every way. If the ground be naturally Convex. couvcx, or what is generally called a knoll, the size of the house nmst be adapted to the size of the knoll: but if abuildino- of three times as long should be required, it is evident that the crown of the hill must be taken off, and then the shape of the ground becomes very different from its original form ; for although the small liouse would have a sufficient platform, the large one will be on the brink of a very steep bank, and this difficulty would be increased by raising the ground to set 87 the large house on the same level with the smaller one. It therefore follows, that if the house must stand on a natural hillock, the huilding should not he larger than its situation will admit; and where such hillocks do not exist in places pro- per for a house in every other respect, it is sometimes possible for art to supply what nature seems to have denied: but it is not possible in all cases; a circum- stance which proves the absurdity of those architects who design and plan a house, Avithout any previous knowledge of the situation or shape of the ground on which it is to be built. When the shape is naturally either concavc concave or perfectly flat, the house would not be habitable, unless the ground sloped sufficiently to drain off the water from it. This is often effected, in a slight degree, merely by the earth that is dug from the cellars and foundations: but if, instead of sinking the cellars, they were to be built upon the level of the ground, they may afterwards be so covered Av^ith earth, as to give all the appearance of a natural 88 knoll, the ground falling from the house to any distance Avhere it may best unite with the natural shape, or as it frequently happens, that there may be small hillocks, one of them may be removed to effect this purpose." Inclined Tlus expedient can also be used in an Plane. . inclined plane, falling toward the house, M'here the inclination is not very great : but it may be observed of the inclined plane, that the size of the house must be governed in some measure by the fall of the aground; since it is evident that it would require an artificial terrace on one side; and where the ground cannot be made to look natural, it is better at all times to avow the interference of art, . than to attempt an ineflectual conceal- ment of it. Such situations are peculiarly applicable to the Gothic style, in which horizontal lines are less necessary. A Ricise. I have hitherto supposed the shape of the ground as it cuts across in any one " As at Donnington, a seat of Earl Moiraj where the house forms a quadrangle, inclosing an inner court , a whole story lower than appears externally. 89 direction; but another shape is also to be considered: thus it generally happens that a knoll is longer one way than the other, or it may even extend to a natural ridge, of a sufficient length for a long and narrow house; but such a house must be fitted to the ground, since it would be absurd in the architect to place it either diagonally or directly across such a ridge. The same holds good of the inclined plane, which is, in fact, always the 5ide of a val- ley, Avhose general inclination must be consulted in the j)Osition of the building. A square house Mould appear awry, un- less its fronts were made to correspond with the shape of the adjacent ground. On a dead flat or plain the principal AHane. apartments ought to be elevated, as the only means of shewing the landscape to advantage. Where there is no inequality it will be very difficult to unite any arti- ficial ground with the natural shape: it will, in this case, be advisable either to raise it only a very few feet, or to set the house on a basement story. But Avhere- ever a park abounds in natural inequali- 90 ties, even though the ground near the house should be flat, we may boldly ven- ture to create an artificial knoll, as it has been executed at Welbeck." Water, On high Ground. There is something so fascinating in the appearance of water, that Mr. Brown thought it carried its own excuse, how- ever unnatural its situation ; and there- fore in many places under his direction I have found water on the tops of hills, which I have been obliged to remove into lower ground, because the deception was not sufficiently complete to satisfy the mind as well as the eye. A common observer supposes that water is usually found, and therefore most natural, in the lowest ground; but X A similar treatment was attempted atWoburn: bat as the situations and character of the buildings are totally opposite, I have been obliged to remove the earth from the soutli front of that magnificent palace, and restore it to its natural shape, reserving only 80 much as forms an artificial terrace. 91 a moment's consideration will evince the error of this supposition. Places abound- ing in lakes and pools are generally the highest in their respective countries; and without such a provision of nature the world could not be supplied with rivers, which take their source in the highest mountains, and after innumerable checks to retard and expand their waters, they gradually descend towards the sea. If nature be the model for art in the com- position of Landscape, we must imitate her process, as well as her effects. Water, by its own power of gravitation, seeks the lowest ground, and runs along the valleys.^ If in its course the water meets y Indeed I have sometimes fancied, that as action and reaction are ahke, and as cause and effect often change their situations, so valleys are increased in depth by the course of waters perpetually passing along them: thus, if the water only displaces one inch of soil in each year, it will amount to 500 feet in 6000 years; and this is equal to the deepest valleys in the world. In loose soils, the sides of the hiUs will gradually wash down, and form open valleys; in hard soils they will become narrow valleys, but ravines I suppose to be the effect of sudden convulsions from fire or steam, and not made by any gradual abrasion of the surface. with any obstruction, it spreads itself into a lake or meer proportionate to the mag- nitude of the obstruction: and thus we often see in the most picturesque coun- tries a series of pools connected by chan- nels of the rivers which supply them. From certain points of view these pools, though on different levels, will take the appearance of one continued lake or river, only broken by islands or promontories, covered with brushwood: and from hence Avas taken Mr. Brown's frequent attempt of uniting two pools, which could not be brought together in reality, but which become apparently united by an eifect of perspective, not always attended to in gardening. Perspective, PcFspective, in painting, is known to Linear. ^^ ^^ ^^^^ kiuds; the first is called linear perspective, and is that by which objects appear to diminish in proportion to the distance at which they are viewed: this has indeed been already mentioned, in referring to the use of cattle as a scale of measurement; a horse, a cow, or a sheep, is very nearly of the same size, and with 93 this size the mind is perfectly acquainted; but trees, bushes, hills, or pools of water, are so various in their dimensions, that we are never able to judge exactly of their size, or at what distance they appear to us. The second kind o? perspective is aerial, Aerial. as it depends on the atmosphere; since •we observe that objects not only diminish in their size, but in their distinctness, in proportion to the body of air betwixt the eye and the objects : those nearest are strongly represented, while other parts, as they recede, become less distinct, till at last the outline of a distant hill seems melted into the air itself. Such are the \d.ws of aerial perspective on all objects, but not on all alike; since it is the peculiar property of liglit, and the reflection of light unmixed by colour, to suffer much less by comparison than any other object. It is for this reason that we are so much deceived in the distance of perfectly zvhite objects: the light reflected from a white- washed house makes it appear out of its place; snow, at many miles distance, ap- k Unity of Design. 94 peats to be in the next field : indeed, so totally are we unable to judge of light, that a meteor within our atmosphere is sometimes mistaken for a lantern ; at others for a falling star. Water, like a mirror, reflecting the light, becomes equally uncertain in its real distance; and, therefore, an apparent union of the two or more pools may often be effected by attending to this circum- stance. Unity of design in all compositions is one of the first principles in poetry, paint- ing, or music; and that it prevails also in Landscape Gardening there is no stronger proof than the following fact, viz. the most superficial observer of park scenery will be offended by the view of two sepa- rate pieces of water; and will probably ask, M'ithout considering the difference of levels, why they are not united ? To say it is impossible will neither satisfy the mind nor the eye; but both may be pleased by the help of deception, because our pleasures are oftener excited by ap- pearances than by realities. 9o I am awai'e of the common objection Deceptions where to all efforts that may be deemed decep- allowable. tions; but it is the business of taste in every polite art to avail itself of strata- gems, by which the imagination may be deceived : and thus also in Landscape Gardening, many things may be deemed (leceptio?is, by which we try to conceal the agency of art. We plant the hills to make Deceptions where them appear higher; we sink the fences necessary. to make the lawns appear larger; we open the banks of a brook to make it ap- pear a river, or stop its current to make an expanse of water: and we disguise terminations to give appearance of con- tinuity; nor is the imagination so fasti- dious as to reject well supported decep- tions, even after the want of reality is discovered. Thus when we are interested by a dramatic performance, and our feel- ings powerfully agitated, we do not en- quire into the truth of what causes our mirth or sorrow; on the contrary, w^e forget that we see a Garrick or a Siddons, and join in the griefs of a Belvidere or a Beverley, though we know that no such 96 such persons ever existed : it is sufficient if so much as we see bears an exact resem- blance of nature under similar circum- stances. In the same manner the magnificent water at Blenheim strikes with wonder and delight, when we neither see its be- ginning nor end. We do not vicM^ it with less pleasure after we are told that it was not originally a natural lake, but that Mr. Brown, stopping the current of a small river, collected this body of water into the splendid shape we admire. It has been correctly observed by Mr. Burke, that a " true artist should put " a generous deceit on the spectators, " and effect the noblest designs by easy " methods. Designs that are vast only '' by their dimensions are always the sign " of a common and low imagination. No " work of art can be great, but as it de- /'ceives; to be otherwise is the prero- " gativc of nature only." 97 The view from the principal apart- Park 1111 • Scenery ments should bear some proportion to distinct . from the importance of the house itselt; not so much in the quantity or extent of the prospect, as in the nature of the objects which compose the scenery; an extensive prospect heing only applicable to a castle, a villa, or a belvedere. The landscape from a palace should every where appear appropriate to the magnificence or plea- sure of its inhabitants: the whole should be, or at least appear to be, a park, unli- mited and unconfmed by those lines of division or boundary which characterize the large grass fields of a dairy farm. Yeit a park has a character distinct from a forest; for while we admire, and even imi- Forest 1 • -1 1 (- Scenery. tate, the romantic wildness or nature, we ought never to forget that a park is the habitation of men, and not solely devoted to beasts of the forest. I am convinced that some enthusiastic admirers of uncul- tivated nature are too apt to overlook this distinction. Park scenery, compared with forest scenery, is like an historical picture compared with a landscape; na- 98 ture must alike prevail in both, but that which relates to man should have a higher place in the scale of arts. Woods enriched by buildings, and water enlivened by a number of pleasure boats, alike contribute to mark a visi- ble difference betwixt the magnificent scenery of a park, and that of a seques- tered forest; the trees, the water, the lawns, and the deer, are alike common to both. Gravel Thcrc is auothcr distinction betwixt Roads. park and forest scenery, on which I shall beg leave to state my opinion, as it has been a topic of some doubt and difficulty amongst the Amateurs of Landscape Gar- dening, viz. Hinv far gravel roads are admissible across the lawns of a park: yet surely very little doubt will remain on this subject, when we consider a park as a place of residence; and reflect on the great inconvenience to which grass roads are continually liable. I have endeavoured to discover two reasons which may have given rise to the common technical objection, that a gravel 99 road cuts up a laxm ; the first arises from tlie defect observed after an avenue has been destroyed, where the straight line of gravel, which formerly was less offen- sive, while accompanied by trees, becomes intolerable when it divides a small lawn directly through the middle. The other arises from the effect which even a wind- ing turnpike road has in destroying the sequestered and solemn dignity of forest scenery: but in a park, a road of conve- nience, and of breadth proportioned to its intention, as an approach to the house for visitors, will often be a circumstance of great beauty; and is a characteristic ornament of art, allowable in the finest inhabited scenes of nature. What is often called park scenery is Removins liable to the common defect of all places where hedges have recently been re- moved, and too many single trees left; the natural reluctance felt by every man of taste and experience to cut down large trees, at tiie same time that he sees the unpleasant effect of artificial rows, is very apt to suggest the idea of breaking those 100 rows, by planting many young trees; and thus the whole composition becomes frit- tered into small parts, neither compatible with the principles of the sublime or the beautiful. The masses of light and shade, whether in a natural landscape or a pic- ture, must be broad and unbroken, or the eye will be distracted by the flutter of the scene; and the mind will be rather em- ployed in retracing the former lines of hedge-rows, than in admiring the ample extent of lawn, and continuity of wood^ which alone distinguish the park'' from tlie grass or dairy farm. Of single Whcrc old hedge -row timber exists there can be little occasion for dotting young trees with such profusion; wc of- ten see several hundred such trees scat- z There is at present no word by which we express that sort of territory adjacent to a country mansion, which being too large for a garden, too wild for plea- sure ground, and too neat for a farm, is yet denied the name of a park, because it is not fed by deer. I ge- nerally wave this distinction, and call the wood and lawns near every house a park, whether fed by deer, by sheep, or heavy cattle. Trees. 101 tered upon a lawn, where not more than twenty can be absolutely necessary. There is another defect common to all countries where the grass land is more generally mowed than fed. It proves what no landscape painter ever doubted, that a scene consisting of vegetable pro- ductions only, can seldom make a pleas- ing picture. The contrasted greens of wood and laM'n are not sufficient to gra- tify the eye; it requires other objects, and those of different colours, such as rocks, water, and cattle; but where these natural objects cannot easily be had, the variety may be obtained by artificial means, such as a building, a tent, or a road ; and, perhaps, there is no object more useful in such countries than a gravel road of a good colour, gracefully winding between, and of course defining those gentle swells of the ground, which are hardly perceptible from the uniform colour of grass land. A scene, however beautiful in itself, objects in Avill soon lose its interest, unless it is en- ^^"*"'"- livened by moving objects; and from the 102 shape of the ground near most houses, there is another material use in ],iaving Cattle act as cattlc to feed the lawn in view of the a Scale. windows/ The eye forms a very inaccu- rate judgment of extent, especially in looking down a hill, unless there he some standard by which it can be measured; bushes and trees are of such various sizes, that it is impossible to use them as a mea- sure of distance; but the size of a horse, a sheep, or a cow, varies so little, and is so familiar to us, that we immediately judge of their distance from their appa- rent diminution, according to the dis- tance at which they are placed; and as they occasionally change their situation, * It has been objected to the shdes with which I elucidate my proposed alterations, that I generally in- troduce, in the improved view, boats on the water, and cattle on the lawns. To this I answer, that both are real objects of improvement, and give animation to the scene ; indeed it cannot be too often inculcated, that a large lake without boats is a dreary waste of water, and a large lawn without cattle is one of the melancholy appendages of solitary grandeur obsei-vable in the plea- sure-grounds of the past century, and totally incompa- tible with what may be called park scenery. 103 they break that surface over which the eye passes, without observing it, to the first object it meets to rest upon. There being no circumstance in Land- Approaches scape Gardening in which greater change has taken place, or that has excited more difference of opinion, than that relating to approaches; I shall transcribe from the "Sketches and Hints" some remarks on that subject. The road by which a stranger is sup- posed to pass through the park or lawn to the house is called an approach ; and there seems the same relation betwixt the ap- proach and the house externally, that there is internally betwixt the hall or entrance and the several apartments to which it leads. If the hall be too large or too small, too mean or too much orna- mented for the style of the house, there is a manifest incongruity in the architec- ture, by which good taste will be offended ; but if the hall be so situated as not to 104 connect well with the several apartments to which it ought to lead, it will then be defective in point of convenience: so it is with respect to an Approach; it ought to be convenient, interesting, and in strict harmony with the character and situation of the mansion to which it belongs. In this country there will I hope for ever exist different orders and degrees in society, which must often depend on the proportion of property either inhe- rited or acquired by difterent individuals; and so long as such distinctions remain, it will be proper that the residence of each be marked by such distinct charac- ters, as may not be easily mistaken. Before the introduction of modern gardening there always existed a marked difference betwixt the residence of the landlord and that of his tenant ; not only in the size and style of the house itself, but in that also of the land immediately adjoining. . . , Theimportance of the mansion was sup- Approaches p^^^gj ]jy ^ display of convenience rather than of beauty ; and thus the hall-house (as it was called in many counties), was dis- 105 tinguished from the neighbouring farms, not by the extent of laMm, or the variety of landscape, but by the quantity of courts surrounded by barns, stables, and offices, through which the approach was made: and as our ancestors thought a certain degree of gloom and confinement neces- sary to greatness, the views from the win- dows were confined by lofty walls, sur- rounding quadrangular courts or kitchen gardens, which being felt as objects of the greatest convenience, were deemed the most proper objects of sight from the principal apartments. This taste in gar- dening continued long after the vaulted kitchen, the buttery-hatch, the carved cellar door, and other marks of hospitable splendour, had been banished by modern improvements in architecture. It is now acknowledged that gloom is not neces- sary to magnificence; that liberty is not incompatible with greatness ; and that convenience is not the sole object of or- nament; for though such things as are useful may sometimes be ornamental, it does not follow, that ornaments must 106 '^ Ornaments alwavs bc uscful ; Oil tlic Contrary, many Hscful"^^^^ of those productions of the poHte arts which are most admired, are now merely considered as ornaments, Mdthout any reference to their original uses. This is confessedly the case with works of paint- ing and sculpture (except in that inferior branch of each which relates to portraits); for whatever might be the original uses of pictures or statues, they are now only considered as ornaments, which by their number and excellence distinguish the taste, the wealth, and dignity of their possessors. To use these internal marks of distinction only might be prudent in those countries where it would be dan- gerous to display any external ornaments of grandeur: but rank and affluence are not crimes in England; on the contrary, we expect to see a marked difference in the style, the equipage, and the mansions of wealthy individuals; and this difference must also be extended to the grounds in the neighbourhood of their mansions; since congruity of style and unity of cha- racter are amongst the first principles of 107 of good taste; which seems to justify some disphiy of the beauty, if not of the tlie extent, in modern approaches. There is as much absurdity in carry- ing an approach round, to include those objects which do not naturally fall within its reach, as there was formerly in cutting through a hill to obtain a straight line, pointing to the hall door. A line of red gravel across a lawn is apt to offend, by cutting it into parts, and destroying the unity of verdure, so pleasing to the eye; but in some places the aversion of shewing a road is carried to such an ex- treme, that a gap has been dug in the lawn by way of road, and in order to hide it, the approach to a palace must be made along a ditch. In other places I have seen what is called a grass approach,\\\\\c\\ is a broad hard road thinly covered with bad verdure, or even moss, to hide it from the sight; and thus in a dusky evening, after wandering about the park in search of a road, we suddenly find ourselves upon srrass at the door of the mansion, without any appearance of mortals ever having defined. 108 before approached its solitary entrance. Thus do improvers seem to have mistaken the most obvious meaning of an approach, Approach which is slmply this, — A Road to the House. If that road be greatly circuit- ous, no one will use it when a much nearer is discovered ; but if there be two roads of nearly the same length, and one be more beautiful than the other, the man of taste will certainly prefer it, while per- haps the clown, insensible to every ob- ject around him, will indifferently use either. The requisites to a good approach may be thus enumerated: First J An approach ought to be a road to the house, and to that principally. Secondly, If it is not naturally the nearest road possible, it ought artificially to be made impossible to go a nearer. Thirdly^ The artificial obstacles which make this road the nearest ought to ap- pear natural. Fourthly, Where an approach quits the high road, it ought not to break from it at right angles, or in such a manner as robs the entrance of importance, but 109 rather at some bend of the public road, from wlience a lodge or gate may be more conspicuous; and where tlie higli road may appear to branch from the approach, ratlier than the approach from the high road. Fifthly, After the approach enters the park, it should avoid skirting along its boundary, which betrays the want of ex- tent or unity of property. Sivthly, The house, unless very large and magnificent, should not be seen at so great a distance as to make it appear much less than it really is. Seventhly, The first view of the house should be from the most pleasing point of sight. Eighthly, As soon as the house is visi- ble from the approach, there should be no temptation to quit it (which will ever be the case, if the road be at all circuit- ous), unless sufticient obstacles, such as water or inaccessible ground, appear to justify its course. In the affected rage for following na- strange ° Absurdities ture, as it is called, persons of acknow- 110 ledgetl good sense and good taste have been misled into the strangest absurdi- ties. Thus forgetting that a road is an artificial work of convenience, and not a natural production : it has at one time been displayed as the most ostentatious feature through the centre of a park, in the serpentine line described by the track of sheep ; and at another, concealed be- tween tM'o hedges, or in a deep chasm between two banks, lest it should be dis- covered: and such, alas! is the blindness of system, that in a place where several roads are brought together (like the streets at the Seven Dials), within two hundred yards of the hall door a direc- tion-post is placed as necessary to point out the way to the house.'' Of Rri\' , t^ PART III. If Taste in the Fine Arts be under the Fashion is not to be influence of fashion, it may perhaps be comrouied, supposed that fashion may be influenced by the professors of the fine arts; but this has seldom been the case, except in some very extraordinary discovery of novelty. Fashion is neither to be di- rectly opposed nor imperiously guided, either by the theory of authors, or the practice of professors. I have occasion- ally ventured to deliver my opinion freely in theory, but in my practice I have often feared to give offence, by opposing the taste of others, since it is equally danger- ous to doubt a man's taste as his under- standing; especially as those who possess least of either are generally the most jealous of the little they possess. In addition to these difficulties, I have had to contend with the opposition of stewards, the presumption or ignorance of 116 gardeners, and the jealousy of architects and builders; yet my Practice has been supported by the first characters in the kingdom ; but my Theory has been con- founded with that of Brown and his follow- ers, although by my writings I thought the difference had been fully explained. The elegant and gentlemanlike man- ner in which Mr. Price has examined my opinions, and explained his o^\^^, left no room for further controversy ; and it might reasonably have been supposed the subject had been dropped : but I find myself again personally (though not by name) called upon to defend the Art of Landscape Gardening from the attacks of a late work published under the title of "An analytical Enquiry into the Prin- '' ciples of Taste, by R, P. Knight, Esq." Author of the "Landscape," a poem, and other insrenious works: it is full of allu- sions to Landscape Gardening, without taking any notice of those opinions de- livered to the world in my two works on that subject; and which, from their scarcity and costliness of the plates, will 117 probably be less read than the volume Avhich now calls for my notice. In perusing these works, the candid {^PV^^.^^° •^ o ' MrKnight's reader will perhaps discover that there is Enquiry. no real difference between us; but in con- tending with an adversary of such nice discernment, such deep investigation, and such ingenious powers of expression, it is difficult to say how far we are actu- ally of the same opinion. I thought I could discover a shade of difference be- tween the opinions of Mr. Knight and Mr. Price, although the world confounded them as joint and equal adversaries to the art of Modern Gardening. We are now told that in both his volumes " his friend " (Mr. Price) equally mistakes ideas for *' things and the effect of internal sym- " pathy for those of external circum- " stances, and thence grounds the best " practical lessons of taste upon false prin- " ciples and false philosophy." Under such severity of criticism both Mr. Price and I may console ourselves in our mis- takes from the following remark : '* When '' Montesquieu and Burke thus differ upon lis " 2L subject of common sense and feeling, which '' each had made the particilar object of his in- " vestigation, who shall hop^. to escape error in *' any theoretical enquiry?" Whatever trifling differences may still exist in our theories, it is no small satisfaction to me to discover that many of m} opinions have been confirmed, and many of m} thoughts repeated, although new clothed, or disguised in other words, by Mf. Knight, especially tlx)se on the subject of Gothic Architecture, "^ on tl e absurdity of con- •* Observations, p. 207. " Whether we take our models from a Grecian Temple, or from a Gothic Ahhey, from a Castle, or from a College, if the build- ing does not look like a house, and the residence of a nobleman, it will be out of character. It may perhaps be objected, that we must exactly follow the mo- dels of the style or date we pro- fess to imitate, or else we make apasticio or confusion of discord- ant parts. Shall we imitate the thing, and forget its applica- tion?— No 3 let us rather, &c. Let us, in short, never forget that we are building a house, whether we imitate the ENauiRY, p. 179- ' GrecianTemples, Gothic Al- hies, and feudal Castles, were all well adapted to their respective uses, circumstances, and situa- tions . the distribution of the parts subservient to the purposes of the whole, and the ornaments and decorations suited to the character of the parts: and to the manners, habits, and em- ployments of the persons who were to occupy them : but the house of an English nobleman of the eighteenth or nineteenth century is neither a Grecian Temple, a Gothic Abbey, nor a feudal Castle j and if tlie style of distribution or decoration of 119 cealinof the offices to a house,^ and on the use of bold irregular outline of an an- cient Castlcj the elegant forms and tracery of a Gothic Abbey, or the harmony of proportions and symmetrical beauty of a Grecian Temple." « Observations^ p. 173. After describing six differ- ent forms of houses and offices at different dates, of which the fifth and sixth had wings, " the seventh and last invented con- sists of a compact square house, with three fronts, and to the back of it are attached offices, forming a very long range of buildings, courts, walls, &c. all supposed to be hid by planta- tion. Such is the horror of see- ing the offices, tliat in one in- stance I was desired by the archi- tect to plant trees on the earth which had been brought and laid on the copper roof with which the kitchen offices had been covered for that purpose!" either be employed in it, such changes and modifications should be admitted, as may adapt it to existing circumstances; other- wise the scale of its exactitude becomes that of its incongruity, and the deviation from principle proportioned to the fidelity of imitation." Enouiry, p. 214. " The practice, which was so prevalent in the beginning of this century, of placing the man- sion-honse between two corre- spondent wings, in which were contained the offices, has of late fallen into disuse ; and one still more adverse to composition has succeeded ; namely, tliat of en- tirely hidhig offices behind masses of plantation, and leav- ing the wretched, square soli- tary mansion-house to exhibit its pert bald front, &c. &c (The offices) are often concealed in recesses or behind mounds, the improver generally picking out the most retired, intricate and beautiful spot that can be found near the house to bury them in." 120 Terraces,' and particularly on the neatness near a house, in which he very strongly expresses my sentiments in these words : " Immediately ad- " joining the dwellings of opulence and luxury, " every thing should assume its character, and " not only be, but appear to be, dressed and cul- " tivated. In such situations neat gravel walks, *' mown turf, and flowering plants and shrubs *' trained and distributed by art are perfectly in " character."^ This I apprehend is the result of an experi- ment made by the author near his own mansion, where large fragments of stone were irregularly thrown amongst briers and weeds, to imitate the foreground of a picture. Can any thing more ^ Observations, p. bQ. 133. ENauiRY, p. 215. 179. 182. Ib6. "The author recommends " Various examples are given "^ the hanging terraces of the of terraces in the front of houses ItaUan Gardens". . .as they not as forming a basement for the only enrich the foregrouiidj but house to stand upon^ which at serve as a basement for the house once gives it importance, and to stand upon, which at once suppHes it with accompaui- gives it importance, and sup- ments. . . . these, it may be sup- pHes it with accompaniments, posed, were the source of that Such decorations are indeed now prophetic remark concerning an- rather old fashioned j but an- other revolution in taste at no other revolution in taste, which great distance." is probably at no great distance, will make them new again," 121 strongly prove, that a landscape in na- ture and a landscape in a picture are very different things: and that Landscape Gardening is not Picture Garden- ing? This I may fairly give as my an- swer to page 214, M'hich I cannot but suppose directed to me. " Why this art '' has been called Landscape Gardening " perhaps he, who gave it the title, may " explain. I can see no reason, unless it *' be the efficacy which it has shewn in '' destroying Landscapes, in which indeed " it seems to be infallible: not one^ com- E To avoid the imputation of vanity, I could wish that the following fact were stated by any other person than myself. In the course of my practice 3000 different sketches or views are now extant in private MSS. from these I published 15 plates in my first work, consisting of 250 copies j therefore of these 3750 impressions are in circulation. Also 35 plates were published in my second work, which in the two editions amounted to 26,250 impressions in circulation. To these may be added, that during the last 18 years I have given 13 designs to an an- nual work, making 234 views, trom each of which i am informed 70OO impressions have been made, and of course J,638jOOO impressions are in circulation. 122 '' plete painter's composition being, I " believe, to be found in any of the nu- " merous, and many of them beautiful " and picturesque spots, which it has vi- " sited in different parts of the island." Difference between Painting and Gardenine. The greatest objection to Landscape Gardening seems to arise from not making the proper distinction between Painting and Gardening. The difference bewixt a scene in nature, and a picture on can- vas, arises from the following considera- tions. First, The spot from whence the view is taken is in a fixed state to the painter; but the gardener surveys his scenery Avhile in motion ; and from different windows in the same front he sees objects in different situations; therefore, to give an accurate portrait of the gardener's improvement, would require pictures from each sepa- rate window, and even a diiferent draw- When this number is compared with the above as- sertioHj that not one Landscape has escaped the fatal ef- fects of the art I profess to cultivate and defend, it must prove, from the numerous purchasers and admirers of these things, that " de gustibus non disputandum." 123 ing at the most trifling change of situa- tion, either in the approach, the walks, or the drives about each place. Secondly^ The quantity of view, or field of vision in nature, is much greater than any picture M^ill admit. Thirdly^ The view from an eminence down a steep hill is not to be represented in painting, although it is often one of the most pleasing circumstances of na- tural landscape. Fourthly, The light which the painter may bring from any point of the compass must, in real scener}^, depend on the time of day. It must also be remembered that the light of a picture can only be made strong by contrast of shade; while in nature every object may be strongly il- lumined, without destroying the compo- sition, or disturbing the keeping. And Lastly, The foreground, which, by framing the view, is absolutely necessary to the picture, is often totally deficient, or seldom such as a painter chooses to represent; since the neat gravel-walk, or close mown lawn, would ill supply the 124 place, in painting, of a rotten tree, a bunch of docks, or a broken road, pass- ing under a steep bank, covered with briers, nettles, and ragged thorns. Planting a There is no part of Landscape Gar- Down. _ ^ ^ dening more difficult to reconcile to any principles of Landscape Painting than the form of plantations to clothe a naked down. If the ground could be spared, perhaps the best mode would be to plant the whole, and afterwards cut it into shape: it might then be considered as a wood interspersed with lawns; and this must be far more pleasing to the eye than a lawn patched with wood, or rather dotted with clumps, for it is impossible to con- sider them as woods, or groups of trees, while so young, as to require fences. The effect of light and shade is not from the trees, but from the lines of posts and rails, or the situation of boxes and cradles with which they are surrounded ; and these being works of art, they must appear arti- ficial, whether the lines be straight or curved. Although much has been said and written about the sweeping lines of 125 wood following the natural shapes of the ground: the affectation of such lines is often more offensive than a straight line, which is always the shortest, generally the easiest to disguise, and very often appears curved, and even crooked, from crossing uneven ground. '' The sweeping- lines of art, when applied to nature, be- come ridiculous, because they are liable to be compared with works of art, and not of nature. ' I have often wished it were possible by any art to produce the outline of Stokenchurch Hill, as seen in the road from Oxford to London ; but this is a forest partially cleared of wood by time and accident: in vain will any new place assume the same degree of respectability; ^ The strongest example of this fact may be taken from a view of large tracts of open country recently in- closed, where the lines of hedges are often drawn on tlie map by the commissioners at right angles, and the fields exactly square : but from tine occasional inequality of surface they generally appear diversified, and each square field takes a different shape in appearance, al- though on the map they may be exactly similar. 126 it is as impossible to produce the same effect by new plantations, as to produce immediately the far-spreading beech or majestic oak, now become venerable by the lapse of centuries. Every man who possesses land and money may, in a few years, have young plantations and covers for game of many acres in extent ; but no cost can produce immediate forest scenery, or purchase the effect of such hedge-row trees, as are too frequently overlooked and buried among firs and larches and faggot wood, to accomplish the exact monotonous serpentine of a modern belt. Heal ^^^^ landscape, or that which my art Landscape. pj-Qf^gges to improvc, is not always ca- pable of being represented on paper or canvas; for although the rules for good natural landscape may be found in the best painter's works, in which <' , we ne'er shall find Dull uniformity, contrivance quaint. Or labour'd littleness ; but contrasts broad. And careless lines, whose undulating forms Play through tlie varied canvasj" mason. 127 yet Monsieur Gerardin ' is greatly mis- taken, when he directs that no scene in nature should be attempted, till it has first been painted: and 1 apprehend the cause of his mistake to be this: — In an artificial landscape, the foreground is the most important object; indeed some of the most beautiful pictures of Claude de Lorraine consist of a dark foreground, with a very small opening to distant coun- try: but this ought not to be copied in the principal view from the windows of a large house, because it can only have its effect from one window out of many, and, consequently, the others must all be sa- crificed to this sole object. In a picture, the eye is confined within certain limits, and unity is preserved by artificial means, incapable of being applied to real land- scape, in all the extent which Mons. Ge- rardin recommends. "' Gerardin Visconte d' Emernonville sur le Paysage, A work containing many just observations, but often mixed with whimsical conceits, and impracticable theo- ries of gardening. 128 A I^inter's Landscape. Landscape Painter. Landscape Gardener. A picture, or painter's landscape, con- sists of two, three, or more, well marked distances, each separated from the other by an unseen space, which the imagination delights to fill up with fancied beauties, such as may not perhaps exist in reality. " Of nature's various scenes, the painter culls That for his favourite theme, where the fair whole Is broken into ample parts, and bold j Where to the eye, three well marked distances Spread their peculiar colouring." mason. Here ]\Ir. Mason supposes an affinity be- tween painting and gardening, which will be found, on a more minute examination, not strictly to exist. The landscape painter considers all these three distances as objects equally within the power of art; but his composi- tion must have a foreground; and though it may only consist of a single tree, a rail, or a piece of broken road, it is absolutely necessary to the painter's landscape. The subjects of the landscape gardener are very different, though his scenery re- quires also to be broken into distinct parts 129 or distances, because the eye is never long delighted, unless the imagination has some share in its pleasure : an intricacy and en- tanglement of parts heightens the satis- faction. The landscape gardener may also di- vide his Scenery into three distinct dis- tances, but very different from those of the painter. The Jirst includes that part of the scene which it is in his power to improve; the second, that which it is not in his power to prevent being injured; and the third, that which it is not in the power of himself, or any other, either to injure or improve : of this last kind is the distant line of the horizon in many views. The part which the painter calls his mid- dle distance is often that which the land- scape gardener finds under the control of others; and the foreground of the painter can seldom be introduced into the com- position of the gardener's landscape, from the whole front of a house; because the best landscapes of Claude will be found to owe their beauty to that kind of fore- ground which could only be applied to 130 one particular window, and would exclude all view from that adjoining. Having frequently been asked whe- ther my drawings were made upon such a scale as not to deceive, I shall take this opportunity of answering that question, by discussing its possibility. A Scale, Dr. Burgh, in his Commentary on how far possible. Mason, says, '' that a rural scene in rc- " aliti/, and a rural scene upon canvas^ are " not precisely one and the same things is a " self-evident proposition:'' and Mr. Gilpin has very ingeniously shewn, that " a pic- \ '' ture can hardly be an exact imitation " of nature, without producing disgust as '* a picture;" but the question, whether landscape is reducible to a scale, can only ])roceed from a total inexperience of the art of painting. A scale can only be ap- plied to a diagram, representing parts on the same plane, whether horizontal, as in a map, or perpendicular, as in the eleva- tion of a building; but even in these cases the scale is erroneous, if the surface of the ground plot be uneven; or if the eleva- tion presents parts in perspective: how 131 then shall any scale be applied to a land- scape which presents parts innumerable, and those at various distances from the eye? My sketches, therefore, do not at- tempt to describe the minutiae of a scene, but the general effects; and all the accu- racy of portraiture to M'hich they pre- tend is the representation of objects as they appear to the eye, and never to insert those that do not exist, although they cannot represent all that do.* The enthusiasm for picturesque effect Answer to * ^ MrKnight'3 seems to have so completely bewildered " ^and- *■ *' scape. the author of The Landscape, a poem, that he not only mistakes the essential differ- ence between the landscape painter and the landscape gardener, but appears even i Since so much depends on the relative propor- tions or apparent dimensions of objects at different dis- tances, it becomes necessary for the landscape gardener to ascertain with great precision the exact scale of his proposed improvements, for which there is no better expedient than to place men with long staffs or poles of equal height at different stations, while he sketches the scene before him. The use of this is particularly de- monstrated by the plate at p. g in the " Observations, &c." but cannot be so well explained by mere words. 132 to forget that a dwelling-house is an ob- ject of comfort and convenience, for the purposes of habitation; and not merely the frame to a landscape, or the fore- ground of a rural picture. The want of duly considering the affinity between painting and gardening is the source of those errors and false principles, which 1 find too frequently prevailing in the ad- mirers of, or connoisseurs in, painting; and I do not hesitate to acknowledge, that I once supposed the two arts to be more intimately connected than my prac- tice and experience have since confirmed. I am not less an admirer of those scenes which painting represents; but uti- lity must often take the lead of beauty; and convenience be preferred to picturesque effect, in the neighbourhood of man's ha- bitation. J There are picturesque objects to be visited with admiration, and protected amidst all their wild and native charms; but they are situations ill adapted to the residence of man. " The quarry long neg- lected'' may supply an appropriate home j This is now allowed by Mr. K. see p, 120. 133 for swallows and martins; " the moulder- ing abbey'' for ravens and jackdaws;" the ^^ ruined castle'' for bats and owls; and the ''antiquated cot," whose chimney is choked up with ivy, may perhaps yield a residence for squalid misery and want: but is affluence to be denied a suitable habitation, because " Harsh and cold the builder's work appears. Till soften'd down by long revolving years; Till time and weather have conjointly spread Their mould'n'ng hues and mosses o'er its head?" THE LANDSCAPE. or because, in some M'ild and romantic scenery, the appearance of art would of- fend the eye of taste, are we to banish all convenience from close mown grass, or firm gravel walks, and to bear M'ith weeds, and briers, and docks, and thistles, in com- pliment to the slovenly mountain nymphsj who exclaim with this author, "" Break their fell scythes, that would these beauties shave. And sink their iron rollers in the wave?" And again, in the bitterness of prejudice against all that is neat and cleanly, ** Curse on the shrubbery's insipid scenes Of tawdry fringe, encu-cling vapid greens!" By those who do not know the author's situation in life, such a curse may perhaps be attributed to the same spirit of discon- tent, which laments that " Vain is the pomp of wealth, its splendid halls. And vaulted roofs, sustain'd by marble walls j'* but it is evident to me, that the only source of disgust excited in this gentle- man's mind, on viewing the scenes im- proved by Mr. Brown, proceeds from their not being fit objects for representation by the pencil. The painter turns with indignation from the trim mown grass, and swept gravel walk; but the gardener, who knows his duty, w'lW remove such unsightly weeds as offend the view from a drawing-room window, although per- fectly in harmony with the savage pride and dignity of the forest; ** Where every shaggy shrub, and spreading tree. Proclaims the seat of native liberty." It would have been far more grateful 155 to my feelings and inclination to have pointed out those passages in which I concur with the author of The Landscape; but I am compelled by the duties of my profession to notice those parts only which tend to vitiate the taste of the nation, by introducing false principles; by recom- mending negligence for ease, and slo- venly M^eeds for native beauty. Extremes are equally to be avoided; and I trust that the taste of this country will neither insipidly slide into the trammels of that smooth shaven " genius of the bare and bald," which he so justly ridicules; nor enlist under the banners of that shaggy and harsh-featured spirit, which knows no delight but in the scenes of Salvator Rosa; scenes of horror, well calculated for the residence of banditti, " Breathing bloody calamity, and strife," Thus have I been led to consider the theory'' of this ingenious author, or rather •* In Mr. Knight's work there are two etchings from the masterly pencil of Mr. Heme, which, though in- tended as examples of good and bad taste, serve rather 136 to analyze and examine what he deems " Harmless dinigs, roll'd in a gilded pill," lest the subtle poison they contain should not only influence the art of gardening, but insinuate itself into the other polite arts. In Sculp/ure,\vt ought to admire the gTaces of the Venus de Medicis, as well as to exemplify bad taste in the two extremes of artificial neatness and wild neglect. I can hardly suppose any humble follower of Brown, or any admirer of the " bare and bald, to shave, and smooth, and serpentine," a scene like this caricature of modern improvement; nor would any architect of common taste, suggest such a house, instead of the venerable pile in the other draw- ing. At the same time there is a concomitant absurdity in the other view, unless we are to consider it as the forsaken mansion of a noble family gone to decay: for if it be allowable to approach the house by any road, and if that road must cross the river, there are archi- tects in this country, who would suggest designs for a brido^e in unison with the situation, without either copy- ing fantastic Chinese models, or the no less fantastic wooden bridge here introduced, which, though per- fectly picturesque in its form, and applicable to the steep banks of the Teme, yet, in this flat situation, looks like the miserable expedient of poverty, or a ridiculous af- fectation of rural simplicity. 137 the majestic Apollo, the brawny Hercu- les, or the agonizing Laocoon. In Archi- tecture, there is not less beauty in Gre- cian columns, than in Gothic spires, pin- nacles, and turrets. In Music, it is not only the Bravura, the March, or Allegro turioso, that ought to be permitted; we must sometimes be charmed by the soft" phiintive movement of the Siciliano, or the tender graces of an Amoroso. In like manner, Gardenmg must include the two opposite characters of native wildness and artificial comfort, each adapted to the genius and character of the place; yet ever mindful that near the residence of man, convenience, and not picturesque effect, must have the preference, where- ever they are placed in competition with each other. I flatter myself that no part of this chapter will be deemed irrelevant to the subject of my work, M'hich is an attempt to explain and elucidate certain general principles in the art I profess; especially as those principles have been formally attacked and misrepresented by one who 138 has given such consummate proof of good taste in some of the improvements of his own place, Downton Vale near Ludlow, one of the most beautiful and romantic valleys that the imagination can conceive. It is impossible by description to convey an idea of its natural charms, or to do justice to that taste which has displayed these charms to the greatest advantage, " With art clandestine, and conceal'd design." Vale at A narrow, wild, and natural path, some- Downton described, timcs crccps undcr the beetling rock, close by the margin of a mountain stream. - It sometimes ascends to an awful preci- pice, from Avhence the foaming waters are heard roaring in the dark abyss below, or seen wildly dashing against its opposite banks; while, in other places, the course of the river Teme being impeded by na- tural ledges of rock, the vale presents a calm, glassy mirror, that reflects the sur- rounding foliage. The path, in various places, crosses the water by bridges of the most romantic and contrasted forms; and, branching in various directions, in- 139 eluding some miles in length, is occasion- ally varied and enriched by caves and cells, hovels, and covered seats, or other buildings, in perfect harmony with the wild but pleasing horrors of the scene. Yet, if the same picturesque objects were introduced in the gardens of a villa near the capital, or in the more tame yet in- teresting pleasure grounds which I am frequently called upon to decorate; they would be as absurd, incongruous, and out of character, as a Chinese temple from Vauxhall transplanted into the vale of Down ton, " Whate'er its essence, or whate'er its namCj Whate'er its modesj 'tis still in all the same; 'Tis just congruity of parts combin'd Must please the sense, and satisfy the mind." THE LANDSCAPE. 140 AnsTTcr to In thc ycET l/P^ a work first appeared Mr. Price's "Essay." under the title of '* An Essay on the PtCTURESQUE," by Uvedalc Price, Esq. which the author allows to be " a direct " and undisguised attack on the Art of " Landscape Gardening." This obliged me to take up its defence by the following letter, of which a few copies only were printed, but none sold, at least with my consent.' 1 sincerely regret that this unexpected renewal of attack by Mr. Price's original ally (although nou^ become a little hos- tile), should oblige ine once more to en- ter the lists. I have no new armour, and have barely time to furbish up my old\ therefore the following letter is reprinted without variation, to shew the public that my sentiments remain the same: — I stand on the same ground; my adversaries have changed theirs a little. ' This letter afterwards appeared in a note to th«; appendix to my " Sketches and Hints," of which (as before mentioned) only 250 copies were printed by Messrs. Boydell. SIR, . , :<. f K . , .. I AM much obliged by your attention, in having directed your book- seller to send me an early copy of your ingenious work. It has been my compa- nion during a long journey, and has fur- nished me with entertainment, similar to that which I have occasionally had the honour to experience, from your ani- mated conversation on the subject. In the general principles and theory of the art, which you have considered with so much attention, I flatter myself that we agree; and that our difference of opinion relates only to the propriety, or, perhaps, possibility, of reducing them to practice. I must thank both Mr. Knight and yourself, for mentioning my name as an exception to "the tasteless herd of Mr. Brown's followers." But while you arc pleased to allow me some of the qualities necessary to my profession, you suppose me deficient in others, and therefore strongly recommend the study of " what *' the higher artists have done, both in " their pictures and drawings:" a branch of knowledge \diich I have always consi- dered to be not less essential to my pro- fession than hydraulics or surveying; and without which I should never have pre- sumed to arrogate to myself the title of *^ Landscape Gaj^dener" which, in allusion to my having adopted it, you observe is, " a title of no small pretension.'" It is difficult to define good taste in any of the polite arts; and amongst the respective professors of them, I am sorry to observe that it is seldom allowed in a rival ; while those who are not professors, but, being free from the business or dis- sipation of life, find leisure to excel in any one of these arts, generally find time also to cultivate the others ; and because there really does exist some affinity be- twixt them, they are apt to suppose it still greater. Thus Music and Poetry are often coupled together, although few in- stances occur in which they are made to assimilate; because the melody of an air is seldom adapted either to the rhyme or 143 measure of the verse. In like manner, Poetry and Painting are often joined; but the canvas rarely embodies those ligurative personages to advantage, which the poet's enthusiasm presents to the read- er's imagination. During the pleasant hours we passed ^y**^ tog-ether amidst the romantic scenery of Convem- o J ence. the Wye, I do remember my acknow- ledging that an enthusiasm for the pictu- resque had originally led me to fancy greater affinity betwixt Painting and Gardening, than I found to exist after more mature consideration, and more practical experience; because, in whate'ver relates to man, propriety and convenience are not less objects of good taste, than pictu- resque effect', and a beautiful garden scene is not more defective because it would not look well on canvas, than a didactic poem, because it neither furnishes a sub- ject for the painter or the musician. There are a thousand scenes in nature to delight the eye, besides those Avhich may be copied as pictures; and indeed me of the keenest observers of pictu- 144 resque scenery (Mr. Gilpin) has often regretted that few are capable of being so represented, without considerable li- cense and alteration. If therefore the painter's landscape be indispcnsible to the perfection of garden- ing, it would surely be far better to paint it on canvas at the end of an avenue (as they do in Holland), than to sacrifice » the health, cheerfulness, and comfort of a country residence, to the wild but pleasing scenery of a painter's imagina- tion. Beauty, There is no exercise so delightful to and not ^ £* j j Picturesque- the inquisitive mind, as that or deducing ness. , ,. . . . theories and systems trom favourite opi- nions: I was therefore peculiarly inte- rested and gratified by your ingenious distinction betwixt the beautiful and the picturesque; but I cannot admit the pro- priety of its application to Landscape Gardening; because beauty, and not '• picturesqueness," is the chief object of modern improvement: for although some nurserymen, or labourers in the kitchen garden, may have badly copied Mr. 145 Brown's manner, yet the unprejudiced eye will discover innumerable beauties in the works of that ^reat self-taus^ht master: and since you have so judiciously marked the distinction betwixt the beau- tiful and the picturesque, they will per- haps discover, that, where the habitation and convenience of man can be improved hy beauty, " picturesqueness" may he trans- ferred to the ragged gipsy, with whom " the wild ass, the Pomeranian dog, and shaggy goat," are more in harmony, than " the sleek-coated horse," or the dappled deer. The continual moving and lively agitation observable in herds of deer, is one of the circumstances which painting cannot represent; but it is not less an object of beauty and cheerfulness in park scenery. It is the misfortune of every liberal art to find among its professors some men of uncouth manners; and since my pro- fession has more frequently been prac- tised by persons of no education, it is the more difficult to give it that rank umongst the polite arts, which I conceive L ■ 146 it ought to hold : but I am now more par- ticularly called upon to support its re- spectability, since you attack the very existence of that profession, at the head of which, both you and Mr. Knight have the goodness to say that I am deservedly placed. Landscape Your ucw thcory of deducing Land- a happy"^' scupc Gai'demng from pa'mting is so plausi- me mm. ^^^^ t\\2itj like uiauy other philosophic theories, it may captivate and mislead, unless duly examined by the test of ex- perience and practice. I cannot help seeing great affinity betwixt deducing gardening from the painter's studies of wild nature, and deducing government from the uncontrouled opinions of man in a savage state. The neatness, simpli- city, and elegance of English gardening, have acquired the approbation of mo- dern times, as the happy medium be- twixt the wildness of nature and the stiff- ness of art; in the same manner as the English constitution is the happy medium betwixt the liberty of savages, and the restraint of despotic government; but so 147 long as we enjoy the benefit of these mid- dle degrees betwixt extremes of each, let experiments of untried theoretical improvement be made in some other country. So far I have endeavoured to defend ciumps Mr. Brown with respect to the general Beits. principle of improvement. But it is ne- cessary to enter something farther into the detail of his practice of what has been ludicrously called clumping and belting. No man of taste can hesitate betwixt the natural group of trees, composed of va- rious growths, and those formal patches of firs which too often disfigure a laAV'n, under the name of clumps: but the most certain method of producing a group of five or six trees, is to plant fifty or sixty within the same fence; and this Mr. Brown frequently advised, with a mixture of firs, to protect and shelter the young trees during their infancy; unfortunately, the neglect or bad taste of his employers would occasionally suffer the firs to re- main long after they had completed their ollrtcc as nurses ; while others have ac- *:\ 148 tually planted Jirs only in such clumps, totally misconceiving Mr. Brown's ori- ginal intention. Nor is it uncommon to see these black patches surrounded by a , painted rail, a quick hedge, or even a stone wall, instead of that temporary fence, which is always an object of ne- cessity, and not of choice. The Clump If a large expanse of lawn happens unfortunately to have no single trees or groups to diversify its surface, it is some- times necessary to plant them; and if the size and quantity of these clumps or masses bear a just proportion to the ex- tent of lawn, or shape of the ground, they are surely less offensive than a mul- titude of starving single trees, surrounded by heavy cradle fences, which are often dotted over the whole surface of a park. I will grant, that where a few old trees can be preserved of former hedge-rows, the clump is seldom necessary, except in a flat country. The clump therefore is never to be considered as an object of present beauty^ but as a more certain ex- ' pedient for Y>TO(\\xcmgfuturcbeautieSy than 149 young trees, which very seldom grow when exposed singly to the wind and sun. rf :■:'■.■ i','^ I shall now proceed to defend my pre- The Beit. decessor's belt, on the same principle of expedience. Although I perfectly agree that, in certain situations, it has been ex*- ecuted in a manner to be tiresome in it- self, and highly injurious to the general scenery; yet there are many places in which no method could be more fortur nately devised, than a belt or boundary of plantation to encompass the park or lawn. It is often too long, and always too narrow, but from painful experience I am convinced, that notwithstanding the obstinacy and presumption of which Mr. Brown is accused, he had equal difficul- ties to surmount from the profusion, and the parsimony of his employers, or he would never have consented to those meagre girdles of plantation which are extended for many miles in length, air though not above twenty pr thirty yards in breadtL Let me briefly trace the origin, in- its Origin. =*■¥ 150 tention, and uses of a belt. The comfort and pleasure of a country residence re- quire that some ground, in proportion to the size of the house, should be sepa- rated from the adjoining ploughed fields; this inclosure, call it park, or lawn, or pleasure ground, must have the air of being appropriated to the peculiar use and pleasure of the proprietor. The love of seclusion and safety is not less natural to man than that of liberty; and I con- ceive it would be almost as painful to live in a house without the power of shutting any door, as in one with all the doors locked : the mind is equally displeased with the excess of liberty, or of restraint, when either is too apparent. From hence proceeds the necessity of inclosing a park, and also of hiding the boundary by which it is inclosed; now a plantation being the most natural means of hiding a park pale, nothing can be more obvious than a drive or walk in such a plantation. If this belt be made of one uniform breadth, with a drive as uniformly serpentining through the middle of it, I am ready to allow that 151 the way can only be interesting to him who wishes to examine the growth of his young trees; to every one else it must be tedious, and its dulness will increase in proportion to its length. On the con- trary, if the plantation be judiciously made of various breadth, if its outline be adapted to the natural shape of the ground, and if the drive be conducted irregularly through its course, sometimes totally within the dark shade, sometimes skirting so near its edge as to shew the different scenes betwixt the trees, and sometimes quitting the M-ood entirely to enjoy the unconfinec] view of distant pro- spects,— it will surely be allowed that such a plantation is the best possible means of connecting and displaying the various pleasing points of view, at a distance from each other, within the limits of the park; and the only just objection that can be urged is — where such points do not occur often enough, and where the length of a drive is substituted for its varktij. This letter, which has been written at various opportunities, during my journey 152 into Derbyshire, has insensibly grown to a bulk which 1 httle expected when I began it : I shall therefore have a few copies printed, for the use of my friends, in defence of an Art, which, I trust, will not be totally suppressed, although you so earnestly recommend every gentleman to become his own landscape gardener. With equal propriety might every gen- tleman become his own architect, or even his own physician: in short, there is no- thing that a man of abilities may not do for himself, if he will dedicate his whole attention to that subject only. But the life of man is not sufficient to excel in all things; and as " a little knowledge is a dangerous thing," so the professors of every art, as well as that of medicine, will often find that the most difficult cases are those, where the patient has begun by quacking himself. The general rules of art are to be ac- quired by study; but the manner of ap- plying them can only be learned by prac- tice; yet there are certain good plans, which, like certain good medicines, may 153 be proper in almost every case; it was therefore no greater impeachment of Mr. Brown's taste to anticipate his belt in a naked country, than it would be to a phy- sician to guess, before he saw the patient, that he would prescribe James's powders in a fever. In the volume of my works now in the press," I have endeavoured to trace the difference betwixt painting and gar- denings as well as to make a distinction betwixt a landscape and a prospect; sup- posing the former to be the proper sub- ject for a painter, while the latter is that in which every body delights; and, in spite of the fastidiousness of connoisseur- ship, we must allow something to the ge- neral voice of mankind. I am led to this remark from observing the effect of picturesque scenery on the visitors of Matlock Bath (where this part of my letter has been written). In the valley a thousand delightful subjects present ■" This will be found in the preceding pages re- printed from my " Sketches and Hints," 1j4 themselves to tlie painter, yet the visitors of this place are seldom satisfied till they have climbed the neighbouring hills, to take a bird's-eye view of the whole spot, which no painting can represent : — the love of prospect seems a natural propen- sity, an inherent passion of the human . mind, if I may use so strong an expres- sion. The Arts, Tliis cousidcration confirms my opi- how ^ , . . connected, nion that painting and gardening are nearly connected, but not so intimately related as you imagine: they are not sister arts, proceeding from the same stock, but ra- ther congenial natures, brought together like man and wife; while therefore you exult in the office of mediator betwixt these two 'imaginary personages," you should recollect the danger of interfer- ing in their occasional differences, and especially how you advise them both to ' wear the same articles of dress. I shall conclude this long letter by an allusion to a work, which it is impossible for you to admire more than 1 do. IMr. Burke, in his Essay on the Sublime and 155 Beautiful, observes, that habit will make a man prefer the taste of tobacco to that of sugar; yet the world will never be brought to say that sugar is not sweet. In like manner both Mr. Knight and you are in the habits of admiring fine pictures, and both live amidst bold and picturesque scenery: this may have ren- dered you insensible to the beauty of those milder scenes that have charms for common observers. I will not arraign your taste, or call it vitiated, but your palate certainly requires a degree of " ir- ritation" rarely to be expected in garden scenery; and, I trust, the good sense and good taste of this country will never be led to despise the comfort of a gravel- walk, the delicious fragrance of a shrub- bery, the soul expanding delight of a wide extended prospect, or the grandeur of a view down a steep hill, because they are all subjects incapable of being painted. Notwithstanding the occasional aspe- rity of your remarks on my opinions, and the unprovoked sally of Mr. Knight's wit, I esteem it a very pleasant circumstance 156 of my life to have been personally known to you both, and to have witnessed your good taste in many situations. I shall beg leave, therefore, to subscribe my- self, with much regard and esteem. Sir, Your most obedient, humble servant. H. REPTON. Hare Street, near Romford, July I, 1794. 157 This produced a printed answer from Mr. Price, to which he had my per- mission to prefix my letter, and thus our opinions were brought into more general notice; and I supposed we had both satis- fied the public, by shewing how Uttle we disagreed; or rather, by demonstrating that these gentlemen had not gone deep enough into the subject; or, as it is ex- pressed in a letter from a Right Hon. Friend, " that they did not trace with " any success the causes of their plea- " This letter is inserted as the most valuable testi- mony in support of my defence, from a friend, whose name, were I permitted to mention it, would confer lustre on my work, as it does on every cause to which he gives his support. " Dear Sir, " I MUST not delay to thank " you at once for your obliging offer of the use of " your house, and for the very agreeable present of " your printed letter to Mr. Price. I read it the mo- " ment that I received it, and read it in the way most '' flattering to the writer, by taking it up without any " settled purpose, and being carried on by approbation 158 The mistaken idea of referring the perfection of Landscape Gardening to " of what I found there. You know of old that I am ■"' quite of your side in the question between you, and " am certain that the farther you go in this controversy, " the more you will have the advantage. Nothing in- " deed can be so absurd, nor so unphilosophical, as " the system which Mr, Knight and Mr. Price seem " to set up. It not only is not true in practice, that ** men should expose themselves to agues and rheunia- " tisms, by removing from their habitations every con- " venience that may not happen to fall in with the ideas " of picturesque beauty 3 but it is not true that w^hat is " adverse to comfort and convenience is in situations " of that sort the most beautiful. The writers of this " school, with all their affectation of superior sensibi- "■ lity, shew evidently/ that they do not trace with any " success the causes of their pleasure. Does the plea- " sure that we receive from the view of parks and gar- " dens result from their affording in their several parts "^^ subjects that would appear to advantage in a picture? " In the first place, what is most beautiful in nature is " not always capable of being represented most advan- " tageously by painting j the instance you gi\e of an " extensive prospect, the most affecting sight that the "■ eye can bring before us, is quite conclusive. I do "■ not know any thing that does, and naturally should, " so strongly affect the mind, as the sudden transition " from such a portion of space as we commonly have ." before our eyes, to such a view of the habitable globe 159 picturesque effect, induced me to enquire into the various causes or sources of the ' as may be exhibited in the case of some extensive ' prospects. Many things too, as you illustrate well ' in the instance of deer, are not capable of represen- ' tation in a picture at all; and of this sort must every ' thing be that depends on motion and succession. But ' in the next place, tlie beauties of nature itself, and ' which painting can exhibit, are many, and most of ' them, probabl)' of a sort which have nothing to do ' with the purposes of habitation, and are even wholly ' inconsistent with them. A scene of a cavern, with ' banditti sitting by it, is the favourite subject of Sal- ' vator Rosa; but are we therefore to live in caves, or ' encourage the neighbourhood of banditti ? Gainsbo- ' rough's Countiy Girl is a more picturesque object ' than a child neatly dressed in a white frock; but is ' that a reason why our children are to go in rags ? ' Yet this is just the proposition which Mr. Knight ' maintains in the contrast which he exhibits of the ' same place, dressed in the modern style, and left, as ' he thinks, it ought to be. The whole doctrine is so ' absurd, that when set forth in its true shape, no one ' will be hardy enough to stand by it; and accordingly ' they never do so set it forth, nor exhibit it in any dis- ' tinct shape at all, but only take a general credit for ' their attachment to principles which every body is ' attached to as well as they; and where the only qucs- ' tion is of the application which they afford you no ' means of making. They are lovers of picturesque 160 pleasure derived from this art; and these " beauty, so is every body else 5 but is it contended " that in laying out a place, whatever is most pictu- " resque is most conformable to true taste? If they say " so, as they seem to do in many passages, they must " be led to consequences which they can never venture " to avow: if they do not say so, the whole is a ques- •' tion of how much, or how little, which without the " instances before yoa can never be decided ; and all that " they can do is to lay down a system as depending on " one principle, wh.ch they themselves are obliged to " confess afterwards,, depends upon many. They either " say what is false, or what turns out upon examina- *■• tion to be— nothing at all. I hope, therefore, that "■you will pursue the system which I conceive you to " have adopted, and vindicate to the art of laying out " ground its true principles, which are wholly differ- " ent from those which these wild improvers would "■ wish to introduce. Places are not to be laid out with " a view to their appearance in a picture, but to tJieir "" uses, and the enjoyment of them in real life, and their " conformity to those purposes is that which constitutes "" their true beauty ; with this view gravel- walks, and " neat mown lawns^ and in some situations straight al^ " leys, fountains, terraces, and, for aught 1 know, par- " terres and cut hedges, are in perfect good taste, and " infinitely more conformable to the principles which " form the basis of our pleasure in these instances, than " tlie docks and tliistles, and litter and disorder, tliat " may make a much better figure in a picture." 161 y : may be enumerated under the following heads. I. Congruity; or a proper adaptation sources oi Pleasure. of the several parts to the whole; and that whole to the character, situation, and cir- cumstances of the place and its possessor. II. Utility. This includes conveni- ence, comfort, neatness, and every thing that conduces to the purposes of habita- tion with elegance. III. Order. Including correctness and finishing; the cultivated mind is shocked by such things as would not be visible to the clown: thus an awkward bend in a walk, or lines M'hich ought to be parallel, and are not so, give pain; as a serpentine walk through an avenue, or along the course of a straight wall or building. IV. Symmetry ; or that correspond- ence of parts expected in the front of buildings, particularly Grecian ; which, howeyerformal in apainting, require simi- larity and uniformity of parts to please the eye, even of children. So natural is the love of order and of symmetry to the M 162 human mind, that it is not surprising it should have extended itself into our gar- dens, where nature itself was made sub- servient, by cutting trees into regular shapes, planting them in rows, or at exact equal distances, aad frequently of differ- ent kinds in alternate order. These first foir heads may be consi- dered as generallv adverse to picturesque beauty, yet they are not, therefore, to be discarded: there are situations in which the ancient style of gardening is very pro- perly preserved ; witness the academic groves and classic walks in our univer- sities; and I shculd doubt the taste of any improver, who could despise the con- gruity, the utilit}, the order, and the sym- metry of the small garden at Trinity Col- lege, Oxford, because the clipped hedges and straight walks would not look well in a picture. V. Picturesijue J^ff^ct. This head, which has been so fully and ably consi- dered by Mr. Price, furnishes the gar- dener with breadth of light and shade, forms of groups, outline, colouring, ba 163 iunce of composition, and occasional ad- vantaq:e from rouo-bness and decav, the effect of time and age. VI. Intricacy. A word frecjuently used in my red books, wbicli Mr. Price bas very correctly defined to be that dis- " position of objects, wbicb, by a partial " and uncertain concealment, excites and " nourishes curiosity." VII. Simplicity, or that disposition of objects, which, without exposing all of them equally to view at once, may lead the eye to each by an easy gradation, without flutter, confusion, or perplexity. VIII. Variety. This may be gratified by natural landscape, in a thousand ways that painting cannot imitate; since it is observed of the best painter's works, that there is a sameness in their compositions, and even their trees are all of one general kind, while the variety of nature's pro- ductions is endless, and ought to be duly studied. IX. Novelty. Although a ^reat source of pleasure, this is the most difficult and most dangerous for an artist to attempt; 164 it is apt to lead him into conceits and whims, which lose their novelty after the first surprise. X. Contrast supplies the place of no- velty, by a sudden and unexpected change of scenery, provided the transitions are neither too frequent nor too violent. XI. Continuity. This seems evidently to be a source of pleasure, from the de- light expressed in a long avenue, and the disgust at an abrupt break between objects that look as if they ought to be united ; as in the chasm betwixt two large woods, or the separation betwixt two pieces of water; and even a walk, which terminates without affording a continued line of com- munication, is always unsatisfactory. XII. Association. This is one of the most impressive sources of delight, whe- ther excited by local accident, as the spot on which some public character performed his part; by the remains of antiquity, as the ruin of a cloister or a castle; but more particularly by that personal at- tachment to long known objects, perhaps indifferent in themselves, as the favourite 165 seat, the tree, the walk, or the spot endeared by the remembrance of past events : objects of this kind, however trifling in themselves, are often preferred to the most beautiful scenes that paint- ing can represent, or gardening create : such partialities should be respected and indulged, since true taste, which is ge- nerally attended by great sensibility, ought to be the guardian of it in others. XIII. Grandeur. This is rarely pic- turesque, whether it consist in greatness of dimension, extent of prospect, or in splendid and numerous objects of magni- ficence ; but it is a source of pleasure mixed with the sublime: there is, how- ever, no error so common as an attempt to substitute extent for beauty in park scenery, which proves the partiality of the human mind to admire whatever is vast or great. XIV. Appropriation. A word ridi- culed by Mr. Price as lately coined by me, to describe extent of property; yet the appearance and display of such ex- tent is a source of pleasure not to be 166* disrcgaiiled; since every individual who possesses any thing, whether it be mental endowments, or power, or property, ob- tains respect in proportion as his posses- sions are known, provided he does not too vainly boast of them; and it is the sordid miser only who enjoys for himself alone, wishing the world to be ignorant of his wealth. The pleasure of appropri- ation is gratified in viewing a landscape which cannot be injured by the malice or bad taste of a neighbouring intruder : thus an ugly barn, a j)loughed field, or any obtrusive object which disgraces the scenery of a park, looks as if it belonged to another, and therefore robs the mind of the pleasure derived from appropria- tion, or the unit}' and continuity of un- mixed property. XV. Anmation; or that pleasure ex- perienced from seeing life and motion; w hether the gliding or dashing of water, the sportive plaj' of animals, or the wavy motion of trees; and particularly the play- someness peculiar to youth in the two last instances, affords additional delight. 167 XVI. And lastly, the seasons, and times of day, which are very different to the gardener and the painter : the noontide hour has its charms, though the shadows are neither long nor broad, and none but a painter or a sportsman will prefer the sear and yellow leaves of autumn to the fragrant blossoms and reviving delights of spring, " the youth of the year." On the first perusal of *' Mr. Knight's Conclusion, Enquiry into the Principles of Taste," I was astonished to discover so much con- ceded to my opinion, since his first work appeared; or rather, that my opinions had been adopted in all his allusions to Landscape Gardening: but on a closer examination it appeared that no notice whatever was taken of this change in the author's sentiments since he wrote the "Landscape," or of the works which had probably caused this revolution: on the contrary, the same indignation pre- vails against the art and its professors, without any exception, or any acknoM'- ledgment of coincidence in opinion. — Under such circumstances, as I had no- 168 thing new to answer, the best defence of the art was a repubhcation of those opi- nions which are now in a very few hands, from the original work having been long out of print. With these I have blended some additional matter, the result of sub- sequent experience, and particularly of observations on the practice of so able a theorist as Mr. Knight on a spot where (unlike the professional artist) he acts without controul. To the cursory remarks on the approach at Downton (p. 1 10), and the foreground attempted (p. 120), I might have retorted the severity of satiric criticism, by adding some severe and ludicrous comments on the style of planting single trees, as in an orchard, and some strictures on the in- correctness of the Pseudo-go thic charac- ter in the buildings ; but as this gentle- man's practical taste can do no injury by its example, and as his theoretical taste must do good by the justness of many of of its precepts, I am happy to acknow- ledge my obligations for the pleasure his works have afforded, while I defend my- 169 self, and the art I profess, from oblique attacks which have not been deserved. My theory and practice are often at variance; since the Landscape Gardener must often declare with the moralist, Video meliora proboque, &c. I shall therefore beg* leave to conclude this defence of my practice by repeating the same words with which I conclude the preface to my " Observations, &c." a work Avhich, from its high price, may not become so generally known as this small volume. " I should be sorry, that to my tast^ should be attributed all the absurdities Avhicli fashion, or custom, or whim, may have occasionally introduced in places where I have been consulted. I can only advise, I do not presume to dictate; and, in many cases, must rather conform to what has been ill begun, than attempt to puU to pieces and re-model the whole work. Non mihi res, sed me rebus, subjungere Conor. *' To avoid the imputation of having 170 fully approved, where I have found it ne- cessary merely to assent, I shall here beg leave to subjoin my opinion negatively, as the only means of doing so without giving offence to those from whom I may differ; at the same time, with the humility of exptrience,^ I am conscious my opinion may, in some cases, be deemed wrong. The same motives which induce me to mention what I recommend, will also jus- tify me in mentioning what I disapprove: a few observations, therefore, are sub- joined to mark those errors, or absurdi- ties in modern gardening and architec- ture, to which I have never willingly ° By one of the periodical critics this is called an affected expression ; perhaps I ought to have said Hu- mility acquired by Experience. I meant to express tliat degree of diffidence which arises in the mind from observing the different lights in which the same subject is viewed by different persons, and even the changes in a man's own mind from a more intimate kno?vledge of the subject : in this sense the Humility of Experience may be contrasted witli the pride and presumption of ignorance. Thus the practical professor will often hum- bly doubt, where the haughty theorist will dogmatically decide. m subscribed, and from M'liich it will easily be ascertained how much of what is called the improvement ofany place may properly be attributed to my advice. It is rather upon my opinions in Meriting-, than on the partial and imperfect manner in which my plans have sometimes been executed, that I wish my Fame to be established. Objection, No 1. " There is no error more prevalent in modern gardening, or more frequently carried to excess, than taking away hedges to unite many small fields into one exten- sive and naked lawn, before plantations are made to give it the appearance of a park ; and where ground is subdivided by sunk fences, imaginary freedom is dearly purchased at the expence of actual con- finement. N°2. '* The baldness and nakedness round a house is part of the same mistaken sys- tem, of concealing fences to gain extent. A palace, or even an elegant villa, in a grass field, appears to me incongruous; yet 172 I have seldom (till very lately) had suf- fieient influence to correct this common error. N'' 3. " An approach which does not evi- dently lead to the house, or which does not apparently take the shortest course, cannot he right. N° 4. " A poor man's cottage, divided into what is called a pair of lodges, is a mis- taken expedient to mark importance in the entrance to a park. N° 5. " The entrance gate, which marks the houndary of a place, should not be visi- ble from the mansion, unless it opens into a court yard : nor indeed should it be too conspicuous from the interior of a park, for the same reason that the pale is usually concealed. ** The plantation surrounding a place, called a Belt, I have never advised; nor have I ever willingly marked a drive, or walk, completely round the verge of a 173 park, except in small villas where a dry path round a person's own field, is always more interesting to him than any other walk. N°7. " Small plantations of trees,surrounded by a fence, are the best expedients to form groupes, because trees planted singly sel- dom grow well; neglect of thinning and of removing the fence, has produced that ugly deformity called a Clump. N°8. " Water on an eminence, or on the side of a hill, is among the most common errors of Mr. Brown's followers: in nu- merous instances I have been allowed to remove such pieces of water from the hills to the valleys; but in many my ad- vice has not prevailed. " Deception may be allowable in imi- tating the works of nature; thus arti- ficial rivers, lakes, and rock scenery, can only be great by deception, and the mind acquiesces in the fraud, even after it is 174 detected : but in works of art every trick ought to be avoided. Sham churches, sham ruins, sham bridges, and every thing which appears Mdiat it is not, disgusts when the trick is discovered. N° 10. ** In buildings of every kind the cha- racter should be strictly observed. No incongruous mixture can be justified. To add Grecian to Gothic, or Gothic to Gre- cian, is equally disgusting; and a sharp- pointed arch to a garden gate, or a dairy window, however frequently it occurs, is not less offensive tban Grecian architec- ture, in which the standard rules of rela- tive proportion are neglected or violated. " The perfection of Landscape Gar- dening consists in the fullest attention to these principles. Utility^ Proportion, and Unity or harmony of parts to the whole." THE END. T. Bensley, Printer, Bolt Court, Fleet Street, Loiideiv mn GoamiMmi X LANDSCAPE GARDENING REPTON I