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A 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 O F 
 
 THE LANDSCAPE, 
 
 A DIDACTIC POGM: 
 
 ALSO OF 
 
 AN ESSAY 
 
 O N 
 
 THE PICTURESQUE: 
 
E V I E 
 
 O F 
 
 THE LANDSCAPE, 
 
 A DIDACTIC POEM: 
 
 ALSO OF 
 
 AN ESSAY 
 
 ON 
 
 THE PICTURESQUE; 
 
 TOGETHER WITH 
 
 PRACTICAL REMARKS 
 
 O N 
 
 JRURAL ORNAMENT. 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR OF 
 
 « PLANTING AND ORNAMENTAL GARDENING-, 
 A PRACTICAL TREATISE." 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR G, NICOL, BOOKSELLER TO HIS 
 
 MAJESTY, PALL MALL ; 
 
 G. G. AND J. ROBINSON, PATER-NOSTER-ROW J 
 
 AND J. DEBRETT, PICCADILLY. 
 
 1795- 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 SHOULD any reader of the fol- 
 lowing pages afk, Why the 
 Writer of them has expended his time 
 on a fubject, unprofitable to many men* 
 while one, which regards every man, 
 lies open before him,— he would re- 
 ply,— It is his wifh to fee his country, 
 not only rich, but refpectable ; not to 
 excel in Rural economy, alone, but 
 likewife in Rural Ornament. In- 
 deed, wherever the latter is introduced, 
 the two are fo very intimately con» 
 nected with each other, as not to be 
 eafily feparated. The fhrubery or 
 kept-ground, alone, is fevered from 
 A 3 the 
 
VI ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 the farm and park (now generally con* 
 fidered as part of the farm) ; in every 
 other part of the environs of a houfe, 
 ornament and utility become 
 blended, and ought to go hand in 
 hand. Agriculture, it is true, may 
 be carried on without the afliftance of 
 
 ORNAMENTAL GARDENING, — - and 
 
 ought to be fo carried on, in reclufe 
 fituations, but in the immediate neigh- 
 bourhood of the country refidence of 
 a man of fortune, they are infepara- 
 ble. 
 
 Befide, he has been himfelf both a 
 Writer, and a Practifer, in the Art 
 whofe caufe he is now efpoufing. He 
 is, therefore, writing in felf-defence ; 
 as well as in the defence of every man, 
 who has written or pra&ifed in th« 
 
 fame 
 
 — — — — 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. vii 
 
 fame profeflion ; and, moft of all, in 
 defence of the profeflion itfelf ; which 
 has been attacked in the moil wan- 
 ton and unwarrantable manner : a cir- 
 cumftance that has urged him to quit 
 a purfuit, in which he was eagerly 
 engaged, to attempt its vindication. 
 
 It is proper to be underftood, that 
 the Reviewer of thefe Works has no 
 other knowledge of their Authors, than 
 what is furnifhed by the Works them- 
 felves ; which, coniidered abftractedly 
 as literary compofitions, are entitled to 
 high refped : it would be difficult for 
 him to fay, which of them, as fuch, 
 has the greater (hare of his approba- 
 tion ; and equally difficult would it be 
 in him to decide, which of them, as fuch, 
 is moft calculated to give the impofing 
 form of Falffiood the fair refemblance of 
 A 4 Truth: 
 
..» 
 
 Vlll ADVERTISEMENT* 
 
 Truth : a circumftance which, more 
 than any other, determined him to 
 proceed in the analyfis of them, and 
 to publifh the refult of his inquiries ; 
 for there are readers who find it more 
 convenient to judge from drefs and 
 outward appearances, than to examine 
 into the rubbifh and rottennefs which 
 may be hid beneath them; and, to 
 fuch readers at leaft, this Analyfis, im- 
 perfect as it may be, will have its 
 ufe. 
 
 To this account of the motives- 
 for executing the Review, it may be 
 right to add a remark or two, refpeft- 
 ing its execution. Should a lightnefs 
 of manner appear through any part of 
 it, the circumftance can only have arifen 
 from the frivolity of the Publications 
 
 which 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. ix 
 
 which are the fubje&s of it. If a 
 roughnefs has occafionally efcaped the 
 Writer, it muft either have proceeded 
 from the ftrong recommendation which 
 that quality has received from the 
 Authors of the Poem and EfTay before 
 him, or have been caught from the 
 very rough manner in which they have 
 thought fit to handle — " Brown and 
 ** his Followers." 
 
 Left the Author of thefe pages 
 mould be invidiouily ranked among the 
 followers of Mr. Brown, and be held 
 out as a ^zr/y-writer, — efpecially as 
 he has mentioned his own practice,— • 
 he thinks it prudent, indeed requiiite, 
 to mention here, that he has no 
 perfonal acquaintance with any in- 
 dividual 
 
X ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 dividual of the profemon, and that 
 fo far from being a fervile admirer of 
 Mr. Brown, he was the firft to point 
 out, publicly, the Imperf eft ions of that 
 celebrated Artift, and his followers ; 
 particularly in their practice of laying 
 out the grounds of villas, or confined 
 places : and whether the Author of 
 the EfTay on the Picturefque, feeing the 
 juflnefs of the remark, has extended 
 it, very improperly, to places in gene- 
 ral, and the Author of the Landfcape 
 has caught it up, as haflily, from the 
 Euayift, might be difficult to afcertain : 
 it is poffible that neither of them may 
 have feen it. By tranfcribing, here, 
 the pafTage alluded to, Readers will 
 be able to form their own judge- 
 ment. 
 
 Under 
 
ADVERTISEMENT; XI 
 
 Under the title Villa, in the 
 Treatife on " Planting and Orna- 
 *• mental Gardening," * the Au- 
 thor has faid,— " It is far from being 
 ** any part of our plan to cavil un- 
 " necefTarily at Artirts, whether living 
 " or dead ; we cannot, however, re- 
 " frain from expreiling a concern 
 " for the almofl total neglect of the 
 " principles here laid down ? in the 
 " prevailing practice of a late cele- 
 u brated Artift, in ornamenting the 
 " vicinages of Villas. We mention it 
 " the rather, as Mr. Brown feems to 
 " have fet the fafiion ; and we are 
 " forry to find it copied by the infe- 
 " rior Artifts of the day. Without 
 " any regard to uniting the houfe with 
 
 " the 
 
 * Publifiied, by Dodfley, in 1785. 
 
jifil ADVERTISEMENT* 
 
 " the adjacent country, and indeed,- 
 " feemingly without any regard what- 
 " ever to the ofFscape, one invariable 
 " plan of embellilliment prevails ; 
 tc namely, that of ftripping the fore- 
 " ground entirely naked, or nearly fo, 
 " and furrounding it with a wavy bor- 
 '/ der of fhrubs and a gravel walk ; 
 " leaving the area, whether large or 
 " fmall> one naked fheet of green fward* 
 " Li fmall confined fpots, this- p]an 
 " may be eligible. We diflike thofe 
 " bolflered flower-beds which abound 
 " in the fuburbs of the metropolis* 
 " where the broken-ground fometimes 
 u exceeds the lawn : neverthelefs, to 
 *-' our apprehenfion, a iimple border, 
 *' round a large unbroken lawn, only 
 * ( ferves to mow what more is want- 
 " ed. Simplicity in general is plea- 
 
 " fingi 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. xlll 
 
 A( ling ; but even fimplicity may be 
 " carried to an extreme, fo as to con- 
 *' vey no other idea than that of pover- 
 " ty and baldnefs." Page 612. 
 
 If it mould turn out, that the Wri- 
 ter has, himfelf, been an innocent caflfe 
 of bringing down obloquy on a pro- 
 feffion, which may be faid to affor4 
 him his only relaxation, he would have 
 an additional ilimulus to exert his beft 
 abilities in its fupport ; and to endea- 
 vour to fix, on rational principles and 
 a firm bafjs, an art which is capable 
 of giving fo much pleafure and amufe- 
 ment to cultivated minds, and which 
 has now, for fome length of years, 
 added fo greatly to the comforts, and 
 domefKc enjoyments, and flill more 
 
 highly 
 
XIV ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 highly perhaps to the health, of civU 
 Jized fociety, in this country. 
 
 It now only remains for him to 
 apologize for the freedoms that may 
 feem to have been taken with a pro- 
 feffion, which he never contemplates 
 but with admiration, and whofe pro- 
 ductions he views with delight. If, 
 in comparing Landscape paintings 
 with living scenery, he may feem 
 to rank the former beneath their rightr 
 ful fbtion, the Writers of the Poem 
 and the EfTay under confideration are 
 to blame ; — not the Reviewer of them, 
 By the law of war, retaliation is a 
 right. Neverthelefs, he thinks it high- 
 ly requisite to declare, that it is not 
 the profeflion of Fainting he means tQ 
 
 treat 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. XV 
 
 treat lightly, — but its echo ; that it is 
 pot ProfefTors who are fpoken of with 
 fuitable difdain, — but their fhadows j 
 that it is not the works of Matters 
 which can merit ridicule,. — but the 
 manmer in which they are held up to 
 view. 
 
REVIEW 
 
 OF THE 
 
 EM. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE LANDSCAPE appearing to 
 have grown out of the Essay on 
 the Picturesk, as will be mown in the 
 Introduction to our Review of that work, 
 much of which, the author of it tells us, was 
 written fome years ago ; we * have thought it 
 right to proceed, in reviewing thefe two pro- 
 ductions, agreeably to that cirCumftance ; as 
 B well 
 
 * This number is adopted in conformity with what 
 the author has formerly written on the fame fubjeft ; 
 as well as to prevent every thing which might bear the 
 refemblance of perfonality from entering into what he 
 ;s now writing. 
 
2 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 well to trace the rife and progrefs of ideas, 
 as to oppofe, with the flower and unimpaired 
 ftrength of our forces, the more fubde and 
 powerful aflfailant. And in printings alfo, 
 we have paid refpect to circumftances j not 
 more to fall in with popular expectation (the 
 Landfcape having been the firft published), 
 than to get a patting title to our oook. 
 
 This explanation is given for the two-fold 
 purpofe of putting our readers in poiTefiion 
 of facts relating to the execution of the 
 work, and of accounting for the difpropor- 
 tion of the two critiques. 
 
 The Poem is divided into Three Books, 
 each comprizing fomewhat more than four 
 hundred lines. 
 
 BOOK 
 
REVIEW OF THE POEM, 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 THE Firft Book opens with the general 
 argument or purport of the fong : 
 
 How beft to bid the verdant Landfcape rife, 
 To ple:afe the fancy and delight the eyes; 
 Its various parts in harmony to join 
 With a.rt clandeftine, and conceal 'd defign ; 
 T' ado rn, arrange ; — to fep'rate, and feleft 
 With fecrtt fkill, and counterfeit negleft ; 
 I fing. Line I to 7; 
 
 If this were not only the Poet's argument* 
 but his general table of contents, our exami- 
 nation of his Poem might here ftop : for the 
 art we profefs to defend admits of nothing 
 dandeftine or counterfeit \ everything pertaining 
 to it is required to be real. In the immediate 
 environs of a habitable houfe, . felf-evident 
 realities only are admiffible ; appearing either 
 as plain fimple facts, detailed confidentially* 
 in fome favorite retreat, or as more (hiking and 
 bolder truths, told openly in the face of day. 
 
 Rural ornament, — the cmbellifhment of 
 
 grounds, environing a magnificent modern 
 
 building, the principal refidence of a man of 
 
 fortune, — deals not in fraud and deceit, nor 
 
 B 1 attempts 
 
4f REVIEW OF THE POEM. 
 
 attempts to conceal anything, but labour and 
 deformity ; as we have formerly mown *. 
 
 This Poet, however, has had the temerity 
 to cenfure, and in terms the moft indecorous, 
 the principles and practice of that art ; with 
 whofe practice and principles he appears to 
 be equally unacquainted; — 
 
 For culture's needful to the happieft foil ; 
 All art, by labour, flowly is acquired ; 
 The madman only fancies 'tis inlpired. 
 The vain rafh upftart thinks he can create, 
 Ere yet his hand has learn'd to imitate ; 
 While fenfelefs dafh and random nourifh try 
 The place of fkill and " practice" to fupply. 
 
 Line ioo to 106. 
 
 It therefore becomes neceflary to proceed in 
 our examination, with fcrupulous attention ; to 
 keep a fharp look-out after this " vain rafTi 
 " upftart;" and to endeavour, whenever he 
 touches the ground, to prevent the mifchiefs 
 which his pompous manner and fplendid drefs 
 might otherwife effect. Of his <c dafh and 
 " random fiourifhes f," the lefs notice is re- 
 quired, 
 
 * See Plant, and Orn. Gard. p. 602. 
 
 f Let not this mode of attack be deemed unmilitary. 
 A generous warrior thinks it not unfair to have his 
 mafts returned him ; nor repines at receiving in his own 
 bpibm what he had aimed with all his fkill and force at 
 she bolom of another. 
 
REVIEW OF THE POEM. 5 
 
 quired, as their wings have been clipped —and 
 very neatly ! * 
 
 Having invoked his patron, and prepared 
 his reader with a gilded pill ! the Poet enters 
 upon general principles, in which he in- 
 cludes not only the rural art, but the arts 
 of the sculptor and the painter, to which 
 he might well have added thofe of the taylor, 
 the milliner, and the maiitua-maker (all 
 votaries of tafte), whofe feveral arts are 
 more nearly allied to painting, than is the art 
 of Rural ornament. The cap, the coat, and 
 tiie picture are extemporary productions ; 
 may be finifhed and fitted on in a few 
 days, a few weeks, or at mofl a few months ; 
 whereas a place requires a century of time to 
 perfect it. 
 
 This trivial difference, . perhaps, did not 
 ftrikc the Poet : yet his mind is not infenfible 
 to nice diftinctions. For what he fays of the 
 fuperior fkill of Lyfippus the fculptor, in 
 forming his ftatues, — " not as men were, 
 " but as they feemed to be," — fnows his own 
 good {tn{c as well as that of Lyfippus, and 
 tells us how capable he is of judging in mat- 
 B 3 ters 
 
 * See " A Sketch from the Landfcape," pu'* 
 by Faultier. 
 
6 REVIEW OF THE POEM. 
 
 ters to which he has duly turned his attention. 
 The fculptor may profit by the hint. The 
 painter wants it not: his whole art confifts. 
 in mowing things, not as they are, but as 
 they feem to be ; and the merit of Lyfippus 
 mould appear to be little more than that of 
 adding a fmall part of the painter's art to his 
 own, 
 
 But how is the principle to be applied in 
 Rural ornament ? Can nice hair-breadth dif- 
 tinctions be obferved in forming a reality, with 
 living materials, which are ever in a (late of 
 progrefiion, during a century, or perhaps, 
 two or three centuries of time ; nay, which 
 can never be arretted or fixed with refpecl to 
 dimeniions ? For no fooner have they reached 
 their fulleft magnitude, than a progrefTive 
 diminution takes place. One year's growth, 
 Or the lofs of a fingle limb, is fufricient to fet 
 afide the re fined principle of the Poet. — 
 What an .unpardonable overfight ! 
 
 This much as to principle : next as to 
 practice. But before we enter the approach, 
 for the Poem is not deftkute of method, it 
 will be proper to mention two etched draw- 
 ings, representations of the fame place, laid 
 put in different ftyles j the one conveying the 
 
 Poet's 
 
REVIEW OF THE POEM. 7 
 
 Poet's idea of how a place ought to look ; 
 the other intended as a fort of burlefque 
 reprefentation, or caricature of modern Eng- 
 Jim gardening ; for it cannot be a ferious 
 copy of a real place, in England. It has no 
 practicable coach-road to it. The immediate 
 approach takes the houfe in full front, as , if 
 to pafs through it, rather than to approach it. 
 It mult, therefore, either be wilful mifrepre- 
 fentaticn, or be taken from fome place, in 
 the more reclufe parts of the ifland, where La- 
 dies ftill Darby-and-Joan it, or pay vifits in 
 pattens. It would make our Englifh coach- 
 men ftare, and, perchance, bl — ft the fool 
 of a fellow who made it ; for how, and be 
 d— 'd to him, were thev to fet down at the 
 hall door. 
 
 In the description of the modern Approach, 
 the Poet has been guilty of ftill leis pardon- 
 able mifreprefentation. But this belongs not 
 to us. jBe it our's to defend the art itfelf, and 
 the character of thofe artifts who no longer 
 live to defend their own. 
 
 In regard to the Poet's didablics^ relative to 
 the approach, they are merely fuch precepts 
 as have been laid down by writers, and fol- 
 lowed by all profefllonal men, who have 
 B 4 known 
 
8 REVIEW OF THE PQEM. 
 
 known anything of the art they profeiTed, for 
 near half a century. The only thing new 
 about them is the poetry, which is frequently 
 admirable, though not always fo. 
 
 When o'er the level lawn you chance to ftray, 
 
 Nature and tafle direft the neareil way ; 
 
 But when you traverfe rough uneven ground, 
 
 Ccnfult your eafe, and you will oft go round : 
 
 The bcft of rules are thofe of common ufe ; 
 
 Affected tafte is but refined abufe. 
 
 Line 147 to 152. 
 
 For as the principle of tafle is fenfe, 
 Whate'er is void of meaning gives offence *. 
 
 Line 157 and 15S. 
 
 To lead, with fecret guile, the prying fight 
 To where component parts may bell unite, 
 And form one beauteous, nicely blended whole, 
 To charm the eye and captivate the foul. 
 
 Line 193 to 196. 
 
 But flill in carelefs cafy curves proceed, 
 Through the rough thicket or the flow'ry mead ; 
 Till burfting from fome deep-imbower'd fhade, 
 Some narrow valley or fome op'ning glade, 
 Well mix'd and blended in the fcene, you fhew 
 The {lately manfion rifing to the view. 
 But mijc'd and blended ever let it be, 
 A mere component part of what you fee. 
 
 Line 213 to 220. 
 Such 
 • See The Fancy Approach ! ! 
 
REVIEW OF THE POEM. 9 
 
 Such rules, we believe, have ever been 
 obferved, at lean: by Brown *, and will ever 
 be attended to by fuch of his followers as are 
 fufficiently acquainted with the art he profef- 
 fed, with fo much credit to himfelf and honor 
 to his country. What follows is unfair, is 
 mere delufive infinuation : no artift, we be- 
 lieve, has ever difmantled a houfe of its ar- 
 borefcent honors, any farther than to let in a 
 fufficiency of air to render it wholefomely 
 habitable ; or to let in views of the furround- 
 ing country, in order to make it a more plea- 
 furable habitation : operations which pre- 
 fuppoie a place to "be over-wooded. It may 
 furprize a poet to tell him, that if a houfe, 
 through circumflances or a want of tafte, has 
 been built on a naked fwell, it requires a full 
 century to wood it, fo as to " form one beau- 
 " teous nicely blended whole." A prevailing 
 error of improvers is to begin with planting 
 tall-growing fo reft trees, too near the hcufe. 
 
 What, 
 
 The fame 
 
 Brown, whofe innovating hand 
 
 Fir.t dealt thy curfes o'er this fertile iand. 
 
 Landscape p. 17. 
 
IO REVIEW OF THE POEM. 
 
 "What, then, can be the meaning of the lines 
 which immediately follow thole laft quoted ? 
 
 .For if in folitary pride it Hand, 
 
 'Tis but a lump, encumbering the land, 
 
 A load of inert matter, cold and dead, 
 
 Th' e.xcrefcence of the lawns that round it fpread. 
 
 Line 121 to 124. 
 
 So much for the approach : we now 
 come to the Poet's recipe for making a Land* 
 fcape : 
 
 To make the Landfcape grateful to the fight, 
 Three points of diftance always fhould unite ; 
 And howfoe'er the view may be confin'd, 
 Three mark'4 divifions we (hall always find. 
 
 Line 227 to 230; 
 
 A fit companion, this, for— 
 
 Curfe on the pedant jargon, that defines 
 Beauty's unbounded forms to given lines ! 
 With fcorn eternal mark the cautious fool, 
 Who dares not judge till he confults his rule ! 
 
 Line 79 to 82. 
 
 In Landfcape painting, as in the drama, thert 
 pre certain fixed rules, {auctioned by fafhion ; 
 nd whether they are right or wrong belongs 
 not to this enquiry. Suppo'fing thofc of Land- 
 fcape 
 
 p 
 
REVIEW OF THE POEM. II 
 
 icape painting to be indifpenfably necefiary 
 to that art, they are altogether inapplicable in 
 Rural ornament. The painter, we believe, 
 jixes his cc three points of diftance" mechani- 
 cally, — puts his mark upon them !— and is 
 carefull not to chufe a fubject in which 
 he cannot make good the "three marked 
 tf divisions" his art requires : he rambles over 
 the face of nature until he finds them ; or 
 fupplies them from the ftore-houfe of his own 
 imagination. But the rural artift is fixed to a 
 given Ipot (fo far as relates to the environs of 
 the houfe), and mould be thankful for what 
 he can get, whether it happen to afford him 
 one, two, or three diftances. The foreground 
 is much within the power of his art, the mid- 
 dle ground he may generally aflift, but the 
 farther diftances, if he can catch any, are 
 moftly beyond the reach of his controul ■, he 
 can feldom touch them with fuccefs ; and he 
 mult in all cafes depend on the atmofphere 
 and the feafons, to mark bis divifions ! His 
 chief bufinefsj beyond the limits of the fore- 
 ground, is to mow, to the belt advantage, 
 whatever nature and fortuitous circumftances 
 
 have 
 
It REVIEW TO THE POEM. 
 
 hive placed before him : but not by any gene- 
 ral rule - t for 
 
 " Great Nature {corns controul ; fhe will not bear 
 ■f One beauty foreign to the fpot or foil 
 " She gives thee to adorn : 'tis thine alone 
 
 " To mend, not change her features." 
 
 Mason. 
 
 At length, however, we reach fome fhort, 
 pithy, rational directions j not how to make 
 aLandfcape, but how to lay out a place j 
 
 J lop redundant parts, the coarfe refine, 
 
 Open the crowded, and the fcanty join. 
 
 Line 2^9 and 260. 
 
 In thefe operations principally confifts the ru- 
 ral art: they are what Brown and his followers 
 have ever been employed in. 
 
 What fucceeds appears to have been written, 
 merely by way of making the poetry and the 
 fancy drawing correfpond with each other : 
 al fancy, at befi : 
 
 But, ah! ia vain : — See yon fantaftic band, 
 With charts, pedometers, and ruies in hand, 
 Advance triumphant, and alike lay wafte 
 The forms of nature, and the works of tafte ! - 
 T' improve, adorn, and polilh they profefs ; 
 But {have the goddefs, whom they come to drefs ; 
 
 Level 
 
REVIEW OF THE POEM. ij 
 
 Level (each broken bank and fliaggy mound, 
 
 And faifhion all to one unvaried round ; 
 
 One even round, that ever gently flows, 
 
 Nor forms abrupt, nor broken colours knows ; 
 
 But, wrapt all o'er in cvcrlafting green *, 
 
 Makes one dull, vapid, fmooth, and tranquil fcene. 
 
 Line 261 to 272. 
 
 Havimg loft himfclf on the lawn, and finding 
 his own fancy exhaufted, the Poet calls out 
 luftily for Virgil, to rife, from the dead of 
 courfe,, and come to his afliftance ; left, as 
 we comceive, he fhould wander into the water, 
 for waint of a line of reeds and bullies on the 
 margini, to announce it : — 
 
 Arife -ff great poet, and again deplore 
 The faw'rite reeds that deck'd thy Mincius' fhore ! 
 Proted: the branches, that in Ha:mus fhed 
 Their {grateful fhadows o'er thy aching head ; 
 Shav'd to the brink, our brooks are taught to flow 
 Where no obtruding leaves or branches grow ; 
 
 Line 273 to 278. 
 
 and, iin the drawing, we fee the ferpentifing 
 canal chat JhaS d I 
 
 How 
 
 * See the firfl line of the Poem, 
 f Should not this have been defctnd? Surely, an im- 
 mortal Pwet cannot reafonably be rfuppofed to be dvwm 
 among the dead nun. 
 
14 REVIEW OF THE POEM. 
 
 How unlike to this is the Poet's water ! 
 exquiiitely intricated, and well nigh hid, in 
 weeds, rough bufhes, and fallen trees (quaere 
 felled for the purpofe ?) a very fwamp ! a 
 moft admirable nurfery of gnats, toads and 
 water rats, — with other creeping and craw- 
 ling things ; giving to the whole place a 
 dank, filthy, aguifh appearance. The bare 
 and bald has certainly the more wholefome 
 effect : but neither of them is as it mould be : 
 nor either of them accordant with the prin- 
 ciples of modern gardening; as will mod 
 fully appear, in the fequel of this Review. 
 
 This fwamplet of the Poet, {ccn in the 
 bottom of a reclufe dingle, or caught at the 
 fharp turn of a road, might be in character, 
 and produce a charming effect : in the neg- 
 lected environs of a ruin it might harmonife 
 with its accompaniment ; but it certainly is 
 not fit to be feen from an inhabited houfe.; 
 nor proper to be afiimilated in the fame com- 
 pofition, with any habitation fuperior to a 
 decoyman's hut. 
 
 Whether the place depicted be the Poet's 
 own is left to conjecture. We are, however, 
 given fully to underftand that he has a place : 
 
 and, 
 
REVIEW OF THE POEM. I* 
 
 and, from the following lines, we conceive it 
 to be one of thofe reclufe romantic (pots, 
 which, from circumftances, or from fancy, 
 have got the name of Hermitages. 
 
 Let me, retired from bufinefs, toil, and flrife, 
 Clofe amidfl: books and folitude my life ; 
 Beneath yon high-brow'd rocks in thickets rove, 
 Or, meditating, wander through Co grove; 
 Or, from the cavern, view the noon-tide beam 
 Dance on the rippling of the lucid ftream, 
 While the wild woodbine dangles o'er my head, 
 And variou; fl vers around their fragrance fpread ; 
 Or where, 'm ift ii atter'd trees, the op'ning glade 
 Admits the well-mix'd tints of light and made ; 
 And as the day's bright colours fade away, 
 Juft mows my devious folitary way : 
 While thick'ning glooms around are flowly fpread, 
 And glimmering fun-beams gild the mountain's head; 
 Then homeward as I faunt'ring move along, 
 The nightingale begins his ev'ning fong ; 
 Chaunting a requiem to departed light, 
 That fmooths the raven down'of fdble night. 
 
 When morning's orient beams again arife, 
 And the day reddens in the eaftern flcics; 
 I hear the cawing rooks falute the dawn, 
 High in the oaks which overhang the lawn. 
 
 Line 317 to 338. 
 
 Yet, 
 
l6 REVIEW OF THE POEM. 
 
 Yet, from the laft line, it fhould feem to be 
 more than a mere Hermitage : perhaps it is 
 fomething fimilar to the late poet Shenftone's 
 place — the Leafowes ; a fort of play place for 
 poetic Genii : or may we conceive it to be 
 fimilar, in ftyle, to the place we have formerly 
 defcribed, under the general character of the 
 ornamented cottage?* a fpecies of place, 
 which requires a ftyle of embellifhment, as 
 different from that of a superb villa, or a 
 magnificent residence, as the everyday 
 garb of an honeft yeoman is from the drefs 
 fuit of a gentleman. 
 
 We hope the Poet takes no merit to him- 
 felf, upon account of the pictureik fcenery, 
 which nature may have fcattered with a boun- 
 tiful hand about his wild place ; or for not 
 having attempted to fhave the precipitate 
 fides of his fhaggy dell : much lefs, we truft, 
 does he imagine, oxentric as his ideas may 
 be on the fubject, that fuch fcenery can be 
 created in more hofpitable filiations. 
 
 BOOK 
 
 * See Plant, and Orn. Gard. p. 610. 
 
REVIEW OF THE POEM. f] 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 HAVING dreamed of naked places, and 
 of bare and bald canals, until his tormented 
 mind grew frantic, the Poet wakes, if a mind 
 in a ftate of phrenzy can be faid to wake, 
 exclaiming — 
 
 To heav'n devoutly I've addrefled my prayer 
 Again the mofs-gro<wn terraces to rai/e, 
 And fpread the labyrinth's perplexing mazej 
 Replace in even lines the duttile yew, 
 And plant again the ancient avenue. 
 
 This we pafs, as being intitled Only to pity, 
 
 or ridicule *, and join the Poet in the foreft ; 
 
 C where 
 
 * The arch draughtfman, whom we have mentioned, 
 has made admirable Iketchings from this raving paflage; 
 and has hit it off to a hair, both with his pen and his 
 pencil : 
 
 Triumphant — , to give thy name 
 A paffport to immortal fame, 
 
 What (hall the grateful world agree on ? 
 Britain in (lore has peerage, penfion ; 
 France might give " honourable mention," 
 
 Or fend thy bones to her Pant hf an. 
 
 Let 
 
iS REVIEW OF THE POEM. 
 
 where a cool breeze and natural fcenery ena- 
 ble him to proceed with due decorum ; until 
 catching, unfortunately, a glimpfe of one of 
 Brown's curfed Scotch fir clumps, — a firing 
 which never fails when touched to efFect a 
 relapfe — he breaks out again, — 
 
 But ah ! how different is the formal lump 
 Which the improver plants, and calls a clump! 
 
 Break, 
 
 Let France be-praife her Sans-culottes, 
 For gain let ftatefmen (train their throats, 
 
 Keep coronets for empty noddles- 
 Such modern gewgaws we defpife, 
 To Greece we turn our claffic eyes— 
 
 Greece, Greece prefents the belt, of models ! 
 
 Are not thy well-eam'd glories vafter 
 Than thofe of Ihefcus, Pollux, C after ? 
 
 Herculean labours yield to thine. 
 Then, if the world my voice will lift to, 
 Each avenue, parterre, and vifto, 
 
 Shall fhew thy honours all divine, 
 
 Thy ftatueof Coloffal fize, 
 In duftile yew, fhall nobly rife 
 
 (Think not thymodefty lhall 'fcape us) : 
 The God of Gardens thou fhalt Hand, 
 To fright improvers from the land, 
 
 A huge and terrible Friapus* 
 
REVIEW OF THE POEM. I 9 
 
 Break, break, ye nymphs, the fence that guards it 
 
 round ! 
 With browfing cattle all its forms confound ! 
 As chance or fate will have it, let it grow ; — 
 Here lpiring high j — there cut, or trampled low. 
 
 Line 51 to $6. 
 
 Surely, after this flagrant trefpafs on the 
 rights of long-eftablifhed practice j of practice 
 certainly as old as the art of planting -, fome 
 newly difcovered method of raifing trees with- 
 out fences might be reafortably expected. But 
 vain were our expectations. — It is enough for 
 a Poet to pull down. 
 
 Yet notwithftanding this interdiction againft 
 fencing plantations, we are told how a place 
 ought to be wooded. Hence, we may fairly 
 infer, the Poet takes it for granted, that every 
 place to be improved abounds with natural 
 wood, — like his own ! For, furely, even a 
 wild poet can never imagine that groups — . 
 here " fpiring high— there cut or trampled 
 low"— are raifed with the fame facility in 
 nature, that they are on canvas. Perhaps, it 
 has never {truck him, that the wild groups of 
 the foreft may have taken fome centuries to 
 mold them to their prefent forms. Even 
 C a fup~ 
 
26 REVIEW OF THE POEM. 
 
 fnppofing that they could be blown up like 
 <?lafs bottles, would it be right to introduce 
 them under the windows of a fplendid room; 
 becaufe they are in character at the door of 
 a foreft-iide cottage ? This part of the Poem 
 is fo very abfurd, there is no fpeaking of it 
 with a grave countenance. 
 
 The remarks on planting the heads of 
 mountains are frivolous. For the fummits of 
 high mountains will not produce wood ; but 
 the vallies and furrows of their fides will, and 
 when filled have a pifturable efFeel. The na- 
 tive pines of Scotland grow chiefly in the val- 
 lies of the higher mountains j climbing up 
 their fides, never to the fummit, and feldom 
 to the tops of thehigherridgesj but they convey 
 no idea of" giant limbs" bedizened "with frip- 
 pery fringe and lace :" — 'the mere frippery 
 and fringe of a Poet's fancy. 
 
 The defcription of how a Landfcape ought 
 to glitter is brilliant poetry, and a fplendid 
 pidture might be painted from it ; but it has 
 little relation to real Landfcape. 
 
 Whatever foremoft glitters to the eye, 
 Shpuld near the middle of the Landfcape lie; 
 
 Such 
 
REVJEWOF THE POEM. 51 
 
 $uch as the flagnant pool, or rippling ftream, 
 That foaim and fparkles in the fun's bright beam j 
 Not to attract th' unfkilful gazer's fight, 
 But to concentrate, and difperfe the light ; 
 To (how the clear reflection of the day, 
 And dart through hanging trees the refluent ray ; 
 Where ferni-ligh^s with femi-fhadows join, 
 And quiv'ring play in harmony divine. 
 
 Line 59 to 108. 
 
 Where is the refluent ray, the femi-lights and 
 femi-fhadows, when the fun does not fhine r" 
 Even when it does fhine, its effects are tranfient 
 in any given point of view •, arifing from the 
 progreffive motion (no matter whether real 
 or apparent) of the Fountain of light. Again, 
 the fame hanging trees which permit the free 
 paffage of the rays, this year, will, the next or 
 the next, (hut out the light, altogether : even 
 in the fame year, the disfoliation of trees 
 has the power of making or marring fcenery 
 of this fort ; delightful as it is, while it lafis. 
 In compofing living fcenery, the artift ought 
 to work on a broader bafis, and on more 
 enlarged principles: He has a century to 
 look forward to j and his picture, though ever 
 changing, fhould continue to pleafc, through- 
 out :hat length of time. 
 
 C 3 The 
 
12 REVIEW OF THE POEM. 
 
 The remainder of what the Poet has ad- 
 vanced reflecting waters, turns on the fame 
 frittering principle ; which may be perfectly 
 applicable in a picture ; but, in nature and 
 reality, the eye, though it may be pleafed 
 with a picturable compofition, in a reclufe or 
 confined fituation, is prepared for more ex- 
 tenfive gratification in open daylight j efpe- 
 cially among the more magnificent fcenery 
 of Nature. Yet the « filly fool" (fhall we fay ?) 
 keeps prating on j 
 
 Oft have I heard the filly traveler boaft 
 The grandeur of Ontario's endlefs coaft ; 
 Where, far as he could dart his wand'ring eye, 
 He nought but boundlefs water could defcry. 
 
 With equal reafon, Kefwick's favour'd pool 
 Js made the theme of ev'ry wond'ring fool ; 
 
 Line 128 to 133. 
 
 as if the Lakes of Kefwick and Ontario were 
 not, in nature, fit fubjects of gratification, be- 
 caufe neither of them may be capable of af* 
 fording a piece of fafhionable furniture. 
 
 There is fomethins; obfcure in the follow- 
 ing remarks on foregrounds. 
 
 To fhow the nice embellifhments of art, 
 The foreground ever it> the propercft part j 
 
 For 
 
REVIEW OF THE POEM. #£ 
 
 For e'en minute and trifling obje&s near, 
 Will grow important, and diftind appear : 
 No leaf of fern, low weed, or creeping thorn, 
 But, near the eye, the I.anufcape may adorn. 
 
 Line 176 to 181. 
 
 Docs the Poet propofe to cultivate " fern, 
 " low weeds, and creeping thorns" imme- 
 diately under the windows of a modern-built 
 houfe ? They are bearable in the reclufe 
 part of a park, or upon a common; and common 
 enough ! though, we think, they are not 
 quite fo rich and adorning in nature as in poetry. 
 Any rubbifh of that fort, we agree, is, to a 
 painter, better than nothing on a foreground, 
 as being ufeful in helping him to mark and 
 meqfurey but furely fome elegant groups of 
 fhrubs and flowers would anfwer his purpofe 
 full as well, and would accord much better 
 with the finifhings, the furniture, and the 
 drrfTes of a fafhionable room. At a fuit- 
 able diftance, as " on yonder bank," they 
 may be feen, even from a drawing-room, 
 with good effect. 
 
 The Poet's hut, or mock cavern ! by way 
 
 of a seat j and his trulTel bridge (apparently 
 
 copied from Wheatley) may fuit with his 
 
 C 4 place i 
 
24 REVIEW OF THE POEM. 
 
 place; being in character in ruftic reclufe 
 fpots ; but become mere bantlings of affecta- 
 tion, when mixed with the ornamented fce- 
 nery, which ought to furround the architec- 
 tural ornaments of a modern-built houfe : 
 juft as abfurd as it would be in a woman, 
 otherwife well-drefTed, to appear in company 
 with a coarfe hempen apron, a rough woollen 
 cloak, or a pair of wooden fhoes, 
 
 The quarry long negle&ed, and overgrown 
 
 With thorns, that hang o'er mould'ring beds of Hone, 
 
 has frequently a good effect, at a diftance ; 
 but can feldom-— " the place of natural rocks 
 "fupply!" though " clofing round the 
 " folitary feat," it may ** charm with the 
 " fimple fcene of calm retreat." 
 
 His remarks on ruins are no wayintereft- 
 ing to the rural artift ; nor does his coquetifh 
 principle of mowing off sham buildings 
 belong to the rural art. Such buildings are 
 inadmiffible, and fuch principles impracti- 
 cable. 
 
 The, 
 
REVIEW OF THE POEM. 2$ 
 
 The reft of this Chapter relates to art, 
 merely. It fings of a Grecian pitcher, and 
 puts us in mind of a well difpofed Chriftian, 
 lately converted to Methodifm, and y'o^ admit- 
 ted to the myfteries of grace. 
 
 BOOK III, 
 
 THE laft Book fpeaks of trees, and their 
 adaption to foils and fituations ; fings loud, 
 yet iweetly, of the natural advantages of this 
 favored Ifland ; and clofes with a (ketch, fub- 
 limely horrible, of the caufe, the operation, 
 and the effects of revolutions. 
 
 The remarks on foreft trees, natives of or 
 naturalized to this climate, fliow the author to 
 be better acquainted with their feveral appear- 
 ances and habitudes than could be reafonably 
 expected from fo good a peer. However, the 
 poetry apart, thefe remarks are trite and com-* 
 rnon-place. We have not detected a new idea 
 
 among 
 
26 REVIEW OF THE POEM. 
 
 among them; except one relating to the 
 Jarch ; a tree which we may with fafety pro- 
 nounce to be the molt valuable exotic, of the 
 ligneous tribe, this Ifland has ever imported. 
 Ncverthelefs, the adventurous Poet, in behalf 
 olxkvkt harmony which the larch may hereafter 
 fecure to this Ifland, calls down vengeance on 
 its head : 
 
 O Harmony, once more from Heav'n defcend ! 
 Would the fliff lines, and the harm colours blend ; 
 Banifh the formal fir's unfocial made, 
 And crop th' afpiring larch's faucy head : 
 
 Line 57 to 60. 
 
 the firft time, perhaps, this peaceful matron 
 has been called upon to cut off heads. 
 
 Perifh all poets, let the larix live ! 
 
 One other remark and we have done^ 
 what we confider to be our duty, to our 
 country, to our caufe, and to the Poem under 
 review. 
 
 Having paffed through the forcft, with 
 great prefence of mind, and dealt juftice round 
 to all its inhabitants, with a nice difcrimina- 
 tion; excepting the * formal fir" and u af- 
 * piring larch" — unfortunate inmates of the 
 
 clump ! 
 
REVIEW OF THE POEM. 1J 
 
 clumip ! the Poet deigns to fpeak of the lefs 
 ufefuil but gay exotics ; — the ftill more unfor- 
 tunatte inhabitants of modern llirubberies ! 
 In lo»oking over thefe, he is unhappily brought 
 withiin fight of the houfe ; a circumftance, 
 
 alas N —But we attempt not to defcribe what 
 
 we can place, in reality, before our readers. 
 
 The bright acacia, and the vivid plane, 
 
 The rich laburnum with its golden chain ; 
 
 And all the variegated flovv'ring race, 
 
 Thau deck the garden, and the Ihrubb'ry grace, 
 
 Shouild near to buildings, or to water grow, 
 
 Whe:re bright reflections beam with equal glow. 
 
 And blending vivid tints with vivid light, 
 
 The whole in brilliant harmony unite ; 
 
 E'en the bright flow'ret's tints will dim ajppear, 
 
 Whe:n limpid waters foam and glitter near, 
 
 And o'er their curling cryftals fparkling play 
 
 The clear reflections of meridian day : 
 
 Fronn buildings, too, ftrong refluent lights are thrown, 
 
 Whe?n the fun downward fhines upon the ftone ; 
 
 Or Oin the windows darts its evening rays, 
 
 And makes the glafs with fire refponfive blaze. 
 
 But better are thefe gaudy fcenes difplay'd 
 From the high terrace or rich baluftrade ; 
 'Midft fculptur'd founts and vafes that diffufe, 
 In fhapes fantaftic, their concordant hues ; 
 
 Than 
 
1% REVIEW OF THE POEM. 
 
 Than on the fwelling Hopes of waving ground. 
 That now the folitary houfe furround. 
 
 Curfe on the fhrubbery's infipid fcenes ! 
 Of tawdry fringe encircling vapid greens ; 
 Where incongruities fo well unite 
 That nothing can by accident be right ; 
 Thickets that neither fhade nor (helter yield ; 
 Yet from the cooling breeze the fcnfes fhield : 
 Prim gravel walks, thro' which we winding go. 
 In endlefs ferpentines that nothing (how : 
 Till tir'd, I afk, Why this eternal round ? 
 And the pert gard'ner fays, 'Tis pleafure-ground. 
 fbis pleafure-ground ! aftonifh'd, I exclaim, 
 To me Moo R F i E l d s as iveli defers e the name ; 
 Nay, better ; for in bufy fcenes at leaft 
 Some odd varieties the eye may feaft ; 
 Something more entertaining ftiil be feen, 
 Than red-hot gravel, fring'd with tawdry green. 
 
 O waft me hence to fome neglected vale, 
 Where fhelter'd I may court the weftern gale j 
 And 'midft the gloom which native thickets lhed, 
 Hide from the noontide beams my aching head. 
 
 Line 197 to 238, 
 
 A fore complaint ! Oh ! for a cold wet 
 towel to wreath his temples ! 
 
 This 
 
REVIEW OF THE POEM. 1§ 
 
 This being the laft paffage we mean to 
 condefcend upon *, and being, in itfelf, the 
 mod extraordinary paffage in this extraordi- 
 nary Poem, it becomes us to treat it with 
 more than ordinary attention. 
 
 What was faid in the opening of the Second 
 Book, we confidered as the effects of a trou- 
 bled dream — a mere paroxifm of poetic 
 phrenzy : but now ! 
 
 Fortunately, however, while Reafon feemed 
 ftill to hold the reins, it appears to be fully 
 admitted that ornamental lb rubs may be al- 
 lowed to make their appearance in the envi- 
 rons of a houfe ; and all that remains to be 
 fettled is, whether they fhall appear on artifi- 
 cial mounds, raifed by line and fquare — 
 plumb-rule and level, or grow out of the 
 natural furface of the ground, as we fee tre.es 
 and fhrubs of all forts growing in forefts, 
 parks, and pafture grounds. 
 
 The walled garden of our anceftors was a 
 place within itfelf. Thofe who went into it 
 might be deemed prifoners, as much as if 
 
 they 
 
 * A very convenient Caledonianifm, which we wifi\ 
 to fee introduced into the eftabliflied language. 
 
$0 fcEVIEW OF THE POEM* 
 
 they had gone within the walls of a caftle, 
 through whofe embrafures they could peep 
 at the furrounding country, juft as they could 
 through the baluftrade of a terrace -, and, it 
 is highly probable the two inclofures had the 
 lame origin— fecurity. 
 
 In thofe days of caution, females were kept, 
 as birds, in cages, or at lead in aviaries, in- 
 clofed within walls, if not netted over, on 
 the SpaniJJo principle *. But times are chan- 
 ged, and manners, too. In thefe more libe- 
 ral days, the Sex are permitted to ramble at 
 large. No fooner do they fet foot without 
 doors, than they are (if not fo within) at full 
 liberty. Dry, comfortable walks receive 
 them at the door, and convey them, on the 
 varied bofom of the earth, to fcenes and i~ce- 
 nery of every defcription the given country 
 affords ; from the mod polifhed grounds, to 
 the wildeft, moft favage fcenes ; if fuch the 
 neighbourhood poflefs ; walks adapted to 
 all weathers, and fuitable to every feafon. 
 
 Here, 
 
 • We hope and truft that the Poet does not propofe 
 the revival of the one, as a prelude to the revival of 
 the other. 
 
REVIEW OF THE POEM. 3 1 
 
 Here, open to the milder rays, and flickered 
 from the wind ; there, fhaded from more 
 fultry beams. Here, eroding the polifhed 
 lawn; there, winding along the margin of 
 fome flowery mead (oh charming!), and 
 there tracing (oh delightful !) the iequeftered 
 banks of a raging ftream -, perhaps to fome 
 precipitous fall ! What more could even a 
 wild poet wifh ? 
 
 Not fo their grandmothers, good fouls \ 
 They were thankful for a mouthful of air 
 within the walls of a prifon ; glad to take their 
 exercife and amufement in dancing up and 
 ■down (tone fteps, or pacing to and fro between 
 fhorn hedges ; and were happy, no doubt, to 
 kifs their keepers for the enviable enjoyment 
 of gallanting it with men of marble : and 
 who knows but their grand-daughters may 
 enjoy the fame indigencies. But a truce : 
 the fubject is too ridiculous to be ridiculed. 
 
REVIEW 
 
 OF THE 
 
 E S S A r. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THERE appears to have been fomc 
 management in the publication of thefe 
 two works. The Efiayift tells us, in his Pre- 
 face, that his was the/r/? written, though loft 
 publijbed. 
 
 " I cannot, however, refift the fatisfaclion 
 " of mentioning one circumftance, highly 
 " flattering to me, as it accounts for my not 
 " chufing to delay this publication. I had 
 " mentioned to Mr. Knight that I had writ- 
 cc ten fome papers on the prefent (Vyle of 
 " improvement, but that I defpaired of ever 
 *' gettirg them ready for the prefs -, though 
 D "I was 
 
J4 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 t( I was very anxious that the absurdities of 
 " that ftyle mould be expofed. Upon this 
 " he conceived the idea of a poem on the 
 " fame fubject j and having all his materials 
 " arranged in his mind, from that activity 
 cc and perfeverance which fo ftrongly mark 
 " his character, he never delayed or aban- 
 " doned the execution, till the whole was 
 '* completed," — Preface to the Essay, page 4. 
 The plan of attach mould feem to have 
 been this : " Our caufe certainly is not the 
 beft, and our fuccefs not to be infured : yet 
 the prize is great j and, mould we attain it, 
 fame is ours r to guide the public mind, and 
 rule the mighty empire of Tafte ! everything 
 muft be attempted. You, my trufty friend, 
 with a well trained fquadron of flying artil- 
 lery, Hi all make the attack, and dare every- 
 thing. Should you fucceed, I will follow 
 with my regular phalanx, and fecure to us 
 the victory ; if not, I will at leaft endeavour 
 to cover your retreat. If, in your valorous 
 attack upon the heath, you fail in overturn- 
 ing the hated clumps, and in fcattering the 
 virgin's water, our Hand fhall be at Houn- 
 flow :" and here we find the EfTuyift : his 
 
 friend 
 
INTRODUCTION. 35 
 
 friend having fcampered among the thirties, 
 brakes, and furze-bufhes, and having broken 
 the legs or necks of his troopers in the ruts 
 and roughnefTes of the wild heath, is fain to 
 partake of the comforts of a cultivated coun- 
 try : even at Hounflow. They ought not to 
 have left the parks. 
 
 But throwing afide a figure which fhould 
 not, perhaps, have been raifed *, we proceed 
 to inform our readers, in plainer language, 
 that the Effayift has fo far contracted the 
 Poet's expanded ideas, as to admit a degree 
 of embellifhment about a houie; and to ac- 
 knowledge that fome lawn is bearable, gravel 
 walks comfortable, and ornamental plants pre- 
 ferable to henbane and burdocks. In fhort, 
 that the environs of a {lately manfion, in a 
 well cultivated fituation, ought not to be ex- 
 actly the fame as thofe of a cottage on the 
 fide of a common : a condcfcenfion we did 
 not expect from the patron of the Land- 
 fcape. 
 
 D 1 Still, 
 
 * Yet, feeing the relation between Government and 
 Rural ornamen;, who could refill it ? See the late 
 treafonable trials. 
 
36 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Still, however, the Eftayift infifts, and with 
 redoubled force and energy, that Landfcape 
 painting ought to give laws to Rural embel- 
 lifhment; and perfifts, with greater invete- 
 racy even than the Poet, in the abuje of Mr. 
 Brown; in attacking the character of an artift 
 who deferves highly of his country, and who 
 no longer lives to defend it. A fufficient apo- 
 logy this, we truft, for taking up the gauntlet 
 in its defence. 
 
 This Eflay is divided into Parts and Chap- 
 ters ; more attention appearing to have been 
 paid to the fize of the Chapters (fmgle or 
 double) than to a fcrupulous felection of mat- 
 ter appropriate to each. In other words, the 
 work is ill digcfted ; and for reafons, perhaps, 
 well known to its Author. 
 
 PART 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 37 
 
 PARTI. C h a p. I. 
 
 THE Firft Chapter, as it fpeaks profef- 
 fedly of the relations between Landicape 
 painting and Rural ornament, is entitled to 
 more than ordinary attention. 
 
 Page 2. Enquiring about a standard of 
 " improvement," as the author equivocally 
 names the art of Rural ornament, he finds 
 it in " the authorities of thofe great artifts 
 " who have mod diligently ftudied the 
 " beauties of Nature, "—for the purpofe, mall 
 we add, of ornamenting a few fquare feet 
 of canvas, in order to produce the greateft 
 poffible effects, by a framefull of objects : 
 not to be viewed among a variety of furround- 
 ing objects in the open air and funlhine, but' 
 to be hung up, fingly, in a given light, and 
 viewed from a fixed and given point. What 
 analogy is there between this toy, this pretty 
 {hing to pleafe grown children *, and the 
 D 3 boundlefs 
 
 * The Writer again deprecates,' with all humility, the 
 forgivenefs of fins, if, in this or any other remark, 
 
 which 
 
g3 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 boundlefs difplay of ornamented Nature, 
 which ought to furround a magnificent refi- 
 dence ; where the eye muft generally receive, 
 at one glance, a whole hemicircle of objects ; 
 objects which muft bear to be feen in lights, 
 as various as thofe of morning, noon> and eve, 
 under colours varying with the feafons, and 
 changing their very Jubfiance with the falling 
 leaf; and with lights and fhadows varying 
 with the returning year ; objects, which muft 
 pleafe in every light, at all feafons, and in 
 various points of view ? 
 
 In page 5, we are afked, f { Who can doubt 
 " whether Shakeijpeare and Fielding had not 
 <f infinitely more amufement from fociety in 
 <f all its various views, than common obfer- 
 " vers ?" And we may fairly add — Who can 
 doubt whether Gray or Gilpin had not infi- 
 nitely more amufement from natural fcenery, 
 
 in 
 
 which he may have jufl caufe to make, he mould feetn 
 to bear hard upon an art which, he has already faid, 
 he never contemplates but with a degree of admiration; 
 and from which few men, perhaps, receive greater gra- 
 tification than himfelf. See the prefatory adverufe-; 
 pent. 
 
, REVIEW OF THE ESSAY, 39 
 
 m all its various views, than common obfer- 
 vers ? From accurate descriptions of natural 
 fcenerry, viewed in open day, and amidft a 
 hemisphere of light and objects, much ufeful 
 inftnudtion may be gathered by the ornamen- 
 talift. If, inftead of Shakefpeare and Field- 
 ing, the Eflayift had brought forward 
 Hogairth and Bunbury, he would jhave acted 
 more ingenuoufly. Painting is allied to 
 Rurall ornament, in a fimilar, though not 
 the faime, manner as it is to morality. Any 
 morailiit may profit by the works of the two 
 laft mentioned mafters; yet who would fit 
 dowm foberly to write a book, to prove ; that 
 no mian is fit to fill the moral character, until 
 he hias itudied the works of Hogarth and 
 Bunb)ury j or who in his fenfes would fet up 
 their works as the standard of morality ? 
 But though we allow a fimilarky between 
 Rural ornament and morality, in their alliance 
 to pointing, truth will not fuffer us to 
 equalize this alliance. In moral painting, the 
 adjuncts of light and fhadow, the harmony of 
 colouring, the progrefsof vegetation, the direc- 
 tion olf the illuming rays, and the permanency 
 of the; point of view, are not ejfentid to the 
 D 4 effect 
 
40 REVIEW 0T THE ESSAY. 
 
 effect of the picture. Thus the more we 
 inveftigate the fubject, the lefs affinity we find 
 between Rural ornament and Landscape 
 painting, 
 
 In this view of the fubject, the conduct of 
 the Landfcape painter, and the Layer-out of 
 grounds, cannot be mifunderftood. The 
 Painter mould ftudy natural fcenery, to fur- 
 nifh his mind with images ; and the works 
 of mafterly painters, to fee their effect, on 
 canvas : the Rural artift, in like manner, 
 mould fludy natural fcenery, and for the fame 
 purpofe of ftoring up, in his mind, fuitable 
 palTages for imitation ; as well as the places 
 which have received the higher! degrees of 
 embellifhment, in order to fee how far they 
 can be introduced, and what are their feveral 
 effects, in the immediate environs of a man- 
 fion : for " he is a fool who does not profit 
 " by the experience of others * j" and a 
 madman who would look up to Claude in 
 preference to Brown for practical ideas in 
 Rural ornament. In the infancy of painting, 
 the belt productions then exifting were, un- 
 
 doubtedly^ 
 
 # See The Effay on the Pidurefk, p. 4.. 
 
REVIEW 0>F THE ESSAV. 41 
 
 doubtedly. iludied with attention, by thofe 
 who were defirous of rifing in the art ; and, 
 no doubt, with good effect : Claude ftudied 
 the matters who had gone 'before him ; im- 
 proving himfelfby their excellencies - 3 and by 
 marking their defects, became cautious to avoid 
 them. 
 
 In this manner ought every man, who 
 wifhes to excel in the art of Rural embellifh- 
 ment, to view the works of Mr. Brown ; to 
 profit by his excellencies, and to be able to 
 avoid his defects. Indeed, Brown is the only 
 profeUional artift who can, at prefent, be ftu- 
 died with fafety. His are the only works of 
 profeffed artifts which have yet arrived at 
 fufficient maturity, to be fit fubjects of ftudy *. 
 A Rural artjlt who looks not forward to half 
 
 a cen- 
 
 * Unlefs any of Kent's works remain, unaltered 
 by Brown, or other artift. Hagley, the Leasowes, 
 ■ t md part of Enville, the works ofSHENSTONE and 
 Lord Lyttelton, may now be ftudied with advan- 
 tage, for the purpofesabovementioned. The Writer of 
 this Review went over them, fome years ago, with 
 that intention ; and his remarks on thefe and other 
 places, with various minutes on his own practice, have 
 Jpng been, and itilj are, intended for publication. 
 
42 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY, 
 
 a century at leaft, is unfit for the important 
 truft of forming fcenery round a principal re^ 
 fidence. 
 
 Here, another fchifm between the two arts 
 takes place. The one is the work of a few 
 days, a few weeks, or a few months ; the other 
 rifes, in regular progrefiion, for a century •, nor 
 pan it, even then, be arretted and fixed by the 
 painter's rules *. 
 
 Hence arifes a principal difficulty of the 
 Rural art. Iftheartift attempt to give imme- 
 diate effect, or effect: to be prefcntly ac- 
 quired, and, for this purpofe, croud his place 
 with foreft trees, — in the courfe of fifty years, 
 the whole environs muft become a wood, and 
 the furrounding country be fhut out. On the 
 contrary, if he look forward for a century, his 
 plantingsmuft be fo thin, that for the firft fifty 
 years, too great nakednefs mud prevail. Thus 
 he has a twofold part to perform : to produce 
 immediate effect ; and, at the fame time, to 
 fecure a ftill higher degree of ornament, a 
 century hence. 
 
 In this view of the art, we fee the ufe of 
 fhrubs, broken ground, and kept lawn, to 
 
 pro- 
 
 * See p. 6 of this Review. 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 43 
 
 produce immediately the befr effect that a 
 newly made place is capable of receiving ; 
 with foreft trees in fuch number, and fo dif- 
 pofed, as to give effect, henceforward, when 
 the flhrubs and broken ground are overgrown, 
 or wlholly removed j and when a clofely paf- 
 tured turf will accord with the foreft trees j of 
 courfe, when the barrier may be removed, and 
 the hoe, the fithe, and the roller may be dif- 
 penfed with. 
 
 Page 8. "It may be objected, that there 
 " are many pleafing circumflances in na- 
 " ture, which, in painting, would appear flat 
 " and infipid, as there are others that have a 
 " ftriking effect in a picture, which yet in 
 f* nature (by a common obferver at leaft) 
 ^ would be unnoticed or even difliked : but 
 " however true this may be in particular in- 
 f fiances, the great leading principles of the 
 f< one art, as general compofition — grouping 
 ?' the feparate parts — harmony of tints — unity 
 " of character, are equally applicable to the 
 ff other." 
 
 If, in Rural embelliihment, as in Landfcape 
 painting, only one point of view were requifite, 
 there would be Jome truth in this afiertion. 
 
 But 
 
44 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 But who, having given the fubjecl: a moment's 
 thought, cannot immediately perceive, that 
 the inftant the viewer fceps out of the given 
 point of view — the general compofition — the 
 grouping— and the unity of character are 
 changed ; and that, in moving a few fteps 
 farther, they vanifh ! And here one cannot 
 refrain from exprefTing a defire to know from 
 what point the Effayift conceives his compo- 
 fition to be viewed : whether from the outfidc 
 of the houfe, or the in ? But this appears to 
 be a fubject to which lie has not yet applied 
 himfelf : the belt apology that can be made for 
 the inconfiftencies he has publifhed. Is it at 
 the porter's lodge the Landfcapift fhall be 
 placed, or at the foot of fome favourite oak, 
 from whence the houfe and grounds fhall 
 form one general compofition, one united 
 group, one European Sharawadgi, one perfect 
 Landfcape ? or fhall it appear from the win- 
 dows of the breakfaft-room, the dining-room, 
 or the drawing-room * ? 
 
 In 
 
 * The Marquis D'Ermenonville wrote a book, fome 
 year;* ago, to mow that every houfe mould have a Land- 
 fcape made to it, from a drawing previoufly ficetched, at 
 the window of the faloon, or from the top of the houfe. 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 4^ 
 
 In Page 14, we are told, incidentally, that 
 *' in Claude, not only ruins, but temples and 
 " palaces, are often fo mixed with trees, that 
 " the tops over-hang the baluftrades, and 
 " the luxuriant branches moot between the 
 " openings of their magnificent columns and 
 " porticos." From this it feems that the 
 Eiiayift propofes to view from without, and 
 tdlthrow the houie into the general compofi- 
 tion. And who would not wifli to view a 
 houfe, thus over-grown with trees, rather than 
 go into it, to partake of the damps and un- 
 wholefomenefs which it muft neceftarily con- 
 tain ? 
 
 Suppofmg, for a moment, that the Im- 
 prover mould be defirous of imitating this 
 Imitation, or rather we may venture to fay, 
 this fancy piece of the painter, how is he to 
 proceed ? Either he muft ere£t his building 
 under the canopy of the required group, or 
 he muft raife the required group round the 
 building ; both of them talks of fome diffi- 
 culty. If, in the latter cafe, which alone comes 
 within the planter's province, he plant trees 
 of fize round the building to be -pizliirejkedy 
 it will be fome years before the luxuriant 
 
 branches 
 
dfi REVIEW OF THE ESSAY". 
 
 branches would fhoot between the openings 
 of the columns and porticos, and twice the 
 age of man, before they over-topped the 
 baluftrades j and, even then, they might not 
 happen to take the picTurefk outline required. 
 We leave the reader to conceive the weeping 
 of walls, the mouldering offtucco, the mould- 
 ing of furniture, the dampneis of rooms, 
 and the fwarms of infects, with which they 
 would be occupied during this tedious attempt, 
 this abortive endeavour to imitate Landfcape 
 painting. 
 
 Shall w T e here draw the inference, from the 
 foregoing premifes, that Rural ornament and 
 Landfcape painting have no relation what- 
 ever to each other, and that the Rural artift 
 cannot, in any inftance, receive inftructionfrom 
 the Landfcape painter ? 
 
 If, by the ftrife of elements, and the con- 
 vulfions of nature, her features, once fair a* 
 they are at prefent, had been entirely defaced, 
 fo that no traces were left, for the ftudy of 
 the Rural artift who wiihed to revive her loft 
 beauties ; and further, that the paintings of 
 Claude or other great matter, who had caught 
 ibme of thofe fair features, had efcaped this 
 
 devafta- 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY; 47 
 
 devafhtiom, — fuch imitations would certainly 
 be ufeful to the artifb : they would be the beft: 
 helps he could procure. 
 
 But, even under thefe circumftances, the 
 fublime or highly piclurefk imagery of 
 painters would be ufelefs to the Rural artift. 
 We have fecn tfeat even their fofter fcenes 
 cannot be fuccefsfully copied; and we fhall, in 
 the courfe of this Review, detect the abfurdity 
 of fuppofing their more fublime fcenery ca- 
 pable of imitation. 
 
 In the Chapter under review, this enter- 
 prifing Aflailant endeavours to overturn, by 
 ftratagem, the hated Empire of Mr. Brown j, 
 and, with it, its <f powerful fupporters ,*' — at 
 whofe head is placed Mr. Walpole * : a 
 tower of ftrength, which he thinks right to 
 attack f, before he enter his covert way,; 
 
 whofe 
 
 •* Mr. Walpole (now Earl of Orford) in his 
 " Anecdotes of Painting in England," gives a *« hif- 
 " tory of modern tafte in gardening ;" which was in- 
 fer ted, by fas permiffion, in the Trcatife on Planting 
 and Ornamental. Ga rdening. 
 
 f For — " he who is warmly engaged in a caufe, and 
 " has to fight againlt ftrongly rooted opinions, upheld by 
 
 " pow- 
 
4$ REVIEW OP THE ESSAF, 
 
 whofe windings are too long and intricate to 
 be here traced. Suffice it, therefore, to fay, 
 that, in order to fhow fome relation between 
 Landfcape painting and Rural ornament, he 
 fuppofes a difciple of Mr. Walpole, and, of 
 courfe, an admirer of the works of Mr. 
 Brown, to be employed in the improvement 
 of a picture of Claude, on what the Efiayift 
 infidioufly holds out as the principles of mo- 
 dern gardening; and having, as the reader 
 can readily conceive, been made to fpoil the 
 picture, the artful relation is thus clofed: 
 " There is not a perfon in the fmalleft degree 
 " converfant with painting, who would not, at 
 <f the fame time, be fhocked and diverted at 
 " the black fpots and the white fpots, — the 
 <c naked water, — the naked buildings, — the 
 " fcattered unconnected groupes of trees, and 
 " all the grofs and glaring violations of every 
 *' principle of the art ; and yet this, without 
 " any exaggeration, is the method in which 
 
 " many 
 
 *' powerful fupporters, muft, if he hopes to vanqniih 
 *' <hem, take every fair advantage of his opponents, and 
 " not feem too timid and fearful of giving offence where 
 " he means none." This wc wi{h our readers to bear in 
 mind. 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 49 
 
 " many fcenes, worthy of Claude's pencil, 
 " have been improved. Is it then pofllble to 
 " imagine that the beauties of imitation mould 
 " be fo difti net from thofe of reality, nay, fo 
 fc completely at variance, that what difgraces 
 " and makes a picture ridiculous, mould 
 " become ornamental when applied to na- 
 " ture?" — Page 16. 
 
 This point is fo artfully worked up, its 
 materials fo complicated, and its compo- 
 iition fo intricate, as to produce, on the firft 
 glance, a flight degree of irritation ; but, on 
 a nearer and more fteady view, it proves a 
 mere poi nt of wax, which readily yields to the 
 breath of inveftigatjon. 
 
 In the .firft place, why is Mr. Walpole im- 
 plicated Ui this mafter-piece of management ? 
 Does Mr. Walpole recommend the faults of 
 Mr. Brown ? or is he accountable for the 
 mifconceptions of Mr. Brown's followers ? 
 On what account is he to be facrificed to the 
 ambitious views of this adventurous chieftain? 
 Why, on the true Robefpierrean principle j 
 becaule he Hands in the way: a tower &£ 
 ftrength, which neither the flying artillery of 
 E the 
 
SO REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 the Poet, nor the 'regular approaches of the 
 EfTayift, can ever fhake. 
 
 Secondly^ Are " black fpots and white 
 61 fpots — naked water and naked buildings" — 
 the only characteriftics of the prefent ftyle of 
 Rural ornament ? There is no place where 
 Mr.' Brown has Scattered his clumps with 
 greater profufion than at Fisherwick, the 
 Seat of the Marquis of Donegal, near Litch- 
 field ; but does Mr. B/s creation at Fifherwick 
 exhibit nothing but clumps of Scotch firs, 
 and naked dabs of water ? This place is 
 noticed the rather, as the whole is his own : 
 not only the environs but the houfe is his : 
 the whole, it may be faid, raifed out of nothing. 
 The fite, a fiat barren heath, terminated by 
 a tame iwell or hillock, near the foot of which 
 the houfe is placed, racing the heath : yet 
 fuch has proved the fkill and powers of Mr. 
 Brown, that ten years ago, the houfe 
 embofomed and backed by the wooded 
 grounds, as feen from the approach, had 
 features which would ihtereft: the eye of a 
 Claude. The houfe, fo far from bring 
 naked, was, even then, too nearly con- 
 nected with the rifing groves ; which, 
 
 if 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. $t 
 
 if not timely checked, mull render part of 
 the houfe uninhabitable; and the water, at 
 leaft one water, fo far from being naked, was 
 in danger of being (haded too much, with 
 the wood of its overloaded margins. The 
 clumps are fcattered over the heath, with the 
 intent of covering its nakednefs ; and thus to 
 do away the " bare and bald," fo ofFenfive to 
 Mr. Brown's eye, and fo difguftful to the 
 feelings of Cambrian youths. 
 
 Thirdly, in regard to Mr. B.'s followers; 
 are their faults to be laid at his door ? Nay, 
 is the whole art to be cried down becaufe it 
 has its inferior artifts ? Can the eye, ex'en of 
 Enthufiaim, fee perfection in every painting ? 
 If any inferior artifts, unacquainted with the 
 works of Mr. Brown, and the principles of 
 his art, have committed the crimes, which 
 the EfTayift has brought againft the profefuon, 
 they deferve all the execrations he is capable 
 of loading them with. But, in our wide range 
 over the face of this country, we have met with 
 nothing, in places' fit to fill the eye of Claude, 
 10 warrant the broad affertion. 
 
 E i That 
 
5,2 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY, 
 
 That there naturally would be, in the outfec 
 ©f the art, much mifconception of its princi- 
 ples, may be readily conceived ; and that 
 many errors have been committed, by inferior 
 artiftsy and of courfe on a finall Jcale y may 
 be feen in different parts of the Ifland. In 
 every art, there are,- and will be, inferior ar- 
 tifts. How often do we hear of houfes being 
 altered, or perhaps, pulled down to the 
 ground, through the mifconceptions- and errors 
 of inferior architects? and how often are 
 perfons obliged to fit repeatedly for their por- 
 traits before they can get a likenefs, through 
 the mifconceptions and errors of portrait 
 painters ? And juft as well might the EfTayift 
 have employed an inferior artift in Landfcape 
 painting, to have fpoilt, on mifconceived 
 principles of that art, the picture of Claude, 
 as ibmebody did that of Sir Jofhua 
 Reynolds. 
 
 " The account in Peregrine Pickle, of the 
 " gentleman who had improved Vandyke's 
 " portraits of his anceftors, ufed to ftrike me 
 <c as rather outre ; but I met with a fimilar 
 u inftancc fomc years ago, that makes it ap- 
 
 " pear 
 
R EVItW OF THE ESSAY. 53 
 
 <f pear much lefs fo. I was looking at a col- 
 ** lection of pictures with Gainfborough ; 
 " among the reft the houfekeeper (hewed us 
 " a portraiit of her mailer, which (he faid 
 *' was by Sir Jofhua Reynolds; we both 
 * ( (tared ; for not only the touch and the co- 
 u louring, fout the whole (tyle of the drapery, 
 " and the general effect, had no reiemblance 
 u to his manner- Upon examining the 
 * c houfekeeper more particularly, we difcover- 
 <c ed that her mafter had had every thing but 
 " the face — not re-touched from the colours 
 " having faded — but totally changed, and 
 " newly compofed, as well as painted, by 
 " another, and, I need not add, an inferior 
 " hand/' — Note, page 10. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 THE Second Chapter of this Effay re- 
 lates to the diftinguifhing characters of the 
 Picturesk. 
 
 " Two of the moft fruitful fources of hu- 
 
 " man pleafure," we are told in page 17, 
 
 E 7 "are 
 
54 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 t< are firft, that great and univerlal fource of 
 
 " pleafure variety, whofe power is inde- 
 
 <c pendent of beauty, but without which even 
 
 " beauty itfelf foon ceafes to pleafe ; the 
 
 " other, intricacy ; a quality which, though 
 
 " diftinct. from variety, is fo connected and 
 
 " blended with it, that the one can hardly 
 
 * c exift without the other." And again — 
 
 cc Upon the whole, it appears ro me, that as 
 
 " intricacy in the difpofition and variety in 
 
 " the forms, the tints, and the lights and 
 
 " fhadows of objects, are the great charac- 
 
 " terifticsofpictAirefk fcenery; fo monotony 
 
 F c and baldness are the great defects of im- 
 
 <( proved places." — Page 17 and 18. 
 
 Here the Efiayift fpcaks out ; a matter of 
 fome furprize. The former part of the pofi- 
 tion is accurately and well drawn. Intricacy 
 and variety are efTential toLandfcape painting : 
 the canvas is limited, the frame can only con- 
 tain fo much ; and without variety of forms 
 and intricacy of difpofition, nicely guided by 
 that pardonable fraud of the painter, which, 
 by difclofing partially, leaves the mind to 
 conceive hidden beauties in addition to thofe 
 
 which 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSA\ r . 55 
 
 which ane fcen, a pitture is deficient. It may 
 be meritcorious, in the art of deception, to 
 pretend t:hat there is much behind; and fafe 
 too, for no one can go there to detect the 
 fraud ! In Land/cape painting, monotony and 
 baldnefs ;are indeed defects. 
 
 But im real fcenery, deception and trick 
 can Jeldcnn be exercifed, without difgrace to 
 the artift j and ought never to be attempted, 
 without extraordinary occafion. To hide 
 deformities belongs to the planter's art ; and if 
 one part of a building, for inftance, be de- 
 formed, and another beautiful, there can 
 be no harm in hiding the deformed part. 
 But it is, fcldom worth his while to hide a 
 part of ai beautiful whole, under the idea of 
 giving it: falje confequence j — of making the 
 viewer believe it to be larger than it really is. 
 For, befide the aukward circumftance of 
 being fouind out, there is, in practice, a dif- 
 ficulty in doing this, which an unpractifed 
 Connoiffeur cannot be fuppofed to be aware 
 of. The veil, in this cafe, is of living trees, 
 and it is the nature of fuch trees to receive, 
 annually, an increafe of fize ; and of trees 
 which dib foliate in autumn, to alter their very 
 E 4 nature, 
 
56 REVTEW OF THE ESS/AY. 
 
 nature, as a veil or fkreen. Hencce, fuppo- 
 fing that, on the principle of intricacy, or on 
 the frifky principle of the Poet *, or on the 
 coquetifh principle of the EiTay'ift f, the 
 garter were cc with giddy care amd wanton 
 " wiles" to be cunningly difclofedl, in fum- 
 mer ; God knows what might or might not 
 be feen, during the gambol tide of (Thrift- 
 mas ; and, very poffibly, the consequent in- 
 creafe of fize, in the courfc of the enfuing 
 furamer, might be fufficient to hidte flocking 
 and all. 
 
 Here again we fee the two art* dividing ; 
 the one aims at producing an ingenious de- 
 ception, the other at giving an open difplay 
 of fads. 
 
 To exemplify the principle of intricacy, 
 the Effayift dips into an intricate hollow lane ; 
 becaufe " all painters, who have imitated 
 « the more confined fcenes of nature, have 
 <f been fond of making ftudies from old ne- 
 " gledted bye roads and hollow ways ;*' — 
 \n which he remains, with delight, to the 
 end of the Chapter: expatiating with the 
 
 fame 
 
 * See I-andfcape, p. 37. f See Effay, p. 86. 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 57 
 
 fame fort of enthufiafm and intricacy of ar- 
 gument, which a florid: would ufe in deferr- 
 ing the variety and intricacy of a carnation,— 
 a bird-fancier the variety and intricacy of the 
 notes of the nightingale, — or a methodift 
 preacher in turning an intricate text of Scrip- 
 ture to a pnrpofe for which it was never in- 
 tended. By excefs of poring over the fame 
 object, the mind grows fickly and fanciful ; 
 trifles become important : u a large ftonc 
 (< and a tuflfock" fwell into a huge rock rifing 
 out of a roughet ; " a clufter of low thorns" 
 into an extent of coppice $ a hollow way 
 becomes a dell, and a cart rut a dingle. 
 Perhaps fome " pert gardener," whom our 
 Eflayift might meet in the lane which he 
 mentions as being under the hands of the 
 tonfor, might have the audacity to pretend 
 he was right in what he was doing j and, in 
 confequence, this trifling Chapter was written 
 to mow that the (haver was wrong. If he 
 was really repairing and beautifying the banks 
 of a road which did not mix intimately with 
 other dreflcd grounds, he was a blockhead ; 
 the traveller fhould have told him lb, and 
 have gone on : and the circumftance might, 
 
 pertinently 
 
5S REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 pertinently enough, have been mentioned in 
 his EfTay : but inftead of afiigning it a wjiole 
 Jheet of paper, a fingle page was more than 
 Sufficient *. Indeed the Author himfclf feems 
 confeious of this, by the manner in which he 
 clofes this learned difiertation. 
 
 " I am afraid many of my readers will think 
 " that I have been a long while getting 
 « through thefe lanes ; but in them, and in old 
 " neglected quarries, and chalk and gravel 
 *• pits, a great deal of what conftitutes and 
 " what deftroys pifturefk beauty is ftrongly 
 * c exemplified within a fmall compafs, and in 
 ** ipots eafily reforted to ; the cauies too are 
 ** as clearly marked, and may be as fuccefs- 
 w fully ftudied, as where the higher ftiles of it 
 ■* (often mixed with the fublime) are difplay- 
 " ed among forefts, rocks, and mountains." 
 
 What 
 
 * Surely the Eflayifl cannot be ferioufly apprehenfive 
 that all the intricate hollow ways in the Iflandare about 
 to be dreffed ! When improvement has done all that its 
 moil fanguine admirers could wifh it to do, there is lit- 
 tle hope of even the monotony of hollow ways being 
 effectually done away. There will be enow left for 
 young painters to make ftudies in, and for Connoiflcurs 
 to trifle in. 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. $<} 
 
 What relation has this to the art of embellifh- 
 ing; true environs of a houfe ? The Efiayift, 
 we truft, does not mean to hold out hollow 
 roacds and neglected quarries as fit fubjects of 
 2ihittati«on, under the windows of an ekgant 
 roo)m !! To xhejludent in Lanclfcape painting, 
 fuclh h.ints may have their ufe ; and it is im- 
 pofiliblle, here, to refrain from remarking the 
 impropriety of attempting to give, at once, 
 genwraJ, rules to two arts which have fo very 
 littlle connection, as thofe of Landfcape paint- 
 ing; a.nd Rural embellifhment. As well 
 might he attempt to lay down one corn- 
 mom .guide to moral painting, and practical 
 mo>raliity. By wavering between the two 
 profefTions he has, thus far, rendered his 
 EfrTay, ingenious and elaborate as it is, of little 
 ufe to either. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 HAVING explained the principles of the 
 pi£turefk, the EfTayift proceeds, in hi xt 
 
 Chap- 
 
6q review of the essay. 
 
 Chapter, to its definition ; a new, if noit an in- 
 tricate way of proceeding. 
 
 In defining the picturefk, or — as; he has 
 thought fit to term it — Picturesk.ness,— 
 Mr. Gilpin is found to ftand in the way; 
 Mr. Gilpin, from whofe works he has evi- 
 dently taken many of his beft ideas 3 or — ra- 
 ther- fhall it be put, — many of his ideas are 
 fuch as fpontaneoufly fhoot from Mr. Gilpin's 
 admirable writings. 
 
 This accurate obferver of natural fcenery, 
 after having marked with nice difcrimination, 
 its effects in every ftyle of combination ; and 
 after the experience of a length of years fpent 
 in the ftudy of picturefk effect; determines it 
 to be an attribute or quality applicable to 
 cither of the well known characters of ob- 
 jects — the fublime and beautiful ; and, with 
 this mafs of information before him, fits 
 down to write an Eflay on pictures*; 
 beauty. 
 
 But the Efiayift, whofe ftudies, by the way, 
 would feem to have been chiefly confined to 
 libraries and picture galleries, for excepting 
 his adventures in the hollow way, we have not 
 yet come at any thing which proves him to 
 
 be 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 6 t 
 
 be acquainted with natural fcenery, has thought 
 fit to comfider picturefknefs as a diftinguifhing 
 character of Landfcape, independent of, and 
 feparrablle from, beauty and fublimity : a 
 charaacteriftic, indeed, which he confines not 
 to objects of fight, but extends to thofe of the 
 otherr feinfcs ; and he can hear picture fknefs in 
 mufuc, ais clearly and diftindtly as he can fee it 
 in paiintiing. 
 
 Tlhis lection of the Efluy would have been 
 paffe<d (over, as belonging folely to the pro- 
 vinces oif the painter, had not the fubjeft of 
 improvement been implicated in it ; as will 
 preieintfy appear. But having bellowed fome 
 time and exertion fn the comprehension of 
 pictmreflknefs, a word for which the admirers 
 of thie polite arts arc infinitely obliged to the 
 h.iluy/ift,, it may not be impertinent to re- 
 mark:, here, that it is the word, and not the 
 idea, thie Effayift is combating. Can any 
 one, who has turned his mind to the fubjec~t r 
 be ignoirant, that there are fcenes which are 
 neither ftri&ly fublime, nor ftriclly beautiful ? 
 and whether fuch a quality or character of 
 fcenery toe called picturefk beauty, piclurelk 
 effceft, tthe pictured:, or picturefknefs, is of 
 
 litd* 
 
dl REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 little fignification : nor is it material whether 
 it be deemed a character, or the quality of a 
 character, the effect itfelf is the fame ; fo that 
 the arts themfelves are not likely to gain any 
 fubftantial benefit by thisdifcovery : though it 
 will certainly add to the learning of the 
 Connoiffeur *. 
 
 But patting from words to things, we re- 
 pofe for a moment on a fmooth level bank, 
 
 which 
 
 * The Effayift evidently mifconceives, or defignedly 
 mifreprefents Mr. Gilpin's excellent remarks^Vm this 
 head. It is not the diftinguifhing character of the 
 pitturefk that is left " in doubt and obfeurity, and a 
 " fort of anathema deHOunced againft any one who 
 " fliould try to clear it up" (Effay, Note p. 43) : but the 
 reafon why the picturefk is more fuitable to artificial re- 
 prefentation than the beautiful. His words are thefe : 
 " Having thus from a variety of examples endeavoured 
 " to mew that roughness, either real ox apparent, 
 " forms an effential difference between the beautiful 
 " and the pi&urefk, it may be expe&ed that we fliould 
 " point out the reafon of this difference. It is obvious 
 " enough why the painter prefers rough obje&s to 
 " fmooth ; but it is not fo obvious ivhy the quality of 
 " roughnefs fliould make an effential difference between 
 " objects of beauty, and objects fuited to artificial re- 
 " prefentatio/i" (Gilpin's Effay, page 26). The honour 
 of difcovering, and explaining, the idea of pictu- 
 refknefs is Mr. Gilpin's, that of coining the iu:rd is 
 his difciple's. 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY, 6 
 
 J 
 
 which the EfTayift declares, though fomewhat 
 indirectly, to be beautiful. (P. 43.) " Accord- 
 " ino- to Mr. Burke, one of the moft effential 
 " qualities of beauty is iinoothnefs ; now as 
 " the perfection of fmoothnefs is abiblute 
 " equality and uniformity of furface, where- 
 " ever that prevails there can be but little 
 " variety or intricacy ; as for inftance, in 
 (C fmooth level banks on a fmall, or in naked 
 " downs on a large, fcale." This we readily 
 grant ; and put down fmooth level banks and 
 naked downs, as pofitively beautiful. " An- 
 <f other effential quality of beauty," he conti- 
 nifes, " is gradual variation, that is (to make 
 " ufe of Mr. Burke's expreflion) where 
 " the lines do not vary in a fudden and bro- 
 " ken manner, and where there is no fudden 
 " protuberance. It requires but little reflec- 
 " tion to perceive, that the exclufion of all but 
 iC flowing lines cannot promote variety; and 
 " that fudden protuberances, and lines that 
 " crcfs each other in a fudden and broken 
 u manner, are among the moft fruitful cauiU 
 " of intricacy." Alfo granted. " I am there - 
 <c fore perfuaded, that the two cpp(fitc qua- 
 a lities of roughnefs and of fudden variation, 
 
 <c joined 
 
64 REVIEW OF THE ESSAV. 
 
 " joined to that of irregularity, are the mofl 
 « efficient caufes of the picturefk*." 
 
 In farther illuftration of the ditHno-uifhino- 
 
 o o 
 
 characters of the beautiful and picturefk, the 
 ElTayift inftances — M a temple or palace of 
 « Grecian architecture," which, " in its per- 
 « feci: intire ftate, and its furface and colour 
 " fmooth and even, either in painting or 
 «* reality, is beautiml ; in ruin it is pic- 
 <( turefki" — and the change from the one 
 to the other is happily traced — mowing 
 us the growth and vegetation (for fuch 
 mould feem to be the production) of pictu- 
 refknefs. 
 
 " Obferve the procefs by which time (the 
 e: great author of fuch changes) converts a 
 
 " beau- 
 
 * This is ftill only roughness rf fur face and ruggednefs 
 of delineation or outline ; which is precifely Mr. Gil- 
 pin's idea. Thefe are his wordi : '* I ufe the general 
 " term roughnefs, but, properly fpealcing, roughnefs re- 
 •' lates only to the furfaces of bodies ; when we fpeak 
 *' of their delineations, we ufe the word ruggednefs. 
 " Both ideas, however, equally enter into the pi Qurifk, 
 " and both are obfervable in the fmaller, as well as in 
 " the larger parts of nature ; in the outline and bark 
 " of a tree, as in the rude fummit and craggy fides of a 
 " mountain." (Gilpin's Effcy, p. 6.) 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 6$ 
 
 *< beautiful object into a picturefk one. Firft, 
 <c by means of weather ftains, partial in- 
 « cruftations, molTes, &c. it at the fame time 
 " takes off from the uniformity of its furface 
 " and of its colour j that is, gives it a de- 
 *< gree of roughnefs and variety of tint *■. 
 '" Next, the various accidents of weather 
 " loofen the ftones themfelves" — an alarm- 
 ing circumftance, this, to the inhabitants ! — 
 " they tumble in irregular marTes" — and the 
 houfe of courfe rendered altogether uninha- 
 bitable-— even fuppofing the inhabitants ef- 
 caped with their lives during this procefs of 
 piclurefknefs. — cc Upon what was perhaps 
 " fmooth turf or pavement, or nicely trimmed 
 " walks or fhrubberies" — formed, who knows, 
 for fmooth-faced women, widi nicely trimmed 
 gowns and petticoats — " now mixed and 
 <l overgrown with wild plants and creepers, 
 " that crawl over and fhoot among the fallen 
 
 "ruins. Sedums, wall- flowers, " P. 46. 
 
 Thus we are convinced, if we needed far- 
 •ther conviction, that no human being can 
 Jive comfortably in a pi&urefked building. 
 
 F Let 
 
 * Here fpoken of as pictured. 
 
66 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 Let not this be deemed wanton or unwar- 
 rantable criticifm : an afTailant who ipares no 
 one, deferves not himfelf to be fpared : in a 
 Note to the pafiage here quoted, he fteps 
 out of his way to attack Mr. Gilpin, and to 
 fight him with his own weapons, wrefted un- 
 fairly out of his hands, and for no other pur- 
 pose than to draw a conclufion palpably falfe, 
 by way of giving colour to his favourite de- 
 lufion, that the ftudy of pictures is elTential 
 to the Rural artift. Mr. Gilpin has faid,that 
 " a piece of Palladian architecture may be 
 " elegant in the laft degree ; the proportion 
 " of its parts, the propriety of its ornaments, 
 " the iymmetry of the whole, may be highly 
 " pleafing ; but if we introduce it in a pic- 
 " ture (fingly or prominently is undoubtedly 
 " here meant) it immediately becomes a for- 
 " mal object, and ceafes to pleale :" can any 
 thing be more juft ? Yet the EfTayift in ef- 
 fect exclaims, Mull we then give up Claude 
 as a Landfcape painter ? Have not we already 
 feen that he can p'Jurefk beautiful buildings 
 with trees winding among the columns, and 
 overtopping the balustrades ? And it may 
 here be aiked, Have we not already fhown that x 
 
 houfe, 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 6'J 
 
 hou fee, thus pifiurejked, is equally uninhabitable 
 with t the ruin above defcribed ? Neverthclefs, 
 he cllofes his ingenious Note with this infe- 
 rentiail remark. 
 
 cc The (kill with which that formality has 
 " beern avoided by the great painters without 
 " destroying the fmoothnefsand fymmetry, is 
 " perl-haps, one of the ftrongefi arguments for 
 " ftucdying their works, for the purpoie of im- 
 " prowement." — Note, p. 48. 
 
 How could this EiTay id with all his acute - 
 nefs cof difcemment, mils feeing fo evident 
 a trutlii (as that a houfe overgrown with trees is 
 unfit ifor a habitation) : or, having fecn it, 
 could thus lay himfelf open to it's advocates, 
 and oFcourle his own opponents ? 
 
 Wc mull not, we cannot, here forego the 
 conqueror's right, on having thus taken one of 
 hisftrenngeft batteries>X.o turn againft himfelf the 
 artillery which he had levelled at Mr. Gilpin. 
 " It is a pity that talents like his, to which 
 " we c>we lb many juft and curious remarks, 
 " fhou.ld ever have been employed in try- 
 " ing t:o reconcile whi-t, in fpite of ingenuity, 
 " muft appear a contradiction." How cloicly 
 it applies! 
 
 F 2 The 
 
68 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 The reft of this long Chapter is taken op Ht 
 adjufting nice points with Mr. Gilpin, re- 
 fpecling the boundary between beauty and 
 pi&urefknefs : indeed fo imaginary are 
 thofe boundaries, and fo mixed and en- 
 tangled are thofe qualities, that no two men r 
 probably, will ever agree about them. As 
 well might he drag his opponent to the 
 mouth of the Thames, to argue about the 
 precife point where the falt-water begins, and 
 the frefh water ends. 
 
 Having left the fubjeft of architecture 
 unfettled *, the Effayift paries on to that of 
 waters — and has the temerity to attack 
 Mr. Gilpin upon his own element, the lake. 
 
 Mr. 
 
 * Excepting fo far, as « that a building vith fcaf- 
 ■* folding has often a more pifturefk appearance, than- 
 " the building itfelf, when the fcafFolding is taker* 
 •* away" (Page $3.) ; that is, taking away the fcaf- 
 folding renders the building fo beautiful, that it is un- 
 fit to be feen ; at leaf* in a pifiure ; in like manner as 
 clearing away the roughnefs and rubbilh around it,, 
 places its environs in the fame unfeemly predicament.. 
 On the contrary, leave the fcafFolding Handing — and. 
 the fpare (tones, fpars, and rubbifh, of the builders... 
 (cattered round it, and you will — pleafe the painter ! 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 69 
 
 Mr, (G. confiders the lake, in a ftate of re- 
 pofe — « pure, limpid, fmooth as the polifhed 
 ,mirrorr"~as picturefk. The EfTayift dif- 
 fents ;, for in that ftate it is fmootb, and there- 
 fore iminjl be beautiful : nay, he contends, it 
 is noit -only beautiful in itfelf, but has the 
 magi c power of rendering every thing around 
 it beaiuitiful ; though in nature and reality 
 " the rm oft v> ild and picturefk, I might almoft 
 * c fay tlh<e raoft favage." 
 
 Is thus altogether fancy, or does the calm- 
 nefs oif the lake tend to harmonize and footh 
 the mimd; and may not much depend on the 
 ftate of the mind at the time of viewing 
 fcenery/- of every kind ? Any one who has 
 nad repeated occafion to view, with critical re- 
 gard, ithe fame fcene,under the felf-famecircum- 
 ftance:s„ iin order to afiift it in producing, from 
 a giveri point of view, the greateft degree 
 of pi£huirable effect, muft have experienced 
 emotioms extremely various, if not, in fome 
 flight degree at leaft, contradictory i and 
 which probably arofe from the different tone 
 of nerve under which he happened to be influ- 
 enced at the times of viewing. But this by 
 jthe way. 
 
 F 3 Leaving 
 
70 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 Leaving the diftinguifhing characteristic of 
 a ftill lake (with refpect to whether it fhailll be 
 named beauty or picturefknefs, a matter of no 
 importance to the admirers of real Landfcape) 
 as a nice point to be fettled by Connoiifieurs 
 in Landfcape painting, we pafson to trees •, — 
 among which, however, the Effayift meeting 
 with no oppofition of fentiment, we find no- 
 thing worthy of remark. 
 
 On animals (Quadrupeds) as picturable 
 objects, we have a broken and picturelk 
 mafs, intricate as that on buildings. Re- 
 flecting the afs, the preceptor and the fcho- 
 lar (for in fuch relation we muft confider Mr. 
 Gilpin and our Efiayift) have but one mind : 
 the afs is decidedly picturelk, and not beau- 
 tiful. The hcrfe y however, has a more doubt- 
 ful character : indeed, he appears to be of 
 the common of two. Mr. Gilpin has de- 
 clared, in his EiTay on Picturelk Beauty, that 
 the Arabian, " in all his pampered beauty," 
 is not picturefk. " We admire, he fays, the 
 5* horfe as a real objeB ; the elegance of his 
 ?' form j the fcatelinefsof his tread ; the fpirit 
 <c of all his motions -, and the glolTineis of his 
 ■ l coat. We admire him alio in reprejentatiov % . 
 
 " But, 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 71 
 
 cc But, as an object of pictured-: beauty, we 
 Cf admire nnore the worn-out cart-horfe, the 
 i( cow, the goat, or the af's ; whofe harder lines 
 <c and rouglher coats exhibit more the graces of 
 " thepencili." (P. 14.) This, however, deranges 
 in fome de;gree, the prefent fyftem of the 
 Eflayift ; who, having perceived the ridicule 
 which has been thrown at his friend's and his 
 own original plan of driving away every thing 
 bearing the femblance of beauty from the en- 
 virons of a habitation, finds it expedient to 
 attack Mr.. G. with all his might ; md it 
 was on this, occafion, principally, he ere died 
 that heavy metalled battery which has been 
 aimed agaimft himfelf. 
 
 The EiTaiyift, to extricate himfelf from this 
 dilemma, hias recourfe to bis element, the 
 picture galltery ; where he finds that Rubens, 
 Vandyke, axnd Wouvermans have " painted 
 " beautiful horfes * k - but « when they added, 
 F 4 "as 
 
 Seldom in Za!id/cape,we believe : when they paitned 
 beautiful horfbs, the horfes themfelves made the pic- 
 ture; or formed its principal feature ; and it was pro- 
 bably done to prtfewe UkeneJJes ; not to exhibit the graces 
 •ft he pencil. 
 
72 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 <c as they often did, a greater fhare of pic - 
 <f turefknefs to thefc beautiful animals, it wais, 
 " not by degrading them to cart-horfes and 
 " beads of burden ; it was by means of fuch 
 " fudden and fpirited actions, with fuch a cor- 
 " refpondent and ftrongly marked exertion of 
 " mufcles, fuch wild diforder in the mane, as 
 " might heighten the freedom and animation 
 '* of their character, without injuring the ele- 
 " gance or grandeur of their form." (Note, 
 p. 6 1.) Thus it appears fufficiently plain, 
 that a horfe, in ftill life, is only beautiful; but 
 fo foon as he pricks his ears and cocks his 
 tail, he is heightened into the picturefk, and 
 becomes admiflible in a picture, or in the 
 grounds before an inhabited houfe *. 
 
 Thefe, however, are after-thoughts, thrown 
 out in the Notes, after it had been found ex- 
 pedient to admit decent objects about a 
 houfe : the text, written difpaffionately, 
 and under circumftances Jefs perplexed and 
 embarraffing, Hands thus : " If we next 
 " take a view of thofe animals that are called 
 
 « pic- 
 
 • A good hint, this, to the groom, to pifturejk him \«, ell, 
 before he be turned out. 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 7J 
 
 '* piidlurefk, the fame qualities will be 
 * c found to prevail. The afs is eminently fo, 
 w miuch more than the horfe j and among 
 (t ruorfes it is the wild forefter with his 
 <c rough coat, his mane and tail ragged and 
 <c umeven, or the worn-out cart-horfe with 
 " hiis ftaring bones. The fleek pampered 
 <c ftxeed with his high-arched creft and flow- 
 " inig mane is frequently reprefented in paint- 
 (s inig, but his prevailing character, either 
 (( there or in reality, is that of beauty." 
 
 Page 58. 
 
 A,fter all, it is not finally decided, whether 
 honeft Dapple, or any other beautiful tame 
 horfe, may or may not be permitted to graze 
 within fight of our windows. 
 
 We dwell the more on this particular, as 
 jt applies clofely to the general fubject under 
 dilcuffion j and we wifh to bring it fully be- 
 fore the judgment of our readers. A well 
 polirfhed ground is an Arabian in high condi- 
 tion ; the raggednefs, roughnefs, and neglect, 
 which constitute the character of pi&urefk- 
 nefs., are accurately defcriptive of the * c rough, 
 * c ragged, worn-out cart-horfe, with his 
 " ftaring bones." Can the imagination 
 conceive a more happy iliuftration of 
 
 the 
 
74 REVIEW OT THE ESSAY. 
 
 the fubjcdt ? The fwelling furface of 
 the polifhed lawn admirably correfponds 
 with the fwelling mufcles of u the fleek pam- 
 " pered Heed," in whofe " high-arched creft 
 il and flowing mane " we fee the graceful 
 lines of the modern ground, accompanied 
 by flowing trefies of pendant fh rubs; per- 
 haps the elegant birch, fenfible to the foftefl 
 breeze j or the richer laburnum, waving its 
 golden locks. 
 
 We wifh to have this point fettled the ra- 
 ther, becaufe, if the fithe and roller are to 
 be funk, the brufh and curry-comb ought to 
 be buried ; and if fhaggy roughnefs, broken 
 lines, and flaring protuberances, are to be 
 preferred, the ftraw-yard, in like manner, 
 fhoiild be preferred to the liable, and ftraw 
 take place of hay and corn, as the food of 
 horfes. Should John remonftrate — " Sir, 
 .'* under this treatment, Crop will not be able 
 <c to carry you up to the hounds, nor poor 
 " old Punch to carry your honour round the 
 " ride ; and lord, Sir, how Snip and Squirrel 
 " will look in harnefs ! they can never be fit 
 " to go a journey, nor even to take my Lady 
 cc to church." No matter, all the pleafures, 
 comforts, and conveniencies of life mult now 
 
 Rive 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 75 
 
 give place to picturefknefs, — or picturefknefs 
 give place to them. 
 
 Among dogs, the Efiayift obferves, " the 
 
 " Pomeranian and rough water-dog are more 
 
 " piclurefk than the fmooth fpaniel" (mould 
 
 not this h;ave been pointer ? our true-bred 
 
 Englifh fpaniels, whether for woods or 
 
 water, are fhaggy) " or greyhound j the 
 
 <c ftiaggy goat than the Jheep, and theje laft 
 
 " are more fo when their fleeces are rough 
 
 " and hang down loofely, than when they are 
 
 "juft. fhorin." (Page 60.) Here again the 
 
 Efiayift betrays his want of obfervation on 
 
 the natural objects of this country. Englifh 
 
 fheep, in general, are infinitely more beautiful 
 
 (if rotundity and fmoothnefs of furface are 
 
 deemed characteriftic of beauty) before, than 
 
 juft after, they are fhorn. Diverted of 
 
 the fleece, the high- rifing of the chine, 
 
 and the auk ward angle it forms with the neck, 
 
 the protuberances formed by the hips and 
 
 rump, and the deep hollows on the fides (of 
 
 ordinary fheep), entitle them to any epithet 
 
 but beautiful ; until i\\t hollows, the angles, 
 
 and the ff (taring bones," being filled up or 
 
 rounded, 
 
^6 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 rounded, by the growth of the fleece, they 
 refume their beauty. He does not, on the 
 whole, however, decide, whether iheep are 
 to be ranked among beautiful or among pic- 
 turefk animals ; nor whether they ought to 
 be fuffered within the view of a gentleman's 
 habitation. 
 
 Of deer he fpeaks with more precifion. — 
 " Their wild appearance, their lively actions, 
 " their fudden bounds, the intricacy of their 
 " branching horns, are circumftances highly 
 " piclurefk," but adds, < c their effect in 
 " groups is apt to be meagre and ipotty*." 
 (Page 63.) Who ever law a head of deer, 
 arranged in fuch clofe and regular order, as 
 to give the idea of a fpot, or a clump of mea- 
 gre Scotch firs ? There are always ftrag- 
 glers fufficient to prevent any fuch idea 
 from being raifed,. except in the mind of 
 aConnohTeur -, and it is highly probable, that 
 the EfTayift caught his on canvas (where 
 fuch arrangement had been made through 
 
 the 
 
 * Spotty, dctty, liney, edgey, &c. &c. &c. the learned 
 Jiang of Connoifl'eurs ; and equal to anything of the 
 fort, which we recoiled to have heard of as ccming 
 
 from the Brown Btar, 
 
 1 
 
REVIEW OF iHE ESSAY. 77 
 
 the ignorance of the painter), rather than in 
 real! park-fcenery. As well might a few newly 
 ihorn fheep, fcattered over a park, be deemed 
 meagre and dotty, and produce in the fiekly 
 mind of a ConnoifTeur, the unbearable efifeft 
 of fingle trees, dotted about in a fimilar 
 manner. But leaving thefe trifles to the 
 fancier in pictures, we pafs on to the more 
 important concerns of the bird-fancier. 
 
 Mr. Gilpin thinks the effect of the plumage 
 of birds, without exception, is pifturefk : \n~ 
 deed 3 confidering the variety and intricacy of 
 colouring, who can think otherwife ? The 
 Efiayift, however, fets afide colour, and 
 makes outline or furface the teft of his- 
 taft«e*i and in his grammar, moll birds are 
 
 epicene, 
 
 * And this, too, after the fatisfaclory manner in 
 which Mr. G. has fettled this point. *' The fmoothnefs 
 " of tbie furface is only the ground of the colours. In 
 " ufel.f, we admire it no more than we do the fmooth- 
 M nefs of the canvas, which receives the colours of the 
 " piclurc."— EfTay on Pi<3. Beauty, p. 23. But it was., 
 perhaps, thought politic to make fome trifling deviation, 
 in ordier to give an air of originality to the Author's 
 ideas ; and to enable him the better to claim, as his 
 own, the eftabliihed fyflem he had chiefly ad jptsd. In the 
 
 pro- 
 
78 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY". 
 
 epicene. In ftill life, they are beautiful ; but 
 roufed, by anger or love, they become pictu- 
 refk. Thus " the game cock, when he 
 " attacks his rival, raifes the feathers of his 
 tc neck, the purple pheafant his creft,, and 
 " the peacock, when he feels the return of 
 " fpring, Ihews his paffion in the fame man- 
 " ner." Hence a peacock in pride, a.s the 
 heralds term it, muft not, on this principle, 
 be deemed beautiful : nor, on the Tame prin- 
 ciple, are roughs and rees, or copple- crowned 
 cocks and hens, adrniffible to this diftinction. 
 His words are thefe : " Many birds have re- 
 " ceived from nature the fame picturefk 
 " appearance as in others happens only acci- 
 " dentally : fuch are the birds whofe heads 
 u and necks are adorned with ruffs, with 
 " crefts, and with tufts of plumes, not lying 
 " fmoothly over each other aa thofe of the 
 " back, but loofely and irregularly difpofed. 
 
 " Thele 
 
 profecution of the Eflay, he appears to have forgot that 
 he had fathered this falfe principle ; for, in fpeahinj 
 of grotm.'s, he mentions " varied tints of foil" as 
 belonging to " Piclurefknefs." (See p. 166. alfo this 
 Review, p. 65.) —Indeed, he repeatedly fpeaks of naeor 
 thtr ftaini, as a high mark of pi&urefkaeis. 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. *'() 
 
 M Tliefe are, perhaps, the mod ftriking and 
 " attractive of all birds (and it is the fame 
 " in all other objects), as having that de- 
 " gree of roughnefs and irregularity which 
 " gives a fpirit to fmoothnefs and fym- 
 " rrietryj and as thefe laft qualities prevail, 
 " the refult of the whole is juftly called 
 " beautiful." (Page 64.) Is not this the very 
 talk of a pigeon fancier? 
 
 Not tired, however, with what he has faid 
 in the text, he renews his triflings in a moft 
 unfufferably long note; holding Mr. G. all 
 the while fart by the button, bringing up the 
 old (lory of the Grecian building and the 
 horfc; making no other apology for thus 
 obliging him to hear his own tafte arraigned 
 and to fee his opinions buffeted, than that it 
 is neceffary to eftablifh his own air-founded 
 fyftem. " I have preiled ftrongly on thefe 
 " points of difference between Mr. Gilpin 
 " and me, becaufe I think it very effential to 
 <f the chief object I have had in view, that of 
 " recommending the ftudy of pictures, and 
 " of the principles of painting, as the bdc 
 <c gude to that of nature, and to the improve- 
 " men of real landfcape." — Note, page 67. 
 
 The 
 
fid REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 The remaining fubjects of this Chapter are* 
 the Human Species, Angels, and Pain* 
 ters,— who ftand fuperior beings in this cli- 
 max. 
 
 There is little faid, and lefs noticeable, re- 
 fpecting the two firftj " beggars, gypfies, 
 " and all fuch rough tattered figures," are 
 picturefk j angels " in their date of glory 
 " and happinefs, raife chiefly ideas of beauty 
 <c and fublimity ;" (widely diftinct from each 
 other) M like earthly objects they become 
 <( pictured: when ruined." — Hence the fallen 
 Angels are pi&urefk ; putting on a Variety 
 of forms, caufing much intricacy of fenti* 
 ment, and producing great irritation of fnindw 
 
 Of painters, " Salvator Rofa is one of the 
 * f molt remarkable for his picturefk ftyle :" — » 
 xl Guido, on the other hand, was as eminent 
 " for beauty :" — but, " of all the painters who 
 <c have left behind them a high reputation, 
 * c none, perhaps, was more uniformly fmooth 
 * c than Albano, or lefs deviated into abrupt- 
 "" nefs of any kind j none alio have greater 
 <l monotony of character ; but, from the ex- 
 *' treme beauty and delicacy of his forms, 
 ** and his tints (particularly in his children) 
 
 " and 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 8 I 
 
 <( . and his exquifite finifhing, few pictures are 
 <f more generally captivating." — Page 74. 
 
 If monotony of character, beauty and 
 delicacy of form, and exquifite finifhing, 
 have fuch powers as to render even a lifelefs 
 ilieet of canvas captivating, furely, when 
 thefe effects are blended with other objects of 
 the fenfes, and themfelves varying with a 
 varied light, they cannot fail of being mod 
 enchanting in embellifhed fcenery. 
 
 And here we perceive a ftiil wider gulp 
 between Landscape painting and Rural orna- 
 ment, than any we have before examined. In 
 viewing a painting, one fenfe only is em- 
 ployed, and this repofing on a fingle object, 
 without any intrufion or difturbance ; and 
 here variety and intricacy become requifite to 
 engage and interefl the mind. 
 
 On the contrary, in viewing natural fcenery, 
 where almoft every fenfe is more or lefs en- 
 gaged i where the eye, befide the objects be- 
 fore it, is acted upon by a varied light ; the 
 intervention of a building, a tree, or a cloud, 
 cutting off the rays •> it is alfo irritated by the 
 motion of animals, efpecially birds, eroding 
 the view; of trees, waving their branches, or 
 G fending 
 
§2 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 fending off a fhower of leaves ; and of the 
 ihadows of clouds, fweeping acrofs the field 
 of view, one of the moft delightful objects in 
 natural fcenery. The ear, too, is engaged 
 in living pictures ; the lowing of kine, the 
 neighing of the horfe, the bleating of the 
 flock, the coarfe barking of deer ; the roar- 
 ing or murmurings of waters, the howling or 
 whittling of winds, the varied voices of do- 
 meftic and familiar birds, and the wild warb- 
 lings of the grove; all add variety and intri- 
 cacy to the general effect. An exccfs of heat 
 or cold, an unexpected fhower, or a fudden 
 gleam, whether they difpleafe or delight, 
 equally tend to divide our attention ; even 
 the capricious CcnCc of fmelling will not 
 always forego its natural right of irrita- 
 tion. 
 
 Amidft this complex affemblage of fenfual 
 objects, many of them involuntary and uncer- 
 tain, does the mind require, that the fixed 
 and certain objects of vifion mould be defign- 
 cdly and ftudioully rendered intricate, to em- 
 ploy it, and forked, to irritate it ? Rather, 
 furely, ought thefe objects to be Amplified, 
 
 in 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 83 
 
 in ffuch manner as to be rendered intelligible 
 at Might. 
 
 Im real life, every man who is matter of a 
 ho u;fe, let his rank and ftation be . what it 
 will,, generally meets with a full fufficicncy at 
 intricacy and irritation, among the picturefk 
 fcemery of human nature ; arid feeks his coun- 
 try retreat to find peace and tranquillity : 
 and what is more likely to furnifh him with 
 thefe, than the beauty and harmony of its ftir- 
 rounding objects ? If a Hill lake can foften 
 even the favagenefs of its furrounding fcenery, 
 as lias been fuggefted, why fhall not a fmooth 
 lawn and flowing lines, foft foliage and beau- 
 tiful flowers, aflift in giving the tranquillity of 
 mind required ? Nay, may it not be farther 
 fuggefted, that fcenes of beauty and harmony 
 infpi.re thofe who admire them with accordant 
 tones of friendfhip -, while the goading objects 
 of pi cturefknefs have a fimUar tendency to ex- 
 cite tthe fpirit of difcord r * 
 
 G 2 When 
 
 * -This palluge was written before a fubfequent re- 
 mark of the Eflayift, conveyir g a fimjlar idea, was par- 
 ticularly noticed: a circumftance which arofe from the 
 metho'd in winch this Review has been profecuted ; each 
 
 Chapter 
 
84 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 When the mind is cloyed with tranquillity, 
 and tired of the intercourfes of friendfhip, the 
 iharp angles and broken lines of the neio-h- 
 
 CD 
 
 bouring highways and hedges, the difficulty 
 and dangeroufnefs of roads ; the abrupt burft 
 of pi&urefk objects, the afs, the half-ftarved 
 horfe, or decrepid age in picturefk diftrefs, 
 may be employed in goading and irritating 
 the mind, to fit it for domeftic enjoyments. 
 Befide, even on the fcore of variety y without 
 any view to comfort or peace of mind, or any 
 fuch fubordinate concerns, the ground about 
 a houfe mould be dreffed, to give this dear 
 quality of picturefknefs, variety, to the gene- 
 ral face of the country. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 Chapter having been confidered as a feparate paper, 
 and fully reviewed, before the fucceeding Chapter was 
 entered upon ; in order to give diftinctnefs to the Re- 
 marks, and to fix the energy of firfl impreffions : all the 
 knowledge which the Reviewer previoufly had of it, 
 arofe from having had it read to him, in the intervals of 
 iludy, fome weeks before he conceived the idea of en- 
 tering upon this Analyfis ; and he may have then 
 caught and retained the idea. This, however, is of 
 little importance, compared with thetru;h which it pro- 
 bably contains. 
 
RE VI EW OF THE ESSAY, 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 THE Fourth Chapter of the Effay pro- 
 fefles :o define the diflinguifhing characters, 
 between the three ocular properties of ob- 
 jects, which haye been previously treated of, 
 and to regulate their flations with reipect to 
 each other. 
 
 Whoever has read, with repeated attention, 
 the works of Mr. Burke, Lord Kaims, and 
 Mr. Gilpin on thefe topics, will find little if 
 anything new or interefling, in the Chapter 
 now under review. Yet it appears to have been 
 written more dilpaffionately than many other 
 parts of the work : a love of investigation, for the 
 fake of truth, feems to have been the amiable 
 motive s the hatred of improvement appears 
 to have flept ; efpecially through the text : 
 nevertheless, in the tail of the laft Note, a 
 (ling is lodged. But its point is blunt, and 
 its venom ineffective. Almoft the entire Note 
 requires to be tranferibed. 
 
 G 3 " Softnefs 
 
86 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 « Softncfs as well as fmoothncfs is become 
 
 " by habit a vifible quality, and from the 
 
 f( fame kind of fympathy is a principle of 
 
 " beauty in many vifible objects. But as the 
 
 cc hardefb bodies are thofe which receive the 
 
 tf higheft polifh, and confequently the higheft 
 
 5 C degree of fmoothnefs, there are a number 
 
 {C of objects in which fmoothnefs and fofmefs 
 
 ." are for that reafon incompatible. The one 
 
 f ( however is not unfrequently miftaken for 
 
 " the other, and I have more than once heard 
 
 « pictures, which were fo fmoothly fmifhed 
 
 " that they looked Jike ivory, commended for 
 
 M their foftnefs. 
 
 f c The fkin of a delicate woman is an ex- 
 
 " ample of foftnefs and fmoothnefs united j 
 
 f but if by art a higher polifh is given to the 
 
 " fkin, the foftnefs and (in that cafe I may add) 
 
 <c the beauty is deftroyed. Fur, mofs, hair, 
 
 ■ ( woo), &c. are comparatively rough, but 
 
 c< are foft and yield to the prelTure, and there- 
 
 u fore take off from the appearance of hard- 
 
 " nefs, and alio of edginefs; a ftone or 
 
 f ( rock polifhed by water is fmoother but left 
 
 <f foft than when covered with mofs, and 
 
 ( , ( upon this principle the wooded banks of a 
 
 c< r j VCJ; , 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 87 
 
 A< river have often a fofter general effect than 
 " the 'bare fhiven border of a canal. There 
 " is the fame difference between the grafs of 
 « apleafure-ground mowed to the quick and 
 " that of a freih meadow, and it frequently hap- 
 li pens that b) continual mowing the verdure as 
 « well as the foftnefs is deftroyed, fo much 
 " does excelTve attachment to one principle 
 " deftroy its cwn ends." — Note, page 83. 
 
 Would it not be equally juft to fay that a 
 broom is fofter than a camel hair brum, or a 
 furze cover :han a velvet cufhion, as that 
 coppice wood is fofter than grafs in its velvet 
 itate ? What can more refemble a green 
 velvet cufhion, than a grafTy bank duly fhorn ? 
 What is a <c frefh meadow" but a meet of 
 fbaven lawn 1 Becaufe it is poflible to give 
 turf a temporary appearance (for a few hours 
 or a few days) of hardnefs,- does it follow that 
 it never has any other appearance, or that fuch 
 an appearance may not, and ever ought to be, 
 avoided * ? Equally does the EiTayift betray 
 his want of information in the art he is re- 
 viling, 
 
 * Grass Walks, and nothing is more agreeable tg 
 the foot in dry fituations and in dry weather, ought to 
 be mown clo/e ; but not To a Lawn, which fhould ever 
 
 be 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 viling, (and to which he is arrogating to give 
 law !) in imagining, or attempting to infinuiate, 
 that the frefhnefs, foftnefs, and beautty of 
 turf is not perpetually renewable. 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 THE Fifth Chapter, as it profefless to 
 apply the foregoing principles to the artt of 
 embellifhing grounds, may feem to req-mire 
 more than an ordinary fhare of notice : and 
 in it may reafonably be expected the over- 
 throw of Mr. Brown and his followers. 
 
 " Of the three characters," (the fublitme, 
 the beautiful, and the picturefk,) fays this Ef- 
 fayift, " two only are in any degree fubjectt to 
 " the improver ; to create the fublimee is 
 < f above our contracted powers, though we 
 " may fometimes heighten, and at all tirmes 
 * c lower its effects by art. It is, therefore, , on 
 < c a proper attention to the beautiful and the 
 
 < f pDic- 
 
 be a carpet of green velvet ; were it poifible, in i the 
 drought of fummer, and the feverity of winter, to jpre- 
 ferve it always in that ftate. 
 
REVIEW OP THE ESSAY. g« 
 
 * f piidurefk, that the art of improving real 
 f< L,andfcapes mulft depend. 
 
 * As beauty is the moft pleafing of d\ 
 f< idleas to the human mind, it is very natural 
 " thiat it fhould be moft fought after, and that 
 « thie name fhould have been applied to every 
 '< fp^ecies of excellence. "— « Few places have 
 « amy claim to fublimjty, and where nature 
 " h<as not given them that chara&er, art is, 
 <c iniefFcdualj beauty, therefore, isxhe great 
 H olbjeft, and improvers have learned from 
 <c thie higheft authority, that two of its prin- 
 « ciipal caufes are fmoothnefs and gradual 
 <( variation:" qualities, he adds, that are fo 
 much within every man's power to produce, 
 that any common labourer, « who can make 
 <c a nice afparagus bed, has one of the moft 
 " effTential qualifications of an improver, and 
 « miay foon learn the whole myftery of Hopes 
 « amd hanging levels :" a qrcumftance, by 
 the >way, which, to the owner at leaft, muft 
 very much heighten their beauty. 
 
 Thus we have it deliberately, and we truft 
 finallly, fettled by the EfTayift, that beauty is 
 the ;great object of the improver, and that 
 {he two principal caufes of beauty are "fmooth- 
 
 *< nefs 
 
9Q -REVIEW OF THE. ESSAY. 
 
 " nefs and gradual variation :" the firft pri.n- 
 ciple and very bafis of moc'ern ^ardenin w • 
 literally, the groundwork of Mr. Brown a*nd 
 all his followers ! 
 
 But fmoothnefs and gradual variation, 
 alone, and unmixed with other qualities of 
 objects, are infipid : " the moft enchanting 
 " object the eye of man can behold, that 
 " wiiich immediately prefents itfclf to lhis 
 " imagination when beauty is mentioned — 
 " that, in comparifon of which all other beaui- 
 " ty appears taftelefs .and uninterefting, is the 
 " face of a beautiful woman ; but even theme 
 " where nature has fixed the throne of beauity, 
 " the very feat of its empire, Hie has guarded 
 " it, in her moft perfect models, from its two 
 " dangerous foes— infipidity and monotony. 
 " The Greeks (who cannot be accufed of 
 " having neglefted the ftudy of beauty, (or, 
 <c like Dutch painters, of having fervilcly 
 " copied whatever was before them) judged 
 " that the ftraight line of the nofeand forehead 
 « was neceffary to give a zeft to all the other 
 " flowing lines of the face ; then the eyebrows 
 " and the eyelaihes, by their projecting ihaide 
 f over the tranfparent furface of the eye, a.nd 
 
 F< abo>ve 
 
REVIEW GF THE ESSAY. QJ 
 
 & aibove all the hair, by its comparative rough- 
 <f mefs and its partial concealments, accom- 
 " pany and relieve the foftnefs, clearness, and 
 u ffmoothnefs of all the reft j where the hair 
 " hias no natural roughnefs, it is often arti- 
 " fficially curled and criiped, and it cannot be 
 " ffuppofed that both fexes have been fo of- 
 tf tten miftaken in what would belt become 
 " tthem."— Page 92. 
 
 'This far, too, the principles of the Efiayift 
 amed of modern gardening, perfectly agree : — 
 a ffield of fmooth and flowing furf ace, broken 
 by hanging fhrubberies and oval clumps, 
 amid margined by trees, no doubt of the fineft 
 firkzzle. 
 
 And let us not pafs from this fafcinating 
 fceenery in haftc : let us ftop a while and gaze 
 omi this " object moil enchanting in the eye 
 <K (of man j" and why it is fo, every man well 
 kniows. Can any man (unlefs a mere man 
 0)f ' picturefknefs) view the face of a beautiful 
 woman, with the/ame eyes, and the fame emo- 
 tions, he does a piece of made ground, or an 
 a.fj'paragus bed ? Does he, in admiring a 
 fiivieet fenfible countenance, or in viewing with 
 
 the 
 
Cfi, REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 the eye of man, the face of a lovely defiralle 
 woman, fee the figure of her forehead, or the 
 line of her nofe ? Her eyes probably (en- 
 gage the whole of his attention. But Lame- 
 icapes, even thofe of Claude, have neither 
 eyes nor melting fouls to heighten their ex- 
 preffion. Hence the analogy does not hold ; 
 the argument is. unfair ; though, as we have 
 ken y it militates againft its advancer. 
 
 We now pafs on, " nothing loth," through 
 the remaining pages of this invaluable 
 Chapter. 
 
 " Flowers are the moft delicate and beau- 
 •< tiful of all inanimate objects, but their 
 « queen, the role, grows on a rough bufh, 
 ** whole leaves are ferrated, and which is full 
 " of thorns. The mofs role has the addition 
 tc of a rough hairy fringe, that almofl" makes 
 * e a part of the flower itfelf. The arbutus, 
 << with its fruit, its pendant flowers, and rich 
 <f glofly foliage, is, perhaps, the moft beau- 
 «' tiful of all the hardier evergreen ihrubs ; 
 (C but the bark of it is rugged, and the leaves 
 P (which, like thofe of the role, are fawed at 
 f* \\t edges) have thofe edges pointed up- 
 
 (i wards, 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY* <jj 
 
 ** wards, and cluflering in fpikcs ; and it may 
 " poflibly be from that circumftance, and 
 " from the boughs having the fame upright 
 " tendency, that Virgil calls it arbutus bor- 
 <f rida, or, as it ftands in fome manufcripts, 
 " barrens." (Page 94 and 95.) This, furely, 
 is rather the defcription of a botanift than of 
 a Landfcapift. To fee the general effect of 
 a fhrub, the eye is placed at a diftance too 
 great (efpecially in a Landfcape ! !) to diftin- 
 guifh the rough hairy fringe of the calix, or 
 the ferrature of the leaves. The arbutus is 
 certainly one of the moft delightful fhrubs in 
 nature ; but on our author's principles, is it 
 not rather picturefk than beautiful ? But we 
 wifh not to delay. 
 
 " Among the foreign oaks, maples, &c. 
 " thofe are particularly efteemed, whofe leaves 
 " (according to a common, though perhaps 
 " contradictory phrafe) are beautifully jag- 
 « ged. 
 
 " The oriental plane has always been rec- 
 " koned a tree of the greateft beauty : Xerxes' 
 " pafTion for one of them is well known, as 
 * alfo the high eitimation they were held in 
 
 "by 
 
94 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 " by the Greeks and Romans : the furface of 
 " its leaves is fmooth and glofiy, and of a 
 " bright pleafant green ; but they are fo 
 " deeply indented, and fo full of fharp angles, 
 « that the tree itfelf is often diftinguifhed by 
 « the name of the true jagged oriental plane." 
 
 Page 95. 
 
 Xerxes muft have had an unfoldierlike 
 mind to conceive a paflion for a tree, on ac- 
 count of the raggednefs of its leaves ! Did 
 he not rather reft his admiration on the mag- 
 nificence of its general effect, the boldnefs of 
 its outline, and the ftrength and variety of 
 its features, the fplendor of its canopy, 
 and the delicious coolnefs of its fliade ? But 
 no matter j we cannot flop here to difpute the 
 point. 
 
 " The vine leaf has, in all refpects, a ftrong 
 " refemblance to the leaf of the plane, and 
 " that extreme richnefs of effect, which every 
 " body muft be (truck with in them both, is 
 " greatly owing to thofe (harp angles, thole 
 <f fudden variations fo contrary to the idea 
 c * of beauty when confidered by itfelf. — On 
 " the other hand, a clufter of fine grapes, in 
 " point of form, tint, and light and fhadow, 
 
 « h 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. Cf$ 
 
 u is a fpecimen of unmixed beauty, arid die 
 %i vine, with its fruit, one of the moil ftriking 
 " inftances of the union of the two charac- 
 c< ters, in which, however, that of beauty in- 
 c< finitely prevails ; and who will venture ft) 
 lc aflert, that the charm of the whole would 
 " be greater by feparating them ? by taking 
 " off all the angles and lharp points, and 
 " making the outline of the leaves as round 
 ". and flowing as that of the fruit ?" (Page 96 
 and 97.) — Certainly not ; all this is granted, 
 ih its fulleft extent : who can difpute the 
 charms of " the vine with its fruit ?" Even 
 fuppofing a clufterof grapes to have no pofi- 
 tive beauty in itftlf, the aflbciation of ideas 
 which will ever accompany it, cannot fail to 
 furnifli it with charms. 
 
 We now proceed to the application of this 
 extraordinary quality, jaggednefs. 
 
 " I muft here obferve (and I mull beg to 
 " call the reader's attention to what feems to 
 " me to throw a ftrong light on the whole 
 <c of the fubject) that almoft all ornaments 
 " are rough, and molt of them Jharp, which 
 " is a mo Je of roughnefs and, confidered ana- 
 " logically, the molt contrary to beauty of 
 
 " any 
 
p6 REVIEW Ofr THE ESSAY. 
 
 <c any mode. But as the ornaments are rough* 
 " fo the ground is generally fmooth ; which 
 " fhews, that though fmoothnefs is the ground, 
 " the effential quality of beauty, without 
 " which it can fcarcely exift, yet that rough - 
 «* nefs, in its different modes and degrees, is 
 <c the ornament, the fringe of beauty — that 
 " which gives it life and fpirit, and preferves 
 " it from baldnefs and infipidity. The co- 
 " lumn is fmooth, the capital is rough ; the 
 *' facing of a building fmooth, the frize and 
 « f cornice rough and fuddenly projecting : fo 
 " it is In vafes, in embroidery, in every thing 
 " that admits of ornament ; and as ornament 
 " is the mod prominent and ftriking part of 
 " a beautiful whole, it is frequently taken for 
 " the moft efTential part, and obtains the firft 
 <f place in defcriptions. But were an architect 
 <f to ornament the fhafts as well as the capitals 
 <c of his columns, and all the fmooth ftone 
 «< work of his houfe or temple, there are few 
 " people who would not be lenfible of the 
 " difference between a beautiful building and 
 " one richly ornamented." — Page 98. 
 
 If the reader has obeyed the call of the au- 
 thor of this ineftimable paffage, its application 
 
 to 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 97 
 
 to the art of Rural embellifhment needs little 
 explanation. 
 
 To give the required beauty to the ground- 
 work, render it fmooth and gradually vary- 
 ing;; if hollow ways or neglected quarries 
 are within its area, throw down the banks, fill 
 up the hollows, and thus make the furface 
 Jmooth enough to prevent abruptness, and 
 to give it the requifite gradual variation; but 
 of courfe, without attempting to reduce it to 
 a level. In this beautiful ground, we perceive 
 the fmooth well turned forehead, the gradually 
 fwelling cheeks, and other fwelling fmooth- 
 neiles of a beautiful woman. In it, too, we can 
 trace the polifhed fides of the vafe, the fwell- 
 ing fmoothnefs of the column ; and perhaps, 
 in its fhelving margin, the fmooth ftone work 
 of the Grecian building. Hence, in this eafy 
 flowing furface may be fcen all that fimple 
 beauty has to fhow. 
 
 We now proceed to ornament it. It is 
 thus to be performed. Draw a line, no mat- 
 ter whether flraight or winding, along the 
 outer margin of this beautiful area. Place in 
 this line, trees of the larger fize; — within them, 
 another line of trees of a lower order ; — in 
 H front 
 
9 8 
 
 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 front of thefe, lines of {hrubs of different 
 heights j at their feet, a convex frize of 
 gravel ; and at its bafe, an architrave of 
 flowers. Thus we have the very entablature 
 of Grecian architecture -, — and the very very 
 belt of Mr. Brown ! 
 
 But the area, though beautiful, is yet fimple 
 and infipid : this, too, muft be ornamented. 
 Architecture will not here ferve us: windows, 
 though Grecian, would not ornament a lawn : 
 we muft rather have recourfe to fculpture; 
 and the vafe, profefledly the moft tafteful 
 production of the fculptor's art, mail be our 
 authority. Scatter we then circles and ovals 
 of fhrubs and flowers, of the fharpeft leaf and 
 calix, over the polifhed ground-work : and 
 thus we have, in the fharpeft, moft jagged, 
 and enchanting fhapes, the alto-relievo 
 medallions of Grecian fculpture, and the 
 contemptible fhrubbery clumps of Engliih 
 gardening ! 
 
 Thanks to the kind Effayift for this ac- 
 curate idea of the Rural art ! It never ftruck 
 us, until we read this Chapter, that it is 
 much more nearly allied to the fculptor's 
 than the painter's art. Near the houfe, and 
 
 im- 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 99 
 
 immediately under the eye, it might be deem- 
 ed purely fculptural. Polifhed grounds, or- 
 namented with relieves of fhrubs and flow- 
 ers, might well be defined living sculp- 
 ture i with this advantage over other fculp- 
 ture j — inftead of the ground-work being re- 
 duced to a hard polim,with a glare and colour, 
 perhaps ofFenfive to the eye, the living ground- 
 work is foft and green, the eye's favourite 
 colour ; and the ornaments (harp beyond the 
 power of the chififel, or even the file ! the 
 ferratUrcs of the arbutus leaf, the calix of the 
 rofe, and the leaf of the holly ! at once, po- 
 lifhed, rough, and fharp j— divinely (harp I 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 THE next fucceeding Chapter relates to 
 the effetts of fmoothnefs and roughnefs, of 
 beauty and pi<5lurefknefs, with the application 
 of thefe effeds to Landfcape : to the pain- 
 ter, a raoft valuable part of the work j dis- 
 covering more ftudy of the fubjed:, and more 
 H 2 dif- 
 
IOO REVIEW OF THE ESSAV. 
 
 diftinctnefs and beauty of elucidation, than 
 all which has gone before. The transfigura- 
 tion of a naked down from the beautiful to 
 the picturefk, is happily conceived and ex- 
 preffed. 
 
 " It' we take any fmooth object, whofc 
 " lines are flowing, fuch as a down of the 
 " fmeft turf with gently fwelling knolls and 
 " hillocks of every foft and undulating form, 
 " though the eye may repofe on this with 
 c< pleafure, yet the whole is feen at once, 
 " and no farther curiofity is excited j but let 
 " thofe fwelling knolls (without altering the 
 " fcale) be changed into bold broken pro- 
 " montories, with rude overhanging rocks j 
 " inftead of the fmooth turf, let there be 
 f€ furze, heath, or fern, with open patches 
 " between, and fragments of rocks and large 
 " ftones lying in irregular mafTes, it is clear, 
 " on the fuppofitio:! of thefe two fpots 
 " being of the fame extent and on the fame 
 " fcale, that the whole of the one may be 
 " comprehended immediately, and that if you 
 " traverfe it in every direction little new 
 " can occur ; while in the other every ftep 
 " changes the whole of the compofition. 
 
 " Then 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 101 
 
 " "Then each of thefe broken promontories 
 " aind fragments have as many fuddenly 
 <c v/arying forms and afpecls as they have 
 <c breaks, even without light and made •, but 
 " when the fun does fhine upon them, each 
 " b>reak is the occafion of fome brilliant light 
 f c oppofed to fome fudden fhadow : All thefe 
 " dleep coves, hollows, and Allures invite the 
 " ewe to penetrate into their recedes, yet keep 
 (< itts curiofity alive and unfatisfled j whereas in 
 " tlhe other, the light and fhadow has the fame 
 " uiniform unbroken charader as the ground 
 " itifelf." 
 
 Thefe remarks however, though beautiful 
 and erudite as emanation from the mind of a 
 critiic in painting, are altogether inapplicable 
 to tlhe Rural art : it never attempted fo much 
 beamty, nor ever can give the picrurefknefs 
 whi<ch the imagination has here conceived, and 
 which the painter can readily fix. Ne- 
 vert.helefs, the remarks are general, and they 
 tend to miflead the curfory reader. They are 
 a fort of parody of Mr. Gilpin's remarks on 
 fmooth and broken mountains, which have a 
 fimi lar tendency. In his EiTay on Piclurefk 
 Beauity, Mr. G. gives two drawings of the 
 H 3 iame 
 
102 REVIEW OF TH1 ESSAY. 
 
 fame congeries of mountain fummits ; the one 
 reprefenting them with fmoothly folding fur- 
 faces ; the other with furfaces broken and 
 rugged, with rocks, precipices and trees, in 
 the higheft (tile of the picturefk. But, 
 let us afk, where is the analogy between a trad 
 of mountain fummits, a boundlefs ocean view 
 of downs, or the ocean itfelf,— and the grounds 
 about a houfe ? In viewing either of the 
 three firft named objects, it forms in itfelf, 
 the entire view y fills the whole fphere of 
 vifion j no other object can enter, except 
 the clouds. But not Jo in viewing a lawn 
 before a houfe : it can barely be confidered 
 as the foreground of the picture, which rifes 
 behind and on either fide of it. Nor is 
 there, probably, in the whole Ifland, a lawn 
 of even a few hundred yards in extent, which 
 is not itfelf broken, with trees, water, or 
 buildings, and relieved by pafturing animals. 
 As to the polifhed grounds immediately 
 round a houfe, there extent is generally fo 
 narrowly circumfcribed, as to render thofe 
 remarks, if either of them has the moft dis- 
 tant reference to fuch grounds, very illjudged. 
 For, to break the furface of an undulating 
 
 ground^ 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. IO3 
 
 ground, by way of rendering it a more pleafing 
 object, to beat in the fides of a metallic vafe, 
 and to mangle the face of a fine woman, would 
 be fimilar acts of abfurdity. 
 
 What follows reipecting trees comes with- 
 in the planter's province. " I have in both 
 " thefe fcenes avoided any mention of trees ; 
 <c for in all trees of every growth there is a, 
 " comparative roughnefs and intricacy, which, 
 " unleis counteracted by great fkill in the 
 " improver, will always prevent abfolute 
 " monotony : Yet the difference between 
 <c thofe which appear planted or cleared for 
 - c the purpofe of beauty, and where the 
 " ground is perfectly fmooth about them, 
 cf and thofe which are wild and uncleared, 
 " and the ground of the fame character, is 
 " very apparent. Take, for inftance, any 
 " open grove where the trees, though neither 
 " in rows nor at equal diftances, are detached 
 " from each other, and cleared from all un- 
 " derwood ; the turf on which they ftand 
 " frr.oothand level, and their items diilinctly 
 " feen j fuch a grove of full-grown flou- 
 " riding trees, that have had room to ex- 
 fr te^d their heads and branches, is defervedly 
 II 4 M called 
 
!04 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 " called beautiful ; and if a gravel road winds 
 
 " eafily through it, the whole will be in cha- 
 
 " racier." (Page 107 and 108.) This is 
 
 a common pafihge in embellifhed grounds;, 
 
 and few paffages, in artificial or natural 
 
 fcenery, is more delightful, tfpecially in 
 
 "fultry feafons. It is not peculiar to embellifhed 
 
 grounds : we not unfrequently fee it in old 
 
 woods, in England ; and the endlefs Forefts 
 
 cf America are chiefly, we believe, of this de- 
 
 fcription. 
 
 {C But whoever," continues the Effayift, 
 
 " has been among forefts" (the forefts of 
 
 Europe) " and has feen the effect of wild 
 
 " tangled thickets opening into glades half 
 
 " fcen acrofs the ftems of old ftag-headed 
 
 <c oaks and twifted beeches, and of the ir- 
 
 " regular tracks of wheels, of men, and of 
 
 <c animals, feeking or forcing their way in 
 
 "every direction, muft have felt how dif- 
 
 " ferently the ftimulus of curiofity is excited 
 
 " in two fuch fecnes ; and the effect of the 
 
 <f lights and fhadows is exactly in propor- 
 
 " tion to the intricacy of the objects." — Page 
 
 108. 
 
 Thefe 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. IO£ 
 
 Thefe remarks may be valuable to the 
 ftudent in painting, but are in a manner 
 foreign to the Rural art ; which muft ever be 
 confidered as being employed about a refi- 
 dence ; a houfe inhabited by cultivated, or at 
 leafr. civilized beings ; certainly not with 
 favages, or foix-ft-fide cottagers. About the 
 huts of foreflers no art is wanted. Leave every 
 thing to nature and neglect, and we obtain the 
 required fcenery. 
 
 Briars, brambles and wild tangled thickets, 
 with the poaching effects of cattle, and even 
 cart-ruts (by the way the work of art) may 
 be had gratis, or at low cofl j a very fhort 
 time, and a fmall quantity of patience, being 
 equal to the production. The raoft offenfive 
 of Mr. Brown's beautiful disfigurements may 
 readily be pElureJked in this way : it is only 
 transferring the care of them from the gar- 
 dener to the herdfman, and the bufinefs, in a 
 very fhort time, will be completely done ! 
 This is not theory, raifed in a clofet or a 
 picture gallery, but is drawn from actual ob- 
 fervation, in various parts of this extenfive 
 Ifland ;, where, by mere dint ofnegletl, places, 
 heretofore beautiful, have been rendered pic- 
 tured, 
 
I06 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 turefk, and highly irritating, both to the 
 minds and bodies of thofe who explored 
 them. 
 
 But are beds of nettles, burdocks and 
 thiftles, and roughets of briars and bram- 
 bles, — is a place thus picturefked by neglect, 
 fit for the refidence of a family ? If the 
 Authors of the Poem and the Effay under 
 review have put themfelves to all this trou- 
 ble, for the well intended purpofe of pre- 
 venting the face of nature from being made 
 beautiful, their time has been ill fpent indeed j 
 as nothing is more eafy than to picturefk 
 even the moll beautiful place : many of Mr. 
 Brown's might, on this principle of improve- 
 ment, be made the moft enchanting foreft: 
 fcenery. Indeed nothing but time and for- 
 tuitoufnefs can produce picturefknefs. To> 
 create afcrejl thicket, with a view to immediate: 
 effect ; or to plant a mutilated tree, by 
 way of imitating the dotard of the foreft ;; 
 would be a paltry attempt ; equally be- 
 neath the Rural art, as that of erecling <£ 
 ruin. 
 
 But we return with pleafure to the remarks 
 of our erudite ErTayiit. 
 
 « The 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. IO7 
 
 ** The peculiar beauty of the mod beautiful 
 Ci off all Landfcape painters is characterifed 
 -** b)y */ ripo/b di Claudio, and when the mind 
 c< oil man is in the delightful Hate of repofe., 
 c * of which Claude's pictures are the image, — 
 cc wlhen he feels that mild and equal funfhine 
 <c ot the foul which warms and cheers, but 
 f* nedther inflames nor irritates, — his heart 
 f* fetems to dilate with happinefs, he is difpofed 
 '•* to every act of kindnefs and benevolence, 
 fc to love and cheriih all around him *." — 
 Pag<e 109. 
 
 Siuch being the power of beauty, what 
 man., who can purchafe it, at almoft any price, 
 would not wifh to have it in fufficient quan- 
 tity around his family refidence ? not more 
 to inicline himfelf to acts of benevolence, than 
 to in.fpire his family, his connexions, and even 
 his d'omefticsj with the fame amiable difpofi- 
 tion. 
 
 Let us liften again to the inftruclion of wif- 
 dom„ " Irritation is indeed the fource of our 
 *' molt adtive and lively pleafures, but its 
 
 "na- 
 
 * Thu is the paflagc formerly alluded to. See Page 
 ?3. 
 
I08 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 <c nature, like the pleafures which fpring 
 " from it, is eager, hurrying, impetuous ; 
 " and when the mind is agitated, from what- 
 " ever caufe, thofe mild and foft emotions 
 " which flow from beauty, and of which 
 " beauty is the genuine fource, are fcarcely 
 "perceived." — (Page no and in.) A 
 fufncient caution, furely, to avoid indulging 
 in the pleafures of irritation too freely ; like 
 taking a bottle extraordinary, they may 
 give a fillip to ennui, and prepare us for 
 the more rational enjoyments of life ; but 
 it would be equally reafonable for a man to 
 fpend his days in " eternal" drunkennefs, as 
 to fubject himfelf " eternally" to the irrita- 
 tions of picturefknefs. 
 
 The remaining part of this Section applies 
 to painting only, and is well entitled to the 
 ftudy of its artifts. The language and the 
 learning it conveys cannot fail to pleafe and 
 inflrudt. One palTage, only, attracts the at- 
 tention of the Rural artift ; as it fhows how 
 little he can command the materials of the 
 Landicape painter : he muft be reminded, 
 however, of the EiTayift's having already con- 
 ferred that the fublime is beyond the improver's 
 
 reach •, 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY* IO<J 
 
 reach ; neverthelefs, as the fcenery about to 
 bedefciribed is in part picturefk,it maybe fairly 
 brough t forward here. 
 
 " The pictures of Claude are brilliant in 
 <c a hig;h degree : but that brilliancy is lb dif- 
 " fufed over the whole of them, fo happily 
 ,c balanced, it is fo mellowed and fubdued 
 " by that almoft vifible atmofphere which 
 " pervades every part, and unites all toge- 
 ,f ther, that nothing in particular catches the 
 " eye ; the whole is fplendour, the whole is 
 " repofe j every thing lit up, every thing in 
 " fweeteft harmony. Rubens in his land- 
 " fcapes differs as ftrongly from Claude as 
 " he does from Correggio in his figures ; 
 " they are full of the peculiarities and pic- 
 <f turefk accidents in nature ; of firiking 
 " contrails of form, colour, and light and 
 " fhadow ; fun-beams burfting through a 
 " fmall opening in a dark wood — a rainbow 
 " againft a ftormy Iky— effects of thunder 
 "and lightning — torrents rolling down trees 
 " torn up by the roots, and the dead bodies 
 " of men and animals -, with many other 
 <c fub.irne and picturefk circumftances." Page 
 116. 
 
 Such 
 
tlO REVIEW OF THE ESSA*. 
 
 Such circumftances ihow the magic power 
 of the painter : it is his to command the 
 rainbow or the fun to ftand ftill, the thunder 
 to burft, and the lightning to dart inceffantly* 
 and dead bodies to defy corruption and decay. 
 And is it not chiefly owing to this fupernaturat 
 power, that we are induced to give his works 
 their merited admiration, rather than from the 
 circumftances which fhbw them to be merely 
 copies ef nature ? 
 
 In painting, it is the defign and execution,- 
 the artift, and the art itfelf, we admire, fre- 
 quently more than the fubjeft reprefented. 
 The portraits of Vandyke and Reynolds are 
 admired j but is it the man or the woman re- 
 prefented that engages our admiration I or 
 the execution which pleafes, the artift we ap- 
 prove, and the art we admire ? In hiftory 
 painting, the defign chiefly engroffes our at- 
 tention ; the artift, however, gains or lofes 
 by comparifon, and no fmall part of the de- 
 light of a Connoiffeur may be fuppoied to 
 arife from his own vanity, in being able, or 
 in fancying that he is able, to mark and ap- 
 preciate the comparative merits and demerits 
 of the piece -, whofe intrinfic worth, however, 
 
 as 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. I I I 
 
 as a moral precept and the train of inftru£Kve 
 or pleafurable ideas it fuggefts, may add con- 
 fiderably to the enjoyment. So in Land- 
 fcape, it is not more the fcene, than the artift 
 and the art, which give effect: to the picture. 
 Carry a mere ConnoifTeur in painting to the 
 real fcenes from which Claude painted his 
 Landfcapes, and they would be comparatively 
 infipid to him j by reafon of the many maf- 
 terly touches in the pictures, which the reali- 
 ties, in all human probability, never pofieffed j 
 as extraordinary breadth of light and (hadow, 
 exquifite harmony of colouring, well managed 
 brilliancy of light, with happy ftrokes of in- 
 tricacy, and other pardonable frauds of the 
 painter ; and above all, perhaps, for want 
 of the enjoyment of exercifing his own judg- 
 ment, in marking the characteriitic excellen- 
 cies of the matter. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
112 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 THE Seventh Settion profeffes to treat: 
 of Light and Shadow; which, as has been 
 fhown, have no permanent exiftence, are 
 mere phantoms, in natural jcenery : they are 
 ever changing, even under the brighteft fun ; 
 from a given point of view, the fhadow may 
 exift one hour, and be loft the next ; and even 
 this palling exiftence is tranfient and fleeting 
 as the clouds, of which they may be faid to 
 be the fport. It would require little quali- 
 fication were we to fay, that unlefs under fome 
 particular circumftances (as when the ground 
 is abrupt, or the fun near the horizon) they 
 are never feen, in real fcenery ; where the ob- 
 jects themielves, fubftances, not fhadows, 
 give body to the Landfcape; which remains 
 for days, perhaps for weeks, without fhadow, 
 and without partial light ; yet muft exift, 
 nay, ought to pleafe, under thefe circumftan- 
 ces. 
 
 It 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY* 1 1 3 
 
 It is very natural, and perfectly right, for 
 a Landfcape painter, in viewing natural fce- 
 nery, to examine with nice regard, ail the 
 light and fhadow he can defect in the fcene 
 before him ; in order to imagine how, by en- 
 larging and improving them, fuch fcene 
 could bed be reprefented on canvas. So a 
 portrait painter may frequently examine a 
 woman, with a view to imagine how me could 
 befl be done in light and fhadow, or what 
 fort of a portrait ihe would make. ( And in 
 like manner, we may fuppofe, an undertaker 
 fometimes conceives within himfelf what fort 
 of a corpfe the woman before him would 
 make, how fhe would look in her cofnn.) But 
 will any one fay that a Gentleman, a man of 
 general taste, ought to view either of 
 them with a profejfional eye ? In a picture 
 gallery, he examines the objects before him, 
 with the eye of a crkic in painting j in real 
 fcenes, with the eye of a critic in natural 
 fcenery j and not for the childifh gratification 
 of conceiving how the picture would look in 
 nature, or how the palfage in nature would 
 look in a picture. 
 
 I Oa 
 
214 REVIEW Of THE ESSAY. 
 
 On the contrary, in represented Jcenery, or 
 Landfcape painting, light and fhadow may be 
 faid to be the picture itfelf ; without them, 
 it is little more than a piece of figured can- 
 vas : no wonder, then, that painters Ihould 
 fet fo high a value upon them, or that a Con- 
 noilleur in painting fhould write a chapter to 
 explain their wonderful effects. But when, 
 after twelve pages being fpent on the fubjedl, 
 the Writer tells us gravely, that the ftudy of 
 light and fhadow " will be found of infinite 
 " fervice to the improver," we only pity his 
 mifconception t or fufpect his defign : — a fyftem 
 begot and fathered muft, in parental duty, be 
 fupported. 
 
 His definition of breadth of light and fha- 
 dow is this : — " What is called breadth feems 
 cc to bear nearly the fame relation to light and 
 " fhadow as fmoothnefs does to material ob- 
 tc jects ; for as all uneven furfaces caufe more 
 " irritation than thofe which are fmooth, and 
 u thofe moft of all that are broken into 
 " little inequalities, fo thofe lights and ma- 
 " dows that are fcattered and broken are in- 
 " finitely more irritating than thofe which 
 
 " are 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. I 1 5 
 
 < f are broad and continued." — Page 120 and 
 
 121. 
 
 In the preceding Chapters^ the delights of 
 irritation have been the favorite theme: — 
 j aggednefs,— Iharpnefe,— pidturefknefsj — are, 
 in the foreground, to be preferred to fmooth- 
 nefs and beauty. Here, we are to die away 
 enraptured with breadth of fhadow — fmooth- 
 
 nefs beauty; — becaufe uneven furfaces caufe 
 
 irritation ; — and becaufe fcattcred lights are 
 more irritating than thofe which are broad 
 and continued. Here we are in the ofFscape ; 
 there on the foreground : fo that we are to be 
 irritated at home, and to go abroad to be 
 foothed : a predicament which many an honeft 
 man has found himfelf in. 
 
 Surely, the learned EfTayift mud know, 
 £hat, in the nature of virion, objects at hand 
 are feen diftinctly— appear lharp — and are, of 
 courfe, more irritating than thofe at fome dis- 
 tance : which, being icen indiftinctly, are lefs 
 fharp — lefs irritating; until, at length, fmaller 
 objects, which, at hand, pleafed with the 
 beauty or elegance of their form, lofe their 
 forms entirely, and blend with each other in 
 one foft, fmooth, obfcure expanfe.. 
 
 I a jfn 
 
Il6 REVIEW OF THE gSSAY. 
 
 In this view of the fubjecT:, we require 
 1 fmoothnels — beauty — at hand , to prevent too 
 
 great irritation ; for, here, every deformity or 
 defect, not only irritates but difguftsj as a 
 fudenefs of manner or a raggednefs of drefs : 
 but, at a diftance, we want; abruptnefs and 
 » broken lines, to prevent that fmoothnefs and 
 
 infipidity, arifmg from indiftitidt'nefs ofvifion. 
 Hence the life of obelifks, obfervatories, and 
 other confpicuous but chaftly coloured build- 
 ings, to give pcrfpicuiry and exprefiion to the 
 ofrscape. 
 
 Again, in the nature of vifion, objects at 
 hand appear comparatively large ; thofe at 
 ;: diftance occupy a fmaller fpace on the 
 retina : a group confiding of a few trees, near 
 Pit hand, is equal to an extent of wood, at 
 fJme diftance. Hence large mafifes of wood, 
 Upon or near the foreground, are heavy, fmall 
 ones irii the oltscape m'eart. 
 
 There is a reafon and propriety in tafte : 
 every part of one extenlive fcene muft be 
 Confident,— and the nearer the arrangement 
 or compofition of parts agrees with the na- 
 ture of vifion, the greater fatisfaction it will 
 give to a cultivated eye. Painters, it would 
 
 feem 7 
 
REVIEV OF THE ESSAY. II7 
 
 feem, having dil':oveired this, have employed 
 breadth of fhadcw — have covered M feveral 
 " hills of bad fhapes, and thoufands cf" 
 " uninterefting acres, with one general 
 "made;" not to fmooth them, but to en* 
 large the objects^ and render them more con- 
 formable to the laws of vifion ; and happy 
 would it be for the Rural artift if he had 
 a fimilar power: to acquire this, it would 
 Indeed be worth his while to ftudy painting ! 
 
 It fcldom happens, however, in natural 
 fcenery, that the objects in the diftance are too 
 d'iftinct ; efpecially when they are ftcn under 
 a clouded iky, or, as a learned Landfcapift 
 might lifp, are not lit up. 
 
 On the fame principle of confiftency and 
 adherence to the nature of vifion, all natural 
 objects, which, in diftance, are feen unnatu- 
 rally diftinct, or, in the learning of the gallery, 
 appear liney or edgey, fpotty or dotty, — of- 
 fend, and ought to be avoided *. But would 
 I 3 it 
 
 * Not fo, however, artificial objects ; fuch as are 
 mentioned above ; for the eye intuitively appreciates 
 them as artificial objects ; — as the regular works of ar- 
 chitecture j and, of courfe, they cannot offend as being 
 
 unnatural. 
 
U8 REVIEW OF THE ESSAT. 
 
 it be wifdom, would it be prudence, in the 
 Rural artift, to repair to a picture gallery, and 
 look over its Jhadowy deceptions, in order to 
 be convinced of this, when the unvamijbed- 
 truth may be feen, by any man who will open 
 his eyes, in real fcenery ! 
 
 That a ftudy of the principles qf taste 
 is as requifite to the Rural art, as it is to 
 painting, is certain. But thefe principles 
 fhould be ftudied among natural fcenery, for- 
 tuitous or defigned y and be proved under the 
 varied influence of natural light and fhadow, 
 accompanied by the irritations of various fenfes 
 in a variety of fituations ; not fought among 
 the magic fictions of artificial light and fha- 
 dow, and proved by the fight alone, in a An- 
 gle 
 
 wnataral. They are what tb%y fliould be : the eye 
 views them as fuch ; and a mind converfant in orna- 
 mented nature, knows why they appear in their ailigned 
 ^tuitions. They offend net in the offscape, more than 
 does an alcove or a temple, a monument or a maufoleum, 
 \a the nearer grounds. An obellfk, even on a middle 
 diftance, may be perfectly fatisfactory to the eye; as 
 that of Hagley feen'from the houfe ; (o may a tower or 
 cbfervatory, as that of Taymouth. 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 119 
 
 gle point of view*. The painter, it is true s 
 before he can ftrike out any thing fuperior to 
 what has been done by others, mull ftudy 
 nature. But how, and for what purpofe ? 
 Why to catch fome ftriking features, which 
 he can, by his art, reprefent on a plain furface : 
 not to gain a general idea of the face of na- 
 ture, with a view to the improvement of fome 
 certain portions of it, — fo as to give it the 
 highefl degree of ornament and utility, plea- 
 sure and comfort, to the ornamented perfons, 
 and cultivated minds, of thofc whofe lot in 
 life it is to inhabit it. 
 
 Need we afk whether the Grecian fculptors 
 
 ftudied the works of portrait painters for juft 
 
 ideas in flatuary, in preference to naked 
 
 1 4 (laves, 
 
 * In the following extract we fee the fupernatural 
 power of the Painter, and perceive how little it is 
 in the power of the Rural artift to imitate him !! 
 
 " I of courfe fuppofe the fun to act on thefe different 
 " objects with equal fplendour; for there are fome 
 « days when the whole fky is fo full of jarring lights, 
 " that the fhadieft groves and avenues hardly pre- 
 *« ferve their folemnity ; and there are others when 
 «' the atmofphere (like the laft glazing of a piilurej 
 "foftens into mettotunefs whatever is crude throughout the 
 * ' Und/cape ! ! ! ' '—Page 123. 
 
J 20 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 fiaves, gladiators, or the works of preceding 
 matters in their own art ? It would be as ab- 
 furd to fuppofe they did, as it is to reconv 
 mend to the Rural artift the ftudy of Land- 
 fcape painting. Even at this day, when 
 painting can furnifh better fpecimens than 
 were known to Greece, would it be meet for 
 fculptors to give up the ftudy of naked 
 figures, of living fubjects— of realities — of 
 nature and truth — for the fplendid decep- 
 tions, the ffradowy nothings of portrait paint- 
 ing ? 
 
 But why, it may properly be afked, this 
 irritated language ? It arifes from difappoint- 
 ment, and a degree of difguft. We had con- 
 ceived that our labours were nearly ended ; 
 at Jeaft, that among the lights and lhadows of 
 the painter, the art whofe caufe we have 
 efpoufed could not have been implicated. 
 We regret not, however, the time which has 
 been fpent in its extrication ; the more we 
 inveftigate its principles, the more truth and 
 confiftency we find they poffefs. The book 
 before us, no matter as to its intention, will 
 therefore have its ufe. It will caufe the fub- 
 je& to be inyeftigated, and its alliance with 
 
 Land* 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 121 
 
 jLandfcape painting to be determined. The 
 more the arguments are involved in plaufi- 
 bility and feducing language, the more diffi- 
 cult they are to appreciate, and the more 
 ftudy and exertion they will excite. They 
 are too much intricated, to b? examined 
 iuperficially. The entire foundation requires 
 to be cleared, to fhow that the arguments 
 are ill grounded, and that the fyftem itfelf 
 ftands on tiptoe, if it can be faid to have 
 any footing whatever^ on nature and truth. 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 AT length, however, we arrive at a part 
 or divifion of this Effay, which appears to 
 have been written purely with a view to the 
 painter's ufe ; unalloyed with falfe fyftem, four r 
 nefs, and inveteracy againft modern Engliih 
 gardening. Here, we fee the EfTayift's ftyle 
 pf thinking and writing in a favourable an4 
 amiable point of view; each part playing 
 
 happily 
 
Ill REVIEW OF THE ESSAV. 
 
 happily into the other ; fmooth, flowing, and 
 beautiful. 
 
 The fubject of this Section is Colouring. 
 The defcription of a grove receiving, from 
 the hand of Nature, its leafy drapery and ver- 
 nal hues, is -.angularly elegant and pleafing : 
 
 " The colours of fpring deferve the name 
 " of beauty in the trueft fenfe of the word ; 
 « J they have everything that gives us that 
 " idea ■, frefhnefs, gaiety, and livelinefs, with 
 " foftnefs and delicacy. Their beauty, in- 
 " deed, is of all others the moft univerfally 
 tc acknowledged ; fo muchfo, that from them 
 " every comparifon and illuftrarion of beauty 
 f c is taken. 
 
 " The earlier trees, befides the frefhnefs 
 * l of their colour, have a remarkable light- 
 f c nefs and tranfparency without nakednefs ; 
 " their new foliage ferves as a decoration, 
 " not as a concealment, and through it the 
 i< forms of their limbs are feen as thofe of 
 i ( the human body under a thin drapery ; 
 F a thoufand quivering lights play around 
 f and amidft their branches in every dircc- 
 V :;on, even into the innermoft parts of the 
 
 < ( woods. 
 
REVIEW OP THE ESSAY. 1 23 
 
 " woods *. The circumftances that moft 
 " peculiarly diftinguifh trees at this feafon 
 f* are characterized by Mr. Gray, in two lines 
 ff of his beautiful lyric fragment : 
 
 " And liightly o'er the living fcene 
 
 " Scatters his tendereft, freflieft green."— P. 146. 
 
 Whenever this author fpeaks of the mas- 
 ters, as he does in this Section, in. corroborat- 
 ing his theory of Colouring, it is with a flow 
 of language and expreflion, which, though 
 frequently verging on enthufialin, convinces us 
 that he is intimately acquainted with his fub- 
 ject ; and makes one regret that he fhould 
 not have confined his EfTay to painting only. 
 "Even now it may not be too late to correct 
 the error, which, in fome extraordinary way, 
 he has moft unfortunately adopted ; and, hav- 
 ing adopted, has lefs pardonably thought fit 
 to puriue. 
 
 This leparation of the two fubjecls would 
 not preclude him from offering hints on; 
 natural ornament, or from laying down, 
 
 prin- 
 
 * Have we not, here, the elTential qualities of //V- 
 turejknefsl variety, intricacy, roughnefs, raggednefoj, 
 cpquetry, and quivering lights ! 
 
124 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 principles drawn from natural fcenery (not 
 Landfcapc painting) for the conduct and 
 guidance of the Rural artifts. For the art, 
 though it certainly has patted its infancy, 
 is not yet at maturity ; indeed, its artifts muft 
 be truly fupercilious, who would not receive 
 with gratitude the difpaflionate advice of every 
 man -, no matter as to the fource from which 
 it was drawn, or the propriety with which it 
 could be adopted. 
 
 For inftance, the fubjecl now before us, 
 Colouring, though not equally within the 
 power of the painter and the planter, yet it 
 is proper that the latter mould be acquainted 
 with iis principles and effects ; and he muft 
 be unfit for his profeflion, who would indig- 
 nantly refufe to examine, with all attention, 
 the Effayift's ftri&ures on this fubject. And 
 although he may find nothing which he had 
 not recognized before, in nature -, nay, even 
 mould he perceive that the Effayift's theory 
 is ill founded -, yet it will exercile his mind, 
 and may excite new ideas, or ftrengthen thole 
 which he had previoufly formed. With this 
 intention, let him examine, firft, what the 
 
 Effuyift 
 
REVIEW 0? THE ESSAY. I 25 
 
 EfTayift fays of Colours, and, then, examine the 
 page of mature on the fame fubject. 
 
 It would be difficult to convey an adequate 
 idea of the Efiayift's ingenious remarks, on 
 this fubject, without tranferibing the entire 
 Chapter, with its appendant Notes. Indeed, 
 a previous knowledge of them is not requifite 
 to the due underftanding of Nature's colour- 
 ing. We therefore invite our readers, whe- 
 ther or not they have read the EfTay on the 
 Picturefk, to accompany us in our examina- 
 tion of the ample and interefting face of 
 Nature, with a view to afcertain its prevailing 
 colours. 
 
 There being a fitnefs and confiftency in all 
 things natural, and green being the prevail- 
 ing colour of nature, we may venture to 
 note down, that green was created for the 
 human eye, or the human eye for green 
 colours. 
 
 In later Spring, and during Summer, we 
 find its varied tints and fhades fpread, with 
 great profufion, over the earth's furface : not 
 uniformly and entire, however j though they 
 may be faid to form the prevailing ground- 
 work of Nature's colouring. Shooting cliffs 
 
 and 
 
126 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 and earthy fleeps; the banks of rivers 
 and waters themfelves ; rocks and ftony fur- 
 faces ; the tracks and fcrapings of cattle and 
 fheep ; and, near at hand, the induflrious 
 mole, and the blolToms of the vegetable 
 tribes, all aflift in breaking this predominant 
 colour, and giving more or lefs variety to the 
 general fcene. 
 
 In autumn, and in disfoUaling climates, 
 fruits of varied colours, and maturing fo- 
 liage of colours not lefs various, with ripen- 
 ing grain and herbage, firft (how themfelves 
 partially among the fummer verdure j and 
 continue to encroach upon it, until it lofes 
 its predominancy j making one among a va- 
 riety of colours t retaining its dominion only 
 over evergreen trees and fhrubs, or where 
 the feed-ftems of herbage have been checked 
 or removed, by grazing animals, or the fithe. 
 In a (late of neglected nature, the colour 
 of green muft in a manner vaniih, in later 
 autumn j unlefs where it is retained by the 
 evergreen tribes. On the contrary, in the tro- 
 pical regionsy green reigns uninterrupted from. 
 year to year, over the leafy kingdom ; herb- 
 
 aae 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 1^7 
 
 age there changing its colour with dry and 
 rainy feafons. 
 
 Here* again, we perceive the fitnefs and 
 confiftency of nature. Green is refrefliing to 
 the fight * : and, in the middle latitudes, trees 
 retain their greennefs during the fummer 
 months, only ; changing to mellower hues, as 
 autumn advances : while within the tropics, 
 where the fun is ever fcorching, the vegetable 
 creation (trees at leaft) retains perpetual green* 
 nefs. 
 
 In the winter of disfoliating climates, the 
 mellow tints of autumn give place to the 
 murky brown of naked fpray, varied perhaps 
 by brighter ftems and decayed branches. Even 
 the grafs and other herbage, at this feafon, 
 lofe their greennefs ; unlefs in rich and 
 highly cultivated fituations. In a ftate of 
 negleft,the colour is loft j except where ever- 
 greens abound. 
 
 Thefe being fome of the principal fads 
 refpe&ing the colours of natural fcenery, ic 
 
 may 
 
 * The coolnefs of green, however, arifes chiefly 
 from aflbciated ideas; fultry funs fade it, cooling Jhowcn 
 produce or keighten it. 
 
Il8 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 may have its ufe to trace their effects on the 
 human mind, in a disfoliating climate, and 
 cultivated country. 
 
 The revival of vegetation, and the renewal 
 of greennefs, in fpring, give delight •, not 
 more, perhaps, by the agreeablenefs of the 
 colour of green, than by its affording variety 
 to the darkfome hues, and relief from the 
 dreary fcenes of winter. At this feafon, 
 though the air may yet be chilly, we are not 
 offended with the coldnefs of the colour : we 
 only admire its refrefthig influence, the variety 
 it occafions in the colouring of nature's can- 
 vas, the relief it gives to the gloom of winter, 
 and receive it, with pleafure, as an earned 
 of more genial feafons, of the revival of the 
 vegetable world, and of the return of plenty 
 to the animate creation. It is not, therefore, 
 the fenfe of fight only, that is gratified by the 
 green of fpring, but the mind at large. 
 
 As fummer advances, nature's favourite 
 colour is wider and wider fpread ; the entire 
 tribes of fortuitous vegetation, of trees and 
 natural herbage, prefently receive it ; and, 
 by their blades, flower Items, flowers and 
 foliage, hide many party-coloured objects ; 
 
 rocks,, 
 
REVIEW Of THE ISSAY. I29 
 
 rocks, water, ftones, and broken furfaces ; 
 while the cultivated grounds receive, through 
 the affiitance of the hufbandman, the lame 
 general colour. In this Ifland, during the 
 month of June, the face of nature may be faid 
 to be veiled in green: (unlefs where it is 
 broken by remaining fallows or by heathy 
 furfaces.) Yet fuch is the fafcinating effect 
 of green, when mixed in endlefs variety, as it 
 is in early fummer, that, notwithstanding its 
 univerfality, it continues to gratify the eyes 
 of moll men -, and difgufts the minds of none, 
 whofe eyes have not been vitiated by unnatural 
 fcenery. 
 
 In the more advanced periods of fummer, 
 the tints become lefs various j the bloiToms 
 vaniih, the fummer moots lofe their frefhnefs, 
 and one general colour prevails. At this 
 feafon, as in the month of July, the eye grows 
 tired of a famenefs of hue -, and if not dif- 
 gufbed, it is at leaft prepared for the enjoy- 
 ments of variety j and autumn gratifies it, in 
 the moft ample extent. Firft, by the golden 
 tints of harveft, and afterwards by the more 
 {howy (though not gaudy) colours of ripening 
 K fruits 
 
130 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY, 
 
 s 
 
 fruits and foliage * ; while greennefs ftill re- 
 tains, in the autumnal herbage, the predomi- 
 nancy, and forms the ground-work on which 
 thefe varied colours are fpread ; not, as in 
 fpring, in fpots or narrow ftripes j but over 
 broad furfaces j giving feature and exprefTion 
 to the general face of the country. 
 
 It is from thefe caufes, we conceive* the de- 
 lights of autumnal fcenery arife, more than 
 from the inherent excellency which the co- 
 lours of autumn may pofTefs ; notwithftanding 
 what the EfTayift has advanced on the fubjecl:. 
 Indeed, it was from finding his ideas upon it 
 narrow and unfatisfactory, that we were in- 
 duced to trace the effecls of nature's co- 
 louring, on the human mind, through its 
 various changes ; and we leave it to thoie, 
 who may think it worth their while to exa- 
 mine the two opinions, to form their own 
 
 judgment. 
 
 It 
 
 * Ripening foliage is a phrafe which night, in a work 
 of natural hiitory, be objected to as not ftrictly ac- 
 curate ; but in writing on the fubject cf tafte, it is per- 
 haps more eligible, becaufe it is lefs offenfive to the ear, 
 than decaying or dying, fading or ivitber.ng foliage. 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSaV. I3I 
 
 It now remains to apply thefe fads, and their 
 effedts on the human fenfes and mind, to rural 
 
 ORNAMENT. 
 
 With a view to fecure in perpetual frefhnefs 
 the favorite arid firft of nature's colours* green, 
 provide a fufficient extent of }awn, in the en- 
 virons to be ornamented. 
 
 To break the uniformity of this lawn, to 
 bring under the eye the delightful effects of 
 vernal beauties, and to guard againft the uni- 
 verfal green of fummerj plant trees, fhrubs, 
 and flowers of varied leaf and bloflbm^ in 
 groups and tufts of different forms, at a near 
 view from the windows, and frequented walks ; 
 fuch as will preferve a .fucceflion of varied 
 tints of foliage and flowers, of early and later 
 plants ; that the eye may not be fatiated with 
 the beauties of green * : refrefhing from time 
 K 2 to 
 
 * Being cautious, however, not to introduce the na- 
 tive hawthorn; as when in bloffom, it is fuppo/ed to be 
 like a goofeberry bulli in a cottage garden, — covered 
 with a white fhect ! (See Effay page 149.) And if 
 any of the hints thrown out by the Effayift fhould 
 be taken, we may expect to fee the venerable haw- 
 thorn, heretofore the pride of park fcenery, hewn 
 down and call into the fire ; left it (hould offend, by its 
 
 fpottinefj, 
 
IJ2 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY". 
 
 to time, the broken ground, and forming brown, 
 roads, and gravel walks, to aflift in this work 
 of variety. 
 
 T6 bring the riper beauties of autumn 
 within the view, give the firft distances (or let 
 them poflefs) fome breadth of wood, but not 
 too great to obftruft the farther diftances, nor 
 to injure the effects of vifion ; mixing the 
 trees, not intimately, but in mafslets of varied 
 fize and figure. In the ofrscape,. * larger and 
 broader maffes of wood, unmixed (of the 
 fame fpecies), that they may wear the fame 
 colour at all feafons; in order to give feature* 
 and fulnefs of viiual effect. If the nearer dif- 
 tances rife abruptly above the horizontal line 
 of vifion, or fink much beneath it, a depth as 
 well as width of planting is neceffaryj but, if 
 they are nearly level with it, depth is not tte- 
 cejfary ; the face only is feen; and to give 
 
 it 
 
 fpottinefs,or<fottinefs, the eye of the pi&ureik traveller* 
 during the intolerably beautiful month of May. 
 
 * Thefe remarks mould rather be conftdered as the 
 illullration of a principle, than as conveying didactic 
 rules of practice. In a wide extent of naked furface, the 
 principle might be applied. 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. I^/J, 
 
 it all the apparent breadth that it is capable 
 of receiving, the flope mould be gentle i 
 mooting forward from the greateft height, 
 fo as to fhow the greateft quantity of fur- 
 face *. 
 
 To cheer the dreary reign of winter, plant 
 evergreens, at hand, with deciduous trees of 
 varied bark and twig and bud j and in dis- 
 tance, large extents of evergreens, and of 
 deciduous woods of various colours, their fizes 
 in proportion to their diflances, and their 
 K 3 fitua- 
 
 * This maybe deemed a fpecies of fraud. If it is 
 fuch, it is of a venial kind j for we find it frequently 
 in nature's practice. The groups and fmaller maffes in 
 forefts, particularly in vallies dips or bottoms where 
 the foil is rich, are generally of this defcription. 
 Here, potteffion is worth contending for ; and the con- 
 flicts between the ftouter tribes of vegetables, and pas- 
 turing animals, have generally been in favour of the 
 latter. This is a good leiTon to improvers, not to in- 
 cumber, any farther than ornament eifentially requires, 
 flat well foiled lower grounds with wood ; which, in 
 fuch fituations, is at once unnatural, unprofitable, and 
 unwholefome. For thefe reafons, the limited mafles, 
 fpoken of above, will not offend, but gratify, when 
 the fraud is difcovered ; provided every fide of the 
 maffes be formed in the fame, or a fimjlar way. 
 
|J4 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 fituations agreeable to their refpe&ive na- 
 tures. 
 
 In fhort, do what Mr. Brown has done ; ex- 
 cept planting fmall clumps in the farther dis- 
 tances, and neglecting to plant them on the im- 
 mediate foreground : errors which, in every 
 point of view, are cenfurable. But is it not 
 wonderful, feeing the imperfection of human 
 nature, that he rofe fo rapidly, and fc near per- 
 fection ? 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 "WE are now entering upon the 'aft Section 
 qf the Firft Part of this Effay. It profefies to 
 treat of ugliness; which, though it cer- 
 tainly is, as the Effayift in his happy mode of 
 expreffion ftiles it, an ungrateful fubjeft, we 
 muft examine with attention -, for notwith- 
 flanding it appears, demonftrably, from what 
 has gone before, that our Author, in effect, 
 has hitherto been preaching what Mr. Brown 
 has pradifed,— (fome fmall differences ex- 
 cepted)- 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. l^$ 
 
 eepted) dill he continues to harp upon the 
 fame firing, and to make believe that there 
 is really a clofe affinity between painting and 
 improvement. His de Mini tion, or rather idea, 
 of uglinefs may be gathered in the following 
 quotation. 
 
 " Of thefe three characters" (beauty, pic- 
 turefknefs and fublimity) " beauty is that 
 " which moft nearly interefts us, and it is 
 " Angular that two of thofe who have moft 
 " ftudied it, and beft written upon it, mould 
 " fo widely differ in their ideas, that the one 
 " mould make beauty, and the other uglinefs, 
 " proceed from the fame caufe. Mr, Burke 
 " has obferved, that the idea of variation, 
 " without attending fo accurately to the manner 
 " of the variation, has led Mr. Hogarth tocon- 
 a fider angular figures as beautiful/' 
 
 " Though I have never happened to meet 
 " with this pofition (fo contrary to Hogarth's 
 " general fyftem) in the Analyfis of Beauty, I 
 " have no doubt of Mr. Burke's accuracy ; 
 " and I can eafily conceive, that a painter like 
 " Hogarth, who had obferved the rich and 
 " fplendid effects produced by fudden varia- 
 « tions, fhould call angles beautiful. Mr. 
 K 4 " Burke 
 
Ij6 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 " Burke has, I think, clearly fliewn that idea 
 fc to be founded on falfe principles • but I 
 fc alfo think that he himfelf, had he thought it 
 " worth his while to invefcigate fo ungrateful 
 " a fubject as uglinefs with the fame accuracy 
 " he has that of beauty, would hardly have 
 ** reckoned thofe objects the ugliefi which ap- 
 " proach moft nearly to angular, for in that 
 tc cafe the leaves of the vine and plane would 
 " be among the ugliefi of the vegetable king- 
 " dom. 
 
 " Itfeemsto me that mere unmixed uglinefs 
 " does not arife from fharp angles, or from any 
 iC fudden variation, but rather from that want 
 " of form, that unfhapen lumpifh appearance, 
 " which, perhaps, no one word exactly ex- 
 " preffes; a quality that never can be miftaken 
 " for beauty, never can adorn it, and which is 
 " equally unconnected with the fublime and 
 " the pictured." Page 160. 
 
 Viewing this in the mals, it mows plainly 
 how difficult a thing it is to fix, and define, 
 the principles of tafte. Here are two men, 
 who have probably fpent as much time in 
 examining thofe principles, as any two men 
 ever did, yet differ fo much about the oppofite 
 
 qualities 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. I 37 
 
 qualities of uglineTs and beauty, that even a 
 third man cannot diftinctly feparate them ! 
 
 Our Eifayift has evidently felected fuch a 
 part of uglinefs as beft fuits his purpofe. He 
 has two fyftems to iupport j and, in adopting 
 his idea of uglinefs, he not only feparates from 
 it his favourite ftimulant, jaggednefs, but at 
 the fame time gets a home-ftroke at Mr. 
 Brown's Scotch fir clumps. If we underftand 
 our Author rightly, this would be his definition 
 of the epithet ugly. Ugly, — dead, heavy, 
 fquat, lumpifh, humpifh, bumpifh, rumpifh, 
 glumpifh, ftumpifh, or, in one word, clumpjh. 
 We do not mean to fay that this is exactly 
 our Author's language, but, we believe, it is 
 precifely the idea he holds out, as character- 
 iftic of uglinefs. This, however, as we have 
 juft intimated, is defcriptive of only a part of 
 uglinefs— of the bump, hump, or rump of 
 uglinefs; the more ftriking limbs and fea- 
 tures of raggednefs, jaggednefs, and hagged- 
 nefs, being concealed. Indeed, in the courfe 
 of the Chapter, we find thefe amiable qualities 
 transformed from uglinefs to picturefknefs ; 
 as will be ktn, 
 
 U 
 
I3S REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 In fighting his way through this Chapter, 
 in which his new opponent, Mr. Burke, feems 
 not a little to difconcert him, he reverts to 
 angles and fharpnefs, qualities long'ago fettled 
 as eflential ornaments of beauty. " Some of 
 " thofe," he fays, " who think that all beauty 
 " depends on flowing lines, have criticifed the | 
 •* Grecian nofe as being too (trait, and form- 
 " ing too fharp an angle with the reft of the 
 " face : Whether the Greek artifts were right 
 « f or not, it clearly (hews it was their opinion 
 " that ftrait and cutting lines, and what nearly 
 " approached to angles, were not only com- 
 " patible with beauty, but that the effect of 
 * the whole would from thence be more at- 
 " tractive than by a continual fweep and flow 
 " of outline in every part. 
 
 " The application of this to modern gar- 
 " dening is too obvious to be enforced. It i3 
 " the higheft of all authority againft continual 
 Cf flow of outline, even where beauty of form is 
 " the only object." (Page 164.) Who 
 ever difputed a well lined nofe being an 
 ornament to the human face ? or the ftile of a 
 fun-dial to the plate ? It is not fimfle, but 
 Ornamented beauty which delights, not a plain 
 
 but 
 
 ■ 
 
REVIEW OF THE fcSSAVV I39 
 
 but an ornamented vafe we admire, not a 
 naked but an ornamented lawn which pleafcs; 
 and which forms the effential character of mo- 
 dern gardening. 
 
 We mull not pafs the defcription of an 
 ugly mountain, or hill: it is partly juftj be- 
 fides, it does one good to partake in other 
 men's enjoyments. " The uglieft forms (if 
 " my ideas are jufl) are thofe lumpifh, and, 
 " as it were, unformed hills, fuch, for inftance, 
 " as, from one of the uglieft and moft fhape- 
 " lefs animals, are called pig- backed : When 
 " the fummits of any of thefe are notched in- 
 " to paltry divifions, or have fuch infignifi- 
 " cant rifings upon them as appear like 
 f( knobs or bumps, or when any improver 
 " has imitated thofe knobs and knotches, by 
 " means of patches and clumps, they are then 
 " both ugly and deformed." Page 165. 
 
 From tiiis and other parts of the prefent 
 Chapter, it appears that uglinefs,#in this Au- 
 thor's idea, is perfectly analogous with shape- 
 lessness, want otform and figure. But even 
 this, furely, is only one fide, — the backfront 
 of uglinefs. Is not that which is illshaped, 
 equally or more ugly than that which is 
 
 merely 
 
140 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 merely shapeless ? But the Author no doubt 
 will fay, this is only the vulgar acceptation of 
 the word, and of courfe, not mine. And lb let 
 it pafs. 
 
 Yet we muft not let it pafs fo eafily. 
 Vulgar illfhaped uglinefs, we find, is transferred 
 to piclurefknefs ; which might be defined the 
 Jtr iking fart of uglinefs. The following quo- 
 tation will throw fome light on this fubjecT. 
 " An ugly man or woman with an aquiline 
 " nofe, high cheek bones, beetle brows, and 
 " ftrong lines in every part of the face, will, 
 " from thefe picture fk circumftances (which 
 " might all be taken away without deftroying 
 " uglinefs) be much more firikingly ugly 
 " than a man with no more features than 
 " an oyfter *. Such uglinefs, like beauty, 
 '• when a milder degree and ftyle of the pic- 
 " turefk is added to it, is more diverfiried, 
 " more amufing, as well as more ftriking; 
 «' and, when thefe circumftances of difguft, 
 •' which often attend reality, are foftened and 
 " difguifed, as in the drama, by imitation, pic- 
 " turefk uglinefs (to which title it has juft as 
 
 " good 
 
 * Does n ■ s border on the fublime ! 
 
REVIEW Or THE ESSAY. I4I 
 
 « good a, right as to that of beauty) becomes 
 " a fource of pleafure. He who has been 
 " ufed to admire fuch pi&urefk uglinefs in 
 <c painting, will from the fame caufes look 
 " with pleafure (for we have no other word to 
 " exprefs the degree or character of that fen- 
 " fation) at the original in nature ; and one 
 " cannot think {lightly of the power and ad- 
 <( vantage of that art which makes its admi- 
 " rers often gaze with fuch delight on fome 
 " antient lady, as with the help of a little 
 " vanity might perhaps lead her to miftake 
 "the motive." (Page 174.) Surely, an art 
 which can fo far corrupt a man's tafte, as to 
 render him capable of preferring uglinefs to 
 beauty, and old hags to young women, ought 
 to be avoided, as a peftilence> rather than be 
 courted as ajludy! 
 
 In this Chapter we detect what may be 
 called the Author's plan of improvement; 
 the firft time he has fuffered even the 
 moil diftant hint of practice to efcape him. 
 
 " Deformity in ground is indeed lefs ob- 
 * c vious than in other objects : deformity 
 " feems to be fome thing that did not origi- 
 
 " nally 
 
T42 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 " nally belong to the object in which it ex* 
 "ills; fomething ftrikingly and unnaturally 
 " difagreeable, and not foftened by thofe 
 " circumftances which often make it pic- 
 ture fk. The fide of a fmooth green 
 " hill, torn by floods, may at firft very pro- 
 " perly be called deformed, and on the fame 
 « f principle (though not with the fame im- 
 "prefiion) as a gafn on a living animal. 
 " When the rawnefs of fuch a gam in the 
 " ground is foftened, and in part concealed,' 
 " and ornamented by the effects of time and 
 « the progrefs of vegetation, deformity, by 
 " this ufual procefs, is converted into pic^ 
 " turefknefs ; and this is the cafe with quar-- 
 " ries, gravel-pits, &c. which at firft are 
 " deformities, and which, in their mod pic- 
 " turefk ftate, are often confidered as fuch by 
 " a levelling improver. Large heaps of 
 " mould or Hones, when they appear flrongly, 
 " and without any connection or concealment, 
 f above the furface of the ground, may alfo 
 •* at firft be confidered as deformities, and 
 <f may equally become pjcturefk by the fame 
 * procefs. 
 
 " This 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY* 143 
 
 u This connexion between picturefknefs 
 <c and deformity cannot be tjo much fludied 
 u by improvers."— Page 168. 
 
 Here-, it very clearly comes out, that pic- 
 turefknefs is the child of defcrmity ; and, by- 
 inference, render your place deformed in or- 
 der thatt it may become piclurefk. Hence, 
 gafh and flalh, the more madman-like the 
 better j disfigure and deface, by pits and cor- 
 refponding mounds, after the manner of quar* 
 ries, every fwell and flope which dares to be 
 beautiful; and make trenches and raife banks, 
 fuch as are intended to reprefcnt hollow lanes 
 in Landfcape painting ; being careful to col- 
 lect the {tones which arife, into large heaps 
 on the lurface. Having thus made the en- 
 tire environs as ugly — pfhaw ! — deformed — 
 as may be — why what then ? — Why fo let 
 them remain, until it fhall pleafe the Genius 
 of Picturefknefs to do away the deformity. 
 It this fhould not happen during the lifetime 
 of the deformer — pooh ! — the improver, — his 
 fon, or his grandfon, may be able to look 
 
 out at his window without d g the Pic- 
 
 turefker. If this is not precifely the Author's 
 plan, his book is to blame. 
 
 Such 
 
144 REVIEW OF THE ESSAV. 
 
 Such therefore, it may be conceived, is 
 the EfTayift's plan of producing picturefknefs. 
 We, too, have a plan. Picturefknefs being 
 a fomething between beauty and deformity ; 
 either of which, being engendered by neglect, 
 produces, in due time, this favorite babe of the 
 painter. Thefe premiies, we believe, will 
 neither be denied nor difputed. Be it there- 
 fore our's to make the place beautiful, in the 
 firft inftance ; and, whenever the owner and 
 his friends are cloyed widi ornamented beauty, 
 to fuffer neglect to cover it, and thus beget 
 picturelknefs. 
 
 The remarks on ugly buildings, ugly co- 
 lours, ugly minds, and ugly women, are not 
 in themfelves pofitively ugly y {hough by no 
 means Jtriking. On the laft they are the moft 
 interefling ; and it will be proper to paufe 
 here awhile, to examine into what conftitutes 
 picturefknefs and beauty in the human face. 
 
 Mr. Gilpin fays, " would you fee the hu- 
 <c man face in its brightefl form of ptlurejk 
 <c beauty., examine that patriarchal head. 
 " What is it, which gives that dignity of 
 " character 5 that force of expreflion ; thofe 
 " lines of wifdom and experience ; that ener- 
 
 " getic 
 
 
1EVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 145 
 
 * getic meaning, fo far beyond the rofy hue, 
 " or even the bewitching fmile of youth ? 
 " What is it, but the forehead furrowed with 
 " wrinkles ? the prominent cheek-bone catch- 
 " ing the light ? the mufcles of the cheek 
 " ftrongly marked, and lofing themfelves in 
 " the fliaggy beard ? and, above all, the 
 ft auftere brow, projecting over the eye — the 
 " feature which particularly ftruck Homer in 
 ** his idea of Jupiter, and which he had pro- 
 " bably feen finely reprelented in fome ftatucj 
 " in a word, what is it, but the rough touches 
 « of age ?" — Effay on Piclurefk Beauty, p. 10. 
 The EfTayift, having traced the qualities 
 of infipidity and beauty, In the human face, 
 proceeds — " If now we return to ' the fame 
 iC point from whence we began, and conceive 
 fC the eyebrows more ftrongly marked — the 
 " hair rougher in its effect and quality — the 
 " complexion more dufky and gipfy-like — 
 " the Jkin of a coarjer grain, with fome moles 
 " on it — a degree of caft in the eyes, but fo 
 " flight as only to give archnefs and pecu- 
 " liarity of countenance — this, without alter- 
 i( ing the proportion of the features, would 
 L " take 
 
I46 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 " take off from beauty what it gave to cha- 
 " rafter and picturefknefs." — Page 178. 
 
 Hence it appears, evidently, from thefe 
 authorities, that a roughwejs or coarfenefs of 
 Jkin is eflential to picturesk. beauty, — or 
 pictureskness ; which are here, demonftra- 
 bly, the fame thing, under different names. 
 
 From thefe definitions of picturefknefs, a 
 face pitted with the fmall-pox is picturefk ; 
 for, although the Effayift has claffed it among 
 deformities, he has clearly done it on the 
 principle of prudence, not on that of pictu- 
 refknefs : for, notwithstanding a face, recently 
 fcarred with the fmall-pox, undergoes a tem- 
 porary deformity, as a lawn cut up into pits 
 and gullies, yet time has the fame effect on the 
 one as the other, in producing picturefknefs ; 
 and it may reafonably be expected, that, 
 mould picturefknefs become the rage, fome 
 of its infatuated admirers will write a book to 
 fhow, that Sutton was a blockhead, and his 
 followers all fools; and that the art of ino- 
 culation ought to be hooted out of the 
 country -, left the human face, as well as the 
 face of nature, fhould become beautiful paft all 
 bearing. The only difference, in this point 
 
 of 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSA.Y. 147 
 
 of view, between Erown and Sutton, modern 
 gardening and inoculation, is, that one 
 creates beauty,— the other prefcrves it. 
 
 The EfTayift: clofes his remarks on ugly 
 women, with the following inference and 
 application :— " It plainly appears how clofe 
 " the connection is between beauty and infi-. 
 " pidity, and between picture fknefs and de- 
 " formity, and wha: " thin partitions do their 
 " bounds divide." 
 
 " The whole of this applies moil exactly 
 " to improvements : the general features of 
 « a place remain the fame, the accompani- 
 " ments only are changed, but with them 
 « its character. If the improver (as it ufu- 
 « ally happens) attends folely to verdure, 
 « fmoothnefs, undulation of ground, and 
 " flowing lines, the whole will be infipid. 
 « If, on the contrary (what is much more 
 " rare), the oppofite tafte mould prevail ; 
 " mould an improver, by way of being pic- 
 « turefk, make broken ground, coves, and 
 « quarries all about his place j encourage no- 
 <c thing but furze, briars, and thifdes ; heap 
 <£ quantities of rude ftones on his banks, or 
 v to crown all, like Mr. Kent, plant dead 
 L 2 ' ■ trees ; 
 
J 43 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 " trees ; the deformity of fuch a place would, 
 " I believe, be very generally allowed, though 
 " the infipidity of the other might not be lb 
 * f readily confe (Ted. " — Page 178. 
 
 Here we fee the Eflayift renouncing all 
 pretenfions to raifing picturefknefs out of 
 deformity ; and, of courfe, where picturefk- 
 nefs is to be created, he leaves Mr. Brown 
 and his followers in full pofleffion of the field 
 of improvement. 
 
 The Chapter clofes with remarks on beau- 
 ty, picturefknefs, and deformity, as they are 
 diftinguifhable by the fenfes of tailing and 
 fmelling. 
 
 " I may here remark, that though pictu- 
 *' refknefs and deformity are fo ftriclly con- 
 " fined to the fenfe of feeing, yet that there 
 " is in the other fenfes a mod exact refem- 
 " blance to their cffefts ; this is the cafe not 
 " only in the fenfe of hearing (of which ib 
 tc many examples have been given) but in 
 tl the more contracted ones of tailing and 
 " fmelling, and the progrefs I have men- 
 " tioned is in them alio equally plain and 
 " obvious. It can hardly be doubted that 
 
 " what 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY, I49 
 
 cf what anfwers to the beautiful in the fenfe 
 " of tailing has fmoothnefs and fweetnefs for 
 " its bafis, with fuch a degree of ftimulus as 
 <f enlivens but does not overbalance thole 
 <c qualities ; fuch, for inftance, as in the mod 
 " deliciou:s fruits and liquors. Take away 
 " the ftimiulus, they become infipid ; increase 
 Cf it fo as to overbalance thofe qualities, they 
 " then gain a peculiarity of flavour, are ea- 
 " gerly fought after by thofe who have ac- 
 4< quired a relifh for them, but are lefs adapt- 
 " ed to the general palate. This correfponds 
 " exaclty with the pi&urefk : but if the fti- 
 " mulus be increafed beyond that point, none 
 <c but depraved and vitiated palates will en- 
 ** dure what would be fo juftly termed de- 
 " formity in objecls of fight. The fenfe of 
 *< fmelling has in this, as in all other refpecls, 
 " the clofeft conformity to that of tailing." 
 
 Page 179. 
 As thefe concluding remarks do not be- 
 long, particularly, to the fubje& of uglinefs, 
 they may feem to have been held back in 
 referve, as a coup tie grace; and they eftablifh 
 firmly, and in the mofl happy manner, the 
 L 3 prin- 
 
 
150 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 principles which have been fo repeatedly 
 laid down ; and with an effect fo favourable to 
 the prefent ftyle of ornamental gardening. As 
 for example : 
 
 Milk is fub -beautiful or infipid, as a naked 
 down, a wide meadow lately mown, or a 
 boundlefs unbroken extent of lawn, fuppofing 
 that fuch a thing ever did or ever may 
 exift. 
 
 Add honey to the milk, it becomes beau- 
 tiful, is in fome degree interefting ; as a lawn 
 bounded by a border, cornice, or belt of trees, 
 ft) rubs and flowers. 
 
 Add to thefe a fuflicient quantity of the 
 enlivening fpirit of the grape or fugar-cane, 
 to take off the lufcious maukifhnefs of milk 
 and honey, and give it that degree of ftimulus 
 which is " adapted to the general palate.'* 
 Thus we have beauty happily adorned, or in 
 other words, ornamented beauty ; fuch as ap- 
 pears in a fmooth, foft, green velvet lawn, 
 adorned with elegant groups of trees, fhrubs, 
 and flowers ; its extent being marked by a 
 broken border, or chain of maffes of wood, 
 fo placed as to hide deformities j with open- 
 
 ing 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. l£t 
 
 h\g glades or viftas between, to mow, in de- 
 tail, the more (hiking parts of the offscape. 
 
 Again, add to this delicious ne ctar more 
 flimulus ; increafing the quantity ib as to 
 overbalance and difguife its fmoothnefs and 
 fweetnefs -, it then gains a " peculiarity of fla- 
 " vor, and is eagerly fought after by thofe 
 " who have acquired a relifh for it;" in fine, 
 has acquired a fimilar fort of pielurefknefs to 
 a piece of rough ground overrun with rub- 
 bifli, broken by old pits, rough ftone-heaps, 
 and rugged ant-hills, cut up with cart-ruts, 
 and poached by the feet of ftarven cattle, jack- 
 als, and worn-down cart-horfes. 
 
 Laftly, add pepper and muftard to the mix- 
 ture, it is deformed - } even as a piece of 
 ground recendy broken up into pits, quarry 
 places, hollow ways, and river-beds. 
 
 But as milk and honey do not agree with eve- 
 ry man's ftomach, and as this ftyle of illuftration 
 is at once elegant and inftru&ive, it will not be 
 loft time to change our liquor, and go over 
 the ground a fecond time. Let pure water be 
 the infipid bafis. It has long, very long in- 
 deed, been recommended, as wholefome and 
 meet, to add wine to our water : they form 
 L 4 a liquor, 
 
I52 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 liquor, beautiful and elegant, both to the 
 eye and the palate. But it is in wine alone 
 we perceive the enlivening ftimulus, the accor- 
 dant fymbol of ornamented beauty : even orna- 
 mented beauty itfelf is not infenfible to its 
 charms. But add brandy to the wine, or fub- 
 ftitute brandy in its ftead, the irritation be- 
 comes exceflive •, and though fuch ftimulating 
 draughts may be " eagerly fought after by 
 " thofe who have acquired a relrfh for them," 
 they certainly " are lefs adapted to the general 
 « palate," than foft, well-flavoured, generous 
 wine. 
 
 This happy ftyle of illuftration might be 
 extended to plain roaft and boiled, without and 
 with fuitable fauces, — to ftews, ragouts, grfl- 
 lades, and devils, of every degree of cayennity 
 or picturefknefs. 
 
 The fenfe of fmelling, too, admits of fimi- 
 
 lar illuftration ; as the primrofe,, the violet, 
 
 the rofe,— happy emblem of ornamented 
 
 beaucy j thence rifing to the more ftimulating 
 
 geranium and jonquil ; ftill afpiring to the 
 
 effluvia of garlic, and the fumes of afiafcetida : 
 
 the quinteffence of picturelknefs *. 
 
 In 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. I$J 
 
 Ira whatever light we view picturefknefs, it 
 appears as a vicious habit— a depravity— limilar 
 to tlhat of eating devils, drinking drams, and 
 imolking aflafcetida ; fnuffing high-dried Irifli 
 blac kguard *, and ufing highly fcented per- 
 fumes ; which laft, though lead, is now con- 
 sidered, even in the land of tafle, a depravity 
 — as Signpra Piozzi — or any one elfe can tell. 
 But fo it will ever be : Mankind are prone 
 to vicious habits and depravity, which fre- 
 quently gain a temporary countenance from 
 fafhiionj but among cultivated minds their 
 reign is ihort ; a fenfe of propriety will ever 
 bring fuch minds back to reafon and confif- 
 tency. 
 
 To check the progrefs of this vagrant vice 
 is the duty of every man who is a friend to 
 truth and propriety, and it has frequently 
 been attempted with good efFed. But it 
 feems to have been referved for the Author 
 of the EfTay under review, to fit down deli- 
 berately to encourage depravity. As well 
 might he, in feeming earneft, recommend to 
 men of affluence and education, to live in 
 
 huts 
 
 ■ The name of a fpecies of ftiufF. 
 
154 
 
 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 huts and wear fheep-fkins j go unwafhed and 
 uncombed ; eat amidft naftinefs, and fleep 
 among filth; recommend a iyftem of flo- 
 venlinefs and neglect within as without their 
 habitations. No intricacy of compofition, 
 nor high-varnimed finifhing, will ever, it is 
 hoped, be able to eftablifh, even for a day, 
 fuch a Iyftem of depravity. 
 
 PART 
 
 i 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAV. l$$ 
 
 PART II. Chap. I. 
 
 WE now enter Part the Second, Chapter 
 the Firit. The reader perhaps will fay, Why 
 proceed farther ? Have we not already feen 
 enough to fatisfy us, that Landfcape painting 
 and Rural ornament are diftincl profefiions, 
 and ought to be guided by diftincl principles ? 
 that the latter, in its prefent ftate of advance- 
 ment, is nearly what it ought to be ? and 
 that its defects have been fhown, and their 
 remedies pointed out in the Review of the 
 Firft Part ? 
 
 Be this as it may, we cannot, with flrift 
 honour and fafety, Hop here. The afTailant 
 preiTes on, with undiminished ardor, and with 
 ftep:s of feeming firmnefs, as if he really 
 thought his caufe were good. This plaufible 
 way of proceeding, added to his talent for 
 attack, render him an enemy of no mean 
 danger. He muft therefore be driven off the 
 ground j chaced into the dells and dingles of 
 
 the 
 
ir£ kEVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 the ofFscape, and farther diftances : in the 
 immediate environs, at leaft, not a hollow 
 way, pit, or quarry place muft be left to hide 
 him, nor a bum of blackthorn and brambles 
 to fkreen him j left fome honed pro/er (a 
 fort of innocent creature that will prefently be 
 exhibited) mould be caught in his bufh-fight- 
 ing mode of attack *. 
 
 The preamble of the Second Part runs 
 thus : 
 
 " Having now examined the chief quali- 
 cc ties that in fuch various ways render objects 
 * interefting j and having fhewn how much 
 « c the beauty, fpirit, and effect of landfcape, 
 « e real or imitated, depends upon a due 
 • ( mixture of rough and fmooth, of warm 
 " and cool tints ; and of what extreme con- 
 • c fequence variety and intricacy are in thofe 
 " as well as our* other pleafuresj having 
 " fhewn too that the general principles of 
 " improving are in reality the fame as thofe 
 
 "of 
 
 • We have been led into this train of figurative lan- 
 guage, not more by the nature of literary conteji, than 
 from the military arguments, fo prevalent, and lb warmly 
 urged, at the time of writing, 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. l$J 
 
 " of panting, I (hall next inquire how far the 
 " principles of the laft mentioned art (clearly 
 <f the beft qualified to improve and refine our 
 " ideass of nature )4iave been attended to by 
 " improvers." — Page 183. 
 
 If, lied away by an enthufiaftic love of 
 paintimg, the Efiayift wrote this from falle 
 convicltion, he certainly is entitled to much 
 commiiferation. If, on the other hand, his aim 
 fhould appear to be merely that of deftroying 
 a beauitiful edifice, of pulling down a goodly 
 palace, with no other view than to reign among 
 its ruin:s ! ordinary readers will be able to ap- 
 preciate the deferts of his performance. 
 
 This divifion of the work hints at the hif- 
 tory of the Rural art, makes mention of thole 
 who efltablilhed it, and fpeaks of its abfurdi- 
 ties. Kent, he gives us to underftand 
 (through the aftiftance of Mr. Walpole's pa- 
 per), w/as the firft of the wrongheads. Kent, 
 we are alfo told, was a painter, and bis abfur-, 
 dity was that of planting dead trees. 
 
 Did not the Efiayift perceive that, in 
 putting thefe two fadls together, he was ex- 
 pofing the falfe foundation of his favourite 
 fyftem $ and proving fo far as thefe circum- 
 stances 
 
I5S RETIEW OF THE ESSAY* 
 
 fiances go, the danger of fludying Landfcape 
 painting, with a view to its imitation in rural 
 ornament ? Who, but a fludent in painting — 
 one who had been accuftomed to fee dead 
 flumps flicking out of canvas, could have 
 thought of planting dead trees in a living 
 Landfcape ? The mofl glaring abfurdity, 
 that has crept into modern gardening, appears 
 evidently to have been effected by a ftudy of 
 Landfcape painting. 
 
 Thus, although we are drawn on reluctantly 
 from Chapter to Chapter, we regret only the 
 entrance j for every fucceeding Section affords 
 frefh matter to make us amends, and to afTift 
 us in eftablifhing, on rational principles, and 
 a firm bafis, the art we are defending : an art 
 at once polite and ufeful j the comforts it af- 
 fords being not lefs than the pleafures it is 
 capable of exciting. 
 
 Kent, though he made fome progrefs in his 
 new profeffion, was never great in it, was ever 
 a fmatterer in the art — a mere man of can- 
 vas *. It was left for Brown to give exiftence 
 and celebrity to the profeflion. — Brown was 
 
 brcii 
 
 • See Mr. Wai pole's paper.. 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 1 59 
 
 bred a gardener; was, by early education, 
 a pla;nter and a former of ground and water ; 
 though it were only a terrace or a bowling- 
 greem— a canal or the bafon of a fountain. 
 His iinitiatory element was the environs of a 
 great: man's houfe. He knew what was there 
 wanrxed, to add to the comforts, as well as 
 the pleafures, of educated manners and culti- 
 vated minds — of the family and friends of a 
 man of fafhion and refined tafte, — of a Temple, 
 — of aCobham. It would, indeed, be giving to 
 Brown more, perhaps, than he is rightfully 
 entitled to, to fay that Stowe is all his own j 
 for although to his extraordinary genius the 
 execTution may be owing, it is highly probable, 
 that Lord Cobham and his friends aflifted 
 him in the defign. Indeed, this alone can ac- 
 count, on rational grounds, for the degree of 
 excellency he there attained in his firft at- 
 tempt. If, however, in the courfe of his 
 practice, and in a few particular inftances, 
 the lawn mould flill partake of the bowl- 
 ing-green, and the continuous belt bear fome 
 refernblance to the border of a walled garden, 
 ought we, feeing the force of habit, and the 
 imperfections of human nature, to be angry 
 
 at 
 
l6o REVIEW OF THE ESSAY, 
 
 at the circumftance, or to abuje his memory 
 and revile his art, becaufe, forfooth, he was 
 not more than man ? It is enough to know 
 the general fad, a fact which is well known to 
 thoufands who are capable of judging of it, 
 that, through the nature of his primary pro- 
 fefTion, his naturally good abilities, his ob- 
 fervations on natural fcenery, the hints he 
 might receive from men of general tafte, and 
 the itudy of Kent's performances— (defective 
 as they might be,— profiting equally by his 
 mifcarriages and fuccefs)— -Brown raifed the 
 art of ernbellifhing natural fcenery, in the 
 more immediate environs of fafhionable re- 
 fidences, to a degree of excellence ; and this 
 with a rapidity whjch no other liberal art 
 ever experienced. Marking the flow pro- 
 grefs which the arts of fculpture, architecture, 
 and painting made (the laft mod efpecially) 
 through a feries of centuries, every man, who 
 is not a mifanthrope, mult acknowledge, if 
 not admire, the genius of Brown. 
 
 In pafiing along the current of fpleen which 
 the Author has thought fit to direct againit 
 the memory of this valuable man, we were 
 momentarily feized with the fame malign in- 
 fluence. 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. l6l 
 
 fluence. . Oppofite one part, we find our pen- 
 cil, by a kind of animal-magnetic fympathy, 
 has written " infolent " — in another place 
 " piriful," oppofite a third fC contemptible 
 tc fpleen ! — from what could it all arife ?" 
 Thofe who are ' acquainted with the grounds 
 of Stowe and of Fiiherwick, will find no dif- 
 ficulty \nftr.mping the following pafiage. "No 
 ^ c pfofeffor of high reputation feems to have 
 " appeared after him, till at length, that the 
 M iyitem might be carried to its tie plus ultra 
 " (no very diftant point) arofe the famous 
 rt Mr. Brown, who has fo fixed and deter- 
 " mined the forms and lines of clumps, belts, 
 " andferpentine canals, and has been fofteadily 
 " imitated by his followers, that had the irri- 
 tc provers been incorporated, their common 
 " feal, with a clump, a belt, and a piece of 
 " made water, would have fully expreflcd 
 " the whole of their fcience, and have ferved 
 " for a model as well as a feal." Page 1 87. 
 
 It may be right to examine the charges of 
 
 this feal *. The clump has been already 
 
 • M fpoken 
 
 * But firft let us colka into a focus, a few of the 
 gloomy rays, with which this part of the Eflay is at- 
 tempted to be lit up. 
 
 v t " What 
 
l6l REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 fpoken of as being too frequently miiplaced i 
 occupying the diftances, inftead of the nearer 
 
 grounds. 
 
 *' What Arloflo fays of a grove of cyprefles has al* 
 " ways ftruck me in looking at made places, 
 
 ** — che parean d'una Jlampa tutte imprenV 
 
 '* They feemcafl in one mould, made inonefrai^t; 
 " fo much fd, that I have fcen places on which large 
 " fums had been lavifhed, unite fo little with the 
 " laridfcape around them, that they gave me the idea 
 " of having been made by contraft in London, and 
 " then fent down in pieces a»d put together on the 
 " fpot. 
 
 *' Buying tafle ready made is a good deal like buying 
 " love ready made, and almoft as common : I mould fup- 
 «' pofe too that the enjoyment of both the purchafeis is 
 " much upon a par." Note page 187. 
 
 We cannot fay that we have feen all the places in this 
 Ifland j though it is much in our way to fee places ; but 
 we can with fafety afiert that we never faw any two 
 which bore more refemblance to each other, than do the 
 faces of our numerous acquaintances. We fpeak here 
 of larger places (as we ever do when we fpeak gene- 
 rally) where the environs are thrown open on different 
 fides : in which cafes, the features let in, — even though 
 cornpofed of ground, wood and lawn, only, without any 
 afliftance from water or buildings, — feldom fail to give a 
 variety infinitely greater than the human face is capa- 
 ble of affording; it being limited to ene/et of features j 
 
 whereas 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. \S^ 
 
 grounds. This appears to be Mr. Brown's 
 greateft error; and perhaps his only error, 
 
 M 2 in 
 
 whereas the Features of places are without number : and 
 there are few places of any extent which are not marked 
 by unique features. 
 
 In the environsjx London, at Mile End, Hackney and 
 Iflington, where the Eflayift might well be fuppofed to 
 have made bisjiudia, and where the places are hemmed 
 in, perhaps, on every fide, excepting on the front of the 
 houfe, a degree of monotony may be obfervable. 
 
 ** It is very unfortunate that this great legislator of 
 " our national tafte, and whofe laws Hill remain in 
 " force, mould not have received from nature, or have 
 " acquired by education, more enlarged ideas. Claude 
 " Lorrain was bred a paftry-cook, but in every thing 
 " that regards his art as a painter he had an elevated 
 *' and coitnprehenfive mind ; nor in any part of his 
 " works can one trace the meannefs of his original 
 " occupation. Mr. Brown was bred a gardener, and 
 " having nothing of the mind or the eye of a painter, 
 ** he formed his ftyle (or rather his plan) upon the mo- 
 " del of a parterre, and transferred its minute beau- 
 " ties, its little clumps, knots, and patches of flow- 
 " ers, the oval belt that furrounds it, and all its twifts 
 " and crincum crancums, to the great fcale of na- 
 •• ture. 
 
 " This ingenious device of magnifying a parterre 
 " calls to mj mind a Jlory I heard many years ago. A 
 
 country 
 
164 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 in principle. The form of his clumps, in-* 
 variably, we believe, a circle, may be objected 
 
 to: 
 
 " country parfon, in the county where I live, fpeaking 
 '.'. of a gentleman of low nature, but of extremely 
 " pompous manners, who had juft left the company, ex- 
 " claimed, in the fimplicity and admiration of his 
 " heart, Quite grandeur in miniature, I protelt. This 
 " compliment reverfed, .would perfe&ly fuit the fhreds 
 " and paxhes that are fo often ftuck about by Mr. 
 " Brown and his followers, amidft the noble fcenes they 
 " disfigure, where they are as contemptible and as much 
 " out of character as Claude's firft edifices in paftry 
 f would appear in the dignified landfcapes he has paint- 
 " ed." Page 188. 
 
 Far fetched, and ill applied ! 
 
 •« There is another circumftance in his plantations 
 •' that deferves to be remarked : a favourite mixture 
 ** of his was that of beech and Scotch firs, and in 
 V nearly equal proportion : if unity and fimplicity of 
 " character in a wood is to be given up, it fhould be 
 " for the fake of a variety that will harmonize j 
 «• which two trees, fo equal in fize and in numbers* 
 " and fo ftrongly contrafted in form and colour, can 
 ** never do. 
 
 " His puts me in mind of an anecdote I heard of a 
 " perfon very much ufed to look at objeds with a pain- 
 " ter's eye : — He had three cows ; \shen his wife with 
 *' a. very proper economy obferved, that two were 
 » quite fuffident for their family, and defired him to, 
 
 •* past 
 
KEVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 1 65 
 
 to : if, however, the oval be the moft pleafing 
 of all fimple figures to the eye, he was right 
 in preferring the circular form ; as, in the 
 nature of vifion, it takes an oval appearance, 
 from whatever fide or point it is viewed. But 
 neither the circle nor the oval is admiffible, 
 ur^lefs in highly embellifhed fcenery, or where 
 M 3 temporary 
 
 '* part with one of them. Lord, my dear, faid he, two 
 *' cows you know will never group." 
 
 "A third tree (like a third cow) might have connected 
 " and blended the difcordant forms and colours of the 
 " beech and Scotch fir ; but every thing I have feen of 
 " Mr. Brown's works have' convinced me that he had, 
 *' in a figurative fenfe, no eye ; and if he had had noae 
 " in the literal fenfe, it would have only been a private 
 " misfortune, 
 
 " And partial evil, univerfal good." 
 
 Can any verbal cenfure reach a mind capable of dic- 
 tating this paflage ? Would the corporal punifliment 
 inflicled on Regulus be too fevere for any man capable 
 of loading the memory of another with fo much roalevo- 
 Jence ? 
 
 His eyelids ■ » ■ ■■ " ■ 
 
 See the lines at full length / in page 267 of the Eflay 
 on th« Piftureflt. 
 
l66 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 temporary nurferies of groups or finglc trees 
 are defired. 
 
 The belt, too, has been fpoken of, as 
 being too long and continuous. This, how-, 
 ever, occurs chiefly about fmall places, 
 clofed in by neighbours, and liable to over- 
 lookers i or where a road lies on the outfide 
 of the paling, as very frequently happens : but, 
 even in this cafe, breaks have a good effect, 
 at a fuitable diftance from the houfe or fcene 
 of retirement ; as well to give variety and 
 animation to the views, as to gratify the tra- 
 veller. 
 
 This error of practice, however, mult not 
 always be laid to the charge of Mr. Brown, or 
 his followers j but frequently, perhaps, has 
 *rifen from a miftaken idea of fome of their 
 employers, that a place mould be ftiut out, 
 entirely, from the public eye j thus depriving 
 themfelves of gratification, while they are 
 robbing others of an enjoyment; which, on 
 reflection, might afford the owner ftill farther 
 gratification. Befide, it feldom happens that 
 the fituation of a houfe is fuch, that the off- 
 fcape affords no agreeable objects ; efpecially 
 when {cen through a glade or villa,— which 
 
 afiifts 4 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. \Sj 
 
 alfifts, nometimes very happily, in forming an 
 agreeable compofition, a painter's whole. 
 
 If onie of Mr. Brown's fuccefibrs has (hut 
 out the fea from a houfe, fituated we are not 
 told whiere, by means of a belt, or "unbroken 
 line of ^ wood, merely upon the plan of belting, 
 he or hiis employer, if the evil could not readily 
 he removed, would have much to anfwer for. 
 But wras not this fkreen intended to hide a 
 muddy T flat more of an efluary, or to endeavour 
 to breaik the cutting winds which the fea (even 
 an arrm of it) too frequently fends on fhore ? 
 The acccount is very imperfect. 
 
 Of :made waters, the laft charge on the 
 feal, wfe fay nothing, here, as they will require 
 to be fjfpoken of hereafter. What farther re- 
 quires notice, in the prefent Chapter, are 
 groups s, old avenues, and what the Writer calls 
 the meethod of thinning trees. 
 
 It ddoes not clearly appear, in this EiTay, 
 whatthhe Author means by a group, or how 
 it differs from a clump, except that it 
 does mot rhime with lump. It is true, we 
 fometiimes fee, in park and foreft fcenery, 
 that " natural groups, — being formed by 
 <c treees of different ages and fizes, and at dif- 
 M 4 " ferent 
 
l68 REVIEW QF THE ESSAY. 
 
 " ferent diftarices from each other, often tog 
 " of a mixture of timber trees with thorns, 
 " hollies, and others of inferior growth, — are 
 " full of variety in their outlines j and from 
 " the fame caufes no two groups are exactly 
 "alike." (Page 190.) But how are fuch 
 groups to be formed by art ? And fuppofing 
 that the EfTayift is furnifhed with a recipe for 
 making them, how long time will it take 
 to complete them, fo that they fhall be fit to be 
 feen ? And although we fometimes fee fuch 
 happy productions of neglected nature, do we 
 not much oftener fee, efpecially in foreft 
 fcenery, natural groups of a very different 
 defcription ? Not clumps, but literally, low 
 fquat vulgar lumps — fbunted broad-topt oaks, 
 overfpreading blackthorns and brambles, 
 moulded, by the mouths and horns of the 
 ftarving ftock, into forms' not unlike thofe of 
 turnips cut in halves ? If the Author's eye 
 be fet to light airy groups, full of variety in 
 their outlines, let him go to Fifherwick, and 
 there he will fee his favourite plane, with leaf 
 enjagged, Handing in groups of unparalleled 
 elegance j yet raifed by the hand, and nur- 
 tured under, the eye, of that low-bred, igno- 
 rant, 
 
 :__ 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 169 
 
 rant, contemptible clump-maker, Brown ; 
 who, if we are to believe implicitly this 
 Kflay, never made any thing in his life, but 
 a clump, a belt, and a Terpentine canal ! ! ! 
 
 The moft reafonable part of this Chapter 
 relates jto the old Gothic avenue, if we may 
 fo fpeak. But how does the ftraightnefs, 
 ftifTnefs, fmoothnefs, the fimplicity, famenefs, 
 and foul-foothing folemnity of the avenue *, 
 accord with the variety, intricacy, jaggednefs, 
 raggednefs, and irritability of pi&urefkneis ? 
 In a reclufe fituation, or mixing with a large 
 mafs of woodinefs, the avenue is truly valua- 
 ble, as part or appendage of a magnificent 
 place : but fingly, in an expofed part, it is 
 altogedier untraceable in compofition ; be- 
 ing certainly the moft unnatural of all the plan- 
 ter's productions. We fometimes, in nature, 
 fee a continued fweep of woodinefs, as along 
 the hang of a winding hill (by the way, very 
 much refembling the Brownean belt), and 
 
 frequently 
 
 * Alliteration is a fpecies of monotony ; though 
 much inferior, as fuch, to two rows of trees and a gra- 
 vel walk, and ten thoufand fuch admired prcduSions, q»i 
 the felf-fame regular plan ! 
 
17° REVIEW OF THE ESSAV. 
 
 frequently a « natural group," which is 
 nearly circular; but never did Dame Nature 
 raife two rows of trees, in ftraight lines, per- 
 haps acrofs hill and dale, parallel to each 
 other, and a mile or more in length. Such 
 unnatural fights might indeed « alarm the 
 « pidturefk traveller/' and be truly deemed 
 the disfigurement of diflricls : in removing 
 t/iem Mr. Brown had infinite merit. Even 
 thoic which he has kft y in reclufe fituarions 
 are more to be admired for their age, than for 
 any other quality. An old avenue, like an 
 old building, fills the mind with fubjea of 
 reflexion. Antiquity, alone, is capable of 
 rendering the mereft trifles, things in them- 
 felves the moft infignificant, interefting: as 
 every antiquary knows. Had the Efiayift 
 lived a century ago, when thefe now vene- 
 rable avenues were planted, what contemp- 
 tuous ineers would he not have thrown at the 
 two rows of befom-tipped hop-poles, fop- 
 ported by flakes, bound with thumb-bands 
 and guarded by furze faggots ? Or had he 
 not lived until a century hence, what praifes 
 would he not have bellowed on the venerable 
 belt I v 
 
 h 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 «7« 
 
 It requires Tome little penetration, to find 
 out what this heaven-born Landicape-maker 
 exactly means by " the method of thinning 
 " trees." — A planter would either conceive it 
 to be the thinning of boughs of fingle trees, 
 fo as to give an ugly lumpjh tree a degree of 
 lightnefs and character (which, by the way, is 
 in fome cafes practicable), or the thinning of 
 the trees of a grove, fo as to give the remain- 
 ing ones head-room, and to aflat in relieving, 
 in due courfe of time, from lumpifhnefs and 
 clumpilhnefs, the grove itfelf: an operation 
 which may frequently be performed with good 
 effect. It comes out, however, that what is 
 meant is the arduous talk of fetting out, as a 
 woodman would exprefs it, the natural or for- 
 tuitous woodinefs, roughets, hedgerows, and 
 fingle trees, occupying, without form and 
 void, the environs of a houfe or fite to be or- 
 namented : breaking them, in fuch a manner, 
 into maffes, groups, and fingle trees, and giv- 
 ing to the ground fuch a variety of figure, as 
 will furnifh the views from the houfe, or other 
 principal point, with all the variety of feature 
 and expreflion they are capable of receiving 
 from fuch fortuitous materials. 
 
 We 
 
172 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 We will admit, by way of argument, that 
 Mr. Brown and his followers have not done 
 this part of their work exactly right, and that 
 the Effayift is juftified in faying — " the different 
 " groups are to be cleared round till they be- 
 * c come as clumplike as their untrained natures 
 <f will allow, and even many of thofe outfide 
 " trees that belong to the groups themfelves 
 f (and to which they owe, not only their beauty, 
 * f but their fecurity againfc wind and froft) 
 <f are cut down without pity if they will not 
 C£ range according to their model ;" (p. 202.) 
 yet, furely, does not the very mention of 
 their doing this part of their work at all,unfay 
 all that has been faid about their laying the 
 entire environs wafte, clearing away every 
 thing from the foreground, leaving it a meet 
 of infipid green fward, furrounded by a belt ? 
 Even in this Chapter, we are told, that a 
 place * (of which, as we have faid before, 
 we have a very lame account) has been dif- 
 mantled in that moft fhameful manner. 
 
 It is not prolable, however, that the moft" 
 flupid of Mr. Brown's fucceffors fhould be 
 
 guilty. 
 
 * The fea-fide place mentioned above. 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 173 
 
 guilty of fuch a crime : and we coiild as 
 readily believe, that the embellifher of Stowe, 
 and the creator of Fiiherwick, would have 
 attempted to remove the planets out of their 
 orbits, as to remove from the environs of a refi- 
 dence, any mafs, group, o/r fingle tree, pofief- 
 fing a degree of pictnrable effect * ; except to 
 
 give 
 
 * Picturahlh. This epithet ve have formerly 
 ufed in the Treatife on Planting, &c. and we have con- 
 tinued the ufe of it in this Review, merely through a 
 deficiency in the language. It is applied to what ii 
 pleafurabUy grateful, fatisfatlcry, to an eye conversant 
 with natural fcenery ; whether the pleafure, gratifica- 
 tion, or fatisfaftion arifes from the beautiful, the pic- 
 tured, or the fublime ; and, of courfe, to what would 
 plea(eyW> an eye in a picture, if painted with fuccefs. 
 To convey a definition of this word, as it is applied to 
 groups and fingle trees, to men whofe eyes have been 
 vitiated by paintings, we fay it is defcriptive of tliofe 
 of elegant firudture, and graceful outline ; fuch as 
 Claude feems ever to have chofen for his pencil : not 
 the flaring flumps of Salvator Rofa, nor the foul-bot- 
 tomed forefl; clumps fo much bepraifed by our EfTayift. 
 To fpeak of fingle trees, it applies to fuch as might be 
 called Nature's favorites ; fuch as have rifen, or are cal- 
 culated to rife, to forms of magnificence, and to 
 endure for centuries : not the feeble ragged race, whofe 
 ricketty limbs are liable to be torn off by every blait ; 
 
 yet 
 
$74 REVrEW Of THE ESSAV. 
 
 give a {till higher degree of fuch effecT CO 
 thofe which he left -, or unlefs it hid, from 
 the principal point of view, greater excellency 
 in the offscape. 
 
 What the Eflayift advances reflecting the 
 clumping of avenues, is in part juft j but not 
 altogether fo : there are fituations in which 
 avenues may be broken with good effecT:. 
 As for inftance, fuppofe an avenue of limes, 
 fbmewhat lei's than a century old, mould run 
 acrofs the view from the principal points, with 
 a lovely fwell behind it ; and, in front, a gen- 
 tle dope of the lame rich pafture ground ; 
 with a well balanced venerable oak on the 
 fwell behind, hid (as well as molt of the 
 flope) by the avenue, and with a magnificent 
 beech on the foreground, whofe upper part 
 was cut off, in the effect of vifion, by the 
 avenue : cannot even a novice in the Rural 
 art readily comprehend, that by breaking the 
 
 avenue, 
 
 yet fuch as we generally fee expofed on canvas ! Claude, 
 it might fcem, ftudied nature, before his eye had an 
 opportunity of being vitiated by itudying unnatural 
 paintings. Picturablk, therefore, does not refer to 
 what has been rtprefented, but to what is capable of being 
 rtprefented, with good eiFed, in a riCTURB. 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. fj C 
 
 avenue, fo as to let In the oak and the beauti- 
 tiful ground behind, and again, to give full 
 freedom to the beech, ib as to Ihow its varied 
 outline upon one entire fweep of green fward, 
 the general view would be thereby improved ; 
 provided the outlines of the remaining maffes 
 and groups of the avenue happily harmoni fed 
 with thofe of the beech and oak ? Thefe 
 are not the fuggeflions of fancy *. 
 
 Having however faid this, it will be ricmt 
 to add, left it might lead unexperienced artifts 
 to imitate unfuccefsfully, that the operation 
 requires the clofeft attention, and the moft 
 mature ftudy of the given fubject. It cannot 
 be performed, with any degree of certainty 
 offuccefs, except in the Spring, when the 
 trees of the avenue are foliating, or in the 
 Autumn, when the leaves are changing. But 
 the former is much the mod eligible feafon ; 
 as the ftructure, as well as. the outline, of each 
 *ree is then more diftinctly feen. During 
 
 ->e days, according to the feafon, no two 
 though of the fame fpecies, wear ex- 
 actly, 
 
 * Thisinfta. 
 a Seat of LoRDl ccurred ' in P ra ^ ce > atBucKUND, 
 -t-hfield, in Dcvonihire. 
 
176 REVIEW OF THE ESSAV*. 
 
 actly, perhaps, the fame colour ; while one 
 retains the brown of winter, another is form- 
 ing its buds, a third is in fuller bud, a fourth 
 burfting, a fifth in tender pallid leaf, a fixth 
 of a deeper green, &c. &C. fo that, during 
 this juncture of time, it feldom or ever hap- 
 pens that the branches of two adjoining trees 
 cannot lpe uifcinctly obferved, let them be mixt 
 how intimately foever with each other : and 
 of courfe, the effect of the one may be fore- 
 feen before the other is removed. It need 
 not be added, that if fuitable outlines cannot 
 be had, the avenue ought to ftand entire, or 
 be wholly removed. 
 
 Upon the whole of this Chapter, it may be 
 laid, that, being an attempt to apply the prin- 
 ciples hazarded in the former Part, it difcovers 
 a greater want of practical information, than 
 any which has gone before : and that it makes 
 but little, either for the Author's own fyftem* 
 or for that of Mr. Brown > unlefs, indeed, in fa 
 far as it has mown the danger of ftudyir 
 Landfcope painting, by thofe who me?' 
 
 excel in the cmbellifhment of natural f 
 
 . . , . _ , . t ^4 away 
 and except that it has lumcientiy/ , 
 
 . . vnoiit been 
 
 the falfe charge* — which has thr , , 
 
 to brought- 
 
REVIEW OF T1H£ ESSAY. 177 
 
 brought again ft modern gardening, — of re- 
 ducing the foreground, invariably, to a fheet 
 of naked lawn. 
 
 CHAP. II, 
 
 THE prefent Chapter being a conti- 
 nuation of the paft, and being, or prefuming 
 to be, didatfk, the fame train of errors and 
 mifconceptions is common to both. The 
 reading of the forty pages, of which the 
 Second Section confifts, has, we fee, produced 
 fix-and-thircy marginal remarks ; moft of them 
 noting inaccurate, trite, or frivolous pafta- 
 ges. A reader, pofTefling but an ordinary 
 knowledge of the fubjec"t of Rural ornament* 
 muft, in going through thefe two Sections^ 
 experience the fame fort of aukward feelings, 
 which a painter necefTarily would, in hearing 
 a gardener, or one of his men, expatiating on 
 pictures, and attempting to lay down the law 
 of Landfcape painting. 
 
 N No 
 
lyZ REVIEW OF THE ESSAf. 
 
 No inconfiderable part of the Chapter is 
 taken up in execrating the Scotch fir j a 
 tree which no one now thinks of planting; 
 unlefs as a nurfe to more valuable trees, or 
 unlefs in high expofed fites j and even there 
 the larch may be faid to have already fuper- 
 feded it. Half a century ago, before Brown, 
 and other admirers of modern Englifh gar- 
 dening, introduced plantations of deciduous 
 trees, the fir almoft alone was propagated ; 
 and we may venture to predict that, half a 
 century hereafter, there will fcarcely be a 
 grove, or even a clump of Scotch firs left 
 ftanding, in England j except in the fituations 
 above mentioned. Many of the early planta- 
 tions have already experienced the prowefs 
 of the woodman, and many, at this time, are 
 ready for his axe ; are ripe as a crop, and 
 ought to be harvefted. In well foiled fitua- 
 tions, the fir, unmixed with other trees, is 
 odious ; it has acquired, through an aflbcia- 
 tion of ideas, a power of giving a bleak and 
 barren appearance to the richeft and moft 
 genial fites, and never appears with good 
 effect, except in elevated fituations j nor 
 there without a heathy ground. Climbing up 
 
 the 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. I79 
 
 the fides of its native mountains, it is the caufe 
 cf great cheerfulnefs ; or rather, fhall we fay, 
 has a happy effeft in lefTeniaiflj the drearinefs of 
 extenfive heathy waftes ; efpecnlly in winter, 
 and early fpring, before the few deciduous trees, 
 found in fueh fituations., put forth their 
 foliage. 
 
 The ErTayift's observations on singlb 
 trees are applicable to painting, only. On 
 canvas, an elliptical tree, as an oval clump, 
 refufes to aflimilate in compofition, and 
 forms, by its regular outline, a ftiff formal 
 blot in the picture: but not fo in natural 
 fcenery -, where it makes at leaft a beautiful 
 variety among trees of ftronger feature: 
 this pofition even a painter will not deny ; and 
 is farther evidence that real and painted ob- 
 jects have different effects, in human vifion. 
 In a picture, the tree alone, perhaps, is the 
 moft diftinguifhed object; "or, perhaps, a fin- 
 gle bough, fpreading its ragged branches half 
 way acrofs the piece, is employed, merely 
 on the principle of variety and intricacy : 
 whereas, in natural views, the fingle tree is only 
 one among a thoufand objects j among which 
 k is ever in apparent motion, and with which. 
 N 2 it 
 
180 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 it is continually Forming frefh compofitions : 
 this gives it a fort of animated freedom, with 
 a degree of lightnefs and elegance, which it 
 never can be made to have in a painting. No 
 art of the painter, we believe, can give the 
 tfculus, the moft beautiful of foreft trees, 
 that fpirit and relief which it has in nature. 
 • The EfTayift's remarks on the species of 
 trees have a fhow of propriety and juft- 
 nefs; but want qualifying ; as the remarks of 
 theorifts generally do. In the offscape, the 
 natural woods of the country ought ordinarily 
 to be cultivated ; not more for ornament than 
 for ufe ; as they are generally the moft profit- 
 able. But, in the immediate environs of a 
 houfe, and even at fome diftance, a variety 
 is more eligible •> as affording amufement to 
 thofe who, being not altogether vitiated by 
 the works of art, are ftill capable of contem- 
 plating, with pkafure, the varied operations of 
 nature ; as well as affording variety to the 
 face of the country. And, here, ftranger9 
 and exotics of every characler, form, colour, 
 and habit, may, without impropriety, be ad- 
 mitted. 
 
 With 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY, i8* 
 
 "With refpecT to Combination, it has zU 
 reaidy been mentioned that, in the offscape, 
 the? maffes mould be large and of uniform 
 colours ; and that, fpeaking with latitude, they 
 ought to decreafe in fize, as the angle on the 
 retiina increafes : until, near at hand, where 
 each individual becomes a diftinct objecl: of 
 k vifiion, the arrangement ought to be wild and 
 varrious, as the fortuitous circumftances of 
 plainting, if not counteracted by a ftudied re- 
 gullarity of plan, will ever render it. 
 
 Hn the offscape, the extents of wood mould 
 not only be large, but mould be feparated by 
 extcenfive fweeps of ground: and what the 
 EnTayift mentions about filling up the inter- 
 fpaices of woods, provided thefc are already 
 fuffficiently large for their- fituation, is perfectly 
 jufb. But what he fays of matching colours, 
 in this cafe, would have come much better 
 froim a taylor than a Landfcapift j for, to pur- 
 fue the low-bred idea, it may be faid, that, 
 although men do not patch their coats with 
 ftramge colours, their drefs at large is gene- 
 rally particoloured } even the coat itfelf is 
 not unfrequently ornamented with colours dif- 
 &a& and oppofite to its own* -This by. way 
 N3 of 
 
l82 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 of ihowing the puerility of fome of our Au- 
 thor's remarks ; which ought not to prevent 
 4iny man, who has naked mountain furface 
 within his view, and who is willing to facrifice 
 fome fhare of profit to pleafure, from form- 
 ing a particoloured ofFscape : there, covering 
 an extent of furface with evergreen pines, and, 
 at fuitable diftances, fimilar extents with the 
 golden-vetted larch ; which, contracted with 
 the winter brown of deciduous woods, never 
 fail of affording a fimilar kind of piclurable 
 effect, during the dreary reign of winter, to 
 that which the eye is fo much delighted witn, 
 during the change of foliage in autumn j the 
 particoloured feafon, fo ufeful to the painter, 
 and fo delightful to thofe who are able to re- 
 ceive delight from nature's fcenery. 
 
 For what purpofe could fuch a paffage as 
 the following be publifhed, unlefs to gratify 
 the fame fpirit which appears to have guided 
 the whole publication? Its gratification, here, 
 may feem to arife from comparing the plan- 
 ter to an old woman. The pafTage could 
 not be intended to mow that planting and 
 painting are diftinct profefTions. " It is 
 « melancholy to compare the flow progrefs 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY? 183 
 
 ** of beauty with the upftart growth of defor- 
 * f mittyj trees and woods planted in the 
 f{ nobleft ftyle will not for years ftrongly at- 
 Cf traict the painter's notice, though, luckily 
 f( for their prefervation, the planter is like a 
 <{ forud mother, who feels the greateft tender- 
 cc nefs for her children at the time they are 
 c< leatfl interefting to others."— P. 218. 
 
 Hats the writer of this erudite parTage dif- 
 covered any. other way of raifing trees, than 
 by flo w progreflion ; or without fuffering them 
 to remain long as a deformity, before they 
 can appear as an ornament ? Yes, he or any 
 one elfe might well reply, this is readily to 
 be done, by painting them on canvas ; and 
 in this way we find many of his " melan- 
 "cholly" remarks defeating his own general 
 argument. 
 
 What he fays of clumps, or as he pleafantly 
 enough calls them, "pitch-marks to diftinguifh 
 " property," put upon every fummit, is only 
 repeating what he has faid again and again, 
 and what has been already admitted as jufl ; 
 but his fore difpleafure, here, feems to carry 
 hirn^ beyond all reafon; for with clumps he 
 confounds for feems to confound, for the 
 N 4 whole. 
 
f&4 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 whole Chapter is confufion) woody mafies or 
 whatever figure or extent ; confidering every 
 recent plantation a deformity, and every young 
 wood a lump-: and it is evident, from his re- 
 marks in this and other Chapters, that a prin- 
 cipal part of his antipathy to modern im- 
 provements arifes from young plantations. 
 But how childifh ! Is he ignorant of the cir- 
 cumftance, that many of the fineft woods, we 
 now have in England, were once young plan- 
 tations * ? and that thofe which now difgufb 
 him, fo unaccountably, wrll hereafter become 
 the admiration of Connoififeurs ; that they 
 will, in the nature of trees and vegetation, 
 lofe their lumpifhnefs, and acquire feature, 
 character, and expreffion ? Is the entire 
 country to be left in times hereafter to come, 
 and the environs of houfes to remain for ever 
 naked and deftitute of wood, becaufe young 
 woods are not fo picturefk, and fit for the 
 pencil, as old ones ? Who but a man totally 
 ignorant of all fcenery, except that cf a pic- 
 ture gallery, or the wild coppices of the 
 
 Welch 
 
 * See Rural Economy of the Midland Counties, 
 Vol. II. p. 374. 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY, rS^ 
 
 Welch mountains, coulcf have imagined that 
 woods w/ere, in nature, raifed with the fame 
 facility that they are on canvas ? 
 
 Tiredl as we are with the childifinefs of this 
 Chapter,, we muft not leave it, without men- 
 tioning the Author's practical ideas on im- 
 provements, by planting. For, notwithstanding 
 what he has thrown out, about the deformity 
 and lumpifhnefs of young plantations, he gives 
 us directions, not only for planting woods, but 
 for training them, and even Jhaping them, ib as 
 to produice picturefk effect. Not woods of 
 the eftablifhed trees of the country, but of the 
 execrated fir ! ! * 
 
 We a.re alio told how to form a fkreen, 
 with Sco.tch firs ; by planting thorns, hollies, 
 and other low-growing trees,— alias fhrubs-^ 
 in front of them. What is this but forming 
 a fhrubery clump or quarter, a border or a 
 belt ! What gardener's man does not know 
 
 that, 
 
 * In the Treatife on Planting and Gardening, we re- 
 commend the box, as an eligible underwood to the oak ; 
 which, in ivoods, we recommend to be raifed at twenty 
 or thirty feet diltance. The Eflayitt, in like manner, 
 recommends evergreen underwood, with Scotch fits, 
 rifing at funilar diftancw. 
 
lS6 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 that, in forming cither of thefe, efpecially the 
 former, the talleft trees are planted behind, 
 or towards the center $ trees of lower growth 
 in front of them ; defcending ftill lower and 
 lower with fhrubs of different heights, down 
 to the edging of dwarf box ? Where a Jkreen 
 is prefently wanted, quick growing evergreens 
 (not hollies, except towards the front) are al- 
 ways, or ever ought to be, planted in a fimilar 
 way. Even where a fkreen is not wanted, it 
 has not been unufual to plant what have long 
 ago acquired the name of iC evergreen quar~ 
 c< ters *" in contradistinction to " deciduous 
 " quarters" and thofe of a mixture of the 
 two i conformably to Nature's practice,-—" \n 
 <( forefts and woody commons, where we 
 *« fometimes come from a part where hollies 
 <c had chiefly prevailed, to another where junU 
 *' pers or yews are the principal evergreens ; 
 t{ and where perhaps there is the fame fort of 
 ** change in the deciduous trees and under- 
 « wood : this ftrikes us with a new impref- 
 «< fion ; but mix them equally together in all 
 «' parts, and diverfity becomes a fource of 
 
 ** monotony,' 11 
 
 * {jcpHanbury's Body of Planting. 
 
K.EVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 187 
 
 « monotomy." (Page 236.) To prevent 
 this, as we:ll as to copy natural fcenery, the 
 evergreen, deciduous, and mixed quarters 
 were, no (doubt, adopted. What pity our 
 young Author did not know thefe things, be- 
 fore he fat down to write this puerile Chap- 
 ter * : throughout which, we may fay, with 
 little latitude, that he is either buffeting the 
 winds, fighting a feather, or recommending 
 as his own, what Mr. Brown long ago prac- 
 tifed, on the now eftabliihed principles of 
 Englifh gardening. 
 
 The Chapter clofes with fome remarks on 
 L awning, equally interefting and inftructivc 
 as thole on planting : condemning, by the 
 lump, what has been done j yet admitting, 
 in his definkory remarks, that to be right, 
 which he lhas condemned as being wrong. 
 Indeed, the whole Chapter, if not the whole 
 book, may be faid to be a farrago of frag- 
 ments 
 
 * We know not the years he has numbered j but this 
 Chapter, at le^Jl, may -well be fuppofed to have been 
 written between fchool and college. He may truly fay 
 with Mifs in her Teens, " I want — I know not what \ 
 << want," 
 
IS* life VIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 ments — a collection of fcraps— written at 
 different times, and hurried together without 
 revifion or arrangement. This at once ac- 
 counts for the difficulty of appreciation and die 
 Jownefs of price. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 AT length (thank Heaven, fhall we fay ?) 
 ■we reach the laft Chapter. It treats of wa- 
 ters ; and commences with the abufe of poor 
 Brown : — " In forming artificial ones Mr. 
 " Brown groffly miftook his talent j for among 
 *« all his tame productions, his pieces of made 
 «« water are perhaps the moll fo/' Having, 
 however, got eafe, by this and other more 
 copious difcharges, the Author regains his, 
 wonted complacency, and, in fpite of himfclf 
 and his fyftem, fays handfome things of the 
 prefent ityle of modern gardening. 
 
 Speaking of Blenheim, whofe waters he 
 finds difficult to fathom, he fays, " the bank 
 k near the houfe, oppofitc to the wooded one, 
 
 « and, 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 189 
 
 * and which forms part of the pleafure ground, 
 c< is extremely well done ; for that required 
 ■* a high degree of polifh, and there the gar- 
 t{ dener was at home. Without meaning 
 ** to detract from his real merit in that part 
 ** (but at thie fame time to reduce it to what 
 c< appears to me its juft value) I mutt obferve, 
 ** that two things have contributed to give it a 
 <c rich effect at a diftance, as well as a varied 
 " and dreffed look within itfelf ; in both re- 
 *< fpecls a very different one from his other 
 rc plantations. In the firft place, there were 
 iC feveral old trees there before he began his 
 ct works -, and their high and fpreading tops 
 
 * would unavoidably prevent that dead flat- 
 tc nefs of outline, cet air ecrase, which his own 
 cc clofe lumpy plantations of trees always ex- 
 u hibit. In the next place, the fituation of 
 * f this ipot called for a large proportion of 
 " fhrubs,withexotick trees of various heights: 
 " thefe Ihrubs and plants of lower growth, 
 " though chiefly put in clumps, the edgy 
 " borders of which have a degree of formality, 
 " yet being fubordinate, and not interfering 
 ff with the higher growths, or with the origi- 
 *' c nal trees, have, from the oppofite bank, the 
 
ijjo 
 
 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 
 " appearance of a rich underwood ; and the 
 " beauty, and comparative variety of that 
 " garden fcene, from all points, are ftrongly 
 " in favour of the method of planting I de- 
 ** fcribed in a former part." Page 261. 
 
 Hence we have it from the high authority of 
 a ConnoifTeur in Landfcape painting, that 
 there are fcenes and fituations, in which " a 
 " high degree of polifh is required ;" — that a 
 polilhed fhrubery may have " a rich effect at a 
 " diftance, as well as a varied and drejjed look 
 " within itfelf i" that Mr. Brown left old trees, 
 when he found them ftanding, even in a 
 fhrubery j that a fite may be llich as to call 
 for " a large proportion of fhrubs, with 
 " exotick trees of various heights," and that 
 fuch have " the appearance of rich under- 
 " wood" ; and, laftly, that the Author of the 
 Effuy on the PicJurefk prides himfelf on hav- 
 ing defcribed as mod excellent — claims a de- 
 gree of merit for having now recommended — 
 what Mr. Brown executed, almoft half a cm- 
 tury ago ! ! ! 
 
 The very goodnatured gentleman having 
 thought fit to make thefe handfome ac- 
 knowledgements, we will not be behindhand 
 
 in 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. I9J 
 
 in complaiifance, and we acknowledge, in our 
 turn, (whait indeed has been already granted) 
 that Mr. Brown, not being more than man, 
 did not reach perfection. For, where natural 
 wood did not happen to be prefent, upon the 
 margin of his artificial river or lake he neg- 
 lected to plant, for the fake of giving fea- 
 ture and expreflion to the water ; although 
 he frequently, perhaps, planted the margins of 
 fuch parts of waters as reached within the 
 fhrubery; as at Blenheim, and the river Bend 
 at Fifherwick. That Mr. Brown did not 
 clear away the natural wood which happened 
 to (land on the margin of his waters when 
 full, as Jeerns to be reprefented, is evident 
 from the Author's own words. "If" (at Blen- 
 heim) " the re is an improvement more obvious 
 " than all others, it is that of damming up a 
 " ftream which flows on an eafy level through 
 " a valley, and it required no effort of genius 
 « c to place the head in the narrowed and moil 
 " concealed part j this is all that Mr. Brown 
 " has done. He has, indeed, the negative 
 " merit (and that no fmall one, and to which 
 " he is not always entided) of having left the 
 
 " oppofite 
 
ICJZ REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 " oppofite bank of wood in its natural ftate V* 
 Page 259. 
 
 Being thus brought into perfect cordiality 
 with our Author, we will examine with 
 alacrity, the remaining ideas which he has 
 /ported in this Chapter. The effect produced 
 " by various tints of the foil where the ground 
 <c is broken ; by roots and old trunks of trees, 
 <c tuffpeks of mines, large flones that are 
 te partly whitened by the air and partly cover- 
 " ed with moffes, lichens, and weather- 
 Cf ftains \* (Page 247.) — would be in cha^ 
 1 rafter on the lavage margin of a mountain 
 dream ; but " trunks of trees and tufibeks of 
 cc rufhes" are as incompatible with a piece 
 of made water entering within poliflied icenery, 
 as cart- ruts, hollow ways, and bramble bulhes. 
 
 Here 
 
 * It is impoffible not to admire the candour and libe- 
 rality of this paffage ; efpecially when we are told what 
 a friend of the Writer of it declared when they " were 
 •* talking upon the fpot, of the great water, and of Mr. 
 " Brown's merit in conceiving it, for he was quite cer- 
 " tain there was not a houfe-rnaid in Blenheim to 
 " whom it would not immediately have occurred." 
 (N6te, p. 259.) Nothing is fo obvious as that before 
 oar eyes. 
 
 m 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAV. IQJ 
 
 Here, every thing ought to be in unifon'j every 
 part be dreffed in character. 
 
 It has not perhaps occurred to the EfTayift, 
 that it is the banks of flow-moving vale 
 Rivers which, alone, can be imitated, iiic- 
 cefsfully, in drafted fcenery : — the rapids of a 
 mountain river require a mountain torrent to 
 give them effett : it is only the pools of 
 rapid dreams, or the bends of leifure rivers* 
 that can be imitated with the fcanty fupply of 
 a rivulet or rill ■, and how improper it would 
 be, to attempt to decorate the peaceful banks 
 of a graceful river, winding flowly through 
 an extenfive fuite of rich meadows, with 
 the raggednefs and rubbiih of a mountain 
 ftream. 
 
 The banks of vale rivers, in general, are 
 naked, or nearly fo 3 a. few fcattered clumps 
 of alders, or oziers, perhaps occur : for, in 
 the nature of running water, the channels of 
 fuch rivers are ever changing ; ar leaft, until 
 fome rifmg ground is reached : then, one fide 
 is frequently hung with wood -, but feldom, 
 if ever, both ; much more commonly, both 
 fides are open, and in a manner naked. 
 
 O Now 
 
1^4 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 Now as to the marginal banks ofthefe 
 rivers. They are either fteep and earthy, 
 mouldering away with every flood ; mooting ' 
 down in fmall fragments ; or, being under- 
 mined, make one general fhoot, and form a 
 Hoping bank. Will any man be filly enough 
 to fay, that the ragged mouldering bank is 
 more pleafing to the eye, than the green one 
 jfloping down towards the water ! It is but 
 juftice to the fuperior genius of Brown, to 
 fuppofe, that he caught his idea of doping the 
 banks of made waters from thefe incidents, in 
 the practice of nature ; and if he had as hap- 
 pily copied the tufts of woodinefs, he had 
 done every thing his art was capable of per- 
 ' forming. But had he done this, in parks, or 
 pafture-grounds, open to (lock, a fence muft 
 have been raifed, perhaps even on the water- 
 fide 5 and how offenfive would the naked 
 trunchions and paling have been, to men 
 of picturefknefs ? It was probably to avoid 
 their impertinences he left this part of his work 
 unperformed. 
 
 In continuing the flope down to the fur- 
 face of the water, Mr. B. was perfectly right; 
 for the banks of made water, like the furface 
 
 of 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. IQ$ 
 
 of made grounds, ought ever to acquire the 
 rrequifite degree of picturelknefs (where any 
 diegree of it is required,) through the means of 
 bieauty; not, as has already been ihown, 
 through thofe of deformity: and befide the filthy 
 appearance of fteep earth banks, formed by 
 airt, for the purpofe of mooting down to form 
 il<opes as in nature, they would be dangerous 
 to pafturing ftock -, and not only prevent 
 the water from being feen I but hinder cattle, 
 fheep, and deer, from grazing to the water's 
 edge, and thereby prevent the delightful ef- 
 fetcls of their animated reflections 1 The 
 agitation, even of ftationary water, when of fuf- 
 fi*cient breadth, will generally wear away, in 
 a fhort time, the foot of the flope, and give 
 it all the pi&urefknefs, which water, mix- 
 ing with embellifhed fcenery, ought to pof- 
 fe:fs *.. 
 
 O 2 But 
 
 * If however, under the deliberate guidance of negleft 
 and flovenlinefs, the growth of pi&urefknefs Ihould be 
 Fomnd too flow, or inadequate to anfwer the emergency of 
 anypreffing occafion, art might be employed in bringing 
 out a more extemporary efFefl j by what might be 
 termed the art of pi&urefkjng. Thus, fhould a 
 
 high- 
 
I5/6 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 But we are fuffering our complaifaincc to 
 lead us within the pale of inconfiftency ; by 
 falling in with our Author's ridiculous idea, 
 that the banks of all made waters are formed 
 with fpades and wheelbarrows ! Let us liften 
 awhile to his ingenious remarks on this topic, 
 and examine, with the eyes -of virtuofi, — 
 Ignorance " ft ark-naked." 
 
 " In Mr. Brown's naked canals nothing 
 " detains the eye a moment, and the two bare 
 " fliarp extremities appear to cut into each 
 " other. If a near approach to mathematical 
 " exactnefs was a merit inftead of defect, the 
 " fweeps of Mr. Brown's water would be ad- 
 
 " mirable; 
 
 high-dried Connoiffeur be expe&ed, and men of depraved 
 appetites, no matter in what fenfe their depravity may 
 lie, fhonld ever give due notice of their approach, — let 
 the banks be torn with fpade and nmttock, and ftrcw- 
 ed with ftraw in liney ftreaks, as if left by the re- 
 cent flood ; fcatter with green thorns and brambles, 
 the margins of the water ; throw dead dogs and kittens 
 in the parts moll conspicuous from the windows ; and 
 ltock with enfeebled affes, and worn-down cart-horfes, 
 the furrounding banks. Is the Connoiffeur gone ? 
 Clear away the rubbifh, turf up the banks, and thus 
 make the place fit to be feen, again, by men of common 
 fenfe and natural appetites. 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 1 97 
 
 " mirable ; for they feem not to have been 
 " formed by degrees with fpades, but fcooped 
 « out at once by an immenfe iron crefcent, 
 <f which, after cutting out the indented part 
 " on one fide, was applied to the oppofite fide, 
 " and then reverfed to make the fweeps; 
 " fo that in each fweep, the indented and pro- 
 " je£ting parts, if they could be moved to- 
 " gether, would fit like the pieces of a difiected 
 " map. J 
 
 " Where thefe pieces of water are made, 
 " if there happen to be any fudden breaks 
 " or inequalities in the ground j any thickets 
 " or bufhes ; any thing, in fhort, that might 
 "cover the rawnefs and formality of new 
 " work; inftead of taking advantage offuch 
 " accidents, all muft be made level and bare ; 
 " and by a flrange perverfion of terms, the 
 " (tripping nature ftark-naked is called dref- 
 " fing her *. 
 
 " A piece of ftill water, with fuch a thin 
 
 " grafiy edge, looks like a temporary over- 
 
 (t flowing j to give to the whole a character 
 
 if of age, of permanency, and capacity, it re- 
 
 O 3 " quires 
 
 r * Ariftaenetus, we are told, faid of his miftrefs— #' 
 f Clothed, (he is beautiful i naked, beauty itfelf," 
 
Iq8 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 " quires fome height, and fome degree of ab~. 
 " ruptnefs in part of the banks — fome appear- 
 (C ance of their having been gradually worn 
 "^and undermined by the action of the water* 
 "As the banks are generally formed, a 
 " ftranger might often iuppofe that when dry> 
 " weather came the flood would go off, and 
 cc the meadow be reftored to its natural ftate."- 
 (Page 251.)— Again — cc and if you have a 
 " real river, and will let them improve it, 
 " you will be furprized to find how foon they 
 " will make it like an artificial one -, fo much 
 " fo, that the moft critical eye could fcarcely 
 <c difcover that it had not been planned by 
 " Mr. Brown, and formed by the fpade and 
 " the wheelbarrow." Page 254. 
 
 Now we can fay of made waters, as of im- 
 proved places, that we never faw two alike 9 
 unlefs it were flfh-ftews, or the ferpentifing 
 puddles, in the purlieus of the Metropolis. 
 Indeed, how is it poflfible we mould, when we 
 reflect on the way in which waters are ufualjy 
 made ? All the large waters of all the ex- 
 ten/he places we have feen, — and we wifh to 
 have it fully underftood, that it is of fuch 
 water?, and fuch places, only we deign to 
 ipeak, and not of- the little " crincum 
 
 <f cran- 
 
 
REVfEW OF THE ESSAY, I 99 
 
 " crancum" places, in which, as we have 
 before intimated, our Author is " eternally" 
 trifling,— have been formed by running a 
 dam acrofs a valley, or on the lower fide 
 of a natural bafon, as was done at Blen- 
 heim. 
 
 A rivukt or brook having previously paf- 
 fed down the valley, or through the bafon, 
 the cavity, formed by the mound, is filled 
 with water. If the valley be narrow and fer- 
 pentining, the collection of water thus pro- 
 duced is called a river j if a broad irregular 
 baibn, a lake -, a name which ought, in either 
 cafe to be afllgned to fuch waters, For they 
 are, on a fmall fcale, precifcly what the lakes 
 of Scotland are, on a larger : namely, vallies 
 or hollows filled with water ; having com- 
 paratively fmall {beams to fill them, with nar- 
 row outlets to the furcharging waters. Ex- 
 cepting Loch Lomond, the large lakes of 
 Scotland are, literally, vallies filled with water i 
 winding with parallel banks, juft as we fee 
 many of the artificial lakes in England. 
 Of this defcription is Loch Ness, which is 
 twenty-four miles in length, and feldom more 
 t^an a mile in width ; Loch Tay, fifteen 
 miles long, and barely a mile wide in any 
 O 4 part i 
 
200 REVIEW 0E THE BfcSAV. 
 
 part ; LochRannoch, Loch Earn, &c. &c, 
 have proportionate dimenfions. 
 
 It would be needlefs to fay, that when the 
 mound is raifed, and the water prevented 
 from efcaping by its ufual channel, the fur- 
 face of it riles to a level with the new outlet j 
 and its outline becomes whatever nature 
 pleafes ! whether it happens to take the like-* 
 nefs of a Jerpent, an immenje iron crejeent /— 
 or a fool's cap. 
 
 The&zr^^infinuation about the "thicks 
 ets and bufhes" which happen to ftand on the 
 newly created margins of artificial waters, is 
 not worth bellowing cenfure upon : the Ef- 
 fayift's own account of the water of Blenheim 
 gives a flat negative to the aflertion. The 
 mound, or what is improperly called the head, 
 and the ground immediately below it, is 
 generally planted, to afiift in fuftaining the 
 bank, and to apply to a ufeful purpofe, ground 
 which is unfit for any other. And every ar- 
 tift, acquainted with the firft rudiments of his 
 art, endeavours to hide the oppofite extre- 
 mity ; by way of giving it the greater re- 
 femblance of a natural river ; one of the few 
 allowable deceptions the Rural art will admit 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY, 2&I 
 
 ef : the margins, too, when they happen to lie 
 within die pale of kept grounds, have been 
 planted, as at Filherwick *. 
 
 The remarks, in the latter part of the quo- 
 tation, refpecting natural rivers, cannot be 
 evaded, as the former might, by claiming the 
 divine right of ignorance : they mult be the 
 dictates of ambition, or fome lefs amiable 
 pafiion, No mind, capable of dictating fuch 
 remarks, can be fo completely ignorant, as 
 not to know, that it is next to impffible to pre- 
 ferve the banks of natural rivers in foft turf 
 down to the furface of low water ; and of 
 courfe fuch rivers cannot be made to refemble 
 the artificial ones he had defcribed. The 
 rlrft Mood, perhaps, would carry it away, to 
 a height proportioned to its own; in many 
 cafes, eight, ten, or more feet high. 
 
 If 
 
 * What is afterwards faid, about deftroying trout 
 ftreams, is truly ridiculous, when we confider the 'variety 
 {.of view, as well as of fifh and of fifhing,) which arifes 
 from made waters ! and this, generally, without deftroy- 
 ing any material length of ftream. The ftrange com* 
 parifon between made waters and bleach-fields mull 
 make any one laugh, who has really feen a bleaching 
 ground. 
 
SC2 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 If natural rivers mix with polifhcd fcencry,, 
 or rather we fliould fay, if the banks of na- 
 tural rivers be embellifhed, the water mould 
 be hid partially, and be partially left open to the 
 view from the grounds ; to give variety to the 
 general fcene.-— And, wherever the openings 
 are, there the upper angle of the bank fhould 
 be rounded off; to add fofmefs and beauty to 
 the grounds, and to difpiay the infaciate delights 
 of running water ! What is the advantage, in 
 point of ornament, of having water about a 
 place, if it cannot htjem ! 
 
 If brooks or fmaller rivers, which are fed 
 by near fprings, or are regulated by extenfive 
 lakes, mix with ornamented fcenery, feftoons 
 of lawn may drop, with gently fwelling fur- 
 faces, down to within a few feet of the water; 
 and can never fail, if a walk accompany the 
 lower margin of the lawn, to delight the eye ; 
 whether it reft on the dimpling eddies of the 
 pool, or on the more brilliant agitations of 
 the dream. Living water is the only object 
 in nature, perhaps, with which the eye is never 
 cloyed. 
 
 If the grounds on both fides of a natural, 
 viver be embellimed, breaks fliould be made 
 
 on, 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 20J 
 
 on both fides ; not more to (how the water, 
 than to difplay the beauties of each fide to 
 the other : the openings, with the intercepting 
 tufts, groups, clumps and continuous fkreens 
 of wood, being ever various, — as a thoufand 
 circumftances natural and fortuitous, which be- 
 long to every place;, will ever point out, if long 
 and duly fludied. 
 
 Whatever nature, or circumftances have 
 provided., as a fecurity of the foot of the bank, 
 whether it be (tones or bruin-wood, mould, 
 with reverential care, be left untouched. If, 
 as it too often happens, the foot of the bank 
 has no liable defence, guards fliould be pro- 
 vided; either by planting aquatics j or by 
 rough (tones, where fuch can be had in fuf- 
 ficient quantity, and where the tamenefs of 
 the river will admit of fo. (light a guard ; or 
 by mafonry, efpecially at the abrupt bends 
 of rapid high fwelling rivers j for without 
 fuch precautions, it were of little avail to 
 ornament the banks : of courfe, this is the 
 firft ftep toward the improvement of fuch 
 fites. 
 
 It too frequently happens, that the banks 
 of vale rivers have no (lability, are ever wear- 
 
 ing 
 
204- REVIEW OF THE ESSAV. 
 
 ing away, and the bed or channel of the river 
 (hirting ; and in fome cafes irremediably, un- 
 lefs at great expence ; and under thefe cir- 
 cumftances, the banks are frequently high, 
 hiding the water ; except in the time of 
 floods. In thefe cafes, ornament can feldom 
 approach the immediate banks, with good 
 effect ; a continued ikreen is the moft eligi- 
 ble ; except where a bend or diftant reach 
 qan be -caught ; and, there, an opening fhould 
 be made, or left j forming a wide border of 
 low fhrubs and flowers next the river ; to pre- 
 vent the eye from approaching too near it, to 
 be offended with the deformities of the imme- 
 diate banks, while it ought to be refting folely 
 on the more diftant view. 
 
 This digreffion, if fuch it fhould be deemed, 
 is not intended fo much to expofe the futility 
 of the Effay under Review, as to convey hints 
 to men of common fenfe, who have natural 
 rivers within their refpective domains - y and 
 to artifts, who may be entrufted with the orna- 
 menting of their banks. The remarks, which 
 are here offered, are not fanciful emanations 
 from the mind of a theorift, but convey ideas, 
 
 which 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 20^ 
 
 which hare been carried into practice j and 
 in a manreir, we truft, which fufficiently fhows 
 their propriety *. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 A CHAPTER, without name or num- 
 ber, follows what we have termed the laft 
 Chapter. The former part of this Poftfcript 
 or Conclufion appears to have been written 
 fince the reception of the Landfcape was 
 afcertained ; and fince it has been found ne- 
 cefTary to admit of a little decency, and com- 
 fort, immediately round the houfe. This 
 after-confideration, therefore, opens with an 
 ingenious diftinttion between the grounds and 
 the garden j the wary Author thus forming for 
 himfelf — a hole to creep out at. 
 
 We take no advantage of the modern ac- 
 ceptation of the word garden ; which cer- 
 tainly, 
 
 * AtTAYMOUTH, the magnificent refidence of the 
 Earw of Breadalbane, in Ferthfhire. 
 
106 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 iainly, now, has no other literal meaning than 
 that of kitchen-garden : the embellifhments 
 about a houfe, even in the mod polifhed 
 parts, are called Jhruberies, or are included in 
 the general term grounds ; which include the 
 whole of the ornamented environs. We ra- 
 ther chufe to flop up the Author's efcape- 
 place with his own book. Has not a princi- 
 pal part of it been employed in attempting 
 to raife a fneer at naked houfes, and fmooth 
 infipid lawns ? and who ever polifhed any 
 other part of grounds than a fhrubery, or* 
 to make ufe of the EfTayift's new-fangled old- 
 fafhioned name, the garden ? Nay, has not 
 the houfe itfelf been already invefted with 
 picturefknefs ? Neverthelefs, we are here 
 advertifed that " the embellifhments near the 
 " houfe, and thofe decorations which would 
 " beft accord with architecture, and with 
 " buildings of every kind, delerve a feparate 
 " Chapter; and fome future time I maypofiibly 
 " attempt it, mould this work be received 
 " favourably." — Page 268. 
 
 This cannot, as many parts of the book 
 may, be laid to the charge of overfight, or 
 mifconception 3 nor is it entitled to fo pro- 
 
 Jaic 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 20J 
 
 fate a phrafe as that of fimple mifreprefenta- 
 tion : in picturefk language, it might well be 
 reprefented as the fubterfuge of defpondency, 
 the dictates of forlorn hope. If this is really 
 not a true ftate of the cafe, why did the 
 Effayiji ftand fponfor for the Poem ? which 
 admits of no garden -, except " the high terrace 
 " or rich balluftrade." And we do not re- 
 collect a fingle paffage, in the body or text 
 of the EfTay, which contraditls that idea, until 
 we come to this Pcjifcript. 
 
 Feeling himfelf in this dilemma, the addrefs- 
 ful affailant tries, again, his fkill in ftratagem;— 
 affects contrition, foftens the tone of his lan- 
 guage, — fpeaks of gardening as the favoured 
 rival of painting, and wifhes nothing fo much 
 as to be inftrumental in reconciling them ;— 
 calls them fifters, and fhows great anxiety 
 on account of the unfortunate mifunderftand- 
 ing which fubfifts between them, and hu- 
 manely offers to bring about a union I for, 
 " the noblefl part a man can act — the part 
 " that molt conciliates the efteem and good- 
 " will of all mankind, is that of promoting 
 " union and harmony." — As well might he 
 attempt a union between truth and fallhood — 
 
 plain 
 
*0§ REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 plain dealing and deception ; or join in filter^ 
 hood a woman and her portrait. 
 
 He apprehends, with becoming con- 
 fcioufnefs and feeming regret, that he " may 
 " perhaps be thought fomewhat cauftic for a 
 " peace-maker ;" ha ! ha ! ha ! but " owns " 
 (fhall we put prot efts ?) that 
 ** His zeal flows warm and eager from his bofom." 
 
 Nevertheless, he tries to cool his cautery — » 
 and affe&s to fheathe the afperities, and 
 fmooth the pi&urefknefs, of his manner. He 
 difclaims all perfonal enmity towards Mr. 
 Brown ; gently blames, in filken founds, the 
 cxcefTive good-nature and over-weening pa- 
 triotifm of Mr. Walpole and Mr. Mafon ; 
 candidly confefTes that he has no practical 
 knowledge, himfelf, in the fubjedt he is fpeak- 
 ing of* j but that he has conceived an idea, 
 
 he 
 
 * " It may perhaps be thought prefumptuous in an 
 •• individual, who has never dillinguimed himfelf by 
 '* any work that might give authority to his opinion, fo 
 *' boldly to condemn what has been admired and prac- 
 ■* tifed by men of the moft liberal tafte and education ; 
 " but the force of fafliion and example are well known, 
 " and it requires no little energy of mind, and confi- 
 " dence in one's own principles, to think and act for 
 
 " one's 
 
Review of the essay. 209 
 
 he does not fay how nor where, that if the 
 
 prefent fyftem of improvement be fuffered to 
 
 P go 
 
 te one's felf, in opposition to general opinion and prac- 
 " tice." (Page 273.) What a flight foundation is this, 
 if it is any foundation at all, to build a fyftem upon ! Yet 
 when we hear what follows — " Some French Writer (I 
 " do not recollect who) ventures to exprefs a doubt, 
 " whether a tree waving in the wind with all its branches 
 •* free and untouched, may not poffibly be an obje& 
 *' more worthy of admiration than one cut into form in 
 " the gardens of Verfailles" — we perceive the fpe- 
 cioufnefs of the attempt. For if men could be brought, 
 merely by fortuitous circumftances, into fuch a ftate of 
 abfurdity, what might not be expected from a concerted 
 plan, confummate addrefs, and highly-finifhed lan- 
 guage ? And a century ago, while fafhion, opinion, 
 and falfe fyftem prevailed, the attempt might have fuc- 
 ceeded. But when once mankind have difcovered and 
 afcertaincd a truth, and feen its fitnefs to nature, and. 
 to other known truths, it is difficult to rererfe their de- 
 cifion. And, we truft, it would, now* be as eafy to 
 perfuade men of education and affluence to go with their 
 clothes in rags, or to mount ragged horfes, as to ftep out 
 of their houfes to the tops of their lhoes in mud, and 
 to their knees in weeds and brambles. 
 
 We rather truft they will continue to keep their hou- 
 fes, their grounds, and their horfes ; their walks, their 
 rides, and the roads in their neighbourhoods, clean, 
 
 com- 
 
210 REVIEW OF THE ESSAy." 
 
 go on, and become general, the face G-f 
 Europe will be disfigured I * 
 
 He 
 
 comfortable, and in character, with themfslves, their 
 families and connexions, as well as with each other ; dif- 
 funng through every part one and the fame principle ; 
 uniting the whole, in one harmonious composition 
 ok ornamented nature. 
 
 * Mr. Mason clofes the Firft Book of his delightful 
 
 Poem, the English Garden, with the following 
 
 lines, addrefied to Albion's fons, fludents in the Rurai 
 
 art : 
 
 — — with generous hand 
 
 Diffufe the bleffing wide, till Albion fmile 
 
 One ample theatre of fylvan grace. 
 
 How oppofite are thefe precepts to the appre- 
 henfions of the EfTayift ! " It feems to me that there 
 " is fomething of patriotifm in the praifes Mr. Wal- 
 " pole and Mr. Mafon have bellowed on Englilh gar- 
 " dening ; and that zeal for the honour of their coun- 
 " try has made them, in the general view of the fub- 
 " jeft, overlook defefts which they have themfelves- 
 " condemned. My love for my country is, I trufl, 
 " not lefs ardent than theirs, but it has taken a dif- 
 ,( ferent turn (/) and* I feel anxious to free it from the 
 " difgrace of propagating a fyftem, which, fhould it 
 " become univerfal, would disfigure the face of all 
 tl Europe." — Page 275. 
 
 • Now, to us, the hopes of the one, and the fears of the 
 other, appear equally vain. The moil that Rural orna- 
 ment 
 
 r-. 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAV. 211 
 
 He compares modern gardening to def- 
 potifm in thefe words : " There is, indeed, 
 " fomethihg defpodc in the general fyftem of 
 " improvement ; all mull be laid open — all 
 " that obftrudts> levelled to the ground— 
 " houfes, orchards, gardens, all fwept away. 
 " Painting, on the contrary, tends to humanize 
 " the mind j where a defpot thinks every 
 " perfon an intruder who enters his domain, 
 " and wifhes to deflroy cottages and path- 
 " ways, and to reign alone ; the lover of 
 " painting confiders the dwellings* the in- 
 " habitants, and the marks of their inter- 
 " courfe as ornaments to the landfcape."— 
 Page 278. 
 
 Though this is, in great part, mifreprefen- 
 
 tationj yet there is truth in it enough to 
 
 (how, that painting and improvement have 
 
 ftill another gulph between them which we 
 
 P 2 have 
 
 merit is ever likely to effect, on the general face of a 
 country, is that of breaking the monotony of fquare in- 
 clofures and ragged hedges, of ftraight lanes and rag- 
 ged hollow- ways, and (while they remain in this coun- 
 try) of ftriped common fields, and ragged common 
 paftures : there is no probability of its either making, 
 or marring, the general face of Natur*. 
 
$1 2 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY* 
 
 have not yet explored. The dcfign of 
 clearing away cottages, and turning off public 
 foot-paths from the immediate environs of a 
 great man's houfe, is not more to improve its 
 appearance, than to obtain the fecurity and 
 the domeftic comforts attached to a fuitable 
 degree of retirement. But painting has no 
 fuch principle to guide it. The good folks 
 whom the painter finds occafion to employ, 
 in the necclTary operations of meafuring 
 heights and diftances, or in giving variety and 
 intricacy to his ingenious deceptions, have i^o 
 few wants, and are fuch excellent moral cha- 
 racters, that they have no faculty of finding 
 things before they are loft, no wifti to rob 
 henroofts, nor to affift fervants to rob their 
 mailers. The painter's figures are all honefl 
 fellows*. 
 
 The 
 
 * Foot-paths, pa/Ting under the windows of a 
 houfe, or through its yards, or among its offices, are 
 intolerable nuifances. But feen at fome diftance, and 
 cut off from all intercourfe with the place, they afford 
 a peculiar and pleafing ftyle of animation to a fcene ; 
 and, to a leifure and contemplative mind, bec6me a 
 conitant fource of amufement and refle&ion. Sorry, 
 therefore, we are to fee, in the prevailing fafhion o# 
 
 the) 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY, 21 J 
 
 The EfTayift, however, purfues the idea of 
 the prefent ftyle of Rural ornament being 
 defpotic ; in part, perhaps, with a hope of 
 eftablifhing the falfe principle, and partly 
 with the pious intention of paying, publicly, 
 a tribute to the memory of a beloved uncle ; 
 who was no Ariftocrat ; but a well-difpofed 
 country fquire. 
 
 We are not informed how this benevolent 
 character fpent his time : it may reafonably, 
 however, be fuppofed, that he amufed him- 
 felf, in the day, with the pleafures of the 
 field ; and, in the evening, regaled himfelt 
 and his brother fportfman ; agreeably to the 
 tafte of former times ; recounting to his 
 neighbours the circumftances of the chafe, 
 and receiving, in return, the news of the vil- 
 lage. All this was meet, and the ftyle of or- 
 nament, which the refidence of fuch a worthy 
 character required, was that of the Hunting 
 Box ; where " a fuite of Paddocks mould be 
 « fcen from the houfe ; and, if a diftant view 
 ?$ "of 
 
 the time, what we confider as an evil fpirit of (hutting; 
 <o«t fuch paths entirely from the fight. Rather, in our 
 opinion, fhould they, as they fometimes may, be leci 
 ^clignedly acrofs the view from the windows, , 
 
1 14 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 « of covers can be caught, the back-ground 
 " will be complete. The ftable, the kennel, 
 " and the leaping-bar, are the factitious ac- 
 11 companiments:" — and accordingly we un- 
 derftand, this place had " dwellings, gardens, 
 " and inclofures," about it ; hence every 
 thing was in unifon and harmony. 
 
 Thefe, however, are not altogether the 
 recreations, nor this the flyle of improvement, 
 befitting men of fortune of the prefent day, 
 For although affability and condefcenfion 
 were never, perhaps, more fafhicnable> than 
 they have been of late j though charity and 
 benevolence towards village penury, in the 
 vicinages of great men's houfes, were never 
 higher than at prefent; and although the 
 more amiable part of female fafhion may vifit 
 their poor neighbours, — neither they nor their 
 hufbands ajfociate with them. Their houfes 
 are the refort of men and women of their own 
 refemblance j of perfons whofe manners and 
 acquirements are fimilar to their own; and 
 with whom they can communicate intelligibly, 
 and without reflraint. Neverthelefs, perhaps, 
 men of fortune have at no time communicated 
 more freely, than they do at prefent, with the 
 
 yeomanry 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. £ I $ 
 
 yeomanry and intelligent tenantry of their re- 
 fpective neighbourhoods, on rural informa- 
 tion and improvements -, the only fubject, by 
 the way, on which they can communicate 
 with profit and pleafure to both parties. But 
 this is perfectly well done, — without living in 
 the fame village with them. 
 
 Notwithftanding, however, we differ with 
 the ErTayift in opinion, about (hutting out the 
 village, and the public foot-path, from the 
 immediate environs of a refidence, we give 
 him great credit for the concern he has (hown, 
 in behalf of a moft valuable part of the com- 
 munity j and we pay him this due tribute of 
 praife the more promptly, as it is the only 
 amiable trait of his character which he has 
 fuffered to eicape him. Efcape him, did we 
 fay ! We were momentarily led within the 
 mare which he has addrefsfully laid for his 
 readers : ajl the feeming contrition, the prof- 
 fered reconciliation, and the moving ftory — 
 were ftratagems of war, mere generalihip ; to 
 amufe the unwary garrjfon ; in order to draw 
 forth, with better effect, his referved forces — 
 Jus dernier refortj and attempt to take by 
 P 4 llorm, 
 
2l6 REVIEW 6f the essay, 
 
 ftorm, what he had found to be impregnable 
 to regular approaches. 
 
 Let us reconnoitre this formidable phalanx, 
 and endeavour to get a fight of its mighty 
 Commander. 
 
 " Few perfons have been fo lucky as never 
 <f to have feen or heard the true prefer ; 
 ^ fmiling, and djftinctly uttering his flowing 
 f* common-place nothings, with the fame 
 f ( placid countenance, the fame even-toned 
 c< voice : he is the very emblem of ferpentine 
 " walks, belts, and rivers, and all Mr. Brown's 
 " works : like him they are fmooth, flowing, 
 " even, and diftinct, and like him they wear 
 {{ one's foul out. 
 
 "There is a very different * and much 
 " rarer being, and who hardly appears to be 
 ? f of the fame fpecies, full of unexpected 
 *' turns, — of fiafhes of light ; objects the 
 (f mod familiar are placed by him in fuch 
 " Angular yet natural points of view- — he 
 " (hikes out fuch unthought-of agreements 
 <c and contrafls, — fuch combinations, fo lit- 
 " tie obvious, yet never forced or affected, 
 f c that the attention cannot flag -, but from 
 ff the delight of what is pafled, we eagerly 
 
 f< Jiften 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. Ilj 
 
 • £f liften for what is to come. This is the 
 ft true picturefk, and the propriety of that 
 " term will be more felt if we attend to what 
 " correfponds to the beautiful in converfation. 
 " How different is the effect of that Soft in- 
 " finuating ftyle, of thofe gentle transitions, 
 " which, without dazzling or furprifing, keep 
 <c up an increafing intereft, and infenfibly wind 
 * c round the heart. 
 
 " It requires a mind of ibme fenfibility and 
 P habit of obfervation to diftinguifh what is 
 <f really beautiful and interefling, from what 
 « is merely fmooth, flowing, and infipio 1 , and 
 *< to give a decided preference to the former ; 
 f it is not more common to have a true relilh 
 *' for piclurefk fcenery, and even the quick 
 * ( turns and intricacies of converfation are not 
 f* relifhed by all. I have fometimes feen a 
 (C profer quite forlorn in the company of a 
 * c man of brilliant imagination ; he feemed 
 f f dazzled with excefs of light, and his dull 
 f faculties totally unable to keep pace with 
 i c him : I have afterwards obferved the fame 
 f ( man get clofe to a brother profer, and 
 f* the two lhails have travelled on fo com* 
 f< fortably on their own flime, that they 
 
 " feemed 
 
3lS 
 
 REVIEW OF THE ISSAY. 
 
 (t feemed to feci no more impreflion, either 
 ft of pleafure or envy, from what they had 
 ,f heard, than a real ihail may be fuppofed 
 tf to do at the active bounds and leaps of a 
 «'ftag." (Page 281.) 
 
 Taayo I taayo ! pretty creature ! and is 
 this the mighty foe ! ! ! Let us purfue the 
 high bounding brocket — elevated creature f 
 and trace the few remaining footfteps of this 
 difdainful animal ; exquifite creature ! — fee 
 it fafe off the ground ; and then return to its 
 favourite retreat, to explore its inward re- 
 cedes *. 
 
 The illuftration of the amiable principle 
 above laid down, immediately follows. " This 
 " is exactly the cafe with that practical 
 " profer the true improver : carry him to a 
 " fcene merely picturefk, he is bewildered 
 *' with its variety and intricacy, the charms 
 " of which he neither relifhes nor com- 
 
 I' prehends, 
 
 * Be it remembered that the elevated ideas of th« 
 ** rare beings" of the late kingdom of France have done 
 what all die Powers in the world cannot undo. 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY, $1$ 
 
 * prehends, * and longs to be crawling 
 <c among his clumps, and debating about the 
 *' tenth part of an inch in the turn of a gra- 
 <f vel walk. The mafs of improvers feem 
 * c to forget that we are diftinguifhed from 
 " other animals, by being (as Milton defcribes 
 
 "it) 
 
 " Nobler far, of look ereft ;" 
 (C they go about 
 
 " With leaden eye that loves the ground, 
 " and are fo continually occupied with turns 
 " and fweeps, and manoeuvring (takes, tliat 
 " they never gain an idea of the firft elements 
 " of compofition." 
 
 The ^principle might admit of fome apo- 
 logy, as flying off, naturally enough, in one 
 ofthofe light airy gambols of (what (hall we 
 name it ?) which light airy minds have ever 
 had a fort of privilege to indulge in ; and as 
 being intended to hit a character, which is in 
 a great meafure imaginary. But with the ap- 
 plication, a large portion of a more dangerous 
 ingredient is mixed, and cunningly placed as 
 a poifon to the art we are endeavouring to 
 
 protect, 
 
 * On whom has this experiment been tried ! J 
 
220 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 protect. And left it mould operate as fuch, 
 on the minds of thofe who, wifhing to act 
 conformably to right reafon, drink down with 
 avidity, and without due examination, what- 
 ever may put on the appearance of promoting 
 that defirable end, — it becomes highly ne- 
 ceflary, in us, to analyfe this virulent potion, 
 and to endeavour to adminifter a corrective. 
 Indeed, after what has been already done to- 
 wards a full analyfis of the general fubject, 
 fuch an antidote will not be difficult to fop- 
 
 ply. 
 
 It has been eftablifhed, and we truft incon- 
 trovertibly, that a polifhed ground, orna-, 
 mented with relieves of fhrubs, partakes 
 lefs of Landfcape, than of fculpure. In exa- 
 mining a medallion of fhrubs and flowers, we 
 approach it ; as we do a fimilar ornament on 
 a vafe, or fculptured monument. It is in 
 itfelf a whole, and every part mull be in cha- 
 racter. The ground mu% from time to time, 
 be cleaned, and die outline be kept as 
 fcrupuloufly true, as the contour of any other 
 medallion. A broken ragged edge of turf 
 and matted grafs, round a forface of dale 
 earth overrun with weeds, is a piece of 
 
 deface4 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. Ill 
 
 defaced fculpture; clean and adjuft the furface, 
 and give truth and fharpnefs to the out- 
 line, it is renewed ; receives die requifke 
 
 finifh K 
 
 In this department of the Rural art, the 
 object of the artift is, and his ambition ought 
 to be, to gratify the fculptor's eye, not the 
 
 painter's. 
 
 * This truth, when viewed in the light in which it 
 is here placed, being felfevident, needs no authority to 
 iupport it. Neverthelefs, we conceive Mr. Gilpin's 
 authority, in matters belonging to natural fceaery, as 
 too valuable to be rejetted, in any cafe. On the prin-' 
 ciplcs of general tafte, and without, perhaps, having (een 
 pleafure-grounds with a fculptor's eye, he has thrown 
 out, in his EfTay on Pi&urefk- Beauty, the following 
 incidental remarks : Page 4. " In a pile of building 
 " we wifli to fee neatnefs in every part, added to the 
 " elegance of the architecture. And if we examine a 
 " piece of improved pleafure-ground, every thing rough 
 « and flovenly offends." Again, Page 7. " Why does 
 " an elegant piece of garden ground make no figure on 
 *« canvas ? The fhape is pleafing, the combination of 
 " the objects harmonious, and the winding -of the walk 
 " in the very lint of beauty. All this is tr-ue ; but the 
 " fmoothnefs of the whole, though right and as it 
 " fhould be in nature, offends in a picture :'•' Circum- 
 stantial evidence, by the way, that Mr. G. considered 
 Xhe two arts as having diftinct principles. 
 
222 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 painter's. An eye habituated to the flowing 
 lines, learned in the graces, of a polifhed 
 ground, is fufceptible of the lead deviation 
 from the line of beauty ; and dwells on the 
 happy ftrokes of elegance and grace, his art 
 is capable of giving, with the fame gratifica- 
 tion, that a judge of fculpture, carving, en- 
 graving or writing, does on the graceful 
 ftrokes of the tool or pen : the fmalleft error, 
 either in the defign or the execution^ offends : 
 and no man can excel, in either art, whofe eye 
 is not fufficiently cultivated to' be intuitively 
 fufceptible of fuch error. Lines are the prin- 
 ciples or elements of his art, and the line of 
 beauty, as it belongs peculiarly to the ground- 
 work, ought ever to be his firft lefibn. 
 
 Thefe circumftances, alone, are fufficient 
 to warn the Rural artift againft too familiar 
 an intercourfe, too clofe an intimacy, with the 
 ragged productions of Landfcape painting. In 
 the department of his art which is now more 
 particularly under confideration, his eye can- 
 not receive more dangerous imprefHons, than 
 fuch productions are capable of giving it ; 
 they are directly fubverfive of his principles 
 
 of 
 
REVIEW OF THE E9SAV. 22J 
 
 cf tafte *. And in the other department of 
 his profefiion, — that which enables him to 
 give effect to the diftances, and to unite them 
 inpicturable compofitions with the foreground, 
 and with each other, — a fludy of nature, and 
 of places which have been united with the 
 fortuitous fcenery which furrounds them, 
 agreeably to the belt principles of the art, will 
 be his fafeft guide : lb that, viewing the fub- 
 jecl in this> general light, the Rural artift ap- 
 pears to have nothing to hope, but much to 
 apprehend, from thcjludy of Landfcape paint- 
 in o\ 
 
 On the fubjedr. of uniting the ornamented 
 grounds with thofe which are merely fortui- 
 tous, or which may have received fome af- 
 Gftance from art, the mofc difficult part of the 
 
 pro- 
 
 * We kere fpeak more particularly of the works of 
 the ragged mafter and his follovvers. Lo ! the tatter- 
 demallion figure of Salvator, by himfelf ! The 
 raggamuffin was knocked down, the other day, by 
 ChriiHe. If we were difpofed to fpeak, with the fame 
 Virulence, of painters, as our Eflayiit has fpoken of im- 
 provers, we might fay,here, that, if Salvator the ragged 
 had wanted either eyes or hands, "■ it would only have 
 " been a private misfortune ; and partial evil univerfal 
 *' good." See the EiTay p. 263. or this Review, p. 165. 
 
2i4 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 profcfiion, it may be proper to make a few 
 remarks, here, in addition to thofe which we 
 have formerly made on the fame fubjec~t. 
 This is a department of the Rural art, in 
 which painting cannot even pretend to have 
 a right of interference ; as ornamented fcenery 
 has not yet entered into its compofitions. 
 
 In the Treatife on Planting, &c. we have 
 made, among others, the following, — general 
 observations : 
 
 " Notwithftanding, however, the nature of 
 the place ought not to be facrificed to the 
 manfion ; — the houfe mutt ever be allowed tx> 
 be a principle in the compofition. It ought to 
 be confidered as the center of the fyftem •, and 
 the rays of art, like thofe of the fun, fhould 
 grow fainter as they recede from the center. 
 The houfe itfelf being entirely a work of art, 
 its immediate environs fhould be highly finifh- 
 ed ; but as the diftance increafes, the appear- 
 ance of defign fhould gradually diminifh, until 
 nature and fortuitoufnefs have full pofTefTionof 
 the fcene. 
 
 " In general, the approach fhould be to 
 the backfront, which, in fuitable fituations, 
 ought to lie open to the pafture grounds. 
 
 On 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 225 
 
 On the fides more highly ornamented, a well- 
 kept gravel walk may embrace the walls ; 
 to this the fhaven lawn and fhrubery fuc- 
 ceed * j next, the grounds clofely paftured ; 
 and, laftly, the furrounding country, which 
 ought not to be confidered as out of the ar- 
 tift's reach t for his art confifts not more in 
 decorating particular fpors, than in endeavour- 
 ing to render the whole face of nature de- 
 lightful. 
 
 Q^ " Another 
 
 >& 
 
 * Between the gravel walk and the building, fhould 
 ran aline ofmafcnry, — as a footing or bafement; fome 
 two or three feet wide ; dipping fomewhat out- 
 ward ; its outer edge rifing a few inches above the 
 gravel j — to fhoot off the water which driving winds 
 may throw againft the houfe $ to give an even edge to 
 the polifhed gravel ; and to aflift in uniting — harmonifing 
 «^the building with the gravel, and, through the means 
 of this, with the lawn. 
 
 Pet worth House, the (lately refldence of the 
 Earl ofEgremont, has abroad bafement or plat- 
 form of dreffed done, ten or twelve feet wide, running 
 the whole length of the principal front, and rifing by 
 two or three lteps, above the road of the approach, and 
 the adjoining ground. This has a good effect in ajfimi- 
 lating the houfe and park, to which this front lies open; 
 fcrves as a fort of guard to the windows j and is an. 
 agreeable promenade in the fair intervals of wet wea- 
 ther. 
 
226 REVIEW OF THE ESSAV* 
 
 " Another reafon for this mode of ar- 
 rangement is, obje&s immediately under the 
 eye are feen more diftin&ly than thofe at a 
 diftance, and ought to be iiich as are pleafing 
 in the detail. The beauties of a flower can 
 be difcerned on a near view only ; while, at 
 a diftance, a roughet of coppice-wood, and 
 the moft elegant arrangement of flowering- 
 fhrubs, have the fame effecl. The mod ra- 
 tional entertainment the human mind is capa- 
 ble of receiving, is that of obferving the ope- 
 rations of Nature. The foliation of a leaf, 
 the blowing of flowers, and the maturation of 
 fruit, are among the moil delightful llibjecls 
 that a contemplative mind Can be employed 
 in. Thele procefles of Nature are flow, and 
 except the object fall fpontaneoufly under the 
 eye of the obferver, the inconveniences of 
 vifiting it in a remote part, fo far interfere 
 with the more important employments of life, 
 as to blunt, if not deftroy, the enjoyment. 
 This is a ftrong argument in favour of ihrubs 
 and flowers being planted under or near our 
 windows, efpecially thofe from whence they 
 may be viewed during the hours of leifure and 
 tranquility. 
 
 w Further, 
 
REVIEW 0* THE ESSAY. 227 
 
 t{ Further, the vegetable creation being 
 fubject to the animal, the fhrub may be cropt, 
 or the flower be trodden down, in its day of 
 beauty. If therefore, we wiih to converfe 
 with Nature in private, intruders mud be 
 kept off, — the fhrubery be fevered from the 
 ground — yet not in fuch a manner as to drive 
 away the pafturing flock from our fight. For 
 this reafon, the fhaven lawn ought not to be 
 too extenfive, and the fence which inclofes it 
 fhould be fuch as will not interrupt the view : 
 But whether it be Jem or unfeen, fnfyefted or 
 unfufpeftedj is a matter of no great import ; 
 its utility in protecting the fhrubs and flow- 
 ers, — in keeping the horns of the cattle from 
 the window, and the feet of the fheep from 
 the gravel and broken ground, — in preferving 
 that neatnefs on the outfide, which ought to 
 correfpond with the fini filings and furniture 
 within, — render it of fufficient importance to 
 become even apart of the ornament." P. 606. 
 
 After thefe general remarks, which time, 
 obfervation, and practice, have not given us 
 occafion to alter, very little is required to be 
 added, here. The foil of recent plantations 
 of trees and fhrubs, — efpecially of fuch as en- 
 Q^2 ter 
 
 / 
 
2,28 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 tcr into the views from a ftoufe, and whicl* 
 cannot be ornamental unlefs they be luxu- 
 riant, — fliould be kept in a ftate of cultivation ; 
 mould from time to time be broken and 
 cleared from weeds, to give air and freedom 
 to the tender fibrils of the mutilated roots : 
 and, where herbaceous flowers and the more 
 delicate exotic fhrubs are cultivated, the 
 foil mud ever be kept in the higheft ftate of 
 pulverifation and neatnefs. In every cafe, 
 where the foil is broken, and where the plan- 
 tation enters within the limits of the polifhed 
 lawn, the outline of the broken furface muft 
 ever be traced with fcrupulous exadtnefs, and 
 ever flow in the chafte line of beauty. The 
 cultured furface is the groundwork of the 
 ornament, and muft have a determinate out- 
 line. But it is not neceflfary that every ornament 
 fhould have a fpecial groundwork j as it may 
 often be placed with equal propriety on the 
 general ground, or unbroken field of beauty. 
 Indeed, it elegance be required, this may be the 
 moft certain way of obtaining it ; but, to give 
 richnejst an ornamental ground, as a medallion, 
 may be more eligible. 
 
 To 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 229 
 
 To apply thefe elementary remarks to the 
 art now under our notice, — near the houie, 
 immediately under the windows, where rich- 
 nefs and the higher degrees of ornament are 
 required, and where flowers and gaudy 
 fhrubs are mod in character and place, me- 
 dallions are moft eligible. On the contrary, 
 in the park or pafture grounds which fur- 
 round the lawn, where flowers are not re- 
 quired, and where, if defirable, they could 
 not be preferved without an unfightly fence 
 to guard them, broken ground, unlefs when 
 recent planting requires it, is, in every point 
 of view, improper. 
 
 To unite thefe two extremes, the method 
 is obvious. The groups, tufts, and malTes, 
 which rife near the outer margin of the lawn, 
 and adjoining to the parks and paflure 
 grounds, mould be fuffered, fo foon as they 
 have got fufficient foot hold to admit of it, 
 to fpread over the grafs > or rather the bro- 
 ken ground mould be changed into lawn. 
 If elegance is wanted, let groups rife with 
 naked ftemsj if a fulnefs and richnefs of 
 efk£t be rather defired, fuffer each tree or 
 ihrub to feather to the ground, and fpread its 
 Q^ 3 luxuriant 
 
230 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 luxuriant branches over the polifhed lawn, 
 and thus produce an effect which no fortui- 
 tous fcenery can give ; unleis in inacceflible 
 mountains, where pasturing animals cannot 
 mutilate the lower branches j and, even there, 
 the foftnefs and beauty of lawn muft be want- 
 ing. 
 
 This charming effect we faw, with fingulax 
 advantage, fome years ago, in the delight- 
 ful grounds of Envillej the Seat of the 
 Earl of Stamford, on the confines of 
 Staffordfhire and Shroplhire. The following 
 Extract from the rough Minutes, made at the 
 time, will give fome faint idea of this fafci- 
 nating effect. " A kept walk and a border 
 " of ihrubs led us down to the lower 
 " mrubery : delicious fpot ! The pines, 
 " here, are not only clothed to the grafs, but 
 " fpread their mantles on the ground ! and 
 " two filler limes are in full-drefs negligees, 
 <* with trains flowing fome yards from their 
 " conical out-lines *. With a profufion of 
 
 " beau- 
 
 * This ftriking" appearance, perhaps, was produced 
 by the lower boughs, which refted upon the ground, 
 receiving, from it, additional nourifhmcnt. 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 2JI 
 
 " beautiful fhrubs, rjfing out of the fofteft 
 " turf I ever faw, I had not conceived that 
 " grafs and trees, alone, were capable of 
 " producing fo much richnefs and elegance." 
 
 Nothing tends more to harmonize the 
 polifhed grounds with the park or pafture 
 ground, than feathered tufts and maiTes of 
 different fize and form, placed in the general 
 line of the fence which feparates them ; run- 
 ning a wall or paling through the center of 
 the mafTes, with fofTes between them. 
 
 To add Mill farther to the harmony which 
 ought to fubfift between the mown and the 
 paftured lawn, the feed-ftems and coarier 
 weeds of the latter fhould be (truck off with 
 the fithe, once or twice in the courfe of the 
 fummer; as in the middle of June ; and, 
 immediately adjoining the lawn, again in 
 July. This not only tends to foften and har- 
 monize the general fc'enc, but prevents the 
 feeds of noxious weeds from being blown 
 within the kept grounds. If die infide of 
 the fofs be railed, with a gentle fwell, fome- 
 what above the level of the lawn, and either 
 planted with low fhrubs and flowers, or, if in 
 grafs, kept lefs polifhed than the area, it 
 Q^4 affifts 
 
2^2 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 afiifts in producing the fame effect, and is 
 otherwife ferviceable in fkreening the fofs 
 from the upper windows. 
 
 While on the fubject of ornamented 
 grounds, we will retire from the more open 
 ones which embrace the ornamented fronts of 
 the houfe, to the reclufer ihrubery j whether 
 it be intended as a place of retreat merely, 
 or to anfwer, likewife, as a place of view, 
 from which the fortuitous or lefs ornamented 
 fcenery of the furrounding country may be 
 feen with advantage. 
 
 We do not mean to lay it down as a law 
 of Rural ornament, that every place of view 
 mould be highly polifhed, but it may ever 
 be fo with ftrict propriety, and good effect. 
 It is neceffary that it mould be kept in a ftate 
 of neatnefs, that it may be entered at all 
 fealbns, and in the fair intervals of the 
 word weather. It mull therefore have 
 walks, and ought to have a retreat from 
 the fudden changes of the weather, in this un- 
 certain climate; efpecially if it lie at any dif- 
 tance from the houfe, which it generally 
 ought ; for the two-fold purpofe of inviting 
 the morning walk, and to catch views or 
 
 com-, 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 23 j 
 
 compofitions, different from thofe which are 
 feen from the houfe and its more immediate 
 environs. 
 
 The conservatory may be made the 
 moft agreeable retreat ; and is the mod natu- 
 ral accompaniment of a polilhed place of 
 view. Not a room rilled with rare plants, 
 crouded together, on bench behind bench, 
 Jike fpeclators in a theatre j but a commo- 
 dious room, furnijhed with the more beautiful 
 and fragrant exotics ; too tender to bear the 
 open Mr j but not fo delicate as to flag in an 
 atmofphere perfectly confonant with the 
 health, and agreeable to the feelings, of per- 
 fons enured to the air of this climate. A 
 room, not merely to be reforted to as a re- 
 treat from the cafual wetnefs of the morning, 
 but as being in itfelf pleafurable ; from the 
 beauty and fragrance of its furniture, and the 
 genial temperature of its atmofphere •> as well 
 as from the polifhed fcenery, and pi&urable 
 views, which may furround it. 
 
 This elegant morning room owes, perhaps, 
 its fair exigence to one of the moft amiable, 
 fair, and elegant of her fex (Mrs. Campbell, 
 
 of 
 
234 
 
 REVIEW OF THE ESSA,y. 
 
 of Shawfield), who has realized the 
 fweetly imagined fcene, at Woo-d Hall, near 
 Glafgow. 
 
 In the nature and utility of a confervatory 
 of exotic plants it muft ever front the fouth. If 
 the north front form an alcove, or is ornament- 
 ed with a more tafteful pediment, it becomes 
 a place of retreat and reft, in the few fultry 
 days which this climate affords, and may form, 
 in itfelf, a pleafing objeft, from the houfe, 
 or other point of view. If medallions of 
 more hardy exotics be fcattered round the 
 confervatory, and native plants be thrown 
 careleffly about the outer margins of the 
 place of view, they will afiift in afiimilating 
 it with the fortuitous fcenery of the furround- 
 ing country. 
 
 We repeat, it is not requifite that every 
 place of view mould be polifhed ; but it may 
 ever be fo with good effect, and without de- 
 triment to the diftant views, how wild and 
 romantic foever they may be : for Man, 
 looking ereffj fees not, necefTarily, the objects 
 at his feet. But the eye fatiated or fatigued 
 with wandering over diftant fcenery, receives 
 peculiar gratification from the contraft and 
 
 variety, 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 2J£ 
 
 variety, afforded by the beauties immediately 
 around it -, which the critic in ornamented 
 nature examines, not with leaden eyes, but 
 with the polifhed eye of fculptural tafte 5 
 and with the Hill keener eye of the Naturalift: 
 thus blending, in the mind's admiring eye, 
 the fafcinating charms of Nature and Art, 
 and of wild and polifhed fcenery. So, in a 
 room, we are amufed, by turns, with the dis- 
 tant views from the windows, and with the 
 ornaments of the room itfelf. 
 
 What follows the laft quoted pafTage, as if 
 with it the Author had /pit his Jpite, is more 
 rational and difpaflionate, — is not loaded with 
 malevolence, clogged by ignorance, or dis- 
 graced by infolence. It meets, in great part, 
 our own ideas. 
 
 " With regard to improving, that alone I 
 " Ihould call art in a good fenfe which was 
 " employed in collecting from the infinite 
 " varieties of accident (which is commonly 
 « called nature, in oppofition to what is called 
 " art) fuch circumftances as may happily be 
 " introduced, according to the real capabili- 
 
 " tics 
 
2j6 
 
 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 " ties of the place to be improved *. This 
 " is what painters have done in their art, ancj 
 ** thence it is, that many of thefe lucky accU 
 " dents, being ftrongly pointed out by them, 
 " are called picture (que. 
 
 " He therefore, in my mind, will mew 
 " moft art in improving, who leaves (a very 
 * material point) or who creates the greateft 
 ef variety of piffures,— of fuch different com- 
 ■ pofitions as painters will leaft wifh to 
 " alter : Not he who begins his work by 
 " general clearing and fmoothing ; that is, 
 ,f by deftroying all thofe accidents, of which 
 " fuch advantages might have been made, 
 " but which afterwards the moft enlighten- 
 " ed and experienced art can never hope to 
 " reftore."— Page 285. 
 
 The bufmefs of the Rural artift, unquef- 
 tionably, is to create (where the given fite 
 will admit), improve (if obvious improve- 
 ment prefents itfelf), or (how with effect, 
 fuch compofitions as can be commanded from 
 the houfe, or from a near point of view ; and to 
 
 fearch 
 
 * This has been recommended ten years ago. 
 Planting and Orn. Gard. p. 586 and 587. 
 
 See. 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 237 
 
 fearch for more diftant points of view, among 
 wild romantic fcenery j with the intent of dif- 
 clofing picturable fcenes : not, however, fo 
 much for the purpofe of the painter, as that 
 they may fafcinate with their own native 
 charms, as living Landscapes : — leaving 
 it for the Landfcape painter to fquare them 
 to his frame, and to fit them to the learning, 
 the fcience, and the " ready-made tafte" of 
 the gallery. 
 
 Thus, mail we fay, it comes out at length, 
 fully and fairly, that it is the province of the 
 Rural art to furnifli fubjecls for Landfcape 
 painting, rather than to attempt to copy the 
 fancied fcenery or the mutilated fcenes of the 
 painter *. 
 
 How often, amidft wild broken fcene- 
 ry, the wooded banks of a foaming brook 
 
 may 
 
 • Juft fo it is the province of a new-married pair 
 to furnifh fubjecls for portrait painting, rather than to 
 attempt to copy the works of painters ! The imitation, 
 in either cafe, depends more on nature than on art. The 
 ftru&ure and outline of a group, or a fingle tree, may, 
 with very little licence, be faid to be as difficult to pro- 
 duce, to a painted pattern, as are the limbs and features 
 of the fpecies. 
 
238 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 may be chofen for the purpofe of exhibiting, 
 in picturable compofitions, the objects which 
 they command ! Such banks frequently fur- 
 nidi a natural fkreen of timber and wild 
 underwood. The artift's tafk is that of 
 breaking it, in fuch parts as command the 
 beft compofitions ; that the eye, in being 
 borne along the deviating terrace, may, in 
 paffing the breaks, rufh upon new fee nes or 
 frefh compofitions ; which may frequently, 
 by winding along the fteeps, and by crofting 
 the dell in well chofen directions, be varied at 
 pleafure. 
 
 Thefe are not clofet ideas j but arofe 
 amidft the wildeft natural fcenery this Ifland 
 affords ; and have been executed, on a fcale 
 fufficiently extenfive to eitablifh their good 
 effect, in practice ; and to mow, that it lies 
 within the power of the Rural art to unfold 
 fuch compofitions, in natural or fortuitous 
 fcenery, as the draughtfman would not difdain 
 to give a place in his fketcli-book, or the 
 Landscape painter might not think unworthy 
 of a frame *. 
 
 Never- 
 
 * AiTaymouth, See p. 205. 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 239 
 
 Neverthelefs, the inftance of practice, here 
 alluded to, was attended with difficulties ; 
 and fome account of the manner in which 
 thefe difficulties were overcome, may have its 
 ufe. 
 
 Mod of the timber trees, which formerly 
 flood- on the ileep woody bank of the river, 
 had been cut out; little more being left 
 than tall ragged underwood ; with here and 
 there a well topped tree. Piclurable out- 
 lines * were, of courfe, difficult to be caught, 
 
 in 
 
 * Such we mean as Claude would not have deemed 
 unworthy of his pencil. 
 
 The Writer of this note cannot refrain from mentlon- 
 ing v here, that in examining the works of this Prince 
 of Landfcape Painters, which the late fales of the col- 
 lections of Mr. Defenfans, Sir Jofhua Reynolds, and 
 M. De Calonne, have given him a favourable opportu- 
 nity of examining with fufficient leifure, he has not 
 noticed in any one of the capital performances of this 
 mailer, a tree he would wifh to remove, nor more than 
 one bough he mould like to ftrike off. This bough 
 occurs in the capital Landfcape, (in the colle&ion 
 of M. De Calonne,) in the foreground of which a dra- 
 gon is introduced ; and it is evidently Jkortened to pre- 
 vent its hiding a principal building in the middle dif- 
 tance ; nut, however, by lopping it, but by Jiunting it ; 
 ' and 
 
24O 
 
 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 in the required fituations; in mofc cafes, im* 
 poflible. Under fuch circumftances, there 
 appears to be only one way of rendering 
 die openings agreeable to an eye fufceptible 
 of the fofter fcenery of Nature •, and this is 
 by making them wider than the given views 
 require, trenching the 1 ground to a fufficient 
 depth, and forming fide fkreens fwellmg 
 out into the vifbs, by planting feathered tim- 
 berlings, and mrubs of different heights -, as 
 in forming a fkreen or border ; being careful 
 
 fid 
 
 and in a way which at once (hows, that Claude was de- 
 firous to copy Nature, and detected a naked, flaring, 
 ragged Hump, as much as does the Writer of this note"; 
 who in the number of groups and fingle trees he has 
 detached from the raggednefs and rutbifh which 
 b^fet them, has not probably left one (when he 
 had a choice) which Claude would not, had it fallen 
 within the fcene he was painting, have reprefented 
 without alteration. But this has happened, not from 
 his having previoufly fludied the works of Claude ; 
 for he never fought an opportunity of doing it, un- 
 til within thefe few weeks ; but from the circumflance 
 of their having fludied in the fame fchool — the 
 school of Nature; and from the farther circum- 
 flance of their having there fludied the beauties and 
 cr name fits of nature, rather than her deformities and 
 ragged uglinejfes . This by way of recording a re- 
 markable fact. 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 24I 
 
 to unite the plants with the fortuitous wood left 
 Handing, and at the fame time to fuit the lower 
 ranks to the given fcene, or place of view ; 
 as the rougher natives in ruftic fcenes ; exo- 
 tics, or the more beautiful fpecies of native 
 fhrubs, in polifhed fcenery : thus doing away, 
 immediately, the cffenfive raggednefs of the 
 expofed half-naked coppice wood ; and leav- 
 ing it to nature and time to add the fofter 
 touches, and to give the defired grace and ele- 
 gance to the outlines. 
 
 In every cafe, unlefs where the trees left 
 as boundaries to the villas have reached ma- 
 turity, the openings mould be made wider 
 than immediate effect may require ; to allow 
 for the increafe of growing trees : otherwile, 
 in a courfe of years, the glades would become 
 too narrow, or be wholly clofed. In the in- 
 ilance under notice, the openings were made 
 from about twenty, to fifty perhaps, or more 
 feet wide ; as the views required, and the out- 
 lines made defirable. Where, for the ad- 
 vantage of getting fuitable outlines, the villas 
 were made fo wide, as to give a degree of 
 R naked- 
 
242 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 nakednefs to the terrace, which in this cafe had 
 long been kept in a (late of polifh, medallions 
 of fhrubs were thrown in, to ferve as temporary- 
 breaks, until the fides of the villas become 
 in themfelves fufficient ; as well as to give 
 immediate ornament to the place of view, 
 which, in this cafe, requires to be highly po^- 
 lifhed, When the villas are fufficiently nar- 
 rowed, by the fwelling increafe of their fides, 
 the medallions may be removed, or be con- 
 tracted to groups or fingle trees, as time ancj 
 circumllances will point out. 
 
 The concluding Note of the Effay, — pretty 
 evidently a recent compofition, — like wife ac- 
 cords in part with our own ideas j is indeed, 
 in effeft, what we have formerly faid on the 
 fame furjefb, — in the Treatife on Planting 
 and Ornamental Gardening, fo often brought 
 forward, here, and we fear fomewhat in- 
 decoroufly : but finding the enemy in force, 
 and determined, if not defperate, we have 
 judged it prudent to oppofe him by every 
 fair means in our power, and we have fre- 
 quently found it expedient to repolfefs in- 
 
 trenchments 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 243 
 
 trenchments which we had formerly thrown 
 up *. 
 
 But though we agree in opinion with the 
 
 EiTayift fo far, as that the immediate environs 
 
 of a houfe mould ever be in unifon with the 
 
 houfe itfelf, we differ with him in reipect to 
 
 R 2 points 
 
 * See the quotation in page 224. of this Review ; 
 fee alfo the prefatory advertifement, page xiii. alfo the 
 Treatife on Plant, and Orn. Gard. p. 616. The following 
 are the remarks of the EfTayift. " Near the houfe artifi- 
 " cial fcenery ought to have place in proportion to 
 " the ftyle and character of the building ; and one great 
 " defect of modern gardens (in the confined fenfe of the 
 " word) is an affectation of fimplicity, and what is 
 '? called nature ; that eafily degenerates into a plain- 
 " nefs (to fay no more) which does not accord with the 
 " richnefs and fplendour of architectural ornaments." 
 Page 287. 
 
 It is not our intention to bring a pofitive charge of 
 plagiary againft the Author of the EfTay under Review. 
 It is poffible he may not have read the Treatife referred 
 •to. We believe that a great majority of the charges of 
 plagiary which have been brought againft authors have 
 had no better foundation than the illiberality or conceit 
 of thofe who have propagated them. It is no wonder 
 that fimilar trains of ideas Ihould arife out of fimilar cir- 
 cumftances. If, by adducing thefe remarks, we aflift in 
 eftablifhing the general principle they contain, we fhall 
 be fully fatisfied. 
 
244 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 points of view. In our opinion, they ought 
 always to be obvious, and the happy point 
 from which each view may be taken with the 
 beft effect, either by the eye alone, or with 
 the pencil, ought to be diftinguifhed. On 
 polifhed fitcs, a bench, or a chair j in ruder- 
 fituations, the trunk of a tree, or a fragment 
 of rock, is furncient. Without fome hint of 
 this fort, the ftranger, at leaft, might wander 
 in a degree unprofitably amidft the fined 
 fcenery ; or fuffer himfelf to be pulled or 
 huftled to the point, by a " pert gardener," 
 or perhaps his man : an interruption and a 
 rudenefs, which ought ever to be prevented. 
 Whenfoever a ConnoifTeur of confequence, 
 full of filfe pride and felf-fufficiency, fhall 
 announce his approach, or a light airy cox- 
 comb, puffed up with vanity and felfcon- 
 ceit, — the marks may be removed— or mij- 
 f laced ! — to add to the intricacy of the views, 
 and the irritation of the reviewer j leaving 
 fuch " rare beings" to make " their own dif- 
 <? coveries." 
 
 Having now purfued the high-mettle^ 
 racer to the end of his courfc, leen the boun- 
 cing flag, with his jfharp -pointed antlers, fcam- 
 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 24$ 
 
 per off the ground, in character, on the way 
 to his native woods, — we return to examine 
 the intricate « harbour" he had fo artfully 
 chofen. And let us demolim it; left he 
 mould return, and again commit outrage and 
 depredations in cultivated fcenery, — attempt, 
 again, to violate the chaftity of ornamented 
 Nature. 
 
 But, putting away thefe figurative exprcf- 
 fions r which no one can blame us for che- 
 rilhing, feeing the extraordinary manner in 
 which they were introduced to us, we proceed 
 to confider insipidity, ornamented beau- 
 ty, and pictureskness, as they are applica- 
 ble to language ; and, to fave the trouble of 
 going over the ground, again and again, we 
 will join with it character \ for character 
 and language, at leaft in a ftate of agitation, 
 are perhaps generally the fame : if not, what 
 our Author has laid, on this head, relates nearly 
 as much to the one as the other. 
 
 With refpect to the firft, insipidity, it has 
 been already characteriled by the Efiayift, 
 and in a way which cannot fail of fixing on 
 himfelf, the ftigma he had ingenioufly pre- 
 pared for a more inoffenfive animal. The 
 K 3 in- 
 
1^6 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY, 
 
 infipidity of the profer arifes out of a narrow-* 
 nefs of capacity, — a natural " dulnefs of fa- 
 " culties," — a defective underflanding,— a cir- 
 cumftance better entitled to our commifera- 
 tion than our contempt. 
 
 In ornamented BEAUTY, as it relates to 
 character and language, we recognize a being 
 very fuperior indeed to the infinuating crea- 
 ture, Ihown in fhadow, as the emblem of 
 beauty ; * namely, fimple or unadorned beau- 
 ty. The perfonage whom we conceive to 
 correfpond with ornamented beauty, is a 
 more open and manly character. His lan- 
 guage, though flowing and polifhed, wants 
 neither ftrength nor fincerity; he exprefics 
 himfelf, on all occafions, with franknefs 
 and promptitude ; and, in the more impor- 
 tant concerns of life, with hrmnefs and can- 
 dour - y equally rejecting fophiftry and intri- 
 cacy of argument. Neverthelefs, in the hour 
 of relaxation, he enters freely into the playful- 
 nefs of figurative language; and though not 
 " eternally" on the rack for " unexpected 
 " turns — of flames of light," nor for ever la- 
 bouring " to ftrike out unthought-of agree- 
 
 " ments 
 
 * See page 217. 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 247 
 
 tf ments and contrafts ;" yet checks not, when 
 they rife naturally out of thefubjecl in agitation, 
 the more fplendid embellifh ments of polite 
 converfation : a perfonage whofe naturally 
 good faculties have received, from cultiva- 
 tion, a refpectability and becoming dignity ; 
 even whofe countenance is exprefllve of be- 
 nignity and candour; and whofe manner is 
 not lefs ftrongly marked by an opennefs of 
 carriage, and a gracefulnefs of deportment. 
 
 How different is the thing, which remains 
 to be characlerifed ! Its language is ever fuf- 
 picious and fufpected : in its graver moments, 
 it is ftudioufly intricate and myfterious ; 
 abrupt and embarraffing :' its whole aim is de- 
 ception 3 frittering away its own arguments, 
 by indulging in a vicious habit of giving va- 
 riety ofexprefliontothefame fimple thought, 
 and priding itfelf on the nefarious faculty of 
 hiding the truth. In general, and in its na- 
 tural character, it is a mere monkey — chat- 
 tering aloud its inarticulate nothings, as if in 
 refponfe to the babblings of fome favourite 
 ftream, in its native woods : at belt, a brilliant 
 buffoon, and a pleafant companion in the 
 lighter hours of relaxation. 
 
 R 4 Let 
 
243 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 Let us compare thefe feveral characters 
 with places to be improved. What can be 
 more ridiculous than a profer attempting wit ; 
 except an improver attempting to render a 
 tame fite picturefk ? 
 
 What can more refemble the dignified 
 character, here drawn as the emblem of orna- 
 mented beauty, than a ftrongly featured fite, 
 lying in a cultivated diftrict, with wilder 
 fcenery within its reach, ornamented on the 
 principles of Englifh gardening, and in the 
 beft ftyle which thefe principles are capable 
 of affording ? How truly ablurd it would be 
 to disfigure fuch a fite by attempting to force 
 upon it an air of wild picturefknefs ! Nay, to 
 mutilate a place already laid out, only in the 
 beft manner of Mr. Brown, by way of turning 
 it into a ftate of picturefknefs, according to the 
 principles laid down, or the wild ideas that 
 are hazarded, in the ErTay before us, would 
 be an act of folly in its owner, having a cha- 
 racter emblematic of his place, exactly equi- 
 valent to that of turning himfelf into a Merry- 
 Andrew. 
 
 Equally 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. £49 
 
 Equally wife would it be to attempt to give 
 beauty, harmony, and benignity of character, 
 to a wild mountain dell, as to expect a dignity 
 of carriage, or rational converfation, from a 
 natural-born zany. 
 
 As recreations or matters of amufement, — or 
 in better Engliih, as paftimes,— wild fcenery 
 and mother wit are charming : — fo, in their 
 feafon, are broad farce and pantomime : but 
 who would ^wifh to live in a theatre ? 
 
 Of the delights of the opera, the giggle 
 and fun of a mafquerade, the heart- thrilling 
 roar of the banquet, or the riot of the mid- 
 night rout, who would not wifh to partake ? 
 But who, except rips, demirips, and rakehel- 
 lies, would wifh to live among roar and riot ? 
 And what, but an Ouran Outan, or the true 
 wild man of the woods, could think of tak- 
 ing up its refidence in a mountain dingle ? 
 
 GENERAL 
 

 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 2$I 
 
 GENERAL REMARKS. 
 
 THE two Works, which form the fubjcct 
 of thefe pages, having parTed under review, 
 Book by Book, and Chapter by Chapter, it 
 may be right, while the fubject remains frefh 
 in the mind, to take a more general view of* 
 it ; and, firft, to endeavour to afcertain the 
 characteristic distinction, between what pleafes 
 in Nature, and what in a Picture j this diffi- 
 cult point not having yet been fufficiently 
 cleared up ; and on it appears to reft the mif- 
 underftanding between the admirers of nature, 
 and of pictures. 
 
 To aflift us in this arduous taik, it will be 
 proper to call in Mr. Gilpin. This veteran 
 obferver of Nature and Pictures, - after many 
 years fpent in the inveftigation of the general 
 fubject, decides, that rougbnefs> real or appa- 
 rent, is the diftinguifhing character of the pic- 
 turefk j— that which is pleafing in a picture ; — 
 that which is capable of exciting the admira- 
 tion of Connoi (fours. 
 
 The 
 
2$1 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 The Author of the Eflay on the Pidturefk 
 .follows this matter as far as he goes, and then 
 takes a long ftep beyond him j extending 
 roughnefs to raggednefs. 
 
 Difgufted, perhaps, with this indecent 
 ftride, we revolted, or have rather leaped out 
 of the magic circle, — for fuch it would feem 
 to be, — and have chofen frefh ground. We 
 cannot admit this fubtle fomething to be rag- 
 gednefs, roughnefs, or fmoothnefs, or any 
 other fenfible quality of objects ; as all of them 
 have been painted with fuccefs, by the firft 
 mailers -, for what can be fmoother than a 
 group of Graces, except the fimple figure of 
 a fleeping Venus ? 
 
 Notwithstanding, however, Mr. Gilpin de- 
 clares, " that roughnefs, either real or appa- 
 " rent, forms art efTential difference between 
 " the beautiful and the pidurefk," he finds it 
 difficult to "point out the reajen of this dirTe- 
 ** rence ;"--- as has been already mentioned in 
 page 62 ;--■ -and after a difcufiion zht mod in- 
 terefting, conveyed in language the moft 
 appofite, and placing the human intellect in 
 a light the moft humiliating, he abandons the 
 
 fearch. 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 1^ 
 
 fearch. It is not becaufe " the pi&urefk eye 
 (l abhors art, and delights folely in nature." 
 It is not " in the happy union of fimplicity 
 " and variety." It is not " in the nature of 
 " the art of painting " either as <c an zxtftriftly 
 <c imitative" or as. one which is " rather de- 
 " ceptive" one through the means of which, 
 " by an aflTemblage of colours and a peculiar 
 ?' art in fpreading them, the painter gives a 
 " refemblance of Nature, at a proper diftance, 
 " which, at hand, is quite another thing." 
 (Page 29.) « Thus foiled," he afks, « Should 
 * f we, in the true fpirit of inquiry, perfift, or 
 « honeftly give up the caufe, and own we 
 f* cannot fearch out the fource of this dirFe- 
 " rence ? I am afraid," continues he, " this 
 " is die truth, whatever airs of dogmatizing 
 " we may afTume." Page 30. 
 
 Shall we, after a difcuffion fo ample, and 
 after the fruitlefs endeavour of fo able a maf- 
 ter, undertake to explain this dark letter in 
 tafte ? We muft : if we do not gain, we cannot 
 lofe, by the attempt. 
 
 It will be admitted, we believe, that what- 
 eyer lias been painted by a matter, with fuc- 
 
 cefs, 
 
254- REVIEW OF THE ESSAV. 
 
 cefs, is deemed worthy of reprefentation ; and 
 that nothing pleafes the eye of a critic in 
 painting, which has not been rendered by a 
 matter. A fmooth figure, a rough head, and 
 a ragged fcene, are equally capable of exciting 
 the admiration of ConnoifTeurs. 
 
 Figure painting (as contradiftinct from 
 Landfcape painting) probably attained its 
 excellency through the emulation of painters, 
 in rivalling the fculptural excellence of Greece. 
 Every latent fpark of genius was called forth, 
 and every epithet of praife exhaufted, on the 
 deferable attainment. Thus the fashion for 
 this department of painting was fet and fan 1 
 rooted; and has been followed, with bigot 
 reverence, to the prefent day. 
 
 Landscape painting, — comparatively 
 with Figure painting, — is of modern date. 
 It had its origin, we believe, in Italy (antient 
 Italy); was born, and reared to maturity, 
 and the fashion for it fixed, in a ragged 
 mountainous country ; where the fofter 
 fcenery of wood and lawn probably did not 
 exift, and therefore could not be reprefented. 
 The lower grounds, it; may be imagined, 
 being disfigured by an imperfect cultivation, 
 
 the 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 2CC 
 
 the draughtfman was driven into the recefles 
 of the mountains, for fubjecls of his pencil. 
 From thence he brought home fcenes, not 
 only fuitable to his art, as being more capa- 
 ble of receiving its higher touches, than 
 lefs broken fcenery, — even as ragged gypfies 
 are more ftriking in reprefentation than 
 naked graces,— -but at the fame time, fuch as 
 were acceptable to his cuftomers ; as form- 
 ing an agreeable contrail with the ordinary 
 fcenery in the environs of cities ; the 
 nurferies of arts, and the feats of painting : 
 befide impreffing the mind of thofe, to whom 
 wild fcenery was known in pi&ures only, with 
 a fimilar train of fanciful ideas, which paf- 
 toral poetry conveys to thofe who have 
 never (cen a flock of flieep, nor have had 
 occafion to obferve the ftupid infenf}bility 
 of fhepherds and ihepherdefTes, ^So that the 
 Italian mailers were right, even fuppofing 
 they had fofter fcenery to copy. Indeed, at 
 all times, and every where, one great end of 
 Landfcape painting is to bring diftant fcenery, 
 —and fuch more particularly as is wild and 
 not eafily accefiible,— under the eye, in a culti- 
 vated country, and an embellifhed fite: and not 
 
 to 
 
256 REVIEW OF THE ESSA?, 
 
 to expofe itfelf, by a faint imitation of the 
 views which are {ten from the windows of 
 the room, for which the reprefentations are 
 intended as furniture, 
 
 Neverthelefs, fuch is the force of fashion, 
 that, had the climate of Greece, and the na- 
 ture of the foil, and the furface of the coun-r 
 try, been equally fuited to receive the em- 
 bellifhments of art, as are thofe of this Ifland ; 
 and that, had men of genius, enterprize, and 
 perfeverance, in Greece, happened (for, ta 
 the human underftanding, much of human 
 concerns appears to be accidental) to lavifh 
 their abilities and time on the face of Na- 
 ture, inflead of exhaufting it on the human 
 figure;— painters, no doubt, would have 
 been emulous to rival them, on canvas ; 
 and, by applying their talents to fuch fubjefts, 
 would have rendered them highly intereftingj 
 their productions would have been extrava- 
 gantly bepraifed ; and the fashion for ad- 
 miring and imitating them would have taken 
 root : of courfe, they would have been handed 
 down, with reverential care ; and have been 
 idolized, as " perfeci models /"—by men of 
 authority, in modern Europe. 
 
 We 
 
Review of the essay. 2^7 
 
 We will farther fuggeft, and, we truft, 
 without any rifle of having more than two 
 dififentient voices, that had our own Gainfbo- 
 rough painted, with his belt (kill, a well 
 felccled eye-full of the delicious grounds of 
 Enville *, not as a Land/cape, but as the in- 
 terior of an embellijhed ground, we ihouid never 
 have heard of " The Landfcape, a Didactic 
 Poem," nor of the " Effay on the Pi&urefk ;" 
 unlefs to praife, with enthufiaftic rapture, 
 the tranfeendant charms of ornamented 
 Nature. 
 
 What corroborates this idea is, that 
 Claude, feeing Nature with his own eyes, evi- 
 dently painted her in all the beauty fhe had 
 appeared in* at his time. He has not only 
 chofen beautiful trees, but has frequently 
 cleared their Hems, and fmoothed the turf 
 they ftood in j feathering fheep or deer, at 
 their feet, upon clofe-bitten turf i— the fofteft 
 lawn which the face of Nature afforded in his 
 day. This is not obfervable in his finifhed 
 paintings, only, but in fome of his fofcer 
 drawings,— copied in the Liber Veritatis, Many 
 
 /8 of 
 
 f See page 230. 
 
2' 5 3 REVIEW OF THE ESS A TV 
 
 of his paintings differ much more, in ftyie> 
 from the works of Salvator Rosa, than 
 they do from the prefent ftyle of Rural orna- 
 ment. Yet Claud-e furpafTed all his com- 
 petitors^ — even, m the eyes of ConnoiiTeurs in 
 painting : an evidence, amounting nearly to 
 a proof, of the truth of the pofition we have 
 fuggefted. 
 
 There are, already, many pafiages of orna- 
 mented nature in this country,. — we do not 
 fpeak of fhruberies or polifhed grounds im- 
 mediately about the houfe, — which Claude 
 would have caught with avidity j and, if the 
 prefent ftyle of embellifbment be continued 
 through another century, to give the trees 
 which have been planted time to rife to 
 maturity, fuch pafiages wi# be innumerable : 
 and we will hazard the prediction, that, mould 
 Landfcape painting likewife continue, and 
 mould Nature once make her appearance on 
 canvas, in a birth-day fuit, a gala drefs, — 
 in all the beauty, elegance, and richnefs, 
 which the face of Nature is capable of receiv- 
 ing from the hand of Art,— and fhouki be 
 happily introduced by a man of eminence in 
 his profeffion,— ornamented nature will 
 
 thence- 
 
Review op the EssAy. i>g 
 
 thenceforward be afligned a confpicuous 
 place in Picture Galleries, and be re- 
 commended to Painters — -as a principal 
 
 STUDY. 
 
 But whether the prefent ftyle of Landfcape 
 painting be a creature of fajhion^ merely, or 
 whether it arife, in fome degree, out of a 
 radical defetl in the art itfelfi is not an object 
 of farther enquiry. Viewing it as an art, it 
 has no alliance whatever to Rural ornament : 
 the manual operations of the one have not the 
 leaft affinity to thofe of the other: no two. 
 arts are lefs alike. And whether they have 
 any one principle common to both, would 
 rather be an enquiry of curiofity, than of ufe 
 to either. It is probable they have ; and that 
 whatever can be made beautiful or pleafui - 
 able, in reality, ought to be the ftudy of pain- 
 ters ; in order to endeavour to make it like- 
 wife beautiful and pleafurablej in reprefenta- 
 tion. 
 
 But let not the fhadow arrogate to itfelf 
 the power of giving form to the fubftance ; 
 as this would be attempting to overturn a 
 wniverfal law of nature. 
 
 Si Nor 
 
l6o REVIEW OF THE ESSAY*. 
 
 Nor let a part afiume to itfelf the right of 
 giving law to the whole. A true Landfcape 
 makes but a fmall part, is but a fpeck, in the 
 face of a country j a mere epifode of the ge- 
 neral fcene : and it were folly indeed, to mar 
 the poem to make the epifode ; to facrifice 
 the whole to perhaps a comparatively infigni- 
 ficant part. 
 
 The department of painting which might 
 claim the neareft alliance to Rural ornament 
 is the panorama, which comprifes a whole 
 country, — and not frame painting, whofe 
 fubje&s may be faid to lkulk in the nooks 
 and corners of it. 
 
 Generally, it is not the bufinefs of RuraJ 
 ornament to exhauft its powers on a momen,- 
 tary glance of the houfe in approaching it ! ! ! 
 nor to facrifice the whole place to the views 
 from the windows j nor to reft fatisfied with 
 mowing off a reclufe Landfcape; nor to 
 remain contented with having led the eye, by 
 an ealy afcent, to a broad profpecl, or pano- 
 rama view. A principal refidence ihould 
 poffefs the whole. 
 
 Leaving 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 26 1 
 
 Leaving the arc of Landscape painting 
 behind us, we now proceed, — as if it had 
 Eever exifted, its invention being a mere acci- 
 dental circumftance in human affairs, — to take 
 
 a GENERAL VIEW of the FACE OF NATURE ; 
 
 to examine fome of its various qualities, attri* 
 butes, or characteristics, as they ftrike the hu- 
 man mind, through the fenfe of vifion ; and 
 to treat of Rural ornament, as an art in- 
 dependent of every other, and as having no 
 other principles than what are immediately 
 deducible from Nature. 
 
 The vifual qualities of the paflages of 
 furface, molt frequently obfervable in this 
 Ifland, are, 
 
 1. Simplicity. This is either fortuitous 
 or defigned. It is given by a flat naked fur- 
 face of a uniform colour ; as an extenfive flat 
 of marines ; or a bowling green j or a larger 
 fiat of made lawn, if any fuch a furface has 
 ever been formed, 
 
 1. Simple beautv. This, alfo, is for- 
 tuitous and defigned : fortuitous, as the bil- 
 lowy furfaces of the naked fheep downs, in 
 the fouth of England, and the wolds in York- 
 mire ; defigned, as the lawns of modern gar- 
 dening, when they are neither fo flat as to be 
 S 3 infipid ; 
 
202 REVIEW Of THE ESSAY. 
 
 jnfipid, nor fo abrupt as to break the lines 
 and playful undulations of beauty : the bil- 
 lowy furfaces, above-mentioned, on a fmaUer 
 fcale. 
 
 Observations. The modern lawn being 
 formed (where any forming is required) merely 
 by freeing the natural furface from incum- 
 brances, doing away the deformities and bro-, 
 ken lines which art may have previoufly oc- 
 cafioned, and clothing the whole with one uni- 
 form veft of green fward i of courfe, no ge- 
 neral rules of art, no regular plan, no autho- 
 rity being obferved in forming fuch a lawn,— » 
 the natural inequalities, or the fortuitous cir- 
 cumftances attending it at the time of form- 
 ing, give the eventual furface, form, and fea- 
 tures of any given ground ; fo that, like the 
 human face, which may well be deemed the 
 archetype, no two are the fame •> no monotony 
 Can take place : variety mull, neceffarily, 
 be as endlefs as the places or lawns thus 
 formed. 
 
 3. Ornamented BEAUTY t This, like- 
 wife, we find in fortuitous, as well as in de- 
 figned fcenery. We obferve it in the richer 
 vallies, and fofter fcenery, of the foreft j very 
 pommonly in park fcenery i as well as in 
 
 hanging 
 
review of the essay. iC 
 
 J 
 
 ihanging fheep walks, broken fortuitoufly by 
 mafTes and tufts of wood : which, feen at & 
 proper dijlance, has fometimes almofl all the 
 effect which wood and lawn are capable of 
 giving, and almoft all the perfection which 
 the Rural art can boaft of, Indeed, the moit 
 it afpjres to is, to render a pafTage like this^ 
 iufficiently beautiful, to bear examination imme- 
 diately under the eye, and fufEciently orna- 
 mental, to le in cbaracler and harmony with 
 thearehiteclure, the finijhings, And the furniture 
 of the hoit/e, whole environs are required to be 
 ornamented. 
 
 Qbjerv&tims* Jf we approach a fortuitous 
 imafs of brum wood, its beauties vanifli. At 
 tfonie feafonsj a flower perhaps may be 
 found j but at others,, nothing is to be feen, 
 but mutilated fpray, cropped by the paftur- 
 ing (lock, and half fmothered in noxious 
 weeds and rubbifh. Even the Jawn, which at 
 a diftance may appear even and fcee from 
 obftructions, we lhall generally find, in crof- 
 fing it, fouled with roughnefles, and encum- 
 bered with troublefome weeds and fhrubs, al- 
 together unfriendly to the female drefs,. 
 
 S 4 One 
 
264 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY.' 
 
 One of the great ends aimed at, in form* 
 ing an ornamental ground, is to render it an 
 object capable of being examined -, — equally 
 fatisfactory to the eye on a near view, and 
 commodious to the habits and drefs of the 
 more fafhionable ranks of the fex ; affording 
 them the moft natural promenade they can 
 partake of, and enjoy. This is done by 
 keeping the beautiful furface fmooth and free 
 from obftruftions- — a carpet of green velvet, 
 — broken and varied by fuitable relieves of 
 lhrubs and flowers, and: partially outlined by 
 loftier trees -, furnifhing thofe who traverfe 
 it, with fomething interefting, at every fea- 
 fon ; and fpreading under the windows of the 
 more frequented rooms, or other point of 
 view, a fcene which, when animated with the 
 prefence of ornamented beauty, certainly be- 
 comes, to cultivated minds, one of the moft 
 interefting that cultivated Nature can ex- 
 hibit. 
 
 Such a paffage of ornamented Nature bears 
 fome refemblaiice to the human face, orna- 
 mented with ringlets, flowing in the line of 
 beauty and grace j — to a beautiful horfe 
 with' his flowing mane and creft, rifmg in 
 
 th« 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 265 
 
 the fame graceful line ; to the polimed vafe, 
 richly ornamented -, or the Corinthian build- 
 ing with its fmooth mafonry and relieve4 
 embellifhments ; correfponding with every 
 thing which the human eye has deemed 
 beautiful and ornamental, in nature or art. 
 
 4. Defaced beauty. Fortuitous beauty 
 may be defaced, by withdrawing the paflur- 
 ing animals, which give fmoothnefs to the 
 lawn : where the foil is not fertile, changing 
 them from fheep to cattle will generally be 
 fufficient. Defigned beauty, in like manner, 
 may be defaced, by withdrawing the fithe and 
 roller, and giving up the polifhed lawn to 
 neglect and the browzing herd j which has a 
 fimilar effect on beautiful grounds, as with- 
 drawing the brufh and comb has on a beau- 
 tiful horfe, and giving him up to neglect 
 and the ftraw yard ; or giving up a beautiful 
 face to neglect and filth ; fuffering the tear, 
 whether of joy or grief, to furrow the filthy 
 cheek, after the manner of weather ftains on 
 neglected buildings ; and the hair to hide it 
 partially, with its ragged mats, after the man- 
 ner of tuflbcks on neglected ruins ; and fully 
 Rocked with filthy vermin, to give, in their 
 
 excur- 
 
265 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 
 
 cxcurfions, additional intricacy and variety 
 to the face ; not lefs by their delicious felves, 
 than by the dear pimply roughneffes they may 
 leave behind them •• 
 
 5. Ordinary scenery. This comprifes 
 all inclofed lands, in the hands of tenantry. 
 Alio the extenfive tracts of open common 
 fields, which are fiill fuffered to remain, in 
 different parts of the Iiland ■, alio fuch por- 
 tions of commons and wafles, which remain, 
 a (lill greater difgrace to the Rural economy 
 of thefe kingdoms, — as are not fufficiently 
 fmooth to be beautiful, nor have been form- 
 ed by fortuitous circumftances, into compo- 
 fitions fufficiently expreflive, to be deemed 
 crnamental. Three fourths, or a much greater 
 proportion, of the furfacc of this Ifland falls 
 under thefe defcriptions. 
 
 Ohfewations, It is among fcenery of the 
 firft defcription, the Rural art may beft exert 
 its powers s in breaking the monotony, fo 
 difgufting to the eye of a traveller of tafle ; 
 and in giving ornamented beauty, dormeftic 
 
 con- 
 
 * Fair Ladies ! forgive thefe illuflrations, They 
 pxift but to ferve you. 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 267 
 
 conveniency, and vvholefome air, to thofe 
 who are willing to purchafe, and able to en- 
 joy them ; and this, in many cafes, with- 
 out injuring, materially, the produce of the 
 land. 
 
 If a place be of the largeft order, fome 
 extent of park or pafture land ought to em- 
 brace the embellifhed grounds j but, in ge- 
 neral, arable inclofures may enter freely into 
 the views from the houfe j provided the 
 fences and the foil be managed with the 
 accuracy and neatnefs which are infeparable 
 from good hufbandry ; and provided fuita- 
 ble mafles, groups, and fingle trees be left, 
 or planted, to unite fuch cultivated lands with 
 the ornamented grounds^ on the one hand, 
 and with the fortuitous fcenery of the given 
 country, on the other. 
 
 This, in fome fituations, is a matter which 
 16 entitled to the firft attention ; as nothing 
 tends more to harmonize and blend the parts 
 of the general fcene, fo much, as a proper 
 attention to the hedges and hedgerow timber 
 which mix in it j and no part of Rural or- 
 nament is executed at lefs expence. In 
 
 places 
 
*63 REVIEW OF the essay. 
 
 places of a lower order, this attention, alone, 
 is capable of producing a fufficient degree 
 of ornament ; except immediately about the 
 Jioufe. 
 
 6. Adorned ugliness. This is chifcf- 
 ly fortuitous •, and is peculiar to broken fur- 
 faces, and the wilder fcenery of Nature. 
 
 The uglieft furface is that which we not 
 unfrequently fee in mountainous diftricbs ; 
 namely, a valley, or wide glen, broken into 
 ill maped fragments, feparated by waterlefs 
 griffs, or angular chafins j — their Jfurfaces in a 
 manner naked of every thing vegetable ; 
 ihowing a loofe gravel or fhaley covering, 
 which is made to trickle down their fides, by 
 heavy rains, and by the kct of animals run- 
 ning along the Mopes. 
 
 But unfightly as fuch grounds are, while 
 naked and waterlefs, they are no longer fo, 
 when covered with luxuriant wood, and divi- 
 ded by foaming torrents^ rufhing down be- 
 tween them. 
 
 If a mountain valley, — inftead of being 
 filled with unmeaning fragments, crouded to- 
 gether in its bottom, while its brows are 
 
 equally 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY, t6<) 
 
 equally tame and inexprefiive,— were open at 
 the bafe, and had its fides formed irregularly, 
 with rocky promontories, but without wood 
 or water, — fuch a valley, unlefs when the fun 
 threw its rays acrofs it, from near the horizon, 
 would ftLll have little to intereft the attention 
 of any man, and, by men in general, would 
 be deemed ugly. But clothe it liritably with 
 wood, and let a copious dream be feen par- 
 tially among it, efpecially if, at intervals, the 
 water mould fpread itfelf to the eye, in broad 
 brilliant falls, broken and partially fhaded by 
 rocks and wood, and it acquires (Irength of 
 expreflion, is viewed with pleafure by ordinary 
 obfervers, and becomes truly intereilingto an 
 eye, converfant in natural fccnery : as form- 
 ing a happy contraft with the fofter fcenes of 
 cultivated nature ; and as affording matter of 
 refleelion, on the haunts of men in the favage 
 ftate, and of gratitude for the train ofcircum- 
 ftances which have led them from the mountains 
 to the more fertile plains j which have taught 
 them to cultivate, and enjoy, the better gifts 
 of nature ; and have raifed them to a ftate, 
 as fuperior to that of favages, as cultivated na- 
 ture is to the favage fccnery we havejuft been 
 defcribing, 
 
 Ob- 
 
270 REVIEW OF THE ESSAVV 
 
 Observations. Among fcenery like this, art 
 can do but little, with good effect. How- 
 ever, in the higher ftyle of mountain fcenery, 
 where the valley has a degree of width and 
 fiatnefs of bafe, and where the tops of the pro- 
 montories are likewife flatted, fomething may 
 be done, without offending. A ruftic cot- 
 tage, judicioufly placed in the meadowy bot- 
 tom, will ever be in character with the fcene* 
 If the ruins of a fortrefs, on the point ofapro- 
 montory, be hid by wood, the fkrecn may be 
 broken : not formally, as if done by defign ; 
 but irregularly, as if torn by a hurricane. In 
 the lower part, -—towards the mouthy — of a 
 mountain valley opening into an extenfive 
 cultivated country, a ruftic obfervatory of un- 
 hewn blocks of ftone, rearing its head above 
 the natural fkreen of wood ■, efpecially if it 
 ftiould command, not only the wildnefTes of 
 the valley above it, but a broad panorama 
 view of the country below, could not dif- 
 pleafe the moft experienced eye, and would 
 be highly interefting to ordinary obfervers. 
 
 7. Ragged ugliness. This is a ftyle of 
 fcenery fimilar to the laft, but lefs adorned.- 
 The rocks fcattered, pointed, ftaring : the 
 
 trees 
 
ftSVIEW OF THE ESSAY. ZJf 
 
 trees alfo fcattered, and difmantled, by pre- 
 mature decay, or the fury of the elements, or 
 the natural bleaknefs of the fituation. The 
 underwood checked in its growth ; its dead 
 ftumps flaring above the meagre foliage ; 
 and, in patches, cut entirely off; expofing the 
 bare mouldering fide of the hill. The water 
 finally and nearly hid among rugged floney 
 fragments ; Ceen partially, rufhing down nar- 
 row gullies, worn in the fhelfy rock : exhi- 
 biting altogether a bleak, barren, favage, in- 
 hofpitable fcene ; equally forbidding to men 
 and animals j affording, to the human eye, no 
 other gratification than what afifes from con- 
 trail j nor conveying, to the human mind, any 
 other fatisfaction than wliat gratitude is ever 
 capable of giving. 
 
 8. Naked ugliness. This has been al- 
 ready defcribed as the ill fhaped mafles of mat- 
 ter, feen in the vallies, or on the (helving fides 
 of mountains, and which are equally deftitute 
 of wood, lawn,water, or rock; and as afford- 
 ing to the human eye, viewing them abftract- 
 edly on the principles of tafte, nothing inte- 
 refting. 
 
 9. Great- 
 
 j u* 
 
<Lj2 Review of the essa^. 
 
 9. Greatness. Neverthelefs, mountains 
 themfelves, with no better form, and entirely 
 naked, have, as principals, an effect which 
 their fubordinates are unable to produce. 
 This peculiar effect we will name greatnefs. 
 
 10. Grandeur. Let their fides be fuita- 
 bly adorned with extenfive tracts of wood, 
 and high broad-fronted precipices of rock, 
 they become more interefting, and may 
 be faid to imprefs us with ideas of gran- 
 deur. 
 
 11. Magnificence. A compofition of 
 grandeur, — as two mountains, ftrongly fea- 
 tured, with bold promontories rocks and 
 woods, — fcparated by a wide rich vale, — 
 watered by a copious river, — iffuing from a 
 broad well margined lake, — every part being 
 interefting, but no part, nor the whole, ex- 
 citing emotions higher than thofe of admira- 
 tion, or fome flight degree of aftonifhment, — 
 might be ftylcd magnificent. 
 
 12. Sublimity. This attribute of objects 
 of fight feldom occurs on the face of nature, 
 in its natural (late, comparatively with mod 
 of thofe which have been enumerated. Moun- 
 tain fcenery, how grand or magnificent it may 
 
 be, 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY. 127 J 
 
 be, is not, on that account, the more fub- 
 lime ; an extent of water, though wide as the 
 fea itfelf, will not admit of the epithet, while it 
 remains in a calm, unagitated ftate ; any more 
 than will an extent of country covered with 
 fnow ± uniefs the idea of unbounded fpace raife 
 it in feme degree : but how infinitely more is 
 this idea capable of exciting it, in viewing fpace 
 itfelf, — in beholding the univerfe, — in looking 
 towards infinity ! 
 
 The fublime feems to require that the 
 higher degrees of aftoniihment fhould be 
 roufed, to demonftrate its prefence : a de- 
 gree of terror, if not of horror, is required 
 to produce the more forcible emotions of 
 the mind, which fublimity is capable of ex- 
 citing. 
 
 A giant precipice, frowning over its bate, 
 whether we view it from beneath, or look 
 downward from its brink, is capable of pro- 
 ducing fublime emotions. A river tumbling 
 headlong over fuch a precipice, cfpecially if 
 it be viewed with difficulty and a degree of 
 danger, real or imaginary, flill heightens thofe 
 emotions. Lightning, thunder, and hurri- 
 canes may produce them. 
 
 T But, 
 
274 REVIEW OF THE ESSAY, 
 
 But, of all natural fcenery, the ocean, agi- 
 tated by a violent ftorm, attended with thun-, 
 der and lightning, is perhaps the moft capa- 
 ble of filling the mind with fublime emotions ; 
 and moft efpecially the mind of a fpectato* 
 who is himfelf expofed on its frail furface ; 
 and who is not incapable, either from con- 
 ftant habit, or from an excefs of apprehenfion, 
 of contemplating the fcenery which furroundi 
 him. 
 
 On the whole, sublimity muft route fome 
 extraordinary emotion in the mind ; it cannot 
 be dwelt on with indifference, by an eye un- 
 habituated to its effects, and a mind poflefTing 
 the lead fenfibility. Magnificence, gran- 
 deur, or simple greatness, may excite 
 fome degree of aftonifhment ; but it muft be 
 unmixed with awe ; the emotions they excite 
 are of the more pleafurable kind. Ugli- 
 ness difgufts i yet when adorned, it is capa- 
 ble of giving delight j as a contrail to the 
 more rational gratifications of ornamented 
 beauty. All that simple beauty has to 
 beftow is pleafure, heightened, perhaps, by a 
 degree of admiration. £ven simplicity, in 
 
 a ftate 
 
REVIEW OF THE ESSAY* 275 
 
 a ftate of polifhed neatnefs, is capable of giv- 
 ing a degree pf pleafure \ but, in a ftate of 
 flovenlinefs and neglect, it difgufts, as uglinefs, 
 pr peformity, which is fimplicity, or beauty, 
 difguftingly defaced. 
 
 THE END, 
 
RURAL AFFAIRS. 
 
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 IMISON'S ELEMENTS OF SCIENCE AND ART. A new 
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 i. THE FARMER'S ACCOUNT-BOOK for 1808; a 
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 ^of Sg an a S m pie supply for our own consumption, 
 
 -tl^t^™«t!t?™:^™> of some of tho 
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Preparing for the Tress, 
 
 UNDER THE PATRONAGE OF 
 
 THE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF HEREFORDSHIRE, 
 
 POMONA HEREFORDIENSIS ; 
 
 BEING 
 
 A DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 OLD CIDER FRUITS OF HEREFORDSHIRE, 
 
 Which have been long esteemed the best of their Kind, 
 
 ACCOMPANIED BY 
 
 HIGHLY FINISHED COLOURED ENGRAVINGS. 
 
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 mark of premature old age, and at last perish without the possi- 
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the orchards, it may then be useful to trace their likeness in future 
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 same kind of excellence. Such delineations will also tend to pre- 
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 prevailed in the nomenclature of fruits of this species. 
 
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This Day is published, in a small Volume, Octavo^ 
 Price Seven Shillings, 
 
 BY J. HARDING, 36, ST. JAMEs's STREET, LONDON, 
 
 OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 Influence of soil and climate 
 
 UPON 
 
 WOOL; 
 
 From which is deduced a certain and easy Method of improving tbje 
 Quality of 
 
 ENGTJSH CLOTHING WOOL, 
 
 AND PRESEKVISC TI!K 
 
 HEALTH OF SHEEP; 
 
 With Hints for the Management of Sheep after Shearing; an Inquiry 
 
 into I he Structure, Growth, and Formation of Wool and Hair: 
 
 and Remarks on the Means by which the Spanish Breed of 
 
 Sheep may be made to preserve the best Qualities of 
 
 its Fleece unchanged in different Climates. 
 
 BY ROBERT BAKEWELL. 
 
 WITH 
 
 OCCASIONAL NOTES AND REMARKS, 
 1JY TUP. EIGHT HON. LORD so me r villi 
 
 PJLIXCTI AL CONTENTS OF THE WORK. 
 Chap. I. 
 On the soft and hard qualities of Wool, and the great 
 difference in the value of Cloth made from these Wools, 
 although each sort may be equally fine— On the dis- 
 tinction between Hair and Wool, &c, 
 
Chap. 1 1. 
 
 On the Causes which produce the hard quality of Wool 
 in many parts of this Island. 
 
 Chap. III. 
 
 On the means by which the soft quality of Wool may be 
 preserved, in every situation, and the effects of Soil 
 and Climate counteracted, where they are unfavourable 
 to {his quality — On the preservation of Sheep by the 
 same means — From Cutaneous Distempers— From the 
 inclemency of Climate — From sudden change of Tem- 
 perature after shearing. 
 
 Chap. IV. 
 
 Improved Methods of Washing Sheep — On the means of 
 preventing the Deterioration of Wool in the Spanish 
 Breed of Sheep — On the Qualities and Defects of the 
 finest Fleeces from Saxony — On the influence which 
 Pasture, Heat, Cold, and Moisture, have upon the 
 Staple — Different effects of the Climate of Spain and 
 Fmgland upon the Fleece. 
 
 Chap. V. 
 
 On the formation pf Wool, Hair, and Silk — Microscopi- 
 cal Observations on the Structure of each — On the 
 felting quality of Wool and Hair— Causes of the 
 variations in the fineness of the Fibres of Hair and 
 Wool— The Joint or Break in the Staple— Cotted 
 Fleeces— Coarse Kemp Flairs — Effect of Light upon 
 Wool near the Tropics— Asiatic and American wool- 
 bearing Animals — An Illustration from the Structure 
 and Growth of Feathers— Hints offered by Nature foi 
 the improvement of Wool. 
 
 Vrinted by B. M'Millan, ? 
 Bow Street, Covent Garden, S 
 
« * 
 
"Marshall 
 
J .2.72 
 
 MARSHALL, (W. ) 
 
 A Review; o£ tho. Landscape., a dZdact^ic ?oam; al6o an E6&ay on tkn 
 V U, ct ah. e-4 que: toQZth&h. wi,tk psiat<Lca£ Kdmankb on Kauai Qnnamznt. 
 
 London, G. Uicol, G.G. and J. Robinson and J. Vtbtidt. 
 
 1795; I vol.