262 



ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



leading principles clearly to the reader. 

 These grand principles we shall here suc- 

 cinctly recapitulate, premising that a fami- 

 liarity with them is of the very first im- 

 portance in the successful practice of this 

 elegant art, viz. : — 



"1. TuE Imitation of the Beauty of 

 Expression derived from a refined percep- 

 tion of the sentiment of Nature. 



" 2. The Recognition of Art, founded 

 on the immutability of the true, as well as 

 the beautiful. 



" 3. And the production of Unity, Har- 

 mony AND Variety, in order to render com- 

 plete and continuous, our enjoyment of any 

 artistical work." 



In admiring these great principles, how- 

 ever, we must not forget that the applica- 

 tion of them must necessarily be very dif- 

 ferent here and in America. Here the 

 Landscape Gardener has almost entirely to 

 create. There — when a villa or a mansion 

 is erected near the banks of some magnifi- 

 cent river, or on the skirts of some equally 

 noble forest — surrounded by native plants 

 and flowers, which you admire as you tread 

 the rich green sward — the first skill to be 

 shown is not in Creation — but in Removal, 

 in clearing away superfluous objects, and 

 so making the views on all sides marked 

 by Unity, Harmony and Variety. The 

 two processes are obviously opposed to each 

 other — as opposed as are destruction and 

 creation. But it is equally obvious that the 

 task of the English landscape gardener is 

 in the same proportion more arduous than 

 that of the American ; while it is manifest 

 he must have to wait during a far longer time 

 for the development and maturity of the 

 plans which his taste has designed. In 

 other respects, however — so far as original 

 taste is concerned. Englishman and Ameri- 

 can, although starting from different points, 

 ought to arrive at the same goal. 



So much for the present. Details will 

 come forth hereafter. And then, most ex- 

 cellent John Bull, you will see that this is 

 no time to fold your arms, and loll in your 

 chair, as if the race had been won, and the 

 prize already yours. You have not gained 

 the victory, nor the prize. Your affection- 

 ate brother Jonathan is as active as his own 

 vigorous youth, and the sight of magnificent 



scenery around can make him. He is day 

 by day forming many a home scene of 

 mingled grace and splendor, while you are 

 content to place yourself entirely in the 

 hands of professing landscape gardeners ; 

 and lazily permit them to surround your 

 mansions with scenes and views as ugly as 

 their own taste is false. 



We confess the praise bestowed on our 

 Landscape Gardening, and the rank given it 

 by the author of this article, have startled 

 us as much as it would do to hear that the 

 French nation had suddenly discovered and 

 admitted that the English are a civilized 

 people, and do not wholly live upon ros-lif 

 ait naturel ! 



Dr. Lindley, undeniably the most distin- 

 guished botanical and horticultural writer 

 in Great-Britain, is no less remarkable for 

 his high toryism, and the " cold shoulder " 

 which he always turns to America. We 

 are not sure, indeed, he will ever forgive 

 " the colonies " for breaking with the mo- 

 ther country, and declaring themselves free 

 and independent ; and we are quite confi- 

 dent, from the tone of certain little replies 

 to correspondents, etc., in the Chronicle, that 

 often, when Dr. Lindley thinks of us, 

 " Disdain and scorn 

 Ride sparkling in his eyes." 



We are glad to see, by this article, that 

 little by little we are earning better opi- 

 nions from our transatlantic brother — and 

 we assure him, if he will only leave the 

 University of London, and his herculean 

 scientific labors for a short time, and come 

 over and pay us a visit, we will show him 

 some results that will disabuse his mind of 

 a score of lingering prejudices. He can- 

 not but be gratified to examine a country 

 where eighty per cent, of the whole popu- 

 lation is devoted to agriculture ; where the 

 total amount of agricultural produce for the 

 present year will exceed seven hundred onil- 

 lio?is of dollars in value ; where the pro- 



