LIFE OP JOHN C. LOUDON. 



very different intentions ; the first was enamored of "neglect and accident;" the 

 other seriously annoyed if a single leaf projected from the smooth surface his shears 

 had made. The love of fine pictures and gardening, however, kept pace with 

 each other, as indeed they should and must do ; at last, the style of the painter's 

 landscape captivated the connoisseurs of taste ; the admirable scenes presented 

 on canvas, were extolled by those who had studied nature, though not painters 

 themselves, because they were, while taking liberties with her, true copies in the 

 main of real or combined scenes ; when these were compared with the then ex- 

 isting most labored dispositions of the garden, the latter sunk in public estima- 

 tion, and soon the cry was : " Why is not every gardener a painter ?" 



This impression was so strong after the new light broke in upon the minds of 

 students, that Kent, a painter by profession, was induced to become a landscape 

 gardener, though that professional title was not then invented. He had a difiQcult 

 and unpleasant task, for he aimed at producing immediate effect on the lawn at 

 Kew, as he used to do on his canvas; but he soon found this was impracticable, 

 as he had to wait many years before he could possibly see the full results of his 

 growing trees and shrubs. (Zb he continued?) 



A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE AND WHITINGS 

 OF JOHN CLAUDIUS LOUDON. 



BY niS WIDOW. 



(continued from page 19.) 



The Continent, after having been long closed to English visitors, was thrown 

 open in 1813 by the general rising against Bonaparte, and presented an ample 

 field to an inquiring mind like that of Mr. Loudon. After having made the 

 necessary preparations, he sailed from Harwich on the 16th of March. He landed 

 at Gottenburg, and was delighted with Sweden, its roads, its people, and its systems 

 of education ; but he was too impatient to visit the theatre of war to stay long in 

 Sweden, and he proceeded by way of Merael to Konigsberg, where he arrived on 

 the 14th of April. In this country he found everywhere traces of war : skeletons 

 of horses lay bleaching in the fields, the roads were broken up, and the country 

 houses in ruins. At Elbing, he found the streets filled with the goods and cattle 

 of the country people, who had poured into the town for protection from the French 

 army, which was then passing within two miles of it ; and near Marienburg he 

 passed through a bivouac of 2,000 Russian troops, who, in their dress and general 

 api)earance, looked more like convicts than soldiers. The whole of the valley 

 between Marienburg and Dantzic he found covered with water, and looking like 

 one vast lake ; but on the hills near Dantzic, there was an encampment of Russians ; 

 the Cossacks belonging to which were digging holes for themselves and horses in 

 the loose sand. These holes they afterwards covered with boughs of trees, stuck 

 into the earth, and meeting in the centre as in a gypsy tent; the whole looking, 

 at a little distance, like a number of huts of the Esquimaux Indians. He now 

 passed through Swedish Pomerania ; and, on approaching Berlin, found the long 

 avenues of trees leading to that city filled with foot passengers, carriages full of 

 ladies, and wagons full of luggage, all proceeding there for protection ; and form- 

 ing a very striking picture as he passed through them by moonlight. 



He remained at Berlin from the 14th of May to the 1st of June, and then pro- 

 ceeded to Frankfort on the Oder. Here, at the table dlwte, he dined with several 

 Prussian officers, who, supposing him to be a Frenchman, sat for some time i 

 perfect silence ; but, on hearing him speak German, one said to the other. 



