280 ON CHINESE GARDENS. 



European artists must not always hope to rival Oriental grandeur : 

 they will seldom find islands for ostriches, or forests for elephants, 

 where property is much divided, where power is confined, and 

 wealth rare : men of genius may often conceive more than it is 

 practicable to execute ; yet let them always boldly look up to the 

 sun, and copy as much of its lustre as they can : circumstances will 

 frequently obstruct them in their course, and they may be pre- 

 vented from soaring high; but their attention should constantly be 

 fixed on great objects, and their productions always demonstrate, 

 that they knew the road to perfection, had they been enabled to 

 proceed on the journey. 



Where twining serpentine walks, digging holes and crooked 

 ditches for earth to raise mole-hills, scattering shrubs, and ringing 

 never-ceasing changes on lawns, groves and thickets, is called 

 Gardening ; artists will have few opportunities of displaying their 

 talents; it matters little there who are the Gardeners ; a cabbage 

 planter may rival a Claude, and a clown outwine a Poussin ; the 

 meanest may do the little there is to be done, and the best could 

 reach no farther. But wherever a better style is adopted, and 

 Gardens are to be natural, without resemblance to vulgar Nature, 

 new without affectation, and extraordinary without extravagance ; 

 where the spectator is to be amused, where his attention is con- 

 stantly to be kept up, his curiosity excited, and his mind agitated 

 by a great variety of opposite passions, there parts will be neces- 

 sary ; and Gardeners must be men of genius, of experience and 

 judgement ; quick in perception, rich in expedients, fertile in 

 imagination, and thoroughly versed in all the affections of the 

 human mind. 



On Chinese Gardens. 



ARTICLE VI. 



ON THE CULTURE &c. OF THE TULIP. 



BY MR. J FORBES, STANLEY, YORKSHIRE. 



As the period is approaching for planting this long admired favor- 

 ite, the Tulip, I forward for insertion in the Cabinet, some 

 remarks upon its history, descriptive properties, and''mode of 

 culture, extracted from the observations of a Continental Grower 

 of celebrity, (M. Trippet,) who forwarded me the same, along 



