259 



she could do no more. The Trees and Flowers employed were 

 of the rarest kinds; the Basins and Temples of the costliest 

 materials; Vases and Statues of the finest workmanship were 

 scattered through thegrouud; and thiMi what remained ? Nothing" 

 but to demolish the Walls, and let in the view of the surround- 

 ing- country, to teach mankind the beauties of which, under 

 certain combinations, they required no masters. To admire 

 Natural Scenery composed of well blended Woods, Water, and 

 Ground of varied surface, is an innate gift of the human mind ; 

 no savage is there so brutal who would not say he had more 

 pleasure in seeing such, rather than a bare, monotonous plain, 

 the writings of no describer of Scenery has escaped to us that 

 does not dwell upon such as being beautiful. Tiiis has been 

 demonstrated in each precceding Chapter of this work, it wanted 

 only some bold innovator to set the example and the natural 

 taste of man would vindicate and adopt the fashion. Who was 

 the first innovator I shall now proceed to enquire. 



Tasso and Milton have been considered as the Heralds of this 

 improvement ; in the Garden of Armida of the one, and in the 

 Paradise of the other, some of the beautiful combinations of 

 Nature are described ; but it really appears to me extravagant 

 to imagine that either of them had an idea that he was giving 

 a design for Garden Designers to copy ; and if not they only 

 admired what others had admired before Ihem; they only des- 

 cribed what others had previously described. Witness Cicero's 

 description of liis Villa at Arpinum ; or that of (lie Villa of 

 LucuUus on the height of Miseimm. Witness the grounds which 

 Nero laid out, and Tacitus describes. These in some degree 

 anticipated Addison, Pope, Bridgeman and Kent, who we con- 

 sider the originators of Landscape Gardening in modern Eui-ope, 

 inasmuch as that they not only admired and described Pictu- 

 resque Scenery, but they imitated it. 



Thare seems to have been almost a spontaneous efTort of 



