204 THE PRAISE OF GARDENS 



districts, a stranger might imagine they were calculated for a 

 race of Lilliputians. Are their shade, their po?tds, or their 

 islands proportionable to common mortals ? Their winding 

 walks — such as no human foot-step (except a reeling drunkard's) 

 could have traced. ^ Yet these, in the eyes of the proprietors, 

 are perfect models of Chinese. . . . 



Oatlands, Windsor-Park, and Wentworth Castle will show 

 you how rivers can be imitated : Peresfield {sic) may bring to 

 your imagination some romantic paradise of Semiramis. Paine's- 

 HiLL has every mark of creative genius, and Hagley of correctest 

 fancy ; but the most intimate allia7ice with nature was formed by 

 Shenstone. . . . Nature's favourite haunts are the school of 

 gardening — she appears in sublimest rude?tess on the forest of 

 Macclesfield, and the Welch mountains — her milder train of 

 graces disperse themselves along the banks of Thames — her 

 majestic retire7ne?its are situated on the streams of Dove and 

 Derwent, in the vale of Hackness, and the groves of Eastwell 

 — she assumes on Richmond-Brow a gayer and a softer dignity, 

 making every sprightly work of art serve for her embellishment. — 

 An Essay on Design i7i Gardeiiing, 1768 {greatly enlarged, 1795 — 

 tivo Appendices, 1798). 



— WVV*' — 



GIBBON \ A/E now enjoy the genial influence of the Climate and the 

 (1737-1794)- V y Season; and no station was ever more calculated to 

 enjoy them than Deyverdun's house and garden, which are now 

 become my own. You will not expect that the pen should 

 describe, what the pencil would imperfectly delineate. A few 

 circumstances may, however, be mentioned. My library is 

 about the same size with that in Bentinck Street, with this 

 difference, however, that instead of looking on a paved court 



^ This looks like the fans et origo of the 7not usually attributed to a 

 Frenchman, of intoxicating your gardener and following his steps, to design a 

 modern garden. France was 'translating' our garden-ideas pretty freely 

 just then — many into verse, more into prose, most into execution — but often 

 without acknowledgment. 



