The Philosophy of Rural Taste 155 



It is even known thai Julius Caesar, when reluming to his 

 legions, in Gaul, employed his lime while passing over the 

 Alps in preparing a grammatical treatise, 'De Analogia." 



The corollary to be drawn from this learned and curious 

 investigation of the history of national sensibility and taste, 

 is a very clear and satisfactory one, viz., that as success, in 

 "the art of composing a landscape" (as Humboldt signifi- 

 cantly calls landscape gardening), depends on appreciation 

 of nature, the taste of an individual as well as that of a 

 nation, will be in direct proportion to the profound sensi- 

 bility with which he perceives the beautiful in natural 

 scenery. 



Our own observation not only fully confirms this theory, 

 but it also leads us to the recognition of the fact, that among 

 our countrymen, at the present day, there are two distinct 

 classes of taste in rural art; first, the poetic or northern 

 taste, based on a deep, instinctive feeling for nature; and 

 second, the artistic or symmetric taste, based on a percep- 

 tion of the beautiful, as embodied in works of art. 



The larger part of our countrymen inherit the northern 

 or Anglo-Saxon love of nature, and find most delight in the 

 natural landscape garden; but we have also not a fe\v to 

 whom the classic villa, with its artistic adornments of vase 

 and statue, urn and terrace, is an object of much more posi- 

 tive pleasure than the most varied and seductive gardens, 

 laid out with all the witchery of nature's own handiwork. 



It is not part of our philosophy to urge our readers to war 

 against their organizations, to whichever path, in the 

 Delectable Mountains, they may be led by them; but those 

 who have not already studied "Cosmos" will, we trust, at 

 least thank us for giving them the key to their natural bias 

 towards one or the other of the two world-wide styles of 

 ornamental gardening. 



