Iborace Walpole 243 



ceived that natural irregularity might be a 

 beauty: in opere urbanisshno, says he, subita 

 velut illati ruris imitatio. Something like a 

 rural view was contrived amidst so much pol- 

 ished composition. But the idea soon vanished, 

 lineal walks immediately enveloped the slight 

 scene, and names and inscriptions in box again 

 succeeded to compensate for the daring introduc- 

 tion of nature. 



In the paintings found at Herculaneum are a 

 few traces of gardens, as may be seen in the 

 second volume of the prints. They are small 

 square enclosures formed by trellis-work and 

 espaliers,* and regularly ornamented with vases, 

 fountains, and careatides, elegantly symmetri- 

 cal, and proper for the narrow spaces allotted 

 to the garden of a house in a capital city. From 

 such I would not banish those playful waters 

 that refresh a sultry mansion in town, nor the 

 neat trellis, which preserves its wooden verdure 

 better than the natural greens exposed to dust. 

 Those treillages in the gardens at Paris, partic- 

 ularly on the Boulevard, have a gay and de- 

 lightful effect. They form light corridors, and 

 transpicuous arbors, through which the sun- 

 beams play and checker the shade, set off the 

 statues, vases, and flowers, that marry with their 



* At Warwick Castle is an ancient suit of arras, in 

 which there is a garden exactly resembling these pig- 

 tures of Herculaneum. 



