Ibotace tKftalpole 245 



solitude combined to call for something that 

 might enrich and enliven the insipid and tin- 

 animated partition. Fountains, first invented 

 for use, which grandeur loves to disguise and 

 throw out of the question, received embellish- 

 ments from costly marbles, and at last, to con- 

 tradict utility, tossed their waste of waters into 

 air in spouting columns. Art, in the hands 

 of rude man, had at first been made a suc- 

 cedaneum to nature ; in the hands of ostenta- 

 tious wealth, it became the means of opposing 

 nature ; and the more it traversed the march of 

 the latter, the more nobility thought its power 

 was demonstrated. Canals measured by the 

 line were introduced in lieu of meandering 

 streams, and terraces were hoisted aloft in 

 opposition to the facile slopes that impercepti- 

 bly unite the valley to the hill. Balustrades 

 defended these precipitate and dangerous eleva- 

 tions, and flights of steps rejoined them to the 

 subjacent flat from which the terrace had been 

 dug. Vases and sculpture were added to these 

 unnecessary balconies, and statues furnished 

 the lifeless spot with mimic representations of 

 the excluded sons of men. Thus, difficulty and 

 expense were the constituent parts of those 

 sumptuous and selfish solitudes ; and every im- 

 provement that was made was but a step farther 

 from nature. The tricks of water-works to wet 



