155 



to it such magical effects of light and co- 

 lours,* as can liurdly be conceived by those 

 who have not seen a jet d'tau on a Jarge 

 scale- I am indeed persuaded, that had 

 there been specimens of natural water- 

 spouts near Rome, such as those in Iceland, 

 he would not in ornamented scenes, have 

 imitated those rude circumstances, what- 

 ever they may be, which give them the* ap- 

 pearance of being natural. JNIy reason for 

 thinking so is, that there are often cascades, 

 as well as fountains, in the old Italian gar- 

 dens ; and they are manifestly artificial, 

 without any attempt to imitate that style 

 of rudeness and irregularity, which charac- 

 terizes those which are natural. The stones, 

 indeed, of which they are composed, are 

 n)ugh ; but they bear something of the same 

 relation to the rough stones of a natural 

 cascade and to their disposition, which the 

 rustic used by architects, bear^ to the 

 roughness and irregularity of a natural 



* Et dans I'air s'enflamrnaiit aiix i'cux d'uii soleil pur, 

 PIcuvoir en gouttes d'or, dVmcraiide, ct d'azuur. 



'■ Les Jtrdins, chant. I. 



