238 Notes 



leads to the verge of ridicule, and seldom keeps totally within 

 it." Thus, not content with making the works of great paint- 

 ers the standard for laying-out grounds, they are also to fur- 

 nish plans and elevations for all our buildings, from the palace 

 CO the cottage : and since we cannot be quite reconciled to 

 their being in a state of ruin, which would certainly be most 

 picturesque, we must build them in such irregular forms that 

 trees may be introduced in various hollows and recesses, to be 

 left for this purpose. These will, mdeed, very soon contribute 

 to produce those weather-stains and harmonious tints which 

 are more grateful to the painter's eye than polished marble, 

 as the green rust on copper coins is more interesting to the 

 antiquarian than the bright surface of gold or silver. Mr. Price 

 confesses that two small difficulties occur in putting these 

 projects fully in practice, viz. that " he sees no examples of 

 chimneys and very few of slanting roofs " where fine pictures 

 can be transferred from the canvas to the real residence of man. 

 How void of taste must that man be who could desire a chim- 

 ney or roof to his country-house when we are told that Poussin 

 and Paul Veronese built whole cities without a single chimney 

 and with only one or two slanting roofs ! This idea of de- 

 riving all our instruction from the works of great painters is 

 so ingenious and useful that it ought not to be confined to 

 gardening and building. In our markets, for instance, instead 

 of that formal trim custom of displaying poultry, fish, and 

 fruit for sale on different stalls, why should we not rather 

 copy the picturesque jumble of Schnyders and Rubens ? Our 

 kitchens may be furnished after the designs of Teniers and 

 Ostade, our stables after Wooverman's, and we may learn to 

 dance from Watteau or Zuccarelli ; in short, there is no indi- 

 vidual, from the emperor to the cobbler, who may not find 

 a model for his imitation in the works of painters if he will 

 but consult the whole series from Guido to Teniers. 



34 If I were to enumerate all those who have occasionally 

 mentioned gardening as a relative subject of taste, I should 

 hardly omit the name of any author, either ancient or modern. 

 Some of the most ingenious hints, and even some just princi- 



