268 A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND. 



monuments, were arranged to impart to the beholder a particular 

 impression, on first discovering them. Shenstone discusses the 

 various sensations produced by an urn, and comes to the 

 conclusion that " Solemnity is perhaps their point, and the 

 situation of them should still co-operate with it." " They 

 are more solemn, if large and plain." A clump of trees, a lake, 

 or wilderness, had to be " sublime," " beautiful," " picturesque/' 

 "solemn," "grand," "dignified," or "elegant." A wood was 

 planted for " rudeness or grandeur," a " grove for beauty/' 

 a cave or grotto was to strike " horror or terror." " A feigned 

 steeple of a distant church or an unreal bridge, to disguise 

 the termination of water," * were brought in to "improve 

 the landscape." These designers were careful not only of 

 form but of colour, the "solemn grove" had to be planted 

 with trees of dark foliage, and some touch of bright colour was 

 introduced to give effect to the landscape. "An object of a sober 

 tint unexpectedly gilded by the sun, is like a serious countenance 

 suddenly lighted up by a smile, a whitened object, like the eternal 

 grin of a fool/'f wrote one authority on the subject. Such 

 were the high-flown ideas which inspired these designers, but 

 in their efforts to reproduce the beauties of Nature they fell into 

 the most artificial system that one can possibly imagine. William 

 Mason's poem, " The English Garden," addressed to " Divine 

 Simplicity," is characteristic of the spirit which guided these 

 "reformers," of which Sir Walter Scott said it "is not simplicity 

 but affectation labouring to seem simple." 



Many places were laid out on this new plan by Kent. The 

 gardens at Esher, 



" Where Kent and Nature vied for Pelham's love," 



and at Claremont, were considered some of his best produc- 

 tions ; also Carlton House, which he designed for the 

 Prince of Wales. Walpole thought " the most engaging of all 

 Kent's works," and most " elegant and antique," was Rousham, 

 in Oxfordshire. Kent began life as an apprentice to a 



* Horace Walpole, Essay on Modern Gardening. 

 f Sir Uvedale Price, On the Picturesque. 





