496 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



attention and commanded respect. Witness his 

 just condemnation of "white houses''' amidst rural 

 beauty, a color which no master of landscape 

 would dare to transfer to his canvass, yet which 

 is as common in the country as it is opposed to 

 economy and good taste. Witness also his con- 

 demnation of the impure air of stove-heated and 

 unventilated dwellings, air which, with equal truth 

 and propriety, he denominates "the favorite poi- 

 son of America." This article, copied by numer- 

 ous journals, read by thousands, and commending 

 itself to their common sense, is fast producing a 

 reform, conducive alike to health, comfort and 

 Imglife. But his kindness and magnanimity, his 

 freedom from envy and jealousy, enabled him to 

 admire and commend whatever was excellent and 

 praiseworthy, as freely and decidedly as he con- 

 demned their opposites. These characteristics are 

 exemplified in Ins monthly reviews of the press, 

 and in the notices of the works of other writers, 

 which appear in his volumes. 



In a word, Mr. Downing was in manners mod- 

 est, polite and gentlemanly, — in perception of fit- 

 ness and propriety intuitive, — in taste accurate 

 and refined — in tact and practical skill remarkable 

 — in love of country strictly national, American — 

 in sentiment pure — in life incorrupt— in most re- 

 spects a model man — in all nature' 's own child. It 

 has been justly said of him, "at whatever point of 

 view we regard him, we arc compelled to admire 

 the symmetry of his character, the vigor of his 

 mind, the versatility of his talents, and that 

 healthful flow of enthusiastic feeling which marks 

 his writings. There are those who can work beau- 

 tiful thoughts in marble, who can clothe them in 

 the touching language of poetry, or bid them flow 

 in the rounded periods and convincing strains of 

 oratory ; but few minds seem more fully possessed 

 of the power to add art to the beauty of nature, 

 and make the desert blossom like the rose." 



His writings are a faithful transcript of his own 

 character. If his diction sometimes contains un- 

 usual and even strange words and phrases , possi- 

 bly ungrateful to some classic ears, the worst 

 which enlightened criticism can say of them is, 

 that they subordinate elegance to originality and 

 force. But his language is generally pure, chaste 

 and refined, not unfrequently beautiful and highly 

 ornate. His style is peculiarly his own, and rigid- 

 ly methodic, sometimes abrupt, but always versa- 

 tile and flowing. It is remarkable for that of 

 which he was passionately fond in nature, and to 

 which, with some latitude of expression, we will 

 appropriate the word " •'picturesque.''' 1 



A single quotation will truly illustrate our mean- 

 ing, and also these qualities of his style. We 

 select the words with which he introduced the 

 H irticulturist to his readers, with the first breath 

 of summer. "Bright and beautiful June ! em- 

 broidered with clusters of odorous roses, and la- 

 den with ruddy cherries and strawberries, rich 

 with the freshness of spring, and the luxuriance of 

 summer — leafy June ! If any one's heart does not 

 swell with the unwritten thoughts that belong to 

 this season, he is only fit for 'treasons, stratagems 

 find spoils.' He does not practically believe that 

 God made the country. Flora and Pomona, from 

 amid the blossoming gardens and orchards of June, 

 smile graciously as we write these few introducto- 

 ry words to their circles of devotees. 



* * Angry volumes of politics have we 



written none, but only peaceful books, humbly 

 aiming to weave something more into the fair gar- 

 land of the beautiful and useful, that encircles this 

 excellent old Earth." Such passages enliven and 

 adorn his works. 



Of these we can give but a brief account. 



The first is his "Landscape Gardening," which 

 introduced him to the literary and scientific world, 

 and gave him a rank among the distinguished 

 writers of the age. For years previous to its pub- 

 lication, he seemed retired from the world, ab- 

 stracted and absorbed, but in reality, he was oc- 

 cupied in intense study of his subject. When he 

 mastered it, and adapted its principles to Ameri- 

 can climate, scenery and people, he published it 

 on both sides of the Atlantic. 



Think of this young man, at twenty-six years of 

 age, without 'the advantage of a liberal education 

 — with no precedents to guide him, with only a 

 few practical hints from such men as Parmentier, 

 seizing upon the first principles of this science in 

 the works of Repton, Price, Loudon and others, 

 with a comprehensiveness of mind, with a power 

 of analysis, an originality and fixedness of pur- 

 pose, that would have done honor to the first 

 scholars in other departments, popularizing and 

 appropriating them to his own period and country, 

 and actually producing a book which becomes at 

 once a standard universally acknowledged by his 

 own countrymen, and praised by Loudon, the edi- 

 tor of "Repton's Landscape Gardening," who pro- 

 nounced it "a masterly w T ork," and after quoting- 

 ten pages to give his English readers an idea of 

 its excellencies, remarks, "We have quoted large- 

 ly from this work because, in so doing, we think 

 we shall give a just idea of the great merit of the 

 author." This work the celebrated Dr. Lindley 

 critically reviews, in sundry articles in his Gar- 

 dener's Chronicle ; and while he dissents from it 

 on some minor points, yet in respect to its cardi- 

 nal excellencies, he thus remarks: "On the 

 whole, we know of no work in which the funda- 

 mental principles of this profession are so well or 

 so concisely expressed." And in regard to Mr. 

 Downing's explanation of this science, and his 

 general definition of it, he adds, what is equally 

 complimentary to our author and to American 

 genius, "No English Landscape Gardener has 

 written so clearly, or with so much real intensity." 

 Closely allied to this science is the subject of 

 Architecture, to which our author next turns his 

 attention ; and in the following year he publishes 

 his "Cottage Residences." Of this work Mr. 

 Loudon also observes, "This book is highly credita- 

 ble to him as a man of taste and an author, and 

 cannot fail to be of great service." This latter 

 work, in time, creates occasion for his "Architec- 

 ture of Country Houses," including designs for 

 Cottages, Farm Houses and Villas, with remarks on 

 the interiors, furniture, and the best modes of warm- 

 ing and ventilating. 



Of 'these, the English and American press offer 

 remarks so similar to those which we have already 

 submitted on his Landscape Gardening, as to su- 

 persede the necessity of much amplification. We 

 select the closing words of an English review of 

 one of these works : — 



"We stretch our arm across the 'big water' to 

 tender our Yankee coadjutor an English shake and 

 a cordial recognition." We will add two exam- 

 ples of the American estimate of these produc- 



