HISTORICAL NOTICES. 17 



of imperfect essays, he realized the compositions of the great- 

 est masters in painting."* The effect of these practical illus- 

 trations of the beauties of the new style, was astonishing, 

 and the taste soon spread in a most rapid manner throughout 

 England. 



It has been asserted by continental authors, that the English 

 borrowed their ideas of the natural style from the Chinese. 

 But the assertion is destitute of foundation. The gardens of 

 the Chinese, as illustrated by Sir William Templef in a work 

 about that period, though characterized by great irregularity, 

 are full of littlenesses and puerile conceits, far below the 

 standard of natural beauty aimed at by the English. 



Among other authors whose works were devoted to the 

 improvement of Landscape Gardening in the modern or na- 

 tural style, we shall mention the following principal ones in 

 addition to those already quoted, for the benefit of the reader 

 who wishes to pursue the subject further than we are able to 

 lead him. Mason^s Essay on Design in Gardenings first 

 published in 1768. Whately^s Observations on Modern 

 Gardening, 1770. The English Garden, a poem, by W. 

 Mason, in 1782. Prices Essays on the Picturesque, and 

 on the use of studying pictures with a view to the improve- 

 ment of real Landscape, 1794. Horace Walpole^s History of 

 Modern Gardening, published in 1782. Repton's Obser- 

 vations on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gar- 

 dening, in 1795. Among French authors we will only 

 refer to Girardin, whose work De la Composition des 

 Paysages, was published in 1783, and the Abbe De Lille, 

 the author of an exquisite poem on this subject, " Les Jar- 

 dins," in 1820. 



* History of Modern Gardening. 



t See also Sir William Chambers' Designs for Chinese Building?, he, 



3 



