112 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



THE LITERATURE OF GARDENING. 



BY WILSON FLAGQ. 



No. II. Price's Essay on the Picturesque. 



The author next proceeds to the definition of the pic- 

 turesque, as distinguished from the sublime on the one hand, 

 and the beautiful on the other. This is the least valuable 

 part of his work, because he is as unfortunate in his meta- 

 physical distinctions, as he is happy in his practical remarks 

 and his poetical descriptions. Gilpin had defined the pictur- 

 esque as a term which should be applied to such objects " as 

 pleased, from some quality capable of being illustrated in 

 painting, or that were proper subjects of that art." Our 

 author objects to this definition, and follows Edmund Burke 

 in considering smoothness and gradual variation as the distin- 

 guishing qualities of beauty ; and thence, on the supposition 

 that the picturesque must be the opposite of the beautiful, 

 he concludes that the qualities of roughness and sudden 

 variation, joined to that of irregularity, are the most efficient 

 causes of ihe picturesque, (p. 61.) 



However incorrect Mr. Price's definitions of these terms 

 may be, he is certainly very happy in many of his practical 

 illustrations. He says a temple or palace of Grecian archi- 

 tecture in its entire state, and with its surface and color 

 smooth and even, either in painting or reality, is beautiful ; 

 in ruin it is picturesque. Time converts a beautiful object 

 into a picturesque one, by means of weather stains, partial 

 incrustations, mosses and lichens, and at the same time takes 

 off from the uniformity of its surface and of its color, and 

 gives it roughness and a variety of tint. The various acci- 

 dents of the weather loosen the stones ; they tumble in 

 irregular masses upon what was perhaps smooth turf or pave- 

 ment, now overgrown with wild plants and creepers, while 

 the ivy mantles the other parts and crowns the top. Gothic 

 architecture is considered as more picturesque than Grecian, 

 and upon the same principle that a ruin is more so than a 

 new edifice. Symmetry, which accords with the beautiful, 



