44 HISTORY OF GARDENING. PART I. 



cannot complain of the suddenness of that revolution, and that the imitation of the English 

 taste spreads too rapidly ; it appears, on the contrary, that we begin to think for ourselves, 

 and reflection proceeds much slower than mere imitation. We may meet perhaps here 

 and there several copies of the British manner, perhaps even of the Chinese style ; but 

 we expect to see the Germans inventing and combining for themselves, and producing 

 gardens stamped with the impression of national genius." ( Theorie des Jardins, torn. i. 83.) 



203. The climate and circumstances of Germany are less favorable to landscape-garden- 

 ing than Britain. Meyer, a scientific practical gardener and author, who studied his art 

 in the royal gardens at Paris, and afterwards spent some time in England, viewing the 

 principal country-seats, is of this opinion. (Pom. Franc. 1776.) He considers grounds 

 laid out in the ancient style, as " insipid and monotonous, from their regularity, and only 

 calculated to produce sadness and ennui. If their aspect strikes at the first glance, it fa- 

 tigues and tires at the second, and certainly is revolting and disgusting at the third." 

 He admires English gardens in England, but states three objections to their introduction 

 in Germany. The inferiority of the pasturage, the expense and want of space, and the 

 necessity and advantage of attending to the culture of legumes and fruits. A mixed 

 style is what he prefers, and what he adopted in the episcopal gardens which he laid out 

 and managed at Wurzburg. 



204. The first example of an English garden in Germany, according to Reichard (Reise 

 durch Deutschland, &c.), was the Garten der Schwobber, in Westphalia, in the neighbour- 

 hood of Pyrmont. It was laid out about the year 1750, with winding walks and clumps, 

 and a rich collection of rare trees and plants. Hinuber's English garden at Hanover, 

 and that of Marienwerder in its neighbourhood, were begun about the same time ; and 

 soon after was commenced the splendid example exhibited by field-marshal Lacy, at 

 Dornbach, near Vienna, and which, it is said, originated in the family connections of that 

 warrior with England. It was finished in part by an English gardener, in 1770, at an 

 expence of half a million of florins. Its picturesque views and distant prospects are much 

 and deservedly admired ; but on the whole, as an English garden, it owes much more to 

 nature than to art. After this, the new taste, as Hirschfield remarks, became general in 

 the empire. The most noble example of a garden in the ancient style in Germany, is 

 that of Scboenbrunn, at Vienna ; and of an English garden, according to our idea of 

 what that ought to be, at Dronningard, near Copenhagen. Having given a general idea 

 of the history of this branch of gardening in Germany, we shall now submit some slight 

 notices of the art under the different governments of the empire. 



205. Austria. Francis the First, about the middle of the seventeenth century, laid out or 

 greatly enlarged the gardens of Schoenbrunn, after the plans of Steckhoven, a Dutch artist. 

 These gardens occupy a plain and a long ridge or hill near the capital, and are much ad- 

 mired for their extent and simple, though formal grandeur. They are inferior to those 

 of Peterhoff and Versailles in respect to fountains, and to those of Sans Souci and Lodo- 

 visi for statues and antiques ; but for simple massive grandeur, for shade and verdure, 

 and all the more simple beauties of the ancient style, they are, we believe, superior to 

 any gardens now existing in Europe. 



The Augarten (eye-garden, or garden of pleasure) is a public promenade in the suburbs of Vienna. It 

 is a square spot of ten acres, surrounded by an elevated broad terrace-walk, commanding extensive views ; 

 and the area is planted and subdivided by walks. At the entrance is a magnificent coffee-house. It was 

 formed during the reign of the benevolent emperor Joseph, whose particular wish it was, that it should be 

 open to every class of citizens. 



The Prater, or meadow, is an extensive public promenade of a different description, and suited both for 

 promenades en cheval and au pied. It forms part of an island in the Danube, and consists of an artificial 

 grove used as a tea-garden ; an avenue as a course for carriages, but chiefly the scattered remains of an 

 ancient forest of oaks and thorns used for walking, and for exhibiting all manner of fetes. We consider it 

 the most agreeable scene of the kind on the continent. Here, in the summer evenings, all Vienna is as- 

 sembled ; the imperial family mix familiarly with the people, and Francis the Third, unattended, and in 

 the plainest garb, selects his table and rush-bottomed chair, and calls for his coffee and segar, like any 

 other citizen. Economical in his administration, frugal in his personal expenses, and exemplary in his 

 morals, he has nothing to fear from a personal familiarity with his subjects. Both the Prater and the gar- 

 den were planted with full-grown trees ; for Joseph II. as Pezzel, his biographer, informs us, wished to see 

 the effect of all his improvements. 



The imperial gardens of Luxembourg are extensive, avowedly English, and display a good deal of our 

 manner ; but more, as we have elsewhere observed (Ed. Encyc. art. Landscape G.), in the taste of Brown 

 than of Kent. 



206. In Hungary, Hirschfield, in 1783, says there are only the gardens of Esterhaz, a 

 seat of Prince Esterhazy, worthy of notice, and that they were chiefly indebted to the 

 beauty of the palace for their attractions. Dr. Townson, in 1793, mentions Count Vetzy 

 as laying out his grounds in the English style, aided by a gardener who had been some 

 time in England. The gardens of Count Esterhazy of Galantha, at Dotis, he considers 

 very fine ; and those of the Bishop of Eslau, at Felcho-Tarkan, as romantic. Dr. 

 Bright (Travels, 1815) mentions Kormond, the property of Prince Balhyani, as " con- 

 taining a very handsome garden in the French taste, with considerable hot-houses and 

 conservatories." Graaf Brunswick of Marton Vassar, had passed some time in Eng- 

 land, and his garden was laid out in the English style. The favorite mansion of Prince 



