548 



LANDSCAPE GARDENING, 



History, tural, as well as their particular customs and dress ? 

 ^^"Y"* The gardening we now condemn so unreservedly, has 

 subsisted, as we have seen, from the earliest ages in 

 warm climates ; and still prevails there, as well as in 

 more temperate countries, whose inhabitants arc not al- 

 together ignorant of the modern style. It may, there- 

 fore, be said to have grown up with mankind, and at 

 all events must be perfectly suited to the wants and 

 wishes of the inhabitants of such countries. In order 

 to judge of the fitness or utility of a style, we must 

 know the purposes to which it is applied ; and in order 

 to judge of its beauty relatively to the people who em- 

 ploy it, we ought to know what beauties are already 

 most abundant in their country, as well as something 

 of the degree of their advancement in civilization. 

 Eastern The gardens of the east, we have every reason to be- 



Gardens. lieve, were used more as an arbpur or a conservatory 

 in this country, than as places of exercise and active 

 enjoyment. The object was repose, indolent recrea- 

 tion, sedentary or luxurious enjoyment. To breathe 

 the fresh air, shaded from a tropical sun ; to inhale the 

 odour of flowers ; to listen to the murmur of breezes or 

 fountains, to the singing of birds ; or to observe the 

 minute beauties of the surrounding foliage, was and still 

 continues to be the ordinary class of beauties desired in 

 an eastern garden. A higher and more voluptuous kind, 

 consisted in using it as a banqueting place, bath, or se- 

 raglio, as is still the case in Turkey and Persia ; in feast- 

 ing the eyes with the sight of dancing beauties ; in ra- 

 vishing the ears with concerts of vocal or instrumental 

 music, and in firing every sense with wine. Exercise * 

 was incompatible with that langour of body, which is 

 attendant on a warm climate and a distant prospect ; in- 

 consistent with security from wild beasts, and that pri- 

 vacy which selfishness or jealousy might dictate. Add 

 to this, that the natural surface of warm countries is 

 generally so parched with heat,f as to be far less agree- 

 able to look on than the verdure of a limited space, kept 

 luxuriant by water. If to these we subjoin the use of 

 fruit, and, what is common to every exertion of man, a 

 desire of obtaining applause for the employment of 

 wealth and skill, we shall include every object sought 

 in an eastern garden. 



An eastern garden, therefore, appears to have been 

 a collection of all those beauties found scattered about 

 in general nature, in order to adapt them to the use and 

 enjoyment of man. Let us now inquire how their plan, as 

 far as we are acquainted with it, was calculated for this 

 end. Moderate extent, and immediate connection with 

 the house, are necessary and obvious ingredients in 

 their design. The square form would be adapted for 

 the enclosure as the simplest ; the trees would be rang- 

 ed in rows, to afford continuity of shade ; and the walks 

 would run parallel between them, to admit uninterrupt- 

 ed progress ; that walk parallel to, and close under the 

 house, would be a raised platform or terrace, to give ele- 

 vation and dignity to the house, to give the master a 

 commanding view of the gardea, and to serve as a con- 

 necting link between art and comparative nature. 



By leaving open plots or squares of turf in the areas, 

 formed by intersecting rows of trees, a free circulation . 

 of air would be facilitated ; and the same object, as 



Pliny informs us, is promoted by the quincunx, which History. 

 admits the breeze from eve^ry quarter ef the compass ^ ""Y""" 1 

 more readily than any other disposition. A picturesque 

 or natural arrangement, would have stagnated the air, 

 and defeated one of the grand purposes in view. The 

 same reasons would guide them in their choice of 

 spreading broad leaved trees; and to thicken their 

 boughs, or deprive them of such branches as were too 

 low, or tended to destroy the balance of the tree, the 

 pruning knife would be occasionally applied. Water 

 in every form suggests the idea of coolness ; but agi- 

 tated in cascades, fountains, orjels-d'eattx, it is used to 

 the best advantage, and the heat of the atmosphere is 

 moderated in proportion to the evaporation which takes 

 place. In still ponds or basins, it has another property, 

 that of reflecting the objects around it. Buildings, as 

 arbours, aviaries, covered seats, banqueting houses, 

 baths, and grottos, would become requisite for their ' 

 respective uses, and would abound in proportion to the 

 wealth or rank of the owner. Fruit trees would be 

 introduced in appropriate situations for the sake of 

 their fruit, and a choice of odoriferous flowers and 

 shrubs would fringe the margin of the walks, to admit . 



of a more easy inspection of their beauties, and nearer 

 contact of their odours with the olfactory nerves; they 

 would also be disposed in greater profusion, in curious 

 knots or parterres near to the house, or in front of the 

 resting places, or banqueting rooms. In time, even 

 artificial objects of value, as dials, statues, vases, and 

 urns would be added, in order to create as much varie- 

 ty and interest in a small spot as was consistent with its 

 utility. 



Such we have found, (sect. 1.) to be the general ar- 

 rangement of eastern gardens; and as there seems no 

 more obvious way of attaining the wants of those to 

 whom they belonged, we may pronounce it to be per- 

 fectly reasonable and natural. 



As to the more extensive paradises or parks in which 

 wild beasts were admitted, and even whole regiments ex- 

 ercised, we have but few authentic particulars respecting 

 them. Those of the east must be regarded as royal ex- 

 travagancies, calculated to excite astonishment and ad- 

 miration at their magnitude, and the art and expence 

 employed in their construction ; and if any reliance is 

 to be placed in the account given by ancient authors of 

 the hanging gardens of Babylon, their design will be Hanging 

 found singularly to unite this object with the minor gardens of 

 beauties of the confined garden ; to combine the splen- Babylon. 

 dour of magnificence with the delights of the justest 

 feeling of nature. They were situated over, or according 

 to some, adjoining to king Nebuchadnezzar's palace, 

 or on a platform raised by lofty pillars, on the banks 

 of the Euphrates, in the middle of the city of Babylon. 

 They are said to have contained groves, fountains, 

 and in short, every object which we have mentioned, 

 as appertaining to the more ordinary description of 

 eastern gardens. Their object was to gratify his Me- 

 dean queen, by that sort of verdant scenery and dis- 

 tant prospect, to which she had been accustomed in 

 the more romantic country of her birth. The height, 

 then, would give that commanding prospect of the 

 water and shipping of the Euphrates and the city, 





" The Persians do not walk in gardens so much as we do, but content themselves with a bare prospect, and breathing the fresh air. For 

 this reason, they set themselves down in some part of the garden at their first coming in, and never move from their seats till they are going 

 out of it." Chardin's Travels, ch. vi. 



" Nothing surprises the people of the East Indies so much, as to sec Europeans take pleasure in exercise. They are astonished to see 

 people walk who might sit still." Kinderley's Letters from the East Indict, p. 182. 



f " Before the end of May, the whole country round Aleppo puts on so parched and barren an aspect, that one would scarcely think it 

 capable of producing any tiling but the very few plants which still have rigour enough to resist the extreme heats." Mussel's Aleppo, p. 13. 



