554 



LANDSCAPE GARDENING. - 



HUtory. forms, colours, lights, anil shades, as will be grateful 

 ^*' to the sight of men in general ; and to such, more par- 

 ticularly, as have made this beauty in some degree 

 their study. This harmonious assemblage of objects 

 may be grateful and agreeable, without being accom- 

 panied by any, or at all events by much general 

 expression ; for example, of gaiety, melancholy, gran- 

 deur, simplicity, or elegance; but it may also com- 

 bine one or more of these poetic or general beau- 

 ties in a high degree, and this, too, with or without be- 

 ing picturesque. It may recal many other pleasurable 

 emotions, if we admit the considerations of fitness, no- 

 velty or its contrast to surrounding scenery, and utili- 

 ty, or its adaptation to man. 



Such is our opinion of the capacities of landscape 

 gardening. If it is lower than that of some authors and 

 artists, we can only say, that it has been formed from 

 the observation and experience of what actually takes 

 place. The artist may and' ought to aim at the high- 

 est degree of beauty, which his own imagination, the 

 genius of the place, and the views of the owner will ad- 

 mit of ; but let him not proceed with, or hold out to the 

 world, mistaken views of what his art can and cannot 

 perform. 



From this view of the powers of art, it will be suf- 

 ficiently obvious, that with Price, Girardin, Knight, 

 and other authors, we consider the principles of paint- 

 ing to be those of landscape gardening, in that view of 

 this term which limits it to " the art of creating land- 

 scapes of picturesque beauty;'' and in viewing it as add- 

 ing to picturesque beauty, some other natural expres- 

 sion, as of grandeur, decay, melancholy, &c. we con- 

 sider it, with Pope, Warton, Gray, and Eustace, as 

 requiring the aid of poetic mind ; that is, of a mind 

 conversant in all these different emotions, or pleasures 

 of imagination, which are called up by certain signs 

 ef affecting or interesting qualities, furnished by sounds, 

 motion, buildings, and other objects. 



If, taking a third view of landscape gardening, as 

 " the art of laying out the grounds of a country resi- 

 dence," then, with popular opinion, we comprehend 

 under the term all the above beauties, with those of 

 relative beauty, the principles of which have been the 

 subject of the preceding section. 



The principles of landscape gardening then, as an 

 imitative art, we conclude to be derived from nature. 



1 . As developed by the principles of landscape paint- 

 ing; andj 



2. As recognised by poetic mind, or a mind alive 

 to those general beauties or associations universally 

 felt. 



We consider this, perhaps to many, a tedious de velope- 

 ment of the principles of landscape gardening, called 

 for by the vague and indefinite manner in which they 

 are spoken of by authors, no less than by artists ; and, 

 as a proof of this, we refer our readers to the volumes 

 of Mr. Repton, of whose practical taste, in many in. 

 stances, we highly approve. 



We shall attempt, as a proof of our theory, a slight 

 analysis of the principles of a composition, expressive 

 of picturesque and natural beauty. For this purpose 

 it is a matter of indifference, as far as respects pictur- 

 esque beauty, whether we choose a real or painted land- 

 scape ; but, as we mean also to investigate its poetic, 

 or general beauty, we shall prefer a reality. We choose 

 then a perfect flat, varied by wood, say elms, with a 

 piece of water, and a high wall, forming the angle of a 

 ruined building; it is animated by cows and sheep; 

 its expression is that of melancholy grandeur ; and, 



Hiitorj 



independently of this beauty, it is picturesque, that is 



if painted it would form a tolerable picture. r 



1. The first obvious principle which pervades this, Unity. 

 or any beautiful or expressive view, is a c*rtain degree 

 of unity in its expression. No ideas of gaiety or pret- 

 tiness are excited by this scene. All the parts unite in 

 forming a whole, which the eye can comprehend at 

 once, and examine without distraction. " La vue," 

 says M. Girardin, " le plus vagabond de tous less ens, 

 a besoin d'etre fixee pour jouir avec plaisir et sans las- 

 situde." Were this principle not prevalent, the groups 

 of trees, the lake, and the building, would only please 

 when considered separately, and the result would be 

 as poor a production as a machine, thevWheels of which 

 are accurately finished, and nicely polished, but which 

 do not act in concert so as to effect the intended move- 

 ment. 



2. It is true to nature ; that is, the objects or mate- Truth, 

 rials are what they appear to be. The trees (which are 

 neither very[old,nor very young,) though in the distance , 

 diminished by their remote situation, we discover by 

 their trunks and contour, to be still trees. They are not 

 shrubs placed near the eye, with a view to produce a 

 false perspective; nor is the fragment of building 

 merely a disguised wall, because it has openings which 

 have once been windows, and is crowned in one part 

 by battlements. The water is natural, its surface be- 

 ing below the level of the adjoining ground, not raised 

 above it, as is often the case in artificial waters. This 

 completes the truth or reality of the scene. 



The necessity of adhering to truth, is still greater in 

 painting, in which all objects must appear to be natu- 

 ral, not only in forms and colour, but also relatively to 

 the forms and colours around them. Objects, espe- 

 cially those whose forms and dimensions are familiar 

 to us, as men or horses, painted of different heights in 

 the same plane, as for example in the distance, of the 

 magnitude they appear in the foreground, would, from 

 the acquired habit of measuring unknown, by known 

 objects, give a falsehood to the scene, and appear as 

 animals of a different species, or as monsters. 



It seems to be from the same principles of being 

 true to nature, that a gradation of scene, or what is 

 called distance is required, or at least is so satisfactory 

 in landscape. The mind, after being impressed with 

 the effect of a whole, delights in examining its parts 

 in succession; the more simple and obvious the arrange- 

 ment of these parts, therefore, the more readily does the 

 mind acquiesce in their effect. The eye of the artist, 

 seizing on the nearest and most remote parts of a scene, 

 readily marks an intermediate or middle distance; no 

 given extent seems necessary for this purpose : 



" To make the landscape grateful to the sight, 

 Three points of distance always should unite ; 

 And howsoe'er the view may be confined, 

 Three marked divisions we shall always find." ' 



The Landscape, by It, I*. KNIGHT. 



3. Having been pleased with the impression of this Dispositioi 

 landscape, and having satisfied ourselves that its com- 

 ponent parts are individually natural, let us, in the 

 next place, observe their ditposition, or how in this re- 

 spect they concur in forming a whole. 1. As tojbrms, 

 we find that their disposition is in groups or masses. 

 The largest group, for example, is placed towards one 

 side of the picture in the foreground, another towards 

 the opposite side of the middle distance, including the 

 building and adjoining lake ; and the remote, or third 

 distance, consists of a low line of wood, with project* 

 ing groups or masses. 2. As to colours, we find only 



