488 Rural Cemeteries. 



combination a harmonious and beautiful unity. There is no 

 place where this exercise of judgment, on the part of the 

 artist, is so necessary, as in a rural cemetery. Sculpture 

 might be carried to perfection in these grounds, and be made 

 to enhance the desired effect, if the artists would always 

 govern themselves by certain general principles. An obelisk, 

 rising up in the centre of a grove of trees, is an object which 

 no rules of taste would condemn. Build a fence around it, 

 and you introduce a trifling formality, that injures the unity 

 of expression, in the same manner as if you were to plant a 

 border of box or a circular hedgerow about each of the trees. 

 The most venerable ruins have always sprung from the finest 

 styles of architecture. A chaste style of sculpture is neces- 

 sary, on the same principle, to produce that union of sim- 

 plicity and grandeur, without which a rural cemetery becomes 

 a mere magnificent toy-shop. 



In laying out a rural cemetery two points are to be con- 

 sidered : first, the general design of the whole ; second, the 

 particular design of individual objects. The general design 

 is to impress the visitor with a profound religious sentiment, 

 and a feeling of devout contemplation. This can only be 

 promoted by giving to the grounds an expression of solem- 

 nity and grandeur ; and these may be said to constitute the 

 two general effects which are to be studied. 



The particular design of individual objects is to perpetuate 

 the memory of the dead ; and this is best promoted by con- 

 structing the monuments and their appurtenances in a beauti- 

 ful, simple and appropriate style. Beauty, simplicity and 

 propriety are, therefore, some of the particular effects which 

 ought to be studied by the artist. In this essay, I shall con- 

 fine my attention chiefly to a discussion of the general effects. 



Solemnity is a feeling allied to that of sublimity, and is 

 calculated to prepare the mind to receive impressions of a 

 religious and moral character. The architects of the magnifi- 

 cent cathedrals in the cities of Europe have exhibited this 

 art to perfection, in the style of their edifices, especially of 

 the interior, where every object serves to impress the mind 

 of the visitor with a deep religious solemnity. The impor- 



