THE ENGLISH LANDSCAPE SCHOOL 



291 



his designs, and one upon which he prided himself. " Thames ! Thames 

 thou wilt never forgive me," he was overheard to exclaim when lost in admira- 

 tion of one of his pet schemes. So completely did the landscape school of 

 Kent and Brown obliterate all previous work that Repton, writing in 1806, 

 declares that " no trace now remains " of the Italian style of gardening, 

 which he defines as consisting of " balustraded terraces of masonry, magnifi- 

 jCent_ flights of steps,^^ 

 arcades and architec- ' 

 tural grottoes, lofty;_ 

 clipped hedges, with_ ■ 

 niches and rece s ses en- 

 riched by sculpture." 



It would be hardly ^ 

 possible to enumerate 

 all the fine old gardens • 

 remodelled by Brown, 

 always according to 

 the system upon which 

 he worked with per- 

 severing uniformity. 

 His reputation and 

 consequent wealth 

 gave him almost ex- 

 clusive pretensions. 



Brown died in • 

 1783 and was suc- 

 ceeded by Humphrey^" 

 Repton ; fortunately 

 the wholesale destruc- 

 tion of old gardens was checked, for Repton had -^ot sufficient influ- 

 ence to suggest the sweeping- alterations that Brown had made. At 

 first Repton followed closely the rules laid down by his famous predecessor, 

 but as his own reputation increased he invented for himself, trusting 

 to his own talents. He was the first to assume the title of " Landscape 

 Gardener " and declared himself the professor of an art to which he gave 

 the name of "Landscape Gardening," because he says "the art can only 



HUMPHREY REPTON.. 



