THOMAS WHATELY 195 



regulates also the disposition and embellishments of a park, a 

 farm, or a riding ; and the business of a gardener is to select and 

 to apply whatever is great, elegant, or characteristic in any of them ; 

 to discover and to shew all the advantages of the place upon 

 which he is employed ; to supply its defects, to correct its faults, 

 and to improve its beauties. For all these operations, the objects 

 of nature are still his only materials. . . . Nature, always simple, 

 employs but four materials in the composition of her scenes, 

 ground, wood, water, and rocks. The cultivation of nature has 

 introduced a fifth species, the buildings requisite for the accom- 

 modation of men. 



But the art of gardening aspires to more than imitation : it can 

 create original characters and give expressions to the several 

 scenes superior to any they can receive from illusions. Certain 

 properties and certain dispositions of the objects of nature are 

 adapted to excite particular ideas and sensations. 



Elegance is the peculiar excellence of a garden ; greatness of a 

 park ; simplicity of a farm ; and pleasantness of a riding. 



Whatever contributes to render the scenes of nature delightful 

 is amongst the subjects of gardening; and animate as well as 

 inanimate objects are circumstances of beauty or character. 

 Nothing is unworthy of the attention of a gardener which can 

 tend to improve his compositions, whether by immediate effects 

 or by suggesting a train of pleasing ideas. The whole range of 

 nature is open to him, from the parterre to the forest ; and what- 

 ever is agreeable to the senses or the imagination he may appro- 

 priate to the spot he is to improve ; it is a part of his business to 

 collect into one place the delights which are generally dispersed 

 through different species of country. 



But in this application, the genius of the place must always be 

 particularly considered ; to force it is hazardous ; and an attempt 

 to contradict it is always unsuccessful. 



The art of laying out gardens has, within a little more than a 

 hundred years in Europe, and within a much less time in Great 



