INTRODUCTION. 



disposition of scenery is very different from that requisite for 

 the culture and management of a garden; and a gardener can 

 no more be expected to possess it, than a mason or a carpenter 

 the science and taste of the architect A very good test of the 

 taste, of any one in either art, is a facility in sketching general 

 scenery. We never yet knew an architect, justly entitled to 

 the character of eminent, who could only draw geometrical 

 elevations ; nor a landscape gardener deserving of the name, 

 who could only convey his ideas by maps and ground plans. 

 We have indeed known men in both professions extensively 

 employed who could not sketch scenery: but look at their 

 works ! We do not say that every man who can scketch is 

 qualified to become an architect, or a landscape gardener ; on 

 the contrary, to compose a design in either art, that can be 

 carried into execution, the one must possess a knowledge of the 

 strength of building materials, and the other of ground, of 

 plants, and other garden articles,' and of the art of gardening ; 

 but we cannot conceive how any person who has not practised 

 sketching from nature, can acquire that habit of foretelling the 

 effect of objects in perspective, and that taste for grouping, 

 connection, and unity of effect, without which an architect or a 

 landscape gardener is good for nothing. We are borne out in 

 this opinion by the best authorities. 



The modern art of laying out grounds is, indeed, considered 

 by many as an anomalous business, practised by a set of em- 

 pirics without principles; but the truth is, as Wheatly, Gi- 

 rardin, the two Masons, Price, Knight, Dugald Stewart, and 

 especially Mr. Alison have shown, its principles as an art of 

 imagination are those of painting, and as an art contributing to 

 the convenience and comfort of man, it is directed by those of 

 fitness and utility. The principles of architecture are precisely 

 the same ; indeed the principles of composition are the same 

 in all the arts of taste ; and whether an artist compose a poem, 

 a piece of music, a building, a painted or a real landscape, he 

 is alike guided by unity of expression as to the whole or general 

 effect, and by the connection and co-operation of the compo- 

 nent parts. 



It has been objected to landscape gardeners that no two of 

 them agree about the mode of laying out a plan, or the beauties 

 of a verdant scene: but, it may be asked, do two of any other 

 art accord in any thing but on certain fixed or received prin- 

 ciples ? Will two architects agree in their plans for repairing a 

 house? Or two physicians in prescribing for a patient? It is 

 enough if scientific men and artists agree in the fundamental 

 principles of their art. If two architects are agreed as to the 

 strength and durability of materials; the quantity of accom- 



