'with regard to Practical Gardeners. 471 



ence among improvers ; and though the principles of true taste 

 were more precisely defined, and better understood, yet many 

 proceeded with a precipitance which is now, perhaps, to be 

 regretted. Many a valuable and appropriate feature of arti- 

 ficial landscape, as connected with architecture, was sacrificed 

 to the new ideas which then came into fashion. 



True taste is founded on nature, and must, therefore, be 

 the guide of the artist. The painter studied her finest acci- 

 dental effects ; and it is only to be wondered at, that the iijar- 

 dener so long neglected the same means for improving his 

 practice. At last, however, it was discovered that the prin- 

 ciples of painting and ornamental gardening were the same, as 

 far as the difference in the execution would admit. One of 

 the principal actors in this revolution was a painter by profes- 

 sion. He did all he could with the means of the planter, to 

 produce picturesque effect ; and even went so far as to plant 

 dead trees ! He was succeeded by others, who were less 

 imbued with painters' feelings ; and, ignorant of picturesque 

 effect, confined themselves to produce simple beauty only, 

 Down came terraces, avenues, and every obstruction, however 

 useful or interesting, which prevented setting the mansion in 

 the middle of a smooth lawn. Knolls were removed to fill up 

 valleys ; rough places of the surface were levelled ; the crooked 

 lines of nature were made straight, and that which was artifi- 

 cially straight, was thrown into regularly sweeping outline. 

 The irregular skirtings of woods were rounded ; and groups of 

 trees, in threes, or fives, or sevens, were dotted over the open 

 lawns. This extreme fondness for general smoothness, espe- 

 cially in the management of lawn and water, produced but a 

 tame and insipid landscape, offensive to the painter, and drew, 

 from the lovers of good taste, the keenest sarcasm. These 

 faults of the ground workmen, and the judicious criticism of 

 the virtuosi, having been published, arrested attention ; and the 

 result has been, a I'eform and improvement in the ideas of 

 practitioners, which will be adverted to in the sequel. 



Of Grotmd. — What the canvass is to the painter, the sur- 

 face of the ground is to the gardener. Both are previously 

 prepared to the artist's hand. It is not in the power of the 

 workman to alter much its natural charater. His improve- 

 ments must be additions onlj^ If ground be what is called a 

 dead flat, it can only be improved by judiciously varying it by 

 planting in such masses as will accord with its extent, with 

 the magnitude of the mansion to which it belongs, or the 

 scenery of which it is a part. Shifting portions of the surface 

 to give a little undulation at certain points, or excavations for 

 receiving water, are allowable ; but such doings are not easy, 



H II 4' 



