4-91' "" Vases in Garden Scenery. 



and of value. But it may be farther asked, can an object be beau- 

 tiful, or confer ornament on another object, when it is in itself of 

 no use ? Certainly it can. The noblest ornaments are those which 

 are without use, in the common sense of the word ; though, in 

 the sense of art and refinement, everything is of use which adds 

 to the strength of the emotion of that kind of beauty which it is 

 desired to produce. What would be the splendour of the draw- 

 ing-room, or the effect of the pictu re-gallery 9 without gilding ? 

 or an assemblage of highly dressed beauties, without those use- 

 less articles, diamonds and other precious stones ? Nature has 

 planted in the mind of man, from the rudest savage to the most 

 refined philosopher, a capacity for deriving pleasure from beauty. 

 It is necessary that this want should be supplied ; and it will be 

 found gratified, to a certain extent, in every stage in the progress 

 of civilisation : partly by objects which are useful in the ordinary 

 sense of the word, as dress, &c. ; and partly by such as have no 

 other use than the power of conferring ornament. In the rudest 

 state of society, we have the tattooing and nose-rings of the 

 savage ; next the earrings, scarcely less barbarous, of a more 

 civilised period : and, though these must pass away with the 

 introduction of a taste more truly refined, the necklaces and 

 bracelets, which are common to all ages and countries, will pro- 

 bably continue to be so, as long as women dress highly, and 

 large parties are given by artificial light. 



Another reason for the introduction of vases, and other archi- 

 tectural ornaments of a similar kind, both into town and country 

 gardens, is, their tendency to create and cultivate a taste for 

 natural beauty in the spectator ; since, however paradoxical it 

 may seem, it is, nevertheless, true that we can only be instructed 

 in the beauties of nature through the medium of art. No person 

 can either enjoy, understand, describe, or remember a landscape 

 properly, who has not been instructed in drawing landscapes ; 

 any more than he could enjoy, understand, or analyse any par- 

 ticular style of writing, without having been taught grammar 

 and composition. Teaching a person to draw trees, for example, 

 is teaching him to find beauties in trees which he had never 

 seen in them before. Setting before a person beautiful vases, is 

 to familiarise him with beautiful forms, which he cannot help 

 contrasting with ordinary shapes ; and, according to his natural 

 capacity, or the suitableness of his organisation for discernment 

 in forms, he will find in the vases a unity of tendency in the lines 

 which constitute their outlines, a symmetry in their general 

 forms, and a richness, an intricacy, and a character of art in 

 their sculptured details, which will induce him to search for these 

 qualities in other objects of art, and to observe every tendency 

 towards them in the works of nature. To such an observer, the 

 productions of architecture and sculpture would assume a new 



