86 Prince PucJder MusJcau^s 



not proceed from Anglomania, but from the certain conviction that England 

 is far superior to any other part of the world, in respect to desirable and (if I 

 may be allowed the expression) gentlemanly enjoyments, particularly in refer- 

 ence to a country life. In England we continually find general comforts 

 united with the satisfaction arising from noble occupations, and a style of 

 living equally far removed from Asiatic revelry as from that sparing Conti- 

 nental economy, which has not its foundation in actual poverty, but in bad 

 customs and neglected household arrangements, and is but too common 

 among us. In this respect, then, we must look up to England as a model. 



" ' From this high state of civilisation has landscape-gardening been more 

 extensively encouraged than was ever known at any other period or in any 

 other country ; and, notwithstanding its cloudy skies, England has produced 

 the greatest number of the most delightful abodes for the lovers of nature, 

 and for those who prefer what is eiFected by the united aid of nature and the 

 hand of man ; so that such places may be compared to the diamond, not in its 

 rough state, but which has obtained the height of its beauty from the hand of 

 the polisher. I do not mean to assert that nature in its wildest state and 

 simplicity cannot produce the greatest excitement, and call forth the most 

 sublime feelings ; yet, in order to preserve nature in this state, the trace of the 

 judicious hand of man is necessary. Even in the painted landscape we seem 

 to wish to behold traces of the hand of man to enliven it ; and this is still 

 much more necessary in the real landscape, which would appear doubly agree- 

 able to us, if we acted as they do in England, where, from a manly and gene- 

 rous feeling, their rural improvements extend not only to their palaces and 

 gardens, which excite our admiration by their splendour and beauty, but to 

 the humble dwellings of the smallest farmers, and even cottagers, which are 

 equally well laid out and agreeably situated, and which thus aid in forming 

 harmony of the whole. In England small farm-houses are to be seen, like 

 proud palaces, surrounded by ancient trees, or on luxuriant meadows, orna- 

 mented by flowering shrubs ; and they manifest the taste and good sense of 

 the owner by the appearance they display. Even the poorest man ornaments 

 his thatched cottage with flowers; and, notwithstanding his poverty, cul- 

 tivates with care a well-hedged small garden, where there is nothing but the 

 green velvet grass perfumed by roses and jasmine. 



" * Are we not overpowered with shame when we take the same view of 

 our country ? We here find a great number of noblemen's seats with a dung- 

 hill in front, and the pigs and geese going out and in at the door the greater 

 part of the day ; while the only mark of cleanliness the interior can boast 

 is, that the floor is strewed with sand. Independent people, indeed even 

 those who are very rich, I have often seen, in the north of Germany, living 

 in such pseudo-palaces, as such houses may be called, as an Enghsh farmer 

 would undoubtedly take for a stable. 



" ' Such is a nobleman's seat in the north of Germany. The kitchen-gar- 

 den is generally near the house; and its greatest ornament is a few plants of 

 sweetwilliam and lavender round the beds of onions and greens. Crooked- 

 grown fruit trees look melancholy round the beds of cabbages and turnips ; 

 and a few very old oaks or limes, that have stood many a blast, are clothed 

 with dry and scanty foliage, so that, like naked victims, their bare branches may 

 not be stretched out to heaven imploring vengeance.' 



" In the more cultivated parts of Germany this is not the case : the farm- 

 yard and kitchen-garden are always behind the house, while in front there is 

 a lawn with flowers and plantations. The prince afterwards observes : — 



" ' It is as much to be lamented when the proprietor lays out his place in 

 what is called, with us, the English style. The straight walks are then so 

 formally made serpentine, that the only difference is, a longer road is made be- 

 tween young birches, poplars, and larches, which, in wet weather, is almost 

 impassable for dirt, and, in dry weather, from the depth of the loose sand. 

 Some foreign trees, badly grown, and therefore not so beautiful as the indi- 

 genous ones, mixed with pines, are planted by the sides of the paths ; but, in 



