150 The Art of Landscape Gardening 



observed that " the works of nature are well executed, 

 but in a bad taste " ; this, I suppose, has arisen from 

 the propensity of good taste to display the works of 

 nature to advantage, but it does not hence follow 

 that art is to be the standard for nature's imitation. 

 Neither does it disgrace painting to assert that nature 

 may be rendered more pleasing than the finest picture, 

 since the perfection of painting seldom aims at exact 

 or individual representation of nature. A panorama 

 gives a more natural idea of ships at sea than the best 

 picture of Vandervelde ; but it has little merit as a 

 painting, because it too nearly resembles the original 

 to please as an effort of imitative art. My sketches, if 

 they were more highly finished, would be a sort of 

 panorama, or facsimile, of the scenes they represent, in 

 which little effect is attempted on the principle of com- 

 position in painting ; but like a profile shadow or sil- 

 houette, they may please as portraits, while they offend 

 the connoisseur as paintings. The art I profess is of 

 a higher nature than that of painting, and is thus very 

 aptly described by a French author: "// est a la -po'esie 

 et a la peinture, ce que la r'ealite est a la description et 

 T original a la copie." 



The house at Sufton Court having been built long 

 before I had the honour of being consulted, its aspects, 

 situation, and general arrangement do not properly 

 come under my consideration. Yet, as I shall sug- 

 gest a hint for altering the windows in the drawing- 

 room, I must consider the different landscapes in each 

 direction. The views towards the south and west are 

 extensive, and, under certain circumstances of light 

 and weather, often wonderfully beautiful ; but, as dis- 

 tant prospects depend so much on the state of the 

 atmosphere, I have frequently asserted that the views 



