GENTLEMEN ADVENTURERS 53 



inception probably to Dufresnoy, Le Notre's successor 

 as Director of the Royal Gardens. His work began 

 to show an imitation of Nature that had never before 

 been attempted, nor even considered desirable. But, 

 as I have earlier pointed out, it was not to be expected 

 that men should wish to duplicate in their gardens 

 that from which they could wrest these same gardens 

 only by the mightiest effort and vigilance. So it is 

 not until the artificial has obscured Nature that Na- 

 ture begins to seem admirable. 



Addison's essay on "Imagination," written in 1712, 

 commended the new ideas seen in the gardens of 

 France — and also Italy — for representing "an artifi- 

 cial rudeness much more charming" than the cus- 

 tomary precise and stiff design. Pope also became an 

 ardent exponent of the naturalistic style, and ex- 

 pressed himself with a pleasant piquancy which af- 

 fords as good a rule as any ever laid down: 



"In all, let nature never be forgot, 

 But treat the goddess like a modest fair. 

 Nor overdress, nor leave her wholly bare." 



And Horace Walpole, writing later of Bridgman, 

 whose work became the rage about 1720 — and who, 

 by-the-way, is regarded as having possessed a more re- 

 fined taste than any of his contemporaries — says he 

 was "far more chaste, he banished verdant sculpture 



