256 A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND 



Brown has had for his Lordship at Sandbeek, previous to this 

 Agreement. Lord Scarbrough to find Rough Timber, four 

 able Horses, carts, and Harness for them, wheelbarrows and 

 Planks, as also Trees and Shrubbs. 

 The Times of Payment in 



June, 1775 £800 



Feb. 1776 400 



June, D°. 400 



Feb. 1777 600 



On Finishing the work 800 



£3000 



(Signed) Scarbrough. 



Lancelot Brown. 



The melancholy spectacle presented by some of the stately 

 houses surrounded by the stiff and unreal " natural land- 

 scape " substituted by Brown for the carefully designed and 

 well-kept old gardens, is thus described by Knight : x 



" Oft when I've seen some lonely mansion stand 

 Fresh from the improver's desolating hand, 

 Midst shaven lawns that far around it creep 

 In one eternal undulating sweep ; 

 And scatter'd clumps, that nod at one another, 

 Each stiffly waving to its formal brother : 

 Tired with the extensive scene, so dull and bare, 

 To Heaven devoutly I've address'd my prayer 

 Again the moss-grown terraces to raise, 

 And spread the labyrinth's perplexing maze ; 

 Replace in even lines the ductile yew, 

 And plant again the ancient avenue. 

 , Some features then, at least, we should obtain 



(To mark this flat, insipid, waving plain : 

 Some vary'd tints and forms would intervene 

 To break this uniform, eternal green." 



Although Brown was assailed by Gilpin, Price, Knight, and 

 Mason, he had many adherents and imitators. Repton is the 

 best known of these. He was an admirer of Brown's works, 



1 " The Landscape," a didactic poem in three books, addressed to 

 Sir Uvedale Price by R. P. Knight, second edition, 1795. 



