136 



to analyze and examine what he deems 



" Harmless dinigs, roll'd in a gilded pill," 



lest the subtle poison they contain should 

 not only influence the art of gardening, 

 but insinuate itself into the other polite 

 arts. In Sculp/ure,\vt ought to admire the 

 gTaces of the Venus de Medicis, as well as 



to exemplify bad taste in the two extremes of artificial 

 neatness and wild neglect. I can hardly suppose any 

 humble follower of Brown, or any admirer of the " bare 

 and bald, to shave, and smooth, and serpentine," a 

 scene like this caricature of modern improvement; nor 

 would any architect of common taste, suggest such a 

 house, instead of the venerable pile in the other draw- 

 ing. At the same time there is a concomitant absurdity 

 in the other view, unless we are to consider it as the 

 forsaken mansion of a noble family gone to decay: for 

 if it be allowable to approach the house by any road, 

 and if that road must cross the river, there are archi- 

 tects in this country, who would suggest designs for a 

 brido^e in unison with the situation, without either copy- 

 ing fantastic Chinese models, or the no less fantastic 

 wooden bridge here introduced, which, though per- 

 fectly picturesque in its form, and applicable to the steep 

 banks of the Teme, yet, in this flat situation, looks like 

 the miserable expedient of poverty, or a ridiculous af- 

 fectation of rural simplicity. 



