Book I. 



GARDENING IN THE BRITISH ISLES. 



77 



fore, that Gainsborough gave the design, and that Brown executed." The works and memory of Brown 

 have been severely attacked by Knight and Price, and strenuously defended by Repton, who styles him " his 

 great self-taught predecessor." " Brown," observes G. Mason, " always appeared to myself in the light 

 of an egregious mannerist ; who, from having acquired a facility in shaping surfaces, grew fond of exhi- 

 biting that talent, without due regard to nature, and left marks of his intrusion wherever he went. His 

 new plantations were generally void of genius, taste, and propriety ; but I have seen instances of his ma- 

 naging old ones much better. He made a view to Cheney's church, from Latimer (Bucks), as natural 

 and picturesque as can well be imagined. Yet at the same place he iiad stuffed a very narrow vale, by the 

 side of an artificial river, with those crowded circular clumps of firs alone, that Price attributes to him. 

 The incongruity of this plan struck most of the neighbouring gentlemen, but was defended by the artist 

 himself, under shelter of the epithet ' playful/ totally misapplied." {Essay on Design, p. 130. 2d edit. 1795.) 



That Brown must have possessed considerable talents, the extent of his reputation abundantly proves ; 

 but that he was imbued with much of that taste for picturesque beauty v/hich distinguished the works of 

 Kent, Hamilton, and Shenstone, we think will hardly be asserted by any one who has observed atten- 

 tively such places as are known to be his creations. Whatever be Ihe extent or character of the surface, 

 they are all surrounded by a narrow belt, and th-2 space within is distinguished by numbers of round or 

 oval clumps, and a reach or two of a tame riTer on different levels. This description, in short, will apply to 

 almost every place in Britain laid out from the time (about 1740) when the passion commenced for new- 

 modelling country-seats, to about 1785 or 1790, when it in ?. great measure ceased. The leading outline of 

 this plan of improvement was easily recollected and easily applied; the great demand produced abundance 

 of artists ; and the general appearance of the country so rapidly changed under their operations, that in 

 1772, Sir William Chambers declared, that if the mania were not checked, in a few years longer there 

 •would not be found three trees in a line from the Land s-end to the Tweed. Brown, it is said, never went 

 out of England, but he sent pupils and plans to Scotland and Ireland ; and Paulowsky, a seat of the late 

 emperor Paul, near Petersburg, is said to be from his design. Brown, as far as we have learned, could not 

 draw, but had assistants, who made out plans of ^hat he intended. He generally contracted for the 

 execution of the work- He amassed a handsome fortune, and his son Launcelot has sat in several 

 parliaments. 



The immediate successor of Brown was his nephew, Holland, who was more employed as an architect 

 than as a landscape-gardener, though he generally directed the disposition of the grounds when he was 

 employed in the former capacity. HoUand, we believe, retired from business some years ago. 



Fames is the next artist that deserves to be mentioned ; of him, however, we know little more than that 

 he is mentioned in terms of respect by G. Mason. 



343. The authors who established the modern style are, Addison, Pope, Shenstone, 

 G. Mason, Wheatley, and Mason, the poet. 



Addison's Spectators have been already referred to. 



JPope's Epistle to Lord Burlington has also been noticed, as well as 



ShenstoTie's Unconnected Thoughts ; the former published in 1716, the latter in 1764. 



G. Mason^s Essay on Design in Gardening, from which we have so frequently quoted, was first published 

 in 1768, and afterwards greatly enlarged in 1795. It is more a historical and critical work than a didactic 

 performance. Mason was an excellent classical scholar : he lived much alone, and almost always in London, 

 being connected with the Sun Fire OlRce. 



Wheatley's Observations on Modern Gardening, published in 1770, is the grand fundamental and standard 

 work on English gardening. It is entirely analytical ; treating, first, of the materials, then of the scenes, 

 and lastly, of the subjects of gardening. Its style has been pronounced by Ensor inimitable; and the 

 descriptions with which his investigations are accompanied, have been largely copied and amply praised 

 by Alison, in his work on taste. The book was soon translated into the continental languages, and is 

 judiciously praised in the Mercure de France, Journal Encyclopedique, and Wieland's Journal. G. Ma- 

 son alone dissents from the general opinion, enlarging on the very few faults or peculiarities which 

 are to be found in the book. Wheatley, or Whateley, (for so little is known of this eminent man, that we 

 have never been able to ascertain satisfactorily the orthography of his name,) was proprietor of Nonsuch 

 Park, in Surrey, and was secretary to the Earl of Suffolk. He published only this work, soon after which 

 he died. After his death, some remarks on Shakspeare, from his pen, were published in a small 12mo. 

 volume. 



The English Garden, a poem by W. Mason, was published in four different books, the first of which 

 appeared in 1772. With the exception of the fourth book, it was received with very great applause. The 

 precepts for planting are particularly instructive. On the whole, the work may be classed with the Observ- 

 ations of Wheatley; and these two books may be said to exhibit a clear view of the modern style, as first 

 introduced and followed by liberal and cultivated minds ; whilst the Dissertation on Oriental Gardenings 

 by Sir William Chambers, published in 1772, holds up to ridicule the absurd imitations of uncultivated 

 amateurs and professors, who have no other qualifications than those acquired in laboring with the spade 

 under some celebrated artist. Mason was a clergyman, resident in Yorkshire, and died in 1797. 



344. The 2)artial corruption of the modern style took place as soon as it became fashion- 

 able ; though it may be true, that " in all liberal arts, the merit of transcendent 

 genius, not the herd of pretenders, characterises an aera," yet in an art like that of 

 laying out grounds, whose productions necessarily have such an influence on the general 

 face of a country, it is impossible to judge otherwise of the actual state of the art, than 

 from the effect which is produced. This effect, about forty yeai-s ago, when clumps and 

 belts blotted every horizon, could never be mistaken for that intended by such pro- 

 fessors as Kent, or such authors as Wheatley and Mason. The truth is, such was the rage 

 for improvement, that the demand for artists of genuine taste exceeded the regular supply ; 

 and, as is usual in such cases, a false article was brought to market, and imposed on the 

 public. A liberal was thus for a time reduced to a mechanic art, and a new character given 

 to modern improvements, which, from consisting in a display of ease, elegance, and 

 nature, according to the situation, became a system of set forms, indiscriminately applied 

 in every case. This system was in fact more formal, and less varied, than the ancient 

 style to which it succeeded, because it had fewer parts. An ancient garden had avenues, 

 alleys, stars, pates-d'oye, pelotons or platoons (square clumps), circular masses, rows, 

 double and single, and strips, all from one material, wood; but the modern style, as 

 now degraded, had only three forms, a clump, a belt, and a single tree. Place the belt 

 in the circumference, and distribute the clumps and single trees within, and all that re- 

 spects wood in one of these places is finished. The professor required no further exa- 

 mination of the ground than what waa necessary to take the levels for forming a piece of 



