118 



SCIENCE OF GARDENING. 



Part II. 



people, where it is employed ; and that the ancient and modern styles, viewed in this 

 li^t, are each perfectly natural, and equally meriting adoption, according to relative 

 circumstances ; less than from any positive beauty or advantages of either manner. We 

 are consequently of opinion, that the ancient style, divested of some ingredients which 

 relate to warm climates, and purified from the extravagances of extremes in decoration, 

 would be in much better taste in some situations in the Highlands of Scotland, and the 

 south of Ireland, than the modern style ; and that this style cannot, for a long series of 

 years, afford any other satisfaction in many parts of other countries than what arises from 

 the temporary interest of novelty and accidental association. It may never be altogether lost 

 sight of in subsequent arrangements ; but whenever the influence of fashion has subsided, 

 the beauties of the ancient style will be desired, as fulfilling better the objects in view, till 

 landed property, in these countries, becomes enclosed, subdivided, and cultivated, as it is 

 in England. 



Sect. III. Of the Clhnate of Britain, in respect to Gardening. 



537. Britain, France, Holland, and the north of Italy, are UJiquestionably the best coun- 

 tries of Europe for European gardening ; and of these, the best paits are such as combine 

 hills and plains, rocks, rivers, and prospects. 



538. The preference of Britain, as to government and civilisation, and its equality at 

 least as to soil and surface, will not be disputed. As to climate, Charles II. in reply to 

 some who were reviling it, said, he thought " that was the best climate where he could be 

 abroad in the air with pleasure, or at least without trouble and inconvenience, the most 

 days of the year, and tlie most hours of the day ;" and this he thought could be done 

 in England more than in any other country he knew of in Europe. 



539. Gravel and turf. There are, says Sir William Temple, "besides tlie temper of our 

 climate, two things particular to us, that contribute much to the beauty and elegance of our 

 gardens which arc, the gravel of our walks, and the fineness and almost perpetual greenness 

 of our turf. Tlie first is not known any where else, which leaves all their dry walks, in 

 other countries, very unpleasant and uneasy. The other cannot be found in France or 

 in Holland as we have it, the soil not admitting that fineness of blade in Holland, nor 

 the sun that greenness in France, during most of the summer ; nor indeed is it to be 

 found but in the finest of our soils." 



540. Neatness and greenth, says Lord Walpole, " are so essential in my opinion to the 

 country, that in France, where I see nothing but chalk and dirty peasants, I seem in a 

 terrestrial purgatory, that is neither in town nor country. The face of England is so 

 beautiful that I do not believe Tempe or Arcadia were half so rural ; for both lying in 

 hot climates, must have wanted the moss of our lawns." [Letters, ccli. 1796.) v'f-' 



541. That which prevents the gardening of Britain from attaining to a much higher degree 

 of j)erfectb7i as an art of taste, is not any natural deficiencies in our climate or soil, nor 

 the want of meand to make the most of them, but the want of taste in the proprietors ; 

 for after all that has been done and written, there appear to be few who have a just 

 relish for that sort of beauty in pleasure-grounds which is properly called picturesque, 

 or such as a painter might introduce in a picture. We do not allude to any objects or 

 arrangements which would interfere with utility ; but to such a disposition of forms as 

 painters call grouping, connection, hannony, and, above all, to that general result which 

 is called unity of expression or character. 



^ PART II. 



GARDENING CONSIDERED AS A SCIENCE. 



542. Knowledge, in the infancy of eveiy art, is necessarily confined to particulars, but 

 after long observation and experience, the mind begins to generalise facts, and this is tlie 

 first step towards the foundation of theory, or science ; ■which is nothing more than the 

 substitution of rational principles of action, for habits founded on custom or prejudice. 

 A number of generalised facts accumulated, the next process of the mind is to classify 

 or systematise them ; this is the highest eflfort in the progress of knowledge ; and tliat 

 art will be the most perfectly understood as a science, in which the greatest number of 

 facts, or in other words, the most extensive range of experience and observation, is gene- 

 ralised and arranged in a connected system. 



543. Unfortifed by the light of science, the practical man has no other assurance for the 

 success of the future, than the experience of the past, and no resource for unforeseen 

 events but ordinary expedients ; he resorts to general rules and precepts, which direct 

 what is to be done every where, and on eveiy occasion, instead of applying to principles 



