Book IV. BEAUTIES OF LANDSCAPE-GARDENING. 997 



they might be mistaken for the production of nature, in which case they would lose the 

 beauty of design ; but forms perfectly regular, and divisions completely uniform, im- 

 mediately excite the belief of design, and with this belief, all the admiration which follows 

 the employment of skill and expense. Ground in level or regular slopes, or in hills or 

 hollows of symmetrical shapes ; woods of right-lined boundaries ; trees, and especially 

 such as are foreign to the soil, planted equidistantly in masses, in quincunx, or in straight 

 rows ; water in architectural basins, regular canals, or fountains ; walks and woods, of 

 uniform width and perfectly straight ; straight walls and hedges are easily distinguished 

 from nature's management of these materials, and are highly expressive of the hand of 

 man. 



7164. Begular forms are satufactory, Stewart observes (^Philosophical Essays, 238.), 

 *< from the principle of a sufficient reason, adopted by Leibnitz. What is it, that in any 

 thing which is merely ornamental, and which at the same time does not profess to be an 

 imitation of nature, renders irregular forms displeasing ? Is it not, at least, in part, that 

 irregularities are infinite ; and that no circumstance can be imagined which should have 

 decided the choice of tlie artist in favor of that particular figure which he has selected ? 

 The variety of regular figures, it must be acknowledged, is infinite also ; but supposing 

 the choice to be once fixed about the number of sides, no apparent caprice of the artist in 

 adjusting their relative proportions, presents a disagreeable and inexplicable puzzle to the 

 spectator." 



7165. Wherever symmetry "is useful to the soul, and may assist her functions, it is 

 agreeable to her ; but wherever it is useless, it becomes distasteful, because it takes away 

 vai iety : therefore, things that we see in succession ought to have variety, for our soul has 

 no difficulty in seeing them : those, on the contrary, that we see at one glance, ought to 

 have symmetry ; thus at one glance we see the front of a building, a parterre, a temple ; 

 in sucli ti)ings there is always a symmetry which pleases the soul, by the facility it gives 

 her of taking the whole object at once." (^Montesquieu.) 



7166. Tlie ex]iression of design, in the progress of the arts, though at first difficult, be- 

 comes afterwards easy, and renders regularity and uniformity only expressive of common 

 design. Hence, to confer a character of superiority in works of design, variety would 

 be introduced ; and as uniformity was the sign of design, so uniformity and variety would 

 become the sign of improved or embellished design. " Considering, therefore, forms in this 

 light as beautiful, merely from their expression of design, the observation of Dr. Hutcheson 

 may perhaps be considered as an axiom with regard to their beauty, viz. that where the uni- 

 formity is equal, the beauty of forms is in proportion to their variety ; and when their variety 

 is equal, their beauty is in proportion to their uniformity." (^Alison's Essays, p. 106. ) To this 

 stage, in the progress of design, may be referred the architectural ornaments introduced 

 in garden -scenery, such as seats, buildings, statues, urns ; and in the later stages of the 

 art, serpentine walks, labyrinths, verdant sculpture, and many other improvements. The 

 variety and embellishment thus conferred on gardens produced in time many absurdities, 

 that we would not wish to see resorted to with a revival of the ancient style, unless in 

 examples considered solely with a view to imitation. The sculpture of trees, however, 

 might, when first introduced, be greatly admired, even by men of sense, for its novelty, 

 and the discovery of a certain degree of skill in the artist ; but as, in our times, they would 

 neither be new nor meritorious, they could scarcely be consistently introduced with a view 

 to embellish design. 



7167. To prevent variety from degenerating into confusion, and as Professor Stewart 

 characteristically expresses it, "puzzling the spectator," unity of intention must never be 

 lost sight of. This, indeed, is necessarily implied in every work of ai't, since, without 

 it, the slightest attempt at design would only end in a chaos of materials. 



7168. Fitness, or the proper adaptation of means to an end, is the second source of the 

 relative beauty of forms. Considered in relation to the parts of a building, it is generally 

 denominated proportion, and refers to the adequate strength of certain parts to bear certain 

 weights, &c. In the detail of the ancient, and in scenes of relative beauty in the modern 

 style of gardening, it relates to the magnitude and situations of buildings, and other 

 artificial objects, relative to natural ones, — to the extent of the different scenes or consti- 

 tuent parts of a residence, compared to the whole, — to the propriety and congruity of 

 certain objects as ornaments, — and, in general, to the adequacy of means to an end, 

 whatever these means or that end may be. 



7169. Utility is, the third source of the relative beauty of forms. None of the other 

 beauties will compensate for the entire want of utility in any scene of architecture or 

 gardening. Objects at first thought beautiful, soon lose this expression when they are 

 found to be of no use ; and others, with first impressions the most disagreeable, are felt 

 to become beautiful as they are known to be useful. " This species of beauty," Alison 

 observes, " is in itself productive of a much weaker emotion than that which arises from 

 the different sources of ornamental beauty ; but it is of a more constant and permanent 

 kind, and much more uniformly fitted to excite the admiration of mankind." {Essays on 



