Italian gardens, they are almost entirely 

 banished from our's : statues in some de- 

 gree still remain. Fountains have been 

 objected to as unnatural, as forcing water 

 into an unnatural direction : I must own, I 

 do not feel the weight of that objection ; 

 for naturalness d'eaux, though rare, do ex- 

 ist, and are among the most surprising ex- 

 hibitions of nature. Such exhibitions* when 

 imitable, are surely proper objects of imi- 

 tation ; and as art cannot pretend to vie 

 with nature in greatness of style and exe- 

 cution, she must try to compensate her 

 weakness by symmetry, variety, and rich- 

 ness of design ; and fountains, such as are 

 still to be seen in Rome and its environs, 

 may be classed with the most striking spe- 

 cimens of art, in point of richness and bril- 

 liancy of effect. But on the subject of 

 fountains, I am inclined to risk what may 

 be reckoned a bold position — that near a 

 house on a large scale, this mode of intro- 

 ducing water in violent motion, so far from 

 being improper, is, of all others, the mode 

 in which it may be done with the most ex- 



