LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 
351 
observes, is a first principle of landscape gar- 
dening, as in all other arts ; and those of its 
professors have erred, who supposed that the 
object of art is merely to produce a fac-simile 
of nature, that could not be distinguished 
from a wild scene." 
We dispute this point altogether, and we 
say that the nearer the best scenes of nature 
can be imitated, and the more art is con- 
cealed, the more perfectly has the landscape 
gardener completed his task. We do not 
believe any artist would attempt fac-similes 
any where, for as no two scenes in nature are j 
alike, so no man in his senses would attempt 
to make a fac-simile; but nature is varied with- 
out end. Numerous beautiful spots present 
us with' features that we may imitate with 
advantage, and a combination of wood and 
water, hill and valley, without a harsh line 
to offend the eye, is practicable, and is the 
business of the landscape gardener. We ail 
know that the mansion is a work of art, but 
it should appear to have been erected on that 
spot on account of its beauty, and not convey 
an idea that the house was built on a plain, 
and art had done the rest. In short, terraces, 
straight roads, avenues, and even bent roads, 
without proper obstacles to their being straight, 
all convey an idea of artificial, and are opposed 
to the true principles of landscape gardening. 
We shall, however, give some extracts, and at 
present, the author's remarks on the beautiful 
and picturesque, seem most appropriate : — 
" The two most forcible and complete ex- 
pressions to be found in that kind of natural 
scenery which may be reproduced in landscape 
gardening, are the Beautiful and Picturesque. 
As we look upon these as c[uite distinct, and 
as success in practical embellishment must 
depend on our feeling and understanding 
these expressions beforehand, it is necessary 
that we should attach some definite meaning 
to terms which we shall be continually obliged 
to employ. This is, indeed, the more requi- 
site, from the vague and conflicting opinions 
of most preceding writers on this branch of 
the subject ; some, like Repton, insisting that 
they are identicid ; and others, like Price, that 
they are widely different. 
" Gilpin defines picturesque objects to be 
' those which please from some quality capa- 
ble of being illustrated in painting.' 
" Nothing can well be more vague than 
such a definition. We have already described 
the difi'erence between the beautiful land- 
scapes of Claude and the picturesque scenes 
painted by Salvator. No one can deny their 
being essentially distinct in character ; and 
no one, we imagine, will deny that they both 
please from ' some quality capable of being 
illustrated in painting.' The beautiful female 
heads of Carlo Dolce are widely different from 
those of the picturesque peasant girls of 
Gerard Douw, yet both are favourite sub- 
jects with artists. A symmetrical American 
elm, with its wide head drooping with gar- 
lands of graceful foliage, is very different in 
expression from the wild and twisted larch or 
pine tree, Avhich we find on the steep sides of 
a mountain ; yet both are favourite subjects 
with the painter. It is clear, indeed, that 
there is a widely different idea hidden under 
these two distinct types, in material forms. 
"Beauty, in all natural objects, as we con- 
ceive, arises from their expression of those 
attributes of the Creator — infinity, unity, sym- 
metry, proportion, &c. — which he has stamped 
more or less visibly on all his works ; and a 
beautiful living form is one in which the in- 
dividual is a harmonious and well balanced 
development of a fine type. Thus, taking 
the most perfect specimens of beauty in the 
human figure, we see in them symmetry, pro- 
portion, unity, and grace — the presence of 
everything that could add to the idea of per- 
fected existence. In a beautiful tree, such as 
a fine American elm, we see also the most 
complete and perfect balance of all its parts, 
resulting from its growth under the most 
favourable influences. It realizes, then, per- 
fectly, the finest form of a fine type or species 
of tree. 
"But all nature is not equally beautiful. 
Both in living things and in inorganized 
matter, we see on all sides evidences of na- 
ture struggling with opposing forces. Moun- 
tains are upheaved by convulsions, valleys are 
broken into fearful chasms. Certain forms 
of animal and vegetable life, instead of mani- 
festing themselves in those more complete and 
perfect forms of existence, where the matter 
and spirit are almost in perfect harmony, ap- 
i pear to struggle for the full expression of their 
character with the material form, and to ex- 
' press it only with difficulty at last. What is 
I achieved with harmony, grace, dignity, almost 
I with apparent repose, by existences whose, 
j type is the beautiful, is done only with vio- 
! lence and disturbed action by the former. 
This kind of manifestation in nature we call 
i the picturesque. 
j " More concisely, the beautiful is nature or 
' art obeying the universal laws of perfect ex- 
i istence (?". e. Beauty), easily, freelj^, harmoni- 
i ously, and without the clisjday of power. The 
j picturesque is nature or art obeying the same 
I laws rudely, violently, irregularly, and often 
displaying power only. 
" Hence we find all beautiful forms charac- 
terized by curved and flowing lines — lines 
expressive of infinity, of grace, and willing 
obedience : and all picturesque forms charac- 
terized by irregular and broken Hues — lines 
