Anonymous
The Rise and Progress of the Present Taste in Planting Parks, Pleasure Grounds, Gardens, &c, from Henry the Eighth to King George the Third; in a poetic Epistle to the Right Honorable Charles, Lord Viscount Irwin
Ars est Celare Artem. HORACE
An intimate Acquaintance with the Works of Nature and Genius, in their most beautiful and amiable Forms, humanizes and sweetens the Temper, opens and extends the Imagination, and disposes to the most pleasing Views of Mankind and Providence.
THE ADDRESS
No Gardens of consequence till Henry the Eighths reign. Nonsuch and Theobalds described. Versailles laid out upon the same plan. The three next reigns unacquainted with the charms of Nature, had no taste but for those of Art. Miltons description of Eden admirable. King William introduced the Belgian mode of gardening at Hampton-Court; described and condemned. Sir William Temples garden plans execrable. Kensington gardens capable of being made fine, if opened like Lord Hollands. Kew, Richmond, Castle-Howard, in an exquisite taste. Nestors villa the contrary. Some occasional hints upon the planning and planting of pleasure-grounds. Stowe commended. Its faults. Studley park fine, but too much disfigured by Art. Woobern-Farm a model of rural elegance. The Emperor of Chinas gardens displayed in three views, the pleasing, the horrid, the inchanted. A digression. Templenewsham, Lord Irwins, commended. Mr. Brown, the Kings gardener at Hampton-Court, celebrated for the finest genius this nation has produced, for laying out pleasure-ground; which is visible in his works at Blenheim Castle, at Earl Spencers, at Croome, the Earl of Coventrys, at Caversham, Lord Cadogans, and for uniting the powers of Poetry and Painting in his designs, is crowned with laurel by the Muses.
At length, my Lord, the charms of art decay, | |||
And lovely Nature re-assumes her sway; | |||
As erst in Greece, she now in Albion reigns, | |||
Nor weeps in ruins her Arcadian plains; | |||
5 | Since here triumphant she has fixd her seat, | ||
And views her face with evry charm replete. | |||
Tho not three centries since this fertile Isle, | |||
Saw rich Pomona, and fair Flora smile; | |||
No fruits before*—or bright carnations glowd, | authors note 1 | ||
10 | Nor flavours those—nor odours these bestowd; | ||
Alike unknown the vegetable race, | |||
That richly now our fruitful gardens grace; | |||
From Belgia* then our vegetables came, | authors note 2 | ||
And scarce the curran here had got a name; | |||
15 | No flowering shrubs, and pencil tulips vyd, | ||
With gay auriculas in vernal pride; | |||
Here Flora late, with hyacinthian train, | |||
With roses crownd commencd her lilyd reign. | |||
Of yore the mansions of the rich and great, | |||
20 | Were for protection built, and not for state; | ||
And like the times a warlike aspect wore, | |||
The walls too often staind with human gore; | |||
The lofty towers still venerable rose, | |||
And frownd defiance on vindictive foes; | |||
25 | Strongly immurd with moats encircled round, | ||
No space for gardens, or for pleasure-ground. | |||
Gardens at first—ere Henrys sanguine reign, | |||
Were but mere orchards, rough and rude and plain; | |||
With some mean statues miserably gracd, | |||
30 | As destitute of beauty, as of taste. | ||
Nonsuch* in gay description still displays, | authors note 3 | ||
The false magnificence of Tudors days; | |||
Rich trellis-work the gardens there unfold, | |||
And proud alcoves festoond and gilt with gold; | |||
35 | Large cabinets of verdure, knots of flowers, | ||
And small canals, square groves, and roseat bowers. | |||
As thick as trees fantastic structures rise, | |||
And Gothic images with painted eyes; | |||
The saliant fountains (which have had their day) | |||
40 | Thro beaks of birds ridiculously play; | ||
Trees clipt to statues,* monsters, cats and dogs, | authors note 4 | ||
And hollies metamorphosd into hogs; | |||
Here urns and statues in confusion stand, | |||
And one wide waste of riches spread the land. | |||
Trifles like those at proud Versailles combind, | |||
45 | Fools to surprize, and shock the tasteful mind; | ||
That studies nature, lavish of each grace, | |||
When not absorpt in arts destructive face. | |||
At Theobalds* art disfigurd evry scene, | authors note 5 | ||
Tho costly, poor, magnificent, yet mean; | |||
50 | Here fanes* and statues as Nonsuch placd, | a temple or shrine | |
Without the least propriety, or taste; | |||
Here marbled basins limpid streams eject, | |||
Which pattring fall with infantine effect: | |||
Here narrow ponds the shady walks divide, | |||
55 | And beds of flowers extend from side to side. | ||
You here in vain for distant prospects look, | |||
Behold the walls—encircled by a brook; | |||
Exclude, whateer the charming landskip fills, | |||
The flocks and herds, the rivers, woods and hills: | |||
60 | Yet pedant James in this admird retreat, | ||
Unconscious how to make the monarch great; | |||
Past half his time with Buckingham and Car, | |||
As fond of hunting, as afraid of war. | |||
Such labourd scenes successive kings admird, | |||
65 | Nor to the charms of nature eer aspird; | ||
Milton alone of either Charless time, | |||
In horticulture hit the true sublime; | |||
What varyd beauties in his gardens shine, | |||
The charms of nature live in every line; | |||
70 | The powers of fancy coud no higher soar, | ||
His Eden blooms as Eden bloomd before. | Paradise Lost (1667) | ||
Here great Nassau the Belgian gardens spread, | |||
Yet Hampton-Court th improving age misled; | |||
Long gravel walks with puerile knots of flowers, | |||
75 | Of taste and grandeur still destroy the powers; | ||
With intersected plats of useless grass, | |||
Which seem to interrupt us as we pass; | |||
Garnishd like Christmas brawn, with box or pews, | |||
With chearful hollies, and with gloomy yews: | |||
80 | What tho meandering Thames flows gliding by, | ||
Yet one dead level still offends the eye! | |||
We here fatigud the lengthening walk survey, | |||
That tonsurd bushes, and parterres display; | |||
And pyramids in yew, that doleful stand, | |||
85 | Like mutes and mourners in a funral Band; | ||
When after dragging our tird legs a mile, | |||
Lo! two pavilions in a wretched stile, | |||
Thro which we soon to rural meads retreat, | |||
And what these gardens want, in them we meet. | |||
90 | Temple the easy, learned and polite, | editorss note 1 | |
Who thought as freely as his pen coud write; | |||
No garden plans from graceful nature drew,* | authors note 6 | ||
His trees by pairs in nuptial order grew; | |||
Or placd like sentinels at each corner stand, | |||
95 | To guard Pomonas gifts from Rapines hand; | ||
Pleasd still with fountains, and with gay alcoves, | |||
With statud Venus, and her train of loves; | |||
Sixd round parterres in regular design, | |||
And gravel walks as level as a line. | |||
100 | From want of taste for undulating hills, | ||
Bustles of oaks, fine vales, and murmuring rills; | |||
Extensive lawns, and close embracing shades, | |||
Long lakes, bright spiry rocks, and opening glades; | |||
He torturd nature sore in every part, | |||
105 | And beauty centurd in the charms of art. | ||
O much too long the Belgian mode defacd, | |||
That charming wildness, that inchanting taste, | |||
Which every where the hand of art conceals, | |||
And nature only more improvd reveals! | |||
105 | See Kensington, by Carolines command, | editors note 2 | |
New modelld shines, in rural fancy plannd; | |||
Yet where these Sylvan scenes are all immurd, | walled in | ||
Spoilts every grace, and every charm obscurd. | |||
Who grieves not still to see these gardens lost, | |||
110 | When not a monarch coud in Europe boast, | ||
Of brighter landskips, more luxurious views, | |||
Were but removd, the walls, the groves and yews! | |||
Nigh here behold with pleasure and surprize, | |||
From Hollands taste inchanting scenes arise! | |||
115 | His house before embossomd in a wood, | ||
With walls embarrassd, like a chartreux stood; | |||
From every part he now delighted sees | |||
Towns, temples, villas, rivers, meads and trees: | |||
And every beauty too his gardens grace, | |||
120 | Where nature heretofore conceald her face. | ||
But now the striking scenes at Kew behold, | editors note 3 | ||
Where Taste and Chambers every grace unfold; | |||
Nature adopts his plan, her features sees, | |||
When lively pencild, never fail to please; | |||
125 | So sweetly varyd, so enrichd each part, | ||
Here see the force of genius, and of art! | |||
Cast next your eye on Richmonds blissful plains, | |||
Here Hymen triumphs, and here pleasure reigns; | |||
See here proud Thames respectful bows his waves, | |||
130 | And her green slopes with liquid silver laves; | ||
Here Spring delights, here Summer lovely glows, | |||
Here purple Autumn every tint bestows; | |||
Here emulous th embowering shades arise, | |||
Here fragrant shrubs expand, the richest dies; | |||
135 | Here flowers successive earliest homage pay, | ||
And carpetting enamel all the way; | |||
While from the Thames the balmy zephyrs spring, | |||
And fan the air with odorifrous wing: | |||
While evry grove resounds with warbling notes, | |||
140 | From soaring larks the trembling music flotes. | ||
There Sion lists her venerable pile, | editors note 4 | ||
Where hospitality still wears a smile; | |||
Where taste and elegance and grandeur shine, | |||
And every virtue decks brave Piercys line! | |||
145 | See varyd vessels here with flags advance, | ||
And oer the waves in mazy figures dance; | |||
Pass and repass, and trim the swelling sail, | |||
And sport and wanton in the breezy gale; | |||
Here Albions sceptred pair from noise retire, | |||
150 | And all the charms of rural life admire; | ||
Here in these sweet sequesterd scenes of joy, | |||
Soft love and harmony their hours employ; | |||
Here ease and freedom, Health and Virtue find, | |||
The bliss, the Balm, and Blessing of mankind! | |||
155 | At Castle-Howard all inchantment seems, | editors note 5 | |
Here dwell the Genii of the woods and streams; | |||
The Naiads here with fawns and dryads sport, | editors note 6 | ||
Venus and Cupid here might keep their court; | |||
Here wanton Nature laughs along the plains, | |||
160 | And in despight of art triumphant reigns. | ||
There see an obelisque elated rise, | |||
In grateful memory of filial ties! | |||
A pillar there records great Marlbros name, | |||
His shining laurels, and his deathless fame. | |||
165 | Here on a verdant slope, to fame still just, | ||
A tomb that guards a princely Howards dust; | |||
Below a bridge in true perspective placd, | |||
With all the charms of architecture gracd; | |||
On rising ground see yon stupendous fane, | |||
170 | In attic grandeur grace the lovely plain; | ||
Within what beauty—taste—and splendor shine, | |||
To strike the bosom with an awe divine! | |||
How rich the columns—and how light the dome! | |||
A Temple worthy of immortal Rome! | |||
175 | Oer the Mosaic floor O lightly tread, | ||
Beneaths the sacred mansion of the dead; | |||
Where with his race th illustrious founder lies, | |||
The fair and virtuous, and the brave and wise! | |||
180 | But mark the beauties of these rural scenes, | ||
The brown-embowring shades, and bright-contending greens. | |||
The spacious lawns, rude rocks, and purling rills, | |||
The flowery vallies, and the fruitful hills; | |||
The winding river that unbounded roves, | |||
185 | Till wandering buryd in yon distant groves; | ||
Here in one landskip all these charms combine, | |||
And Britons see a new Arcadia shine. | |||
Lo! Nestors villa—where bright views abound, | 7 | ||
Can boast at home but long extent of ground; | |||
190 | One avenue another still succeeds, | ||
Ungraced with flowery lawns, rich hills and meads; | |||
With nothing wild, or rural interspersd, | |||
With sand and gravel like Arabia cursd. | |||
Forcd up by art, and at a great expence, | |||
200 | The rustic stairs a scanty stream dispense; | ||
Which scarce an hour here faintly murmuring slows, | |||
And oer the steril walks no beauty throws! | |||
For these alas!—unlike Elysian scenes, | |||
Are fencd with aoaring walls of tonsurd greens; | |||
205 | Thro which rude winds in many an eddyng gale, | ||
With clouds of sand the visual orbs assail; | |||
Nature and taste alike disown the place, | |||
And yield to art its honours and disgrace. | |||
But nothing looks so miserably vile, | |||
210 | As a dull regularity of stile; | ||
Where all at once we view the whole design, | |||
Like a desert upon a table shine; | |||
Much art, much labour, order and expence, | |||
Without variety, or taste, or sense; | |||
215 | “Grove nods at grove, each alley has its brother, | Pope, Epistle to Burlington, ll. 117-8 | |
“One half the platform just reflects the other; | |||
Pleasd for a moment we the scene survey, | |||
And then disgusted wish it all away. | |||
O study Nature! And with thought profound, | |||
220 | Previous to laying out with taste your ground: | ||
O mark her beauties as they striking rise, | |||
Bid all her adventitious charms surprize! | |||
Eye all her shining, all her shadowy grace, | |||
And to conceal them every blemish trace: | |||
225 | Yet theres a happiness that baffles Art, | ||
In showing Nature great in every part, | |||
Which chiefly slows from mingled lights and shades, | |||
In lawns, and woods, hills, rivers, rocks and glades; | |||
For only happys that assemblage made, | |||
230 | Where force of light contends with force of shade. | ||
But when too busy Art destroys each grace, | |||
And shades with ornaments her lovely face, | |||
We abdicated beauty eye with pain, | |||
And Art presides, where Nature ought to reign. | |||
235 | Fair Nature still impatient of restraint, | ||
When forcd at all grows languid dull and faint; | |||
When robbd of freedom, loses charm by charm, | |||
Till she expires in Arts usurping arm. | |||
On swelling summits spiry temples found, | |||
240 | And sculpturd obelisks with statues crownd; | ||
In bright perspective let each object rise, | |||
Yet not at first—but on result surprize. | |||
A well-fixd Statue, or a Fane misplacd, | |||
Is viewd with pleasure, or creates distaste. | |||
245 | And truest elegance in plantings shown, | ||
When trees around are negligently thrown, | |||
In numbers not too many or too few, | |||
Groupd as in Natures sweetest scenes we view. | |||
Let the brave Oak, of trees the monarch, rise, | |||
250 | The shapely Larch, pale Ash in mingled dies; | ||
The weeping Willow, and the Elm upright, | |||
The quivering Asp, Abele, and Walnut bright; | |||
The broad-leafd Maple, and the glossy Lime, | |||
The scarlet Chesnut, and the Palm sublime; | |||
255 | The Holly armd with gold and silver spines, | ||
The branchd Pinaster, and the Fir that shines; | |||
The fragrant Cedar with aspiring head, | |||
The feathery Cyprus sacred to the Dead, | |||
Th umbrageous Platane of exalted mein, | |||
260 | The nodding Pine, and Lawrel evergreen. | ||
Let flowering Shrubs in blooming beauty rise, | |||
Of pleasing scents, and variegated dies; | |||
The Sumach, Tutzan, and Acacia soft, | |||
The Tulip-tree, that bears its flowers aloft; | |||
265 | The red Mezerion and Syringa white, | ||
The dusky Bay, and Laurustinus bright; | |||
The pale Laburnum gracd with yellow plumes, | |||
The purple Lilacs filld with mild perfumes; | |||
Th Althea, Opulus, and Virgins bower, | |||
270 | Th Hypericum, and Cistus spotted slower, | ||
The double Almond, Bramble, Cherry, Thorn, | |||
The blushing Peach as ruddy as the morn. | |||
Th Jasmins, Roses, and the Woodbines sweet, | |||
With nameless sorts the fragrant list complete. | |||
275 | But in gradation let their shades appear, | ||
The bright, the dark, the dusky and the clear, | |||
Dispersd around with sweet inchanting air, | |||
Wildly romantic! Elegantly fair!— | |||
With magic wand still tame th unculturd ground, | |||
280 | And bid elysian beauties bloom around; | ||
Let scene improve on scene, and grace on grace, | |||
Inchanting Nature dwell in every place; | |||
Here from dry rocks, like Moses at a blow, | |||
Command the cool translucent streams to slow, | |||
285 | And smoothly glide—till they impeded rise, | ||
And with new water-falls the vales surprize. | |||
The Chinese bridge in semi-circles fling, | |||
Across the living streams, that widening spring; | |||
Bounded by Alder, Beech and Poplar shades, | |||
290 | And facing full the falls of loud cascades, | ||
Whose sparkling streams at intervals are seen, | |||
Shine thro the shades, and purl along the green, | |||
Thro rural elegance still winding rove, | |||
Till murmuring lost in some romantic grove. | |||
295 | Let sweet simplicity each scene adorn, | ||
Order and all incongruous stiffness scorn, | |||
In wandering mazes down the rocky hill, | |||
Here slow the streams in many a purling rill; | |||
And let beneath the vaulted Grotto shine, | |||
300 | Fraught with the products of each Sea and Mine; | ||
Bid sparkling ores, bright shells, and glittering spars, | |||
Reflect a thousand forms, a thousand stars: | |||
While weeping rills pervade th encrusted wall, | |||
Whose pearly tears in marble cisterns fall; | |||
305 | Still such a soothing sound these tinkling keep, | ||
As lull the pensive and the sad to sleep; | |||
Here widowd love, pale woe may rest their head, | |||
Or, with the suddening Spring soft sorrows shed; | |||
Here meditation may pursue her theme, | |||
310 | And of celestial joys enrapturd dream; | ||
Here Bards inspird may sing angelic lays, | |||
Till shells grow vocal in their Makers praise. | |||
While Nature round in every scene presides, | |||
And both the planter and the builder guides, | |||
315 | The more she varies, still the more she warms, | ||
And every eye with every beauty charms. | |||
Cobham with parts, and every virtue blest, | editors note 8 | ||
With pleasing skill the face of Nature drest; | |||
From fine ideas formd a great design, | |||
320 | Coud he have dropt the dangerous Rule and Line, | ||
Then Stowe had been with nobler wildness gracd, | editors note 9 | ||
And shewn the full result of genuine taste. | |||
But tiresome grow each long long lengthening Isle, | |||
Where captive Nature never deignd to smile, | |||
325 | Where crouded Statues, crouded Structures glare, | ||
And only serve to make the Vulgar stare. | |||
Sweet Studley shows too much th effects of Art, | editors note 10 | ||
With every beauty Nature coud impart, | |||
For prim clipt hedges, formal rows of trees, | |||
330 | Veil every grace the tasteful eye decrees. | ||
The streams pellucid still impounded slow, | |||
And Limes are tonsurd like a Birth-night Beau; | |||
Here blooming Nature spreads her charms in vain, | |||
And injurd flies in rural Meads to reign. | |||
335 | Wooburn for me superior charms can boast, | editors note 11 | |
Where Natures still improvd, but never lost; | |||
Here robd in soft simplicity she shines, | |||
And all the paint and pomp of Art resigns, | |||
Pleases alone by her intrinsic grace, | |||
340 | And wears the native beauties of her face. | ||
Ascend yon terrace, and you there survey, | |||
The queen of cities all her domes display: | |||
See Wrens stupendous work, the Fane of Paul, | St.Pauls cathedral | ||
In lofty Majesty oerlooks em all! | |||
345 | There Windsor, crownd with towers and golden spires, | editors note 12 | |
From Edwards deeds the breast with glory sires; | |||
There Edward triumphd with his Garterd Knights, | |||
In proud processions, and in hardy sights; | |||
There beauties came the festival to grace, | |||
350 | And to their charms still bowd the Warrior-race; | ||
In jousts and tournaments they mingled shone, | |||
With many a Noble, many a Royal name, | |||
Illume the Records of immortal Fame. | |||
What Poets fabled or description yields, | |||
355 | Of Tempes Vale, and sweet elysian fields, | editors note 13 | |
See realizd—for here inchanted roves, | |||
The eye oer hills, vales, villas, towns and groves; | |||
Tame rolls his streams in serpent-mazes round, | |||
While flocks and herds graze oer th enameld ground, | |||
360 | And musky zephyrs with a gentle breeze, | ||
Dance oer the lawns, and sport along the trees; | |||
In every bush a featherd Muse we hear, | |||
Whose melting notes melodious sooth the ear. | |||
There weeping willows kiss the watry glades, | |||
365 | And rills still murmur thro the pensive shades; | ||
While blooming flowers ambrosial odours breathe, | |||
And all above is Grace, and Beauty all beneath. | |||
Th Imperial Princes on the Chinese throne, | editors note 14 | ||
Have highest taste in Horticulture shown, | |||
370 | Where step by step astonishd we pursue | ||
Nature still varying, yet forever new: | |||
Here Floras race the brightest blossoms bear, | |||
Whose fragrant breath perfumes the ambient air; | |||
For all the flowers that finest climes adorn, | |||
375 | With opening sweets here hail the purple morn! | ||
On swelling hillocks shrubs of Tyrian dies, | |||
A thousand sorts in rich profusion rise, | |||
Mingled with trees that flavourd fruits unfold, | |||
Which blushing flame with vegetable gold; | |||
380 | While round the silver streams meandering glide, | ||
With this sweet scene reflected on their tide; | |||
Here Pines and Cedars in eternal prime, | |||
With trees unnumberd of this balmy clime, | |||
Dispersd around with such a careless grace, | |||
385 | As gives new beauty to the finest place: | ||
There spiry structures rise on sloping hills, | |||
Broiderd with Pines, and silver quivering rills. | |||
And here the circling walks their colours change, | |||
With them the prospects as along we range. | |||
390 | With Poppies crownd fair Ceres decks the plain, | Roman goddess of agriculture | |
And smiling nods beneath her golden grain. | |||
Here bounding Roes, and bearded Goats are seen, | |||
In playful sport upon the velvet green. | |||
There slows a river winding thro the vales, | |||
395 | Coverd with boats, and glittering colourd fail, | ||
And one a swan resembles—one a whale. | |||
But turning here a different view behold, | |||
A barren wild of aspect bleak and cold; | |||
Tho not extensive, yet an awful scene, | |||
400 | Where no gay pleasing objects intervene. | ||
Here Nature all uncultivated lies, | |||
Here craggy hills in peaks terrific rise, | |||
Whence horrid rocks projecting seem to frown, | |||
And every moment threaten to fall down. | |||
405 | Here a Pagoda with a shatterd face, | ||
Moulderd by Time, bends nodding oer its base. | |||
In heaps of ruin here sepulchres mourn | |||
Their mangled images, and sculptures torn: | |||
Here caverns stretch their monstrous jaws around, | |||
410 | Where rude winds whistling waft a mournful sound. | ||
Here bursts a catract oer a rocky steep, | |||
Whose falls a dreadful thundering, clamouring keep. | |||
Here echo dwells, and entertaind she seems, | |||
By imitating still the boisterous streams. | |||
415 | Here blasted Pines and ragged Cedars stand, | ||
And desolation covers all the land. | |||
As here along we melancholy stray, | |||
Still fallen towers and pillars strew the way; | |||
Till we at length insensibly are led, | |||
420 | To where a Cyprus Grove erects its head; | ||
All scenes at entrance dark and silent here, | |||
Till rushing torrents strike th astouned ear; | |||
Dubious we stand what winding walk to take, | |||
As rambling waves the earth beneath us shake. | |||
425 | In vain we try the torrent to explore, | ||
That rolls along with loud tremendous rore. | |||
As lost in wonder we advance this wood, | |||
Still louder still the subterraneous Flood. | |||
Here weeping Grots, and Ivy-fretted Cells, | |||
430 | Where pining melancholy moping dwells, | ||
For she, pale sister, dreads the glare of day, | |||
And in these Shades illudes its sparkling Ray. | |||
Here Screech-owls, Bats, voracious birds of night, | |||
In solemn stillness sleep secure from sight. | |||
435 | Hark!—now the torrent bursting loudest rores, | ||
As waves reverbrate from rough rocky shores; | |||
At length a darksome Cave impedes our way, | |||
We enter quick impatient for the day; | |||
When low! A prospect opens to our view, | |||
440 | Richer than ever Poet feignd, or Painter drew. | ||
Beneath the Grove the torrent rolls conceald | |||
To raise surprize, and be with joy reveald. | |||
Behold the streams in one tumultuous rage, | |||
Down dashing headlong pointed rocks engage, | |||
445 | Here foaming flash around their sparkling spray, | ||
And billowing dart along the plains away, | |||
Till yonder spreading like an ocean wide, | |||
They then by temples, towers, and villas glide; | |||
Which raisd on hills with Palms and Cedars crownd, | |||
450 | Conspiring make this seem inchanted ground. | ||
There lofty Bridges, in grotesque design, | |||
Oer vallies stretchd, and hill with hill conjoin, | |||
And view beneath what boats unfurl their sails, | |||
Whose flying streamers catch th Etesian gales, | |||
455 | To net the fishes in the curling stream, | ||
Which thro bright waves like molten silver gleam. | |||
On Pine-crownd hills there Mausoleums rise, | |||
Whose golden Pennons glitter in the skies: | |||
O lovely scenes! With every beauty gracd, | |||
460 | With grandeur, wildness, and sublimest taste: | ||
With hanging woods, fine slopes, and glittering rills, | |||
Red cliffs, green vales, white rocks, and azure hills. | |||
See silk-worms here their golden cones display | |||
On Mulberry-trees, and emulate the day. | |||
465 | Around yon Elms the Vine her foliage spreads, | ||
The peeping clusters blush, and hang their heads. | |||
We here inhale the aromatic breeze, | |||
In Jasmin bowers enwreathd with spicy trees. | |||
There shine the Grots and Baths with colonades, | |||
470 | Here flask resounding flask the shrill cascades | ||
Oer crystal rocks.—There weeping willows bend, | |||
To falls aquatic verdant shelter lend; | |||
In pools encircled round with spiky reeds, | |||
See here they foster all their downy breeds! | |||
475 | There winding turns the silver-lilyd vale, | ||
And here again behold the vessels fail! | |||
There towers with spires and tall Pagodas rise, | |||
Crusted with Porcelain of richest dies: | |||
While Citron, Orange, Rose and Myrtle, shades, | |||
480 | Wave pensile oer the cool pellucid glades; | ||
Where Pheasants, Parrots and Maccaws unfold, | |||
Their many coloured-plumes suffusd with gold; | |||
While Larks and Philomels, still warbling vye, | |||
And fill with melody the azure sky; | |||
485 | Whence brightest suns irradiate all below, | ||
Where beauty out of beauty seems to grow. | |||
There active Swains unanimous agree, | |||
To cull the verdant leaves of fragrant Tea; | |||
While these unlock the silver sluices round, | |||
490 | To pulp the rice, and bathe the flowery ground. | ||
There Animals of finest shape and dye, | |||
Unknown to us attract the wondering eye; | |||
With bleating sheep, and lowing herds and fawns, | |||
In friendly league still crop the vivid lawns. | |||
495 | Here soft Favonius fans the genial Spring, | Latin: west wind | |
Attempering Phoebus rays with breesy wing. | |||
Here no dire winds or fable mists arise, | |||
But silver showers distil from golden skies. | |||
No lightenings flash, or peals of thunder break, | |||
500 | To blast their harvests, or their mansions shake: | ||
Nor putrid vapours here in spires ascend, | |||
Nor storms of hail or flakes of snow descend, | |||
But flowers and trees in blooming pride appear, | |||
And Spring triumphant rules the circling year. | |||
505 | But you, my Lord, at Templenewsham find, | editors note 15 | |
The charms of Nature gracefully combind, | |||
Sweet waving hills, with woods and verdure crownd, | |||
And winding vales, where murmuring streams resound: | |||
Slopes fringd with Oaks which gradual die away, | |||
510 | And all around romantic scenes display. | ||
Delighted still along the Park we rove, | |||
Varyd with Hill and Dale, with Wood and Grove: | |||
Oer velvet Lawns what noble Prospects rise, | |||
Fair as the Scenes, that Reubens hand supplies! | |||
515 | But when the Lake shall these sweet Grounds adorn, | ||
And bright expanding like the eye of Morn, | |||
Reflect whateer above its surface rise, | |||
The Hills, the Rocks, the Woods, and varying Skies, | |||
Then will the wild and beautiful combine, | |||
520 | And Taste and Beauty grace your whole Design. | ||
But your great Artist, like the source of light, | |||
Gilds every Scene with beauty and delight; | |||
At Blenheim, Croome, and Caversham we trace | editors note 16 | ||
Salvators Wildness, Clauds enlivening grace, | editors note 17 | ||
525 | Cascades and Lakes as fine as Risdale drew, | editors note 18 | |
While Natures varyd in each charming view. | |||
To paint his works woud Pousins Powers require, | editors note 19 | ||
Miltons sublimity, and Drydens sire: | |||
For both the Sister Arts in him combind, | |||
530 | Enrich the great ideas of his mind; | ||
And these still brighten all his vast designs, | |||
For here the Painter, there the Poet shines! | |||
With just contempt he spurns all former rules, | |||
And shows true Taste is not confind to schools. | |||
535 | He barren tracts with every charm illumes, | ||
At his command a new Creation blooms; | |||
Born to grace Nature, and her works complete, | |||
With all thats beautiful, sublime and great! | |||
For him each Muse enwreathes the Laurel Crown, | |||
540 | And consecrates to Fame immortal Brown. | ||
Authors Notes
(1) It will appear from the following quotation, that the cultivation of fruits had made but little progress here in the last century; for in an Essay upon the gardens of Epicurus, written by Sir William Temple in the year 1685, he observed, it was to little purpose to plant peaches and grapes further north than Northamptonshire. And it was very prudent (said he) in a friend of mine, a gentleman in Staffordshire, who is a great lover of his garden, to pretend no higher, tho his soil be good enough, than to the perfection of plums, and in these, by bestowing South-Wales upon them, he has very well succeeded, which he could never have done in attempts upon peaches and grapes.
(2) No salads in England in 1509, carrots, turnips, and cabbages were imported from the Netherlands. Vide Andersons History of the Rise and Progress of Commerce.
(3) Nonsuch, near Epsom, was antiently called Cuddington, till King Henry the Eighth built a fine palace here, and gave it this name: King Charles the Second granted it to the Duchess of Cleveland, who after his death pulled it down, and sold the materials, out of which the Earl of Berkeley erected a house at Durdans, which has since past thro several hands. There remains now only a cottage at Nonsuch, of which the Duke of Cleveland is Baron.
(4) Pliny tells us, that in the garden belonging to his chief seat in Tuscany, his own name and his gardeners were cut in box; and that his whole garden was filled with variety of figures, images and harbours, formed out of trees, which grew in it. At what time this fashion was introduced here is not known, but it continued till Mr. Pope ridiculed it in one of the Guardians. The motto of the Garter, and other devices cut in box, are still to be seen in New-college garden at Oxford; and a nobleman, at his seat near London, had some years ago the Coronation dinner in yew of King William and Queen Mary.
(5) The Lord Treasurer Burleigh erected a fine house and extensive gardens. King James the First, upon his progress from Scotland to take possession of the English throne, did Burleighs son, Sir Robert Cecil (afterwards Earl of Salifbury) the honour to take a bed here; and being charmed with the house and gardens, he gave Cecil Hatfield-Regis in exchange. From this place King Charles the First set out to erect his standard; which was the reason of its being afterwards defaced and plundered by the parliaments army. King Charles the Second granted this Manor to George Monk, Duke of Albemarle, and his heirs male, but his son Christopher dying without issue, it reverted to the crown; and King William the Third granted it to his favourite Bentinck, Earl of Portland, in whose family it still continues.
(6) Among us (said Sir William Temple) the beauty of building and planting is placed chiefly in some certain proportions and symmetries or uniformities; our walks and our trees ranged so, as to answer one another, and at equal distances. The Chinese scorn this way of planting, and say, a boy that can tell a hundred, may plant walks of trees in strait lines, and over against one another; and to what length and extent he pleases; but their greatest reach of imagination is employed in contriving figures, where the beauty shall be great and strike the eye, but without any order or disposition of parts, that shall be commonly or easily observed: and tho we have no notion of this fort of beauty, yet they have a particular word to express it, and where they find it hit their eye at first sight, they say, the Sharawadgi is fine or admirable. Vide Temples Works, folio, Vol. I. Page 186.
Editors Notes
1.Sir William Temple (1628-99). Statesman and essayist, later patron of Jonathan Swift, author of Upon the Gardens of Epicurus, or of Gardening in the Year 1685 (1692).
2. Kensington Palace: London residence of George II and Queen Caroline, 1727-60. Caroline ordered new gardens to be laid out by Charles Bridgeman.
3. Kew: gardens already praised by Evelyn in 1678. George II and Queen Caroline laid out gardens around Richmond Lodge in the 1740s. In 1759 Augusta, widow of the Prince of Wales, ordered Lord Bute and William Aiton to create a botanic garden. Gardens remodelled by Brown in the 1770s. See also note on Sir William Chambers below.
4. Syon House, London: seat of the Percys, Dukes of Northumberland. House redesigned by Robert Adam and grounds laid out by Capabilty Brown in the 1750s and 1760s.
5. Castle Howard, Yorkshire: seat of the Howard family in Yorkshire, and among the greatest houses and gardens. Gardens laid out by Sir John Vanbrugh (1664-1726) in early 1700s and remodelled in 1750s by Capability Brown.
6. Greek: nymphs were spirits of nature, beautiful maidens living near water; dryads were nymphs of the woods. Common figures in Augustan and neo-classical pastoral verse.
7. Nestor: the oldest and wisest of the Greeks in the Trojan War.
8. Cobham: Sir Richard Temple, Viscount Cobham. See below.
9. Stowe Park, Buckinghamshire: owned by Sir Richard Temple, Viscount Cobham, this was one of the most important landscape gardens. A new house was commissioned from Sir John Vanbrugh and new gardens from Charles Bridgeman in the 1710s, work on the house being taken over by James Gibbs following Vanbrughs death in 1726. William Kent took over in the 1730s, and Capability Brown extended and adapted Kents ideas in the 1740s.
10. Studley Royal, Yorkshire. Inherited 1693 by John Aislabie (1670-1742) who laid out the gardens respecting the natural forms of the river valley 1721-1742 following his involvement in the South Sea Bubble and expulsion from Parliament. In 1767 Aislabies son William bought the neighbouring ruins of the Cistercian Fountains Abbey (founded 1132 and dissolved post 1539) and incorporated them into a park now owned by the National Trust.
11. Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire; seat of the Dukes of Bedford. House remodelled by Henry Flitcraft from 1747; gardens remodelled by Humphry Repton, 1802.
12. Windsor Castle: from the time of William the Conqueror, Windsor guarded the western approaches to London. The park was laid out under Charles II.
13. Tempes vale: a wooded valley in Thessaly, Greece, between the mountains of Olympus, the home of the Gods, and its neighbouring mount Ossa.
14. Chinese: Sir William Chambers (1723-96) visited Canton and China 1748-9. Having become drawing tutor to the future king George III, he designed various buildings at Kew from 1757 onwards, including a Chinese pagoda. His enthusiasm for the horror and sublimity of Chinese gardens was expressed in his A Dissertation on Oriental Gardening (1772) in terms which are close to those found in this poem.
15. Temple Newsam, near Leeds, Yorkshire; gardens laid out by Capability Brown.
16. Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire. Seat of Duke of Marlborough; the Royal Manor of Woodstock was granted to John Churchill for his victory over the forces of Louis XIV at Blenheim, 13th August 1704. Grounds remodelled by Capability Brown in the 1760s. Croome Park, Worcestershire; grounds laid out by Brown.
17. Salvator Rosa 1615-73, Italian landscape painter; Claude Lorrain (1600-82), French landscape painter whose work was often taken as a model by landscapers.
18. Jacob Ruisdael (1628?-82), Dutch landscape painter.
19. Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665), French neo-classical landscape painter.
First published 1767
Robert Clark