{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_39929/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_39929","id":"gutenberg_39929","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39929","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Art","Category: Environmental Issues","Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: History - British","Category: History - Early Modern (c. 1450-1750)","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Travel Writing","Cobham, Richard Temple, Viscount, 1669?-1749","Landscape gardening -- Early works to 1800"],"text":"Produced by Tor Martin Kristiansen, Sue Fleming, Joseph\nCooper and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at\nhttp://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n                        THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY\n\n                              [WILLIAM GILPIN]\n\n                                     A\n                                  DIALOGUE\n                              UPON THE GARDENS\n                                     OF\n                          THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE\n                            Lord Viscount _COBHAM_\n                                     AT\n                           STOW IN BUCKINGHAMSHIRE\n                                  _(1748)_\n\n\n\n                             _Introduction by_\n\n                              JOHN DIXON HUNT\n\n                          PUBLICATION NUMBER _176_\n                    WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK MEMORIAL LIBRARY\n                     UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES\n                                  _1976_\n\n\n\n    GENERAL EDITORS\n\n  William E. Conway, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library\n  George Robert Guffey, University of California, Los Angeles\n  Maximillian E. Novak, University of California, Los Angeles\n  David S. Rodes, University of California, Los Angeles\n\n\n    ADVISORY EDITORS\n\n  James L. Clifford, Columbia University\n  Ralph Cohen, University of Virginia\n  Vinton A. Dearing, University of California, Los Angeles\n  Arthur Friedman, University of Chicago\n  Louis A. Landa, Princeton University\n  Earl Miner, Princeton University\n  Samuel H. Monk, University of Minnesota\n  Everett T. Moore, University of California, Los Angeles\n  Lawrence Clark Powell, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library\n  James Sutherland, University College, London\n  H. T. Swedenberg, Jr., University of California, Los Angeles\n  Robert Vosper, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library\n\n\n    CORRESPONDING SECRETARY\n\n  Beverly J. Onley, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library\n\n\n\n\n                           INTRODUCTION\n\n\nStowe is certainly the most documented of all English Augustan\ngardens,[1] and William Gilpin's _Dialogue_ probably one of the most\nimportant accounts of it. He was at Stowe in 1747 and published his\nrecord of that visit anonymously the following year.[2] The _Dialogue_\nreached a second edition, with some slight alterations in the text, in\n1749 and a third in 1751, when the dialogue was transformed into\nnarrative.\n\nThe _Dialogue_ recommends itself both to the historian of the English\nlandscape movement, in which Stowe was a prime exhibit, and to the\nstudent of the later vogue for the picturesque, in which Gilpin was a\nmajor participant. His account of Cobham's gardens illuminates some of\nthe connections between the cult of the picturesque that Gilpin fostered\nwith his publications of the 1780s and the earlier eighteenth-century\ninvocation of pictures in gardens.\n\nPerhaps in no other art form were the tensions and transformations in\nthe arts more conspicuous than in landscape gardening. Gilpin is\nespecially rewarding in his instinctive attention to these shifting\npatterns; although the dialogue form is not very skillfully handled, it\nyet allows some play between the rival attitudes. Thus his characters\nattend to both the emblematic and the expressive garden;[3] to both its\ncelebration of public worth and its commendation of private virtue.\nWhile Gilpin seems sufficiently and indeed sharply aware of set-piece\nviews in the gardens, the three-dimensional pictures contrived among the\nnatural and architectural features, he also reveals himself as sensitive\ntowards the more fluid psychological patterns, what one might term the\n_kinema_ of landscape response. Above all, his obvious delight in the\nlandscape garden and appreciation of it vie with an equally strong\nadmiration for scenery outside gardens altogether.\n\nAt the time of Gilpin's visit, Lord Cobham's gardens were substantially\nas they are represented in the engravings published in 1739 by the widow\nof Charles Bridgeman, one of Stowe's designers. In the year of Gilpin's\nvisit work had just started in the northeast part of the grounds upon\nthe natural glade that came to be known as the Grecian Valley.[4]\nWhether it is the work of Lancelot (\"Capability\") Brown, who was then a\ngardener at Stowe, or only prophetic of it, the Grecian Valley was a\nhint of the less architectural, the more carefully \"natural\" gardens of\nthe next decades. Although Gilpin would presumably have seen little of\nthis most advanced example of gardening style, he would still have\nobserved what were, in the terms customarily invoked, formal and\ninformal ingredients at Stowe. From the Rotunda, for example, he looked\nover the (now vanished) Queen's Pool, \"laid out with all the Decorations\nof Art\" (p. 15), including the oblong canal itself and various statues;\nthe first body of water encountered beside the Lake Pavillions (p. 4)\nwas octagonally shaped and bore an obelisk at its centre. Yet elsewhere\nthere was frequent occasion to praise prospects that obviously seemed\nmuch less artificial.\n\nIf there is any distinction between the two participants in the\n_Dialogue_, it is certainly between the one's taste for the evidence of\nart and the other's penchant for natural beauties. If their opposition\nis not very conspicuously maintained by Gilpin, it is surely because his\nown loyalties were divided and were to be reconciled only with some\nsubtlety and ingenuity later in his career. Callophilus, who cites\nPope's balanced instructions on the mixture of art and nature (p. 26),\nis more inclined to appreciate these elements in the garden where\nNature's defective compositions have been improved; the love of beauty\nthat his name announces is of beauty methodized, though without\nexceeding \"a probable Nature\" (p. 6). On the other hand, his\nenthusiastic companion, Polypthon, directs his eponymous ill-will mostly\nagainst the decorations of art: the \"hewn Stone\" of Dido's Cave\nparticularly offends him (p. 14), and he \"cannot very much admire\" the\ncanal below the Rotunda (p. 15). Yet he seems to share Callophilus'\nnotions about \"mending\" nature (p. 23), and it is he who proposes a\nlandscape that, substituting farm-houses for temples (p. 45),\napproximates most clearly to that prettiest of eighteenth-century\nlandscape ideas, the _ferme orn\u00e9e_. Polypthon's predilection for scenery\noutside gardens seems equally compromised by his ready assent to\nCallophilus' praise of the carefully studied contrasts in Stowe gardens:\nso that he may turn from the less agreeable vista down the Queen's Pool\nand look instead over Home Park, earlier noted for its \"rural scene\"\n(p. 8), and now admired as a natural field--though the cattle prominent\nin Rigaud's drawings[5] are not mentioned.\n\nBut what is artless for Polypthon is studied by his companion in terms\nof art: \"the Field is _formed_ by that Semi-circle of Trees into a very\ngrand Theatre\" (p. 15, _my italics_), and his eye registers an\narchitectural feature--Vanbrugh's Pyramid--as the apt centre of that\nfield of vision. This particular exchange at the Rotunda suggests that\nthe usual modern discussion of landscape gardens in terms of their\ndiminishing formality or escalating informality is less Gilpin's concern\nthan the mind's involvement with the various landscapes. Callophilus and\nPolypthon can apparently both contemplate the same scene from the\nRotunda, southwest towards Kent's Temple of Venus and Vanbrugh's\nPyramid, yet adjudge its artifice differently. What is evidently at work\nin Gilpin's record of this garden is the mental experience of it, and in\nhis case the ambiguities of his visual response.\n\nThe complicated geometry that began on Bridgeman's drawing board[6] and\nthen was transferred to shape the grounds is certainly a survival of the\nold-fashioned French style in gardens. Its presence is registered by\nGilpin, who allows Callophilus to note how the Gibbs building, like many\nother objects at Stowe designed to be seen along a variety of axes, \"has\nits Use ... in several Prospects\" (p. 8). But the psychology of the\nviewer has at least equal weight in Gilpin with the many-faceted object\nviewed from different positions.[7] And in those circumstances the\npresence of formal or informal designs upon the ground or the\ndrawing-board matters less than the variety of objects and scenes within\na garden and even, as at the Rotunda, the variety of viewpoint and\ninterpretation within one vista.\n\nVariety had, of course, always been essential to the English garden and\nis a special feature of Stowe, as Pope implies in the _Epistle to\nBurlington_ and as the writer of the appendix to Defoe's Tour of 1742\nexplicitly stated.[8] What we have in Gilpin's _Dialogue_ is both\nvaluable evidence of response to garden structures, the visitor's rather\nthan the designer's or client's account, and some hints of how the idea\nof variety, itself a painterly term, presented itself to Gilpin in the\ndays before his picturesque tours.\n\nGilpin's path through the gardens at Stowe is recorded in the _Dialogue_\nas a journal of the mind's responses: the _Advertisement_ (p. iv)\nprepares the reader for this with its insistence upon the role memory\nhas played in its composition. The varieties of mental experience are\nsometimes registered by the dialogue form; more often the two visitors\nshare responses which correspond to the changes of Stowe's scenes. This\nis most amusingly illustrated by the \"impertinent Hedge\" that suddenly\nblocks their view (p. 11); Callophilus' ingenious explanation, a curious\nparallel to Sterne's blank page in _Tristram Shandy_, is that thereby\nthe visitor's \"Attention\" is kept awake (p. 12). More strenuous is their\nintellectual involvement with the monuments, statues, and inscriptions\nin the Elysian Fields (pp. 19ff), emblems that provoke in Callophilus \"a\nVariety of grand Ideas\" (p. 29). Yet, as the text of the third edition\nmakes precisely clear (p. 11), in face of the same objects his companion\nis more fascinated than he with the formal elements of an art--contrasts\nin landscape textures, style of inscriptions (p. 30), or unadmirable\nworkmanship in bas-reliefs (p. 37). The \"Subject[s] for ... Rapsody\" (p.\n30) that Polypthon mocks were an essential aspect of any Augustan\ngarden, and six pages later they divert even Polypthon himself into\nmoralizing. But his stronger inclination is to ignore the iconographical\nproblems of the Saxon busts (p. 44) and gaze \"into the Country\" where\nhis companion solicitously directs his attention to the elegant woods\n(p. 45).\n\nThe _Dialogue_ allows these and related distinctions to emerge, even\nthough it does not grapple with their implications. As Callophilus\nexplains, there should be a grand terrace for strangers, and the shade\nof a \"close vista\" for friends (p. 31). Stowe provided both, just as it\ncatered to the propensity for retirement--the Hermitage, the Temple of\nFriendship, or the Temple of Sleep--as well as for the obligations of\npublic life--the Temple of British Worthies, the gothic Temple of\nLiberty. The most emblematic items in the gardens, upon which\nCallophilus predictably expatiates because they were designed to be\neasily \"read,\" are in the public places, where they firmly control the\nvisitors' mental reactions and leave less scope for the private and\nenthusiastic reveries of Polypthon. It is a fair assumption that most\nvisitors to the Temples of Liberty or Ancient and Modern Virtue would\nhave understood their meanings just as Callophilus did (pp. 40 and\n19-21).\n\nBut the aesthetic taste of Polypthon for the forms and shapes rather\nthan the meanings of landscape betrays a potential for less controlled\nand more private rhapsodies. His quest \"after beautiful Objects\" (p. 24)\ntakes him as much to the northern parts of Great Britain as to gardens\nlike Stowe, and is obviously prophetic of Gilpin's own picturesque\ntravels. Like Warton's _Enthusiast or the Lover of Nature_ (1740),\nPolypthon rejects \"gardens deck'd with art's vain pomps.\" This is\nbecause he is fascinated with the more radical landscapes of solely\nformal elements--the serpentine windings of the river at Stirling (p.\n44) or what has been called the abstract garden[9] that comes to\nfruition only in the decades after Gilpin's visit under the management\nof \"Capability\" Brown. But the fact that Polypthon finds sufficient\nabstract patterns to engage his attention at Stowe suggests that the\nBrownian mode was already latent among the richnesses of the\nBuckinghamshire gardens.\n\nThe \"rejection\" of Stowe by Polypthon as by Warton also signals their\ndesire to indulge the enthusiastic fit. His very first reaction upon\narrival at Stowe is an \"Exclamation\" that expresses _his_ expectations\nof aesthetic delight (p. 2). Although his companion is equally\nsusceptible and is accused by Polypthon of being an \"Enthusiast\" (p. 49)\nand in the third edition of the _Dialogue_ (p. 12) determines himself to\n\"indulge the thrilling Transport,\" it seems to be Polypthon whom Gilpin\nintends to characterize by expressive as opposed to explanatory\noutbursts as they proceed round the gardens. And it is he who concludes\ntheir visit (p. 58) with a catalogue of the various human moods for\nwhich the gardens cater, rather more extravagant in its expressive\nfervour than Callophilus' traditional identification of the passions on\nfaces of other visitors (p. 51).\n\nGilpin's attention to his characters' intellectual and emotional\nreactions illuminates the roles of poetry and painting that have always\nbeen associated with the rise of the English landscape garden.[10] If\nMilton's description of the Garden of Eden, so frequently invoked by\neighteenth-century gardenists, implied an informal structure for\ndesigners to emulate, it equally encouraged associationist activity in\ngardens. The visual reminders of literary texts at Stowe--_Il Pastor\nFido_ (pp. 2ff) or Spenser (pp. 6-7)--which are sometimes accompanied by\ninscriptions which articulate the \"dumb poetry\" of the decorations\n(e.g., p. 13) serve mainly to provoke the imagination of visitors.\nSometimes, as at the Hermitage, Stowe's designers force specific\nassociations upon the mind; elsewhere they are content to manipulate the\nfeelings in such a way as to stimulate merely general fancies to which\nthe visitor himself must put whatever name he wishes. It is consistent\nwith Gilpin's attempt to identify Polypthon with the less public aspects\nof Stowe that it is he who twice formulates his own responses to a\nscene: the quotations from Milton (pp. 10 and 52-3) may both describe\nthe formal features of landscape, but they are also expressive of his\nemotional reactions.\n\nPictures, too, provided associationist focus when recalled in a garden:\nthe most obvious instance being the probable allusion to Claude at\nStourhead.[11] Yet the actual influence of pictures on landscape gardens\nhas been generally exaggerated.[12] Where they were perhaps a force\nseems to have been in articulating the mental and emotional reaction of\nvisitors. When Walpole praises William Kent for realizing in gardens\n\"the compositions of the greatest masters in painting\",[13] I suspect\nthat he is in part rationalizing his own associationalist instinct, when\nat Hagley he was reminded of Sadeler's prints or of the Samaritan woman\nin a picture by Nicolas Poussin. Allusions to pictures were a means of\nfocusing evanescent mood.\n\nGilpin, too, organizes his characters' responses in pictorial focus. The\n_Advertisement_ again alerts the reader to these studied painterly aims.\nOnce inside the gardens Callophilus sees pictures everywhere: variously\ndisposed objects \"make a most delightful Picture\" (p. 14), while on at\nleast three occasions in the first half-dozen pages the ruins,\nprospects, and \"Claro-obscuro\" of trees are discussed in terms that\nsuggest how his habits of vision have been educated in front of painted\nor engraved landscapes which in their turn are recalled to provide a\nsuitable vocabulary for his experiences.[14] Even Polypthon invokes the\nsyntax of painting (pp. 25 and 41) to formulate his reactions to\nscenery.\n\nIt is in these painterly preconceptions of the characters and in\nPolypthon's account of Scottish scenery (pp. 23-4) that hints of\nGilpin's later career are announced: the second edition of the\n_Dialogue_ even talks of his \"Observations\" on Stowe, a term that became\na standard ingredient in the titles of his picturesque tours. The\neducation of sight by the study of paintings and prints was clarified\nand expounded in the _Essay on Prints_, written at least by 1758 and\npublished ten years later. The picturesque tours themselves were started\nin the 1770s and published from 1782 onwards. In them Gilpin refines\nand enlarges upon the methods and ideas of his Stowe _Dialogue_. The\nadjudication between a taste for natural beauties (what his _Three\nEssays_ term the \"correct knowledge of objects\")[15] and the inclination\nto adjust them according to painterly criteria (in 1792 termed \"scenes\nof fancy\") is more sophisticated and consistent. He still delights in\nthe variety of a landscape; but the roughness that Stowe only\noccasionally allowed becomes one of his guiding rules in appraising\nscenery.\n\nPerhaps the most significant items in the _Dialogue_ for readers of\nGilpin's later writings will be his psychological emphasis and his\nattention to verbal and visual associations. Although his picturesque\ntours never entirely neglected the topographical obligation to describe\nactual localities, it is increasingly an imaginative response to\nlandscape that is his concern.[16] In the _Dialogue_ he explained how a\ngood imagination will \"improve\" upon the sight of a grand object, just\nas Burke a few years later was to discuss the essential vagueness of the\nsublime and its appeal to the private sensibility. Polypthon's reactions\nat Stowe suggest something of this potential in contradistinction to\nCallophilus' ability to read the message of each temple or vista. What\nGilpin displays in 1748 is more intricately adumbrated in the _Three\nEssays_ of 1792: a scene may strike \"us beyond the power of thought ...\nand every mental operation is suspended. In this pause of intellect,\nthis deliquirium of the soul, an enthusiastic sensation of pleasure over\nspreads it ...\".[17] As the final pages of _Dialogue_ suggest, that\nexperience was also available in the gardens of Stowe.\n\nBut the more mature imagination in Gilpin is tempted simultaneously in\ntwo directions, which perhaps explains why one contemporary was moved to\ncommend the published tours for being \"the Ne plus ultra of the pen and\npencil united.\"[18] At Stowe he is attentive to the expressive potential\nof scenery and its associations (\"The Eye naturally loves Liberty\" [p.\n54]), which are best expounded in the written commentary. But he also\ndelights in the shapes and forms of scenery, the abstract qualities of\nthe Stowe landscape that please the eye rather than the mind's eye.\nThese are best recorded in his watercolours and the illustrations which\nbecome a main feature of his later books.\n\nBedford College\nUniversity of London\n\n\n\n\n                       NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION\n\n\n    [1] Before 1753 there was no guide to any English garden except\n    Stowe; by then the Stowe guidebook had gone through sixteen\n    editions (one in French) plus two pirated editions, the _Dialogue_\n    itself which mentions the guidebook on p. 17, and two sets of\n    engraved views. For a modern account of Stowe see Christopher\n    Hussey, _English Gardens and Landscapes, 1700-1750_ (London:\n    Country Life, 1967), pp. 89-113.\n\n    As a companion piece to this facsimile of _Dialogue_, ARS plans to\n    publish in its 1976-77 series a facsimile of the _Beauties of\n    Stowe_ (1750), with an introduction by George Clarke.\n\n    [2] Gilpin's authorship is argued by William D. Templeman, _The\n    Life and Works of William Gilpin (1724-1804), Illinois Studies in\n    Language and Literature_, XXIV. 3-4 (Urbana, 1939), pp. 34-5.\n\n    [3] The distinction is made by Thomas Whately, _Observations on\n    Modern Gardening_, 5th ed. (London, 1793), pp. 154-5.\n\n    [4] The Grecian Valley is seen first on Bickham's engraved plan of\n    1753. This and other plans of Stowe are reproduced by George\n    Clarke, \"The Gardens of Stowe,\" _Apollo_ (June, 1973), pp. 558-65.\n\n    [5] See Peter Willis, \"Jacques Rigaud's Drawings of Stowe in the\n    Metropolitan Museum of Art,\" _Eighteenth-Century Studies_, 6\n    (1972), 85-98.\n\n    [6] See George Clarke, _op. cit._, p. 560.\n\n    [7] On this topic see two essays by Ronald Paulson: \"Hogarth and\n    the English garden: visual and verbal structures,\" _Encounters,\n    Essays on Literature and the Visual Arts_, ed. John Dixon Hunt\n    (London: Studio Vista, 1971), and \"The Pictorial Circuit and\n    related structures in eighteenth-century England,\" _The Varied\n    Pattern_, ed. Peter Hughes and David Williams (Toronto: Hakkert,\n    1971).\n\n    [8] \"There is more Variety in this Garden, than can be found in\n    any other of the same Size in _England_, or perhaps in _Europe_\"\n    (p. 290).\n\n    [9] Derek Clifford, _A History of Garden Design_ (London: Faber,\n    1962), pp. 138-9.\n\n    [10] \"Poetry, Painting, and Gardening, or the Science of\n    Landscape, will forever by men of taste be deemed Three Sisters,\n    or the _Three New Graces_ who dress and adorn nature\": MS.\n    annotation to William Mason's _Satirical Poems_, published in an\n    edition of the relevant poems by Paget Toynbee (Oxford: Clarendon,\n    1926), p. 43. For an anthology of similar comments see _The Genius\n    of the Place: The English Landscape Garden 1620-1820_, ed. John\n    Dixon Hunt and Peter Willis (London: Elek, 1975).\n\n    [11] See Kenneth Woodbridge, _Landscape and Antiquity_ (Oxford:\n    Oxford Univ. Press, 1970), plates 2a, 2b, and 3.\n\n    [12] On this see Derek Clifford, _op. cit._, pp. 140 and 158.\n\n    [13] I. W. U. Chase, _Horace Walpole: Gardenist. An edition of\n    Walpole's 'The History of the Modern Taste in Gardening' with an\n    estimate of Walpole's contribution to landscape architecture_\n    (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1943), p. 26.\n\n    [14] This is an apt example of the psychological theory of sight\n    proposed by E. H. Gombrich, _Art and Illusion_ (New York:\n    Pantheon, 1961).\n\n    [15] _Three Essays: On Picturesque Beauty; on Picturesque Travel;\n    and on Sketching Landscape_ (London, 1792), p. 49.\n\n    [16] Carl Paul Barbier, _William Gilpin, His Drawings, Teaching\n    and Theory of the Picturesque_ (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1963),\n    pp. 71, 106 and 139.\n\n    [17] _Op. cit._, p. 49.\n\n    [18] Cited by Templeman, _op. cit._, p. 228.\n\n\n\n\n                            BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE\n\n                 The facsimile of [William Gilpin's] _A\n                 Dialogue Upon The Gardens ... At Stow_\n                 (1748) is reproduced from a copy (Shelf Mark:\n                 577.e.26[3]) in the British Library. The total\n                 type-page (p. 7) measures 156 x 94 mm.\n\n\n\n\n                                     A\n\n                                 DIALOGUE\n\n                             UPON THE GARDENS\n\n                                    OF\n\n                         THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE\n\n                          LORD VISCOUNT _COBHAM_,\n\n                                    AT\n\n                         STOW in BUCKINGHAMSHIRE.\n\n\n            _Here Order in Variety we see,\n             Where all Things differ, yet where all agree._\n                                             Mr. POPE.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n                               _LONDON_:\n\nPrinted for B. SEELEY, Bookseller in _Buckingham_, and Sold by J. and J.\nRIVINGTON, in _St. Paul's Church-Yard_. M DCC XLVIII.\n\n                          [Price One Shilling.]\n\n\n\n\n                                    THE\n\n                              ADVERTISEMENT.\n\n\n_We read of a great Prince of Antiquity, who would suffer his Portrait\nto be taken only by the greatest Artist. And he thought justly without\nquestion: A great Object ought ever to be handled by a great Master. But\nyet I am apt to think that if Apelles had not offered his Service, the\nMonarch, rather than have had his Form unknown to Posterity, would have\nbeen glad to have employed some meaner Hand.----If Stow had been as\nfortunate in this Particular as Alexander, I need not now have taken up\nmy Pencil: But as this charming Landskip is yet untouched by a Titian,\nor a Poussin, a mere Bungler has been tempted to venture upon it._\n\n_But in Excuse for the Meaning of the Performance it may be said, that\nit is not designed to be considered as a finished Piece: This View was\nnot taken upon the Spot, as it ought to have been, but only from my\nMemory and a few loose Scratches; if the Public therefore will call it\nonly a rough Draught, or at best a coloured Sketch, my Ambition will be\nfully satisfied. The Curious therefore must purchase it rather from\ntheir necessity than its Merit; as they do meaner Engravings of the\nCartoons, where Dorigny's are not to be had: \"'Tis true, Gentlemen, says\nthe Print-seller, they are far from being good, but take my Word for\nit, you will meet with no better.\"_\n\n\n\n\n                                     A\n\n                                 DIALOGUE\n\n                                 UPON THE\n\n                     GARDENS _of the Right Honourable\n                      the_ Lord Viscount COBHAM, _&c._\n\n\n_Polypthon_ was a Gentleman engaged in a way of Life, that excused him\ntwo Months in the Year from Business; which Time he used generally to\nspend in visiting what was curious in the several Counties around him.\nAs he had long promised his Friend _Callophilus_ to pass away his\nVacancy, at some time or other, in _Buckinghamshire_, he determined upon\nit this Year; and accordingly paid him a Visit at * * *. _Stow_ was one\nof the first Places where his Curiosity carried him; and indeed he had\nscarce got his Foot within the Garden-door, before he broke out into\nthe following Exclamation.\n\nWhy, here is a View that gives me a kind of Earnest of what my\nExpectation is raised to!\n\nIt is a very fine one indeed (replied _Callophilus_:) I do not wonder it\nshould catch your Sight: The old Ruin upon the left of the Canal, the\nOpening to the Pyramid, the View towards the House, the River, the\nbeautiful Disposition of the Trees on the other side of it, and that\nvenerable old Temple, make a fine Variety of Objects. But your Eye is so\ntaken up with Views at a distance, that you neglect something here at\nhand very well worth your notice. What do you think of these two\nPavilions?\n\n_Polypth._ Why really they are light, genteel Buildings enough. I like\nthese rough Paintings too; they are done in a very free, masterly\nManner. Pray, Sir, do you know the Stories?\n\n_Calloph._ They are both taken from _Pastor Fido_; the disconsolate\nNymph there, poor _Dorinda_, had long been in love with _Sylvio_, a\nwild Hunter, of barbarous Manners, in whose Breast she had no reason to\nbelieve she had raised an answering Passion. As she was roving in the\nWoods, she accidentally met his Dog, and saw her beloved Hunter himself\nat a distance hollowing, and running after it. She immediately calls the\nHound to her, and hides it amongst the Bushes. _Sylvio_ comes up to her,\nand enquires very eagerly after his Dog: The poor Nymph puts him off,\nand tries all her Art to inspire him with Love, but to no purpose; the\ncold Youth was quite insensible, and his Thoughts could admit no other\nObject but his Dog. Almost despairing, she at length hopes to bribe his\nAffections, and lets him know she has his Dog, which she will return if\nhe will promise to love her, and give her a Kiss; _Sylvio_ is overjoyed\nat the Proposal, and promises to give her ten thousand Kisses. _Dorinda_\nupon this brings the Dog: but alas! see there the Success of all her\nPains: the Youth transported at the Sight of his Dog, throws his Arms\nround its Neck, and lavishes upon it those Kisses and Endearments, in\nthe very Sight of the poor afflicted Lady, which she had been flattering\nherself would have fallen to her share.--On this other Wall Disdain and\nLove have taken different Sides; the Youth is warm, and the Nymph is\ncoy: Poor _Myrtillo_ had long loved _Amarillis_; the Lady was engaged to\nanother, and rejected his Passion. Gladly would he only have spoke his\nGrief, but the cruel fair One absolutely forbid him her Presence. At\nlength a Scheme was laid by _Corisca_, the young Lover's Confidant, which\nwas to gain him Admission into his dear _Amarillis_'s Company. The Lady\nis enticed into the Fields with some of _Corisca_'s Companions, (who\nwere let into the Plot) to play at Blindman's Buff, where _Myrtillo_ was\nto surprize her. See there he stands hesitating what use to make of so\nfavourable an Opportunity, which Love has put into his Hands.----If you\nhave satisfied your Curiosity here, let us walk towards the Temple of\n_Venus_. But hold: we had better first go down towards that Wilderness,\nand take a View of the Lake.\n\n_Polypth._ Upon my Word here is a noble Piece of Water!\n\n_Calloph._ Not many Years ago I remember it only a Marsh: it surprized\nme prodigiously when I first saw it floated in this manner with a Lake.\nObserve, pray, what a fine Effect that old Ruin has at the Head of it:\nIts Ornaments too, the Cascade, the Trees and Shrubs, half concealing,\nand half discovering the ragged View, and the Obelisk rising beyond if,\nare Objects happily disposed.\n\n_Polypth._ Yes, indeed, I think the Ruin a great Addition to the Beauty\nof the Lake. There is something so vastly picturesque, and pleasing to\nthe Imagination in such Objects, that they are a great Addition to every\nLandskip. And yet perhaps it would be hard to assign a reason, why we\nare more taken with Prospects of this ruinous kind, than with Views of\nPlenty and Prosperity in their greatest Perfection: Benevolence and\nGood-nature, methinks, are more concerned in the latter kind.\n\n_Calloph._ Yes: but cannot you make a distinction between natural and\nmoral Beauties? Our social Affections undoubtedly find their Enjoyment\nthe most compleat when they contemplate, a Country smiling in the midst\nof Plenty, where Houses are well-built, Plantations regular, and every\nthing the most commodious and useful. But such Regularity and Exactness\nexcites no manner of Pleasure in the Imagination, unless they are made\nuse of to contrast with something of an opposite kind. The Fancy is\nstruck by _Nature_ alone; and if _Art_ does any thing more than improve\nher, we think she grows impertinent, and wish she had left off a little\nsooner. Thus a regular Building perhaps gives us very little pleasure;\nand yet a fine Rock, beautifully set off in Claro-obscuro, and garnished\nwith flourishing Bushes, Ivy, and dead Branches, may afford us a great\ndeal; and a ragged Ruin, with venerable old Oaks, and Pines nodding over\nit, may perhaps please the Fancy yet more than either of the other two\nObjects.--Yon old Hermitage, situated in the midst of this delightful\nWilderness, has an exceeding good Effect: it is of the romantick Kind;\nand Beauties of this sort, where a probable Nature is not exceeded, are\ngenerally pleasing.----This Opening will lead us again into the\nTerrace.----That large Building, the Inscription lets you see, is a\nTemple dedicated to _Venus_.\n\n_Polypth._ Upon my Word a Master has been at work here! I cannot say I\nhave met with any modern Touching, this long time, that has pleased me\nbetter. I see very little to be cavilled at, with regard either to the\nDesign, Colouring, or Drawing. These Stories are taken from the\n_Fairy-Queen_ I dare say; they look like _Spencer_'s Ideas.\n\n_Calloph._ Yes: that Lady is the fair _Hellinore_, who having left a\ndisagreeable Husband, and wandering in the Woods, was met by the polite\nSett of Gentry she is dancing with: She likes their Manner of Life, and\nresolves to enjoy it with them. Her old Spouse _Malbecco_ is\ninconsolable for his Loss: he wanders many Days in search of her, and at\nlength finds her (you see him at a distance peeping from behind a Tree)\nrevelling with a beastly Herd of Satyrs. When the Evening comes on, he\nfollows the Company to their Retirement, takes a commodious stand, and\nto his great Torment sees every thing that passes among them. After they\nwere all laid asleep, he creeps gently to his Lady, and you see him in\nthe other Painting offering to be reconciled to her again, if she will\nreturn back with him. But _Hellinore_ threatens to awake the Satyrs, and\nget him severely handled if he does not immediately leave her. Upon\nwhich the poor Cuckold is obliged to fly, and soon after runs\ndistracted.\n\n_Polypth._ This loose Story, these luxurious Couches, and the\nEmbellishments round the Walls, give the Place quite a _Cyprian_ Air,\nand make it a very proper Retreat for its incontinent Inhabitant upon\nthe Roof.----But let us move forward towards yon cubico-pyramidical\nBuilding. It looks like a mighty substantial one: I fancy it is Sir\n_John_'s; he is generally pretty liberal of his Stone. However, it\nterminates this Terrace extremely well: the Ascent up to it too has a\ngood Effect.----Pray, do you know what that Field there, upon the right,\nis to be improved into?\n\n_Calloph._ I am surprized the Beauty of it, in its present Form, does\nnot strike you at first sight. It is designed, like a Glass of Bitters\nbefore Dinner, to quicken your Appetite for the elegant Entertainment\nthat is to follow. For my part, I assure you, I find it a very great\nRelief to my Eye, to take it from these grand Objects, and cast it for a\nfew Minutes upon such a rural Scene as this. Do not you think that\nHaycock contrasts extremely well with this Temple? Such Oppositions, in\nmy Opinion, are highly pleasing.----That Building there is called, _The\nBelvidere_. Whatever you may think of it, from this Stand, it has its\nUse, I assure you, in several Prospects in the Gardens.----There is a\nvery good Copy of the _Roman_ Boxers.\n\n_Polypth._ I like its Situation extreamly: it terminates these Alleys,\nand that Opening from the Terrace, very beautifully; much better, I\nthink, than the fighting Gladiator, and _Sampson_ killing the\n_Philistine_, do that other vast Terrace; the Objects there, in my\nOpinion, are too small for the Distance: Here both are justly\nproportioned.\n\n_Calloph._ Your Criticism, I think, is rather too refined: I cannot see\nwhat occasion there is always for a confined View; a more open one\nsometimes makes Variety.\n\n_Polypth._ You mistake me: I am not against a Prospect's being bounded\neven by the blue Hills in the Country. All I mean is this, that where\nObjects are set up to terminate a View, they ought to be of such a\nNature as to afford Pleasure at any Distance they are designed to be\nviewed from. These Statues I have been mentioning, are Objects so small,\nthat at one end of the Terrace it is impossible to make out what is\noffered you at the other.----I have too much Envy in my Temper, you must\nknow, to bear to see any thing perfect; and I came in here fully\ndetermined to cavil, if I saw the least Grounds. But this is a sad\nPlace, I find, for a malicious Spirit to enter: He whose chief\n_Entertainment_ is finding fault, will here meet with a very slender\n_Repast_: As the Devil did at Sight of the Creation, in spite of Envy\nhe must cry out,\n\n    _Terrestrial Heaven!----\n    With what Delight could I have walk'd thee round,\n    If I could joy in ought: Sweet Interchange\n    Of Hill, and Valley, Rivers, Woods, and Plains!\n    Now Land, now Sea, and Shores with Forest crown'd,\n    Rocks, Dens, and Caves._----\n\nBut what have we got here?\n\n_Calloph._ This is the Building we took notice of from the Temple of\n_Venus_. I know you are no Friend to a cloathed Statue; so I question\nwhether you will meet with any thing here to your Taste.\n\n_Polypth._ There is something extremely grand and noble, I have always\nthought, in several of the old cloathed Statues, and particularly in\nsome of the _Roman_ consular ones; yet I must confess I am always better\npleased when I find them without their Finery. Marble, tho' admirably\nfitted to express the Roundness of a Muscle, very often fails when it\nattempts to give you the Folds of Drapery. The Ancients, it must be\nowned, even in their Draperies are often successful; but amongst our\nmodern Attempts in this Way, how many horrid Pieces of Rock-work have I\nbeheld!\n\n    ------------ _atram\n    Desinet in_ rupem _mulier_----\n\n_Michael Angelo_, whenever he found himself obliged to cloath his\nStatues, used to do it with wet Linnen; which is unquestionably the most\nadvantageous kind of Cloathing for a Statue.\n\n_Calloph._ Since you are not to be pleased here, let us pass on to\nsomething else. There is no Occasion to turn down to that Pyramid; it is\nan Object not designed to be viewed at a Yard's Distance; but you will\nsee its Use by and by, in a Variety of beautiful Views: Let us pursue\nour Walk along this Terrace.\n\n_Polypth._ Why here we entirely lose sight of the Garden; our elegant\nProspects are all vanished: I cannot conceive what this impertinent\nHedge does here.\n\n_Calloph._ Did you never experience in a Concert vast Pleasure when the\nwhole Band for a few Moments made a full Pause? The Case is parallel:\nYou have already had a great many fine Views, and that you may not be\ncloyed, this Hedge steps in to keep your Attention awake. One Extreme\nrecommends another: The Moralists observe, that a little Adversity\nquickens our Relish for the Enjoyment of Life; and it is the Man of\nTaste's Care not to distribute his Beauties with too profuse a Hand, for\na Reason of the same kind.\n\n    _Let not each Beauty every where be spy'd,\n    Where half the Skill is decently to hide._\n\nBut if you must have something to look at, the Park there upon your left\nHand affords you some very fine Views. I like that Equestrian Statue\nextremely: It is, in my Opinion, a very beautiful Circumstance. What a\nNumber of fine Vistas it terminates thro' the Trees, varying its\nAppearance in each of them.--There you have a charming View struck out\ntowards the Temple of Ancient Virtue.\n\n_Polypth._ Methinks that Statue of the Faun stands a little aukwardly:\nHe might at least, I should think, have fixed himself in the Middle of\nthe Semi-circle.\n\n_Calloph._ You do not certainly attend to his Use: He stands there to\nreceive the Eye placed at the other End of that Opening.--That elegant\nlittle Building I think they call _Nelson_'s Seat.\n\n_Polypth._ The Painting is done masterly enough: The Inscriptions, I\nsee, explain the Designs. Those Boys fixing the Trophies are prettily\nimagined. From hence that round Building terminates the View extremely\nwell. Let us walk to it.\n\n_Calloph._ Hold----turn to the Right a little: We must first pay a Visit\nhere to the Temple of _Bacchus_.\n\n_Polypth._ We have had a pretty long Walk, suppose we sit down here a\nMoment: These Walls seem to promise us some Entertainment.\n\n_Calloph._ Here, Sir, you see represented the Triumphs and Happiness of\nDrunkenness. Those musical Ladies too are not improper Companions to\nthis mirthfully-disposed Deity.\n\n_Polypth._ Some of those smaller Figures are really done extremely well:\nAnd those two Vases are delightfully touched. I cannot say I am so much\npleased with the jolly Inhabitant: Even _Bacchus_ himself certainly\nnever made so enormous a Figure.\n\n_Calloph._ I am admiring the fine View from hence: So great a Variety of\nbeautiful Objects, and all so happily disposed, make a most delightful\nPicture. Don't you think this Building too is a very genteel one, and is\nextremely well situated? These Trees give it an agreeable, cool Air, and\nmake it, I think, as elegant a Retreat for the Enjoyment of a Summer's\nEvening, as can well be imagined.----But it is mere trifling to sit\nhere: Let us walk towards the Rotunda.----This little Alley will carry\nus to _Dido_'s Cave.\n\n_Polypth._ _Dido_'s Cave! why 'tis built of hewn Stone! Here she is\nhowever, and her _pious_ Companion along with her.\n\n_Calloph._ Those two Cupids joining their Torches, I never see but I\nadmire extremely: they are very finely painted.\n\n_Polypth._ I think they are indeed. But let us be a little complaisant,\nand not interrupt these kind Lovers too long. I want to see this\nRotunda.\n\n_Calloph._ There then you have it: I hope you cannot complain of an\nheavy Building here. I do not know any Piece of Stone-work in the whole\nGarden that shews itself to more Advantage than this does, or makes a\nmore beautiful Figure in a Variety of fine Views from several Parts of\nthe Garden: Several Parts of the Garden likewise return the Compliment,\nby offering a great many very elegant Prospects to it. There you have an\nOpening laid out with all the Decorations of Art; a spacious Theatre;\nthe Area floated by a Canal, and peopled with Swans and Wild-ducks: Her\nlate Majesty is the principal Figure in the Scene, and around her a\nmerry Company of Nymphs and Swains enjoying themselves in the Shade.\n\n_Polypth._ I must confess I cannot very much admire----\n\n_Calloph._ Come; none of your Cavils.--Observe how this View is\nbeautifully contrasted by one on the opposite Side of a different kind;\nin which we are almost solely obliged to Nature. You must know I look\nupon this as a very noble Prospect! The Field is formed by that\nSemi-circle of Trees into a very grand Theatre. The Point of Sight is\ncentred in a beautiful manner by the Pyramid, which appears to great\nAdvantage amongst those venerable Oaks: Two or three other Buildings,\nhalf hid amongst the Trees, come in for their Share in the Prospect, and\nadd much to the Beauty of it.\n\n_Polypth._ I agree with you entirely; nor do I think this other View\ninferior to it. That Variety of different Shades amongst the Trees; the\nLake spread so elegantly amongst them, and glittering here and there\nthro' the Bushes, with the Temple of _Venus_ as a Termination to the\nView, make up a very beautiful Landskip.\n\n_Calloph._ Here is a Vista likewise very happily terminated by the\nCanal, and the Obelisk rising in the Midst of it. There is another close\nView likewise towards _Nelson_'s Seat.\n\n_Polypth._ Upon my Word, we have a Variety of very elegant Prospects\ncentred in this Point. I could sit here very agreeably a little longer.\n\n_Calloph._ Nay, if you are inclined to rest, come along with me: I'll\ncarry you to where you may indulge your Humour with great Propriety.\nDeep in the Retirement of that Wood, the God of Sleep has reared his\nHabitation, where he will afford you every Convenience to make a Nap\nagreeable----It comes into my Head that I forgot to carry you to a\nlittle Place, which it is hardly worth while to travel back to from this\nDistance: It is called _St. Austin_'s Cave, and answers its Title very\nwell; it appears quite Cell-like, stands retired, and is made of no\nother Materials but Roots and Moss. In the Inside a Straw Couch offers\nyou an hard Seat, and the Walls three humorous Inscriptions, in Monkish\nVerse. You may buy them, bound up with Copies of all the other\nInscriptions, in a Six-penny Pamphlet, that will be offered us at the\nInn.----There, Sir, is the Temple of Sleep.\n\n_Polypth._ Why really I must confess _Ovid_ himself could scarce have\nburied the senseless God in an happier Retirement. This gloomy Darkness,\nthese easy Couches, and that excellent _Epicurean_ Argument above the\nDoor, would incline me wonderfully to indulge a little, if these\nbeautiful Ornaments did not keep my Attention awake. There is wanting\ntoo a purling Stream, to sing a Requiem to the Senses; tho' the Want is\nin some measure made up by the drowsy Lullibies of that murmuring Swarm,\nwhich this Shade has invited to wanton beneath it. You would laugh at\nme, or I should certainly throw myself down upon one of these Couches;\nI am persuaded I should need no Opium to close my Eyes.\n\n_Calloph._ I own sleeping is a Compliment as much due to this Place, as\nAdmiration and Attention are to _Raphael_ at _Hampton-Court_. But try if\nyour Curiosity cannot keep you awake. Come, leave these drowsy Abodes,\nthey are infectious; like luscious Food they will blunt your Appetite\nbefore the Entertainment is half over. Walk down that Alley, and pop\nyour Head into the first Door you come to.\n\n_Polypth._ What the D----l have we got here? What wretched Scrawler has\nbeen at work upon these Walls?\n\n_Calloph._ I assure you, Sir, I look upon this as a very great\nMaster-piece. You must know this House is inhabited by a Necromancer;\nand that Inscription lets you see the Hand that has been employed to\npaint it. The Composition, Drawing, and Pencilling, I can allow you, are\nnot the most elegant; yet if the Design and Figures are the Artist's\nown, I can assure you he has shewn excellent Humour, and an exceeding\ngood Invention. That Consultation is well imagined; and so are these\nWitches and Wizards; their Employments likewise, their Forms and\nAttitudes are well varied.---- But I see this is a Scene not suited to\nyour Taste: Our next, I hope, will please you better.\n\n_Polypth._ Pray, what Building is that before us? I cannot say I dislike\nthe Taste it is designed in. It seems an Antique.\n\n_Calloph._ It is the Temple, Sir, of Ancient Virtue; the Place I am now\nconducting you to. You will meet within it a very illustrious Assembly\nof great Men; the wisest Lawgiver, the best Philosopher, the most divine\nPoet, and the most able Captain, that perhaps ever lived.\n\n_Polypth._ You may possibly, Sir, engage yourself in a Dispute, by\nfixing your Epithets in such an absolute manner; there are so many\nCompetitors in each of these Ways, that altho' Numbers may be called\ntruly eminent, it will be a difficult matter to fix Pre-eminence upon\nany.\n\n_Calloph._ You will hardly, I fancy, dissent from me, when I introduce\nyou to these great Heroes of Antiquity: There stands _Lycurgus_; there\n_Socrates_; there _Homer_; and there _Epaminondas_. Illustrious Chiefs,\nwho made Virtue their only Pursuit, and the Welfare of Mankind their\nonly Study; in whose Breasts mean Self-interest had no Possession. To\nestablish a well-regulated Constitution; to dictate the soundest\nMorality, to place Virtue in the most amiable Light; and bravely to\ndefend a People's Liberty, were Ends which neither the Difficulty in\novercoming the Prejudices, and taming the savage Manners of a barbarous\nState; the Corruptions of a licentious Age, and the Ill-usage of an\ninvidious City; neither the vast Pains of searching into Nature, and\nlaying up a Stock of Knowledge sufficient to produce the noblest Work of\nArt; nor popular Tumults at Home, and the most threatening Dangers\nAbroad, could ever tempt them to lose Sight of, or in the least abate\nthat Ardency of Temper with which they pursued them.\n\n_Polypth._ A noble Panegyric upon my Word! why, Sir, these great Spirits\nhave inspired you with the very Soul of Oratory. However, in earnest, I\nconfess your Encomium is pretty just; and I am apt to believe that if\nany of those worthy Gentlemen should take it into his Head to walk from\nhis Nitch, it would puzzle the World to find his Equal to fix in his\nRoom.----That old Ruin, I suppose, is intended to contrast with this new\nBuilding.\n\n_Calloph._ Yes, Sir, it is intended to contrast with it not only in the\nLandskip, but likewise in its Name and Design. Walk a little nearer, and\nyou will see its Intention.\n\n_Polypth._ I can see nothing here to let me into its Design, except this\nold Gentleman; neither can I find any thing extraordinary in him, except\nthat he has met with a Fate that he is entirely deserving of, which is\nmore than falls to the Share of every worthless Fellow.\n\n_Calloph._ Have you observed how the Statue is decorated?\n\n_Polypth._ O! I see the whole Design: A very elegant Piece of Satyr,\nupon my Word! This pompous Edifice is intended, I suppose, to represent\nthe flourishing Condition, in which ancient Virtue still exists; and\nthose poor shattered Remains of what has never been very beautiful\n(notwithstanding, I see, they are placed within a few Yards of a\nParish-church) are designed to let us see the ruinous State of decayed\nmodern Virtue. And the Moral is, that Glory founded upon true Worth and\nHonour, will exist, when Fame, built upon Conquest and popular Applause,\nwill fade away. This is really the best thing I have seen: I am most\nprodigiously taken with it.\n\n_Calloph._ I intend next to carry you to a Scene of another kind. I am\ngoing to shew you the Grotto, a Place generally very taking with\nStrangers.----I thought that Piece of Satyr would catch your Attention:\nI hope likewise you will be as well pleased here. This Gate will carry\nus into the romantic Retirement. What do you think of this Scene?\n\n_Polypth._ Why really, Sir, it is quite a Novelty: This Profusion of\nMirrors has a very extraordinary Effect: The Place seems divided into a\nthousand beautiful Apartments, and appears fifty times as large as it\nis. The Prospects without are likewise transferred to the Walls within:\nAnd the Sides of the Room are elegantly adorned with Landskips, beyond\nthe Pencil of _Titian_; with this farther Advantage, that every View, as\nyou change your Situation, varies itself into another Form, and presents\nyou with something new.\n\n_Calloph._ Don't you think that serpentine River, as it is called, is a\ngreat Addition to the Beauty of the Place?\n\n_Polypth._ Undoubtedly it is. Water is of as much Use in a Landskip, as\nBlood is in a Body; without these two Essentials, it is impossible there\nshould be Life in either one or the other. Yet methinks it is a\nprodigious Pity that this stagnate Pool should not by some Magic be\nmetamorphosed into a crystal Stream, rolling over a Bed of Pebbles. Such\na quick Circulation would give an infinite Spirit to the View. I could\nwish his Lordship had such a Stream at his Command; he would shew it, I\ndare say, to the best Advantage, in its Passage thro' the Gardens. But\nwe cannot _make_ Nature, the utmost we can do is to _mend_ her.----I\nhave heard a _Scotch_ Gentleman speak of the River, upon which the Town\nof _Sterling_ stands, which is as remarkable a Meander as I have ever\nheard of. From _Sterling_ to a little Village upon the Banks of this\nRiver, by Land it is only four Miles, and yet if you should follow the\nCourse of the Water, you will find it above twenty.----There is an House\nlikewise that stands upon a narrow Isthmus of a Peninsula, formed by\nthis same River, which is mighty remarkable: The Water runs close to\nboth Ends of it, and yet if you sail from one to the other, you will be\ncarried a Compass of four Miles.----Such a River winding about this\nPlace, would make it a Paradise indeed!\n\nAs we are got into the North, I must confess I do not know any Part of\nthe Kingdom that abounds more with elegant natural Views: Our\nwell-cultivated Plains, as you observed before, are certainly not\ncomparable to their rough Nature in point of Prospect. About three Years\nago I rode the Northern Circuit: The Weather was extremely fine; and I\nscarce remember being more agreeably entertained than I was with the\nseveral charming Views exhibited to me in the northern Counties.\nCuriosity indeed, rather than Business, carried me down: And as I had my\nTime pretty much to myself, I spent it in a great measure in hunting\nafter beautiful Objects. Sometimes I found myself hemmed within an\nAmphitheatre of Mountains, which were variously ornamented, some with\nscattered Trees, some with tufted Wood, some with grazing Cattle, and\nsome with smoaking Cottages. Here and there an elegant View likewise was\nopened into the Country.----A Mile's riding, perhaps, would have carried\nme to the Foot of a steep Precipice, down which thundered the whole\nWeight of some vast River, which was dashed into Foam at the Bottom, by\nthe craggy Points of several rising Rocks: A deep Gloom overspread the\nProspect, occasioned by the close Wood that hung round it on every\nSide.--I could describe to you a Variety of other Views I met with\nthere, if we _here_ wanted Entertainment in the Way of Landskip. One,\nhowever, I cannot forbear mentioning, and wishing at the same time that\nhis Lordship had such Materials to work with, and it could not be but he\nwould make a most noble Picture.----The Place I have in view is upon the\nBanks of the River _Eden_ (which is indeed one of the finest Rivers I\never saw). I scarce know a fitter Place for a Genius in this Way to\nexert itself in. There is the greatest Variety of garnished Rocks,\nshattered Precipices, rising Hills, ornamented with the finest Woods,\nthro' which are opened the most elegant Vales that I have ever met with:\nNot to mention the most enchanting Views up and down the River, which\nwinds itself in such a manner as to shew its Banks to the best\nAdvantage, which, together with very charming Prospects into the\nCountry, terminated by the blue Hills at a Distance, make as fine a\nPiece of Nature, as perhaps can any where be met with.\n\n_Calloph._ I admire your Taste in Landskip extremely; you have marked\nout just such Circumstances as would take me most in a View. I am I find\nalmost as enthusiastic a Lover of Nature as you are. Yet tho' I can\nallow her to have an excellent _Fancy_, I do not think she has the best\n_Judgment_. Tho' Nature is an admirable _Colourist_, her _Composition_\nis very often liable to Censure. For which Reason I am for having her\nplaced under the Direction of _Art_: And the Rule I would go by should\nbe Mr. _Pope_'s;\n\n    --_Treat the Goddess like a modest Fair,\n    Not over-dress, nor leave her wholly bare._\n\nSuppose, therefore, we leave your romantic Nature, and continue our View\nof her here, where she is treated according to this Prescription of the\nPoet.----That Building is called the Temple of Contemplation; those\nBas-relief Heads it is adorned with, are, I assure you, extremely good\nones.\n\n_Polypth._ Pray, Sir, what kind of a Building have we yonder, that\nstruck our Sight as we crossed that Alley?\n\n_Calloph._ We will walk up to it if you please: It is a _Chinese_ House.\n\n_Polypth._ A mighty whimsical Appearance it makes truly.\n\n_Calloph._ In my Opinion it is a pretty Object enough, and varies our\nView in a very becoming manner. Its cool stand upon the Lake, and those\ncanvas Windows, designed as well to keep out the Sun, as let in the Air,\ngive us a good Notion of the Manner of living in an hot Country. It is\nfinely painted in the Inside: Will you look into it?\n\n_Polypth._ Finely painted indeed! Our Travellers tell us the _Chinese_\nare a very ingenious People; and that Arts and Sciences flourish amongst\nthem in great Beauty. But for my Part, whenever I see any of their\nPaintings, I am apt, I must confess, in every thing else to call their\nTaste into question. It is impossible for one _Art_ to be in Perfection,\nwithout introducing the rest. They are all _Links_ of the same _Chain_:\nIf you draw up one, you must expect the rest will follow. _Cognoscitur\nex socio_, is an old Rule you know in judging of _Men_; and I believe it\nmay be applied with as much Propriety in judging of _Arts_. It is hardly\nto be imagined that any _Art_, perfect in its Kind, would claim any\nKindred, or even bear to keep Company with such a wretched _Art of\nPainting_ as prevails amongst the _Chinese_: Its whole Mystery consists\nin dawbing on glaring Colours: Correctness of Drawing, Beauty of\nComposition, and Harmony of colouring, they seem not to have even the\nleast Notion of.\n\n_Calloph._ I like your Reflections extremely. We should certainly have\nsome more elegant Productions from _China_, if they were able to answer\nthe Character I have sometimes heard given of them. They have very\nlittle of true, manly Taste, I fancy, among them: Their Ingenuity lies\nchiefly in the knick-knack Way; and is, I imagine, pretty much of the\n_Dutch_ Kind.----Hold, Sir: This Way if you please. We will walk again\ntowards the River, and pursue it to the Canal.----It is divided, you\nsee, into three Parts; one takes its Rise from the Grotto; another from\nthe Pebble Bridge (as it is called) which is, I think, a pretty Object;\nand the third issues from a dark Wood.----There, Sir, let me present you\nto an illustrious set of your gallant Countrymen. This Place is called\nthe Temple of _British_ Worthies; and is gloriously filled, you see,\nwith the greatest Wits, Patriots, and Heroes, that are to be met with in\nour Chronicles.\n\n    _Unspotted Names, and memorable long!\n    If there be Force in Virtue, or in Song._\n\nDoes not your Pulse beat high, while you thus stand before such an\nawful Assembly? Is not your Breast warmed by a Variety of grand Ideas,\nwhich this Sight must give Birth to?----There you have a View of the\ncalm Philosophers, who sought Virtue in her Retirement, and benefited\nMankind by Thought and Meditation.----Some took the human Mind for their\nTheme, examined the various Powers it is endowed with, and gave us, _to\nknow ourselves_.----Others took _Nature_ for their Subject, looked thro'\nall her Works, and enlarged our Notions of a God----While others, warmed\nwith a generous Resentment against Vice and Folly, made Morality their\nCare: To the cool Reasoner serious Philosophy, without any Ornament but\nTruth, was recommended: To the gayer Disposition the moral Song was\ndirected, and the Heart was improved, while the Fancy was delighted: To\nthose who were yet harder to work upon, the Force of Example was made\nuse of: Folly is put to the Test of Ridicule, and laughed out of\nCountenance, while the moral Scene, like a distorting Mirror, shews the\nVillain his Features in so deformed a Manner, that he darts at his own\nImage with Horror and Affright.----On the other Side you are presented\nwith a View of those illustrious Worthies, who spent their Lives in\nAction; who left Retirement to the cool Philosopher, entered into the\nBustle of Mankind, and pursued Virtue in the dazzling Light in which she\nappears to Patriots and Heroes. Inspired by every generous Sentiment,\nthese gallant Spirits founded Constitutions, stemmed the Torrent of\nCorruption, battled for the State, ventured their Lives in the Defence\nof their Country, and gloriously bled in the Cause of Liberty.\n\n_Polypth._ What an happy Man you are, thus to find an Opportunity of\nmoralizing upon every Occasion! What a noble View you have displayed\nbefore me; when perhaps if I had been alone, I should have entertained\nmyself no otherwise than in examining the Busts; or if I read the\nInscriptions, they would only have drawn a Remark from me, that they\nwere well wrote.--The Assembly yonder on the opposite Side of the Water,\nwill be, I suppose, the next Subject for your Rapsody. Pray what Titles\nare those Gentry distinguished by? At this Distance I can hardly find\nout whether they are Philosophers or Milk-maids.\n\n_Calloph._ Why, Sir, you have there a View of the Kingdom of\n_Parnassus_: That Assembly is composed of _Apollo_, and his\nPrivy-council. But as I believe they will hardly pay us, by any Beauty\nin their Workmanship, for our Trouble, should we go round and make them\na Visit; it is my Advice that we walk directly from hence to the Temple\nof Friendship, and so return by that Terrace back again to those Parts\nof the Garden that remain yet unseen.\n\n_Polypth._ With all my Heart: But let us turn in here, I beseech you,\nand walk as much in the Shade as possible, for the Day grows vastly\nwarm.\n\n_Calloph._ I am ready to follow you amongst the Trees, not more out of\nComplaisance than Inclination: I like a cool Retreat as well as you.\nWhen I plan a Garden, I believe, I shall deal much in shady Walks;\nwherever I open a grand Terrace, I intend to lengthen out by its Side a\nclose Vista: through the one I shall lead Strangers, in the other enjoy\nmy Friends. I am a great Admirer of walking in a Shade; it is a kind of\nEmblem of the most agreeable Situation in Life, the retired one: Every\nfantastic View is hid from us, and we may if we please, be Poets, or\nPhilosophers, or what we will. I own I admire the Taste of these buzzing\nInsects, sporting themselves in the Shade; a glaring Sun-shine neither\nin the World, nor in a Walk, is agreeable to my Way of thinking.\n\n_Polypth._ If all the World thought as you do, we should have neither\nStatesmen to mend our Laws, nor Coblers to mend our Shoes: We should\nall run and hide ourselves amongst Trees, and what then would become of\nSociety?\n\n_Calloph._ If I thought you did not will-fullyy mistake my Meaning, I\nwould take the Trouble of telling you that I am an Advocate for no other\n_Retirement_ than such as is consistent with the Duties of Life. A Love\nfor which kind of Retirement, _properly qualified_, is _Health_ to the\nMind; but when it is _made up_ unskillfully, it throws us into a _fatal\nLethargy_, from whence begins the Date of an useless Life. Every\nvirtuous Mind, in a greater or a less Degree, has a turn this Way, and\nthe _best_, I believe, ought to be at the _most_ Pains to guard against\ncarrying this Inclination into the Extreme.\n\n_Polypth._ And yet the Annals of most Nations let us see that their\ngreatest Men have often indulged it; and much for the Benefit of Mankind\ntoo; witness many of the illustrious Worthies we have just been\nvisiting: You forget the Panegyric you bestowed upon them.\n\n_Calloph._ No, Sir: But do you remember that I placed these cool\nReasoners on the best Side of a Comparison with those who entred into\nthe World, and spent their Lives in Action? On the contrary, this latter\nkind of Men have always stood fairest in my Esteem. The Life of a\nRecluse I would recommend to none but a Valetudinarian. We were intended\nto assist each other as much as we are able. For my Part, it has always\nbeen my Opinion, that _one good Man_ does more Service in the World,\nthan _a thousand good Books_.----But we'll drop our Argument at present,\nbecause I see we have finished our Walk.\n\n_Polypth._ Is that Building the Temple of Friendship? I cannot say that\nI extremely admire it: But I hope I shall meet with more Entertainment\nwithin, than I am able to do without----Well: This is elegant I must\nconfess.\n\n_Calloph._ Ay, look round, and tell me if you are not struck by several\nvery beautiful Objects. Those Busts I assure you are _all_ pretty well\ndone, and _some_ of them extremely well.\n\n_Polypth._ So they are indeed: But I am chiefly intent upon the\nPainting, which I am much taken with: It is by the same Hand, I dare\nsay, with that in the Temple of _Venus_. That Emblem of Friendship\nabove the Door, those of Justice and Liberty, and those other Ornaments\nupon the Walls, are well touched. What is that Painting upon the\nCieling? I do not rightly understand it.\n\n_Calloph._ Why, Sir, it is a Piece of Satyr: I am sure you will like it\nif you will give yourself the Trouble to examine it: It is in your Taste\nI know exactly.----There you see sits _Britannia_; upon one Side are\nheld the Glory of her Annals, the Reigns of Queen _Elizabeth_ and\n_Edward_ III. and on the other is offered the Reign of----, which she\nfrowns upon, and puts by with her Hand.\n\n_Polypth._ Excellent, upon my Word! Faith, this is good! Never accept\nit, honest Lady, till Corruption is at an End, and public Spirit\nrevives.\n\n_Calloph._ With so little Malevolence as I know you are possessed of, I\ndo not think I ever met with any body in my Life so eager to catch at\nany thing to blame; or to whom an Opportunity of that kind afforded a\nmore seeming real Pleasure than it does to you.----But I know it\nproceeds from an honest Nature.----Well: Suppose we continue our\nWalk.----I look upon that Statue as one of the finest in the World: I\nwould give all the Money in my Pocket for a Sight of the Original.\n\n_Polypth._ The Posture always to me appears a little too much strained.\nI can scarce throw myself into such an Attitude. Yet it is fine I must\nconfess.\n\n_Calloph._ You have the best View of it, Sir, from hence. Most of the\nEngravings I have met with give us the back View, but I think the Statue\nappears infinitely to the best Advantage when taken in Front. The Air of\nthe Head is delightful, and cannot be hid without depriving the Figure\nof half its Life.----I am leading you now to that genteel Piece of\nBuilding which goes by the Name of the Palladian Bridge.\n\n_Polypth._ I have seen, I think, something like it at my Lord\n_Pembroke_'s.\n\n_Calloph._ I believe, Sir, the Model was taken from thence. Tho' if I\nremember right, the Roof is there supported by Pillars on both Sides.\n\n_Polypth._ I think it is.----But what have we got there? You are taking\nme past something curious.\n\n_Calloph._ I beg your Pardon: Indeed I had almost forgot the Imperial\nCloset: And I wonder I should, for I assure you I have the greatest\nVeneration for its Inhabitants.--There, Sir, is a noble Triumvirate.\n_Titus_, _Trajan_, and _Aurelius_, are Names which want not the Pomp of\nTitle to add a Lustre to them.\n\n_Polypth._ I wish you could persuade all the Kings in _Europe_ to take\nthem as Patterns. But, God knows, public Spirit is now at a low Ebb\namongst us: There is more of it in that single honest Sentiment, _Pro\nme: si merear, in me_, than I believe is to be found in this degenerate\nAge in half a Kingdom.\n\n_Calloph._ I see, my good Friend, you can moralize upon Occasion too.\n\n_Polypth._ Moralize! The D----l take me, if I would not this Moment, in\nspite of--\n\n_Calloph._ Nay, come, don't grow serious: You know I have long since\nlaid it down as a Rule, to stop my Ears when you get into your political\nVein. I am not now to learn that there is no keeping you within the\nBounds of Temperance upon that Topic.\n\n_Polypth._ Well then, let us have something else to talk about.----Yon\nWall at this Distance seems to promise us some Bass-relief.\n\n_Calloph._ Yes, Sir; you are there presented with a View of the\ndifferent Quarters of the World, bringing their various Products to\n_Britannia_. It is a pretty Ornament enough for a Bridge, which, like\nthe Art of Navigation, joins one Land to another.\n\n_Polypth._ I can't say I much admire the Workmanship. There is a great\nDegree of Awkwardness in several of the Figures.\n\n_Calloph._ Why really I am so far of your way of thinking, that I must\nown I am no great Admirer of this kind of Work, except it be extremely\nfine.----The best thing in this Way, that ever I met with, is a Piece of\nAlt-relief which his Lordship keeps within Doors. We shall scarce, I\nbelieve have time now, but we must take an Opportunity of seeing it\nbefore you leave the Country. You will meet with likewise in those\nApartments several very good Pictures: I remember spending an Afternoon\nabout half a Year ago, in a very agreeable Manner amongst them. But this\nPiece of Alt-relief struck me beyond every thing. The Story is\n_Darius_'s Tent; and it is so charmingly told, that I have had, I can\ntell you, a meaner Opinion of _Le Brun_ upon that Subject, ever since I\nhave seen it: The Composition is so just, the Figures so graceful and\ncorrect, nay, the very Drapery so free and easy, that I declare I was\naltogether astonished at the Sight of it.\n\n_Polypth._ Well; I shall find some Opportunity of paying it a Visit.\nThere is so much Art required, and so much Difficulty attends doing any\nthing in this Way as it ought to be, that when we do meet with a good\nPiece of Workmanship of this kind, it affords us an extreme\nPleasure.----So, Sir _William_, have I met you here! I should rather\nhave expected to have seen you among the _British_ Worthies.----This\nsame _Penn_, Sir, I assure you, is a great Favourite of mine. I esteem\nhim one of the most worthy Legislators upon Record. His Laws, I am told,\nact still with great Force in _Pensylvania_, and keep the honest,\ninoffensive People there in extreme good Order.\n\n_Calloph._ Our Sailors mention his Colony as a very happy Set of People;\nthey live entirely at Peace amongst themselves; and (bred up in a\nstrict Observance of Probity) without any Knowledge of an Art Military\namongst them, are able to preserve the most sociable Terms with their\nNeighbours.----These Busts seem to have escaped your Observation.\n\n_Polypth._ No, Sir, I am not so incurious as to suffer any thing that\nhas been in _Italy_ to slip my Notice: Some of those particularly that\nstand on the Side next _Rawleigh_, I was exceedingly taken with.\n\n_Calloph._ Pray what is your Opinion of checquered Marble's being made\nuse of in Busts?\n\n_Polypth._ Why, Sir, I never see any of these party-coloured Faces, but\nI am moved with Indignation at the Sculptor's ridiculous Humour. It is\nso absurd a Taste, that I cannot conceive how it should ever enter into\na Workman's Head, to make every Feature of a Man's Face of a different\nColour; and it amazes me, I assure you, that we meet with daily so many\nInstances of such Absurdity.----In several Parts of the Garden, I have\nhad various Views of that old _Gothic_ Building; we are now at last I\nhope moving towards it. I am so wonderfully pleased with its outward\nAppearance, that I shall be disappointed if I don't meet something\nanswerable within.\n\n_Calloph._ Why, Sir, as old as it looks, I assure you it is not yet\nfinished. You will meet with nothing ornamental in the Inside; so I\nwould have you persuade yourself it has already done all in its Power to\nentertain you. And upon my Word I think it has done a great deal:\nWithout it, I am sure this Part of the Garden would be quite naked and\nlifeless; nor would any other Part appear with so much Beauty. It puts\none in Mind of some generous Patriot in his Retirement; his own\nNeighbourhood feels most the Effects of that Bounty, which in some\nmeasure spreads itself over a whole Country.\n\n_Polypth._ I like this Disposition within, I assure you, altogether as\nwell as its Form without.----There are two or three Pieces of the best\npainted Glass that I have any where met with: Those little historical\nPieces are exceedingly beautiful; and so are those Landskips\nlikewise.----This Hill I think appears rather too naked.\n\n_Calloph._ Throw your Eye over it then, and tell me if you are not\nravished with the View before you. Nothing certainly in the kind can be\nmore beautiful or great, than that pompous Pile rising in so\nmagnificent a manner above the Wood. The Building cannot possibly be\nshewn to greater Advantage: The Appearance it _makes_ presents you with\nan Idea sufficiently grand; yet your Imagination cannot be persuaded but\nthat it is in fact much grander, and that the Wood hides a great Part of\nwhat is to be seen from your Eye. This is a most delightful manner of\npleasing: A grand Object left to a good Imagination to improve upon,\nseldom loses by its Assistance. Our View likewise is greatly added to in\npoint of Beauty, by those several other smaller Buildings which offer\nthemselves, some only half hid amongst the Branches, and others just\npeeping from amongst tufted Trees, which make very beautiful little\ngarnished Dishes in this most elegant Entertainment.\n\n_Polypth._ As you have thus painted the near Objects, let my Pencil, I\nbeg, come in for a few rough Touches in the backgrounds: Without\nsomething of an Off-skip, your Man of Art, you know, seldom esteems his\nView perfect. And in this Landskip there are as many beautiful Objects\nthrown off to a Distance as can well be imagined: That Variety of fine\nWood; that bright Surface of Water, with the pointed Obelisk in the\nMidst of it; those two Pavilions upon the Banks of the Canal; and the\nstill more distant View into the Country, are Objects which, in my\nOpinion, make no small Addition to the Beauty of your Landskip; or, to\ncarry on your Allusion, may very well come in as a second Course in your\nEntertainment.----Our Attention, I think, in the next Place, is demanded\nby this venerable Assembly. That old Gentleman there sits with great\nDignity: I like his Attitude extremely: If I understood the _Runic_\nCharacter, I might have known probably (for this Inscription I fancy\nwould inform me) by what Title he is distinguished. But the Gracefulness\nof his Posture discovers him to have been nothing less than an Hero of\nthe first Rank. He puts me in Mind of a _Roman_ Senator, sitting in his\nCurule Chair to receive the _Gauls_.\n\n_Calloph._ Why, Sir, you have done him great Honour I must own; but you\nhave not yet honoured him according to his Dignity: He is nothing less,\nSir, I assure you, than the Representative of a _Saxon_ Deity. You see\nhere\n\n    __Thor_ and _Woden_ fabled Gods_----\n\nwith the whole System of your Ancestor's Theology. Walk round the\nAssembly, they will smile upon a true _Briton_, and try if you can\nacknowledge each by his distinct Symbol.\n\n_Polypth._ I must confess they do not to me seem accoutered like Gods:\nFor my Part, I should rather suspect them to be Statues of Heroes and\nLawgivers, metamorphised into Divinities by the Courtesy of the Place: I\nshall not however go about to dispute their Titles; but like my good\nAncestors before me, acquiesce piously in what other People tell\nme.----Tho' I cannot say but that Lady there, bearing the Sun (who\nrepresents I suppose _Sunday_) looks whimsical enough; and makes just\nsuch an Appearance as I could imagine the misled Conception of an\nenthusiastic _Saxon_ might mould his Deities into. But in these other\nFigures I must own I cannot see Superstition at all characterized, which\nyou may observe generally forms its Objects of Worship into the most\nmis-created things that can possibly enter the Imagination of Man.\n\n_Calloph._ Why, Sir, amongst the _Greeks_ and _Romans_, you may observe\nseveral very well-shaped Deities: The _Hercules_, the _Apollo_, and the\n_Venus_, are at this Day Standards of Beauty.\n\n_Polypth._ Yes; but I am apt to attribute this rather to the Imagination\nof their Sculptors, than their Priests. To _shew Art_, rather than to\n_express Religion_, was the Point aimed at in these enchanting Pieces of\nWorkmanship.----But when Superstition acted without Controul; when the\nfantastic Notions of Priests were put into the Hands of ordinary\nWorkmen, even amongst the polite _Greeks_ and _Romans_ themselves, Lord!\nwhat misshapen Monsters crouded into Temples, and reared themselves\naloft above Altars! Search other Countries likewise, _Egypt_ and\n_Africa_, _China_ and _Japan_, or any Place either ancient or modern,\nwhere Superstition prevails, and I dare engage in the whole Catalogue of\ntheir Deities you will scarce meet with one that bears any thing like\nthe human Shape.\n\n_Calloph._ Why their Demi-Gods, or canonized Heroes, of which all pagan\nNations had Abundance, were generally I fancy represented in the human\nForm. And these _Saxon_ Divinities, I suppose, pretend not to any\nsuperior Rank----But however, as no Degree of Veneration is exacted\nfrom you, you may I think let them rest quietly upon their Pedestals,\nwithout any farther Molestation.----We have a good View into the\nCountry from hence. Those Woods are extremely elegant in their kind; we\nmust certainly contrive to take a Ride thither some Evening. They are\nlaid out in a very fine Manner, and cut into very beautiful Ridings.\n\n_Polypth._ Ay, that is the kind of Improvement that takes most with me\n(let us step in here a Moment, we are caught I see in a Shower). I am\naltogether of the Poet's Opinion, that\n\n    _'Tis _Use_ alone that sanctifies Expence._\n\nWere I a Nobleman, I should endeavour to turn my Estate into a Garden,\nand make my Tenants my Gardiners: Instead of useless Temples, I would\nbuild Farm-houses; and instead of cutting out unmeaning Vistas, I would\nbeautify and mend Highways: The Country should smile upon my Labours,\nand the Public should partake in my Pleasures. What signifies all this\nostentatious Work? Is any Man the better for it? Is it not Money most\nvilely squandered away?\n\n_Calloph._ So far from it, that I assure you, considered even in a\npublic Light, I look upon it as an Expence that may very properly be\nsaid to be sanctified by _Use_.\n\n_Polypth._ I suppose you are going to tell me that it feeds two or\nthree poor Labourers; and when you have said this, I know not what more\nyou can say to defend it. But how is it possible for a Man to throw away\nhis Money without doing some Service in the World?\n\n_Calloph._ How? Why by spending it in gaming, to the Encouragement of\nCheats and Sharpers: By squandering it away upon Lusts and Appetites, in\nthe Support of Stews and Bawdy-houses: Or by Dealing it out in Bribes,\nin opposition to Honesty, and to advance Corruption. In Arts like these,\nwhat Numbers consume their Wealth! It is not enough for them to prevent\nMankind's being benefited by their affluent Circumstances; but they do\ntheir utmost, while they diminish their Fortunes, to make all they can\ninfluence as worthless as themselves. So that I assure you I should look\nupon it as a very great Point gained, if all our Men of Fortune would\nonly take care that their Wealth proves of no Disservice to Mankind.\nTho' I am far from desiring they should stop there: I would have them\nendeavour to turn it into some useful Channel. And in my Opinion, it is\nlaid out in a very laudable Manner, when it is spent, as it is here, in\ncirculating thro' a Variety of Trades, in supporting a Number of poor\nFamilies, and in the Encouragement of Art and Industry.\n\n_Polypth._ Well, Sir, I confess Wealth thus laid out, is beneficial to a\nCountry; but still you keep from the Point: I ask whether all these good\nEnds would not be answered, and more too, were this Wealth laid out\naccording to my Scheme, in public Works, or something of an _useful_\nNature.\n\n_Calloph._ And so you have no Notion of any Use arising from these\nelegant Productions of Art: You cannot conceive how they should be of\nany Service to the Public. Why you are a mere _Goth_, an unpolished\n_Vandal_; were you impowered to reform the Age, I suppose I should see\nyou, like one of those wild misguided People, coursing furiously round\nthe Land, and laying desolate every thing beautiful you met with. But in\nmy Opinion, Sir, these noble Productions of Art, considered merely as\nsuch, may be looked upon as Works of a very public Nature. Do you think\nno _End_ is answered when a Nation's Taste is regulated with regard to\nthe most innocent, the most refined, and elegant of its Pleasures? In\nall polite Countries the Amusements of the People were thought highly\ndeserving a Legislator's Inspection. To establish a just Taste in these,\nwas esteemed in some measure as advancing the Interest of Virtue: And\ncan it be considered as a Work entirely of a private Nature, for a\nsuperior Genius to exert itself in an Endeavour to fix a true Standard\nof Beauty in any of these allowed and useful kinds of Pleasure? In the\nWay of Gardening particularly, the Taste of the Nation has long been so\ndepraved, that I should think we might be obliged to any one that would\nundertake to reform it. While a Taste for Painting, Music, Architecture,\nand other polite Arts, in some measure prevailed amongst us, our Gardens\nfor the most Part were laid out in so formal, aukward, and wretched a\nManner, that they were really a Scandal to the very Genius of the\nNation; a Man of Taste was shocked whenever he set his Foot into them.\nBut _Stow_, it is to be hoped, may work some Reformation: I would have\nour Country Squires flock hither two or three times in a Year, by way of\nImprovement, and after they have looked about them a little, return Home\nwith new Notions, and begin to see the Absurdity of their clipped Yews,\ntheir Box-wood Borders, their flourished Parterres, and their lofty\nBrick-walls.----You may smile, but I assure you such an Improvement of\npublic Taste, tho' there is no Occasion to consider it as a matter of\nthe first Importance, is certainly a Concern that ought by no means to\nbe neglected. Perhaps indeed I may carry the Matter farther than the\ngenerality of People; but to me I must own there appears a very visible\nConnection between an _improved_ Taste for Pleasure, and a Taste for\nVirtue: When I sit ravished at an Oratorio, or stand astonished before\nthe Cartoons, or enjoy myself in these happy Walks, I can feel my Mind\nexpand itself, my Notions enlarge, and my Heart better disposed either\nfor a religious Thought, or a benevolent Action: In a Word, I cannot\nhelp imagining a Taste for these exalted Pleasures contributes towards\nmaking me a better Man.\n\n_Polypth._ Good God! what an Enthusiast you are! Polite Arts improve\nVirtue! an Assertion indeed for a Philosopher to make. Why are they not\nalways considered as having a natural Tendency to Luxury, to Riot, and\nLicentiousness?\n\n_Calloph._ No more, in my Opinion, than a wholesome Meal has to a\nSurfeit, or reading the Scriptures to Heresy: All things are capable, we\nknow, of Abuse; and perhaps the best things the most capable: And tho'\nthis may indeed argue a Depravity in _us_, yet it by no means, I think,\nargues a Tendency in _them_ to deprave us. However, (to let what I have\nyet said stand for nothing) I can tell you one very great Piece of\nService arising to the Country from Wealth laid out in this elegant\nmanner, which you seem so much to grumble at; and that is, the Money\nspent in the Neighbourhood by the Company daily crouding hither to\nsatisfy their Curiosity. We have a kind of a continual Fair; and I have\nheard several of the Inhabitants of the neighbouring Town assert, that\nit is one of the best Trades they have: Their Inns, their Shops, their\nFarms, and Shambles, all find their Account in it: So that, in my\nOpinion, viewed in this Light only, such Productions of Art may be\nconsidered as very great Advantages to every Neighbourhood that enjoys\nthe lucky Situation of being placed near them.----To this Advantage\nmight be added, the great Degree of Pleasure from hence derived daily to\nsuch Numbers of People: A Place like this is a kind of keeping open\nHouse, there is a Repast at all times ready for the Entertainment of\nStrangers. And sure if you have any Degree of Benevolence, you must\nthink an _useful End_ answered in thus affording an innocent\nGratification to so many of your Fellow-creatures. A _Sunday_ Evening\nspent here, adds a new Relish to the Day of Rest, and makes the Sabbath\nappear more chearful to the Labourer after a toilsome Week. For my\nPart, I assure you I have scarce experienced a greater Pleasure than I\nhave often felt upon meeting a Variety of pleased Faces in these Walks:\nAll Care and Uneasiness seems to be left behind at the Garden-door, and\nPeople enter here fully resolved to enjoy themselves, and the several\nbeautiful Objects around them: In one Part a Face presents itself marked\nwith the Passion of gaping Wonder; in another you meet a Countenance\nbearing the Appearance of a more rational Pleasure; and in a third, a\nSett of Features composed into serene Joy; while the Man of Taste is\nseen examining every Beauty with a curious Eye, and discovering his\nApprobation in an half-formed Smile.--To this I might still add another\nAdvantage, of a public Nature, derived from these elegant Productions of\nArt; and that is their Tendency to raise us in the Opinion of\nForeigners. If our Nation had nothing of this kind to boast of, all our\nNeighbours would look upon us a stupid, tasteless Set of People, and not\nworth visiting. So that for the Credit of the Country, I think,\nsomething of this kind ought to be exhibited amongst us. Our public\nVirtues, if we have any, would not, I dare say, appear to less Advantage\nwhen recommended by these Embellishments of Art.\n\n_Polypth._ I wonder you should not know me better than to imagine I am\nalways in earnest when I find fault. My Thoughts and yours, I assure\nyou, agree exactly upon this Subject. I only wanted to engage you in\nsome Discourse till the Shower was over; and as the Sky seems now quite\nclear, if you will, we'll venture out, and visit what we have yet to\nsee.\n\n_Calloph._ You are a humorous Fellow: This is not the first time you\nhave made me play my Lungs to no purpose.----As we walk along this\nTerrace, you may observe the great Advantage of low Walls: By this means\nthe Garden is extended beyond its Limits, and takes in every thing\nentertaining that is to be met with in the range of half a County.\nVillages, Works of Husbandry, Groups of Cattle, Herds of Deer, and a\nVariety of other beautiful Objects, are brought into the Garden, and\nmake a Part of the Plan. Even to the _nicest_ Taste these rural Scenes\nare highly delightful.\n\n_Polypth._ Nay you may add, that whoever has no Relish for them, gives\nReason for a Suspicion that he has no Taste at all.\n\n    _Straight mine Eye hath caught new Pleasures,\n    Whilst the Landskip round it measures;\n    Russet Lawns, and Fallows gray.\n    Where the nibbling flocks do stray;\n    Mountains, on whose barren Breast\n    The labouring Clouds do often rest;\n    Meadows trim with Daisies pide,\n    Shallow Brooks, and Rivers wide:\n    Towers and Battlements it sees\n    Bosom'd high in tufted Trees,\n    Where perhaps some Beauty lies,\n    The Cynosure of neighbouring Eyes.\n    Hard by a Cottage Chimney smokes,\n    From betwixt two aged Oaks._\n\n_Calloph._ Can you repeat no more? I could have listened with great\nPleasure if you had gone on with the whole Piece. It is quite Nature:\nThat View of an old Castle, _bosom'd high in tufted Trees_, pleases me\nexceedingly: And the two following Lines,\n\n    _Where perhaps some Beauty lies,\n    The Cynosure of neighbouring Eyes,_\n\ngive it an elegant, romantic Air; and add greatly to the Idea before\nconceived.----But to pursue our former Argument: It must be owned indeed\nthat these Walks want such Openings into the Country as little as any\nPlace can well be imagined to do; yet even _Stow_ itself, I assure you,\nis much improved by them. They contrast beautifully with this more\npolished Nature, and set it off to greater Advantage. After surfeiting\nitself with the Feast here provided for it, the Eye, by using a little\nExercise in travelling about the Country, grows hungry again, and\nreturns to the Entertainment with fresh Appetite. Besides, there is\nnothing so distasteful to the Eye as a confined Prospect (where the\nReasonableness of it does not appear) especially if a dead Wall, or any\nother such disagreeable Object steps in between. The Eye naturally loves\nLiberty, and when it is in quest of Prospects, will not rest content\nwith the most beautiful Dispositions of Art, confined within a narrow\nCompass, but (as soon as the Novelty of the Sight is over) will begin to\ngrow dissatisfied, till the whole Limits of the Horizon be given it to\nrange through.\n\n_Polypth._ The Eye, according to your Account, seems to be something\nlike a Bee: Plant as many Flowers as you will near its Hive, yet still\nthe little Insect will be discontented, unless it be allowed to wander\no'er the Country, and be its own Caterer.----I have got a few very\nsevere Exclamations at my Tongue's End, which I will not vent till you\nhave told me the Architect's Name, who has loaded the Ground with that\nmonstrous Piece of Building, tho' I believe I can guess him without\nyour Information.\n\n_Calloph._ Suffer me to intercede in his Behalf. You are so unmerciful a\nReprover, that I have not Patience to hear you. The Room above is\ndesigned, I am told, to be fitted up in a very elegant manner; but as\nvery little is yet done to it, we shall find nothing I fancy to answer\nthe Trouble of going up Stairs.----This Part of the Garden, you see, is\nyet unfinished. If we have the Pleasure of your Company in this Country\nnext Year, you will see I dare say great Alterations here. That _Base_\nis to shoot up into a lofty Monument: And several of those Objects you\nsee before you are to take new Forms upon them.\n\n_Polypth._ Yonder likewise seems to be a Monument[19] rising: Pray who is\nit intended to do Honour to?\n\n_Calloph._ Why, Sir, it is intended to do Honour to a Gentleman, who has\ndone Honour to his Country: It is dedicated to the Memory of Captain\n_Grenville_, and joins with the Nation in applauding a Man, who pushed\nforwards by Honour, and a Love for his Country, met Danger and Death\nwith the Spirit of a _Roman_.----Well, how do you like the Plan which\nyou see laid out before you?\n\n    [19] Since this View of the Gardens was taken, the Monument here\n    spoken of has been finished. The following Lines are a Translation\n    of its Inscription, which in the Original is wrote in Latin.\n\nAs a Monument To testify both his Applause and Grief, RICHARD Lord\nViscount COBHAM Erected this Naval Pillar to the Memory of his Nephew\nCAPTAIN GRENVILLE, Who commanding a Ship of War in the _British_ Fleet\nUnder ADMIRAL ANSON, In an Engagement with the _French_, was Mortally\nwounded upon the Thigh By a Fragment of his shattered Ship; Yet with his\nlast Breath had the Bravery to cry out, How much more desireable is it\nthus to meet Death, \"Than, convicted of Cowardice, to meet Justice!\"\n\nMay this noble Instance of Virtue Prove instructive to an abandoned Age,\nAnd teach _Britons_ how to act In their Country's Cause!\n\n_Polypth._ As far as I can judge of the future Landskip from this\nSketch, it will be an admirable one. I am extremely taken with it. That\nBason has a very fine Effect.--I could return back the same Round with\ngreat Pleasure, but my Watch informs me that Mr.----, has been\nexpecting us this half Hour.\n\n_Calloph._ Is it so late? The Time has stole off very slily. However you\nneed be under no Apprehensions; that honest Gentleman is seldom very\nhasty in his Motions.\n\nHaving thus finished their Round, our two Gentlemen directed their Faces\nback again towards the Gate.\n\n_Polypthon_, notwithstanding the sour Humour he had given so many\nEvidences of in his Walk, began now to relent, and could talk of nothing\nbut the agreeable Entertainment that had been afforded him. Sometimes he\nwould run out into the highest Encomiums of the many beautiful\nTerminations of the several Walks and Vistas; and observe how many Uses\neach Object served, and in how many different Lights it was made to vary\nitself. \"For Instance, says he, the Pavilion you shewed me from the\nTemple of _Venus_, terminates that Terrace in a very grand Manner; and\nmakes likewise a very magnificent Appearance, where it corresponds with\nanother of the same Form, at the Entrance into the Park: Yet the same\nBuilding, like a Person acquainted with the World, who can suit his\nBehaviour to Time and Place, can vary itself upon occasion into a more\nhumble Shape, and when viewed thro' a retired Vista, can take upon it\nthe lowly Form of a close Retreat.\"----When he had enlarged pretty\ncopiously upon this Subject, he would next launch out into the highest\nPraises of the vast Variety of Objects that was every where to be met\nwith: \"Men of all Humours, says he, will here find something pleasing\nand suited to their Taste. The thoughtful may meet with retired Walks\ncalculated in the best Manner for Contemplation: The gay and chearful\nmay see Nature in her loveliest Dress, and meet Objects corresponding\nwith their most lively Flights. The romantic Genius may entertain itself\nwith several very beautiful Objects in its own Taste, and grow wild with\nIdeas of the inchanted kind. The disconsolate Lover may hide himself in\nshady Groves, or melancholy wander along the Banks of Lakes and Canals;\nwhere he may sigh to the gentle Zephyrs; mingle his Tears with the\nbubbling Water; or where he may have the best Opportunity, if his Malady\nbe grown to such an Height, of ending his Despair, and finishing his\nLife with all the Decency and Pomp of a Lover in a Romance. In short,\nsays he, these Gardens are a very good Epitome of the World: They are\ncalculated for Minds of every Stamp, and give free Scope to Inclinations\nof every kind: And if it be said that in some Parts they too much\nhumour the debauched Taste of the Sensualist, it cannot be denied on\nthe other hand, but that they afford several very noble Incitements to\nHonour and Virtue.\"----But what beyond all other things seemed most to\nplease him, was the amicable and beautiful Conjunction of _Art_ and\n_Nature_ thro' the whole: He observed that the _former_ never appeared\nstiff, or the _latter_ extravagant.\n\nUpon many other Topicks of Praise _Polypthon_ run out with great Warmth.\n_Callophilus_ seemed surprized, and could not forbear asking him, By\nwhat means his Opinions became so suddenly changed? \"Why, says he, Sir,\nI have said nothing now that contradicts any thing I said before. I own\nI met with two or three Objects that were not entirely to my Taste,\nwhich I am far from condemning for that Reason; tho' if I should, it is\nnothing to the purpose, because I am now taking a Survey of the whole\ntogether; in which Light I must confess I am quite astonished with the\nView before me. Besides, I hate one of your wondering Mortals, who is\nperpetually breaking out into a Note of Admiration at every thing he\nsees: I am always apt to suspect his Taste or his Sincerity. It is\nimpossible that all Genius's can alike agree in their Opinions of any\nWork of Art; and the Man who never _blames_, I can scarce believe is\nqualified to _commend_. Besides, finding fault now and then, adds Weight\nto Commendation, and makes us believed to be in earnest. However,\nnotwithstanding what you may think of my frequent Cavils, I assure you,\nwith the greatest Sincerity, I never before saw any thing of the kind at\nall comparable to what I have here seen: I shall by no means close this\nDay with a _Diem perdidi_; nor would the _Roman_ Emperor himself, I\nbelieve, have made the Reflection if he had spent his condemned Hours in\nthis Place.\"\n\nBy this time the Gentlemen were come to the Gate, thro' which\n_Polypthon_ assured his Friend he passed with the greatest Reluctance,\nand went growling out of this delightful Garden, as the Devil is said to\nhave done out of Paradise.\n\n                                _FINIS._\n\n\n\n\n                          WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK\n                            MEMORIAL LIBRARY\n\n                 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES\n\n                      The Augustan Reprint Society\n\n                          PUBLICATIONS IN PRINT\n\n\n\n\n                      The Augustan Reprint Society\n\n                         PUBLICATIONS IN PRINT\n\n\n                               1948-1949\n\n16. Henry Nevil Payne, _The Fatal Jealousie_ (1673).\n\n18. \"Of Genius,\" in _The Occasional Paper_, Vol. III, No. 10 (1719),\nand Aaron Hill, Preface to _The Creation_ (1720).\n\n\n                              1949-1950\n\n19. Susanna Centlivre, _The Busie Body_ (1709).\n\n22. Samuel Johnson, _The Vanity of Human Wishes_ (1749), and two\n_Rambler_ papers (1750).\n\n23. John Dryden, _His Majesties Declaration Defended_ (1681).\n\n\n                              1951-1952\n\n26. Charles Macklin, _The Man of the World_ (1792).\n\n31. Thomas Gray, _An Elegy Wrote in a Country Churchyard_ (1751),\nand _The Eton College Manuscript_.\n\n\n                              1952-1953\n\n41. Bernard Mandeville, _A Letter to Dion_ (1732).\n\n\n                              1964-1965\n\n110. John Tutchin, _Selected Poems_ (1685-1700).\n\n111. _Political Justice_ (1736).\n\n113. T. R., _An Essay Concerning Critical and Curious Learning_\n(1698).\n\n\n                              1965-1966\n\n115. Daniel Defoe and others, _Accounts of the Apparition of Mrs.\nVeal_ (1705, 1706, 1720, 1722).\n\n116. Charles Macklin, _The Convent Garden Theatre_ (1752).\n\n117. Sir Roger L'Estrange, _Citt and Bumpkin_ (1680).\n\n118. Henry More, _Enthusiasmus Triumphatus_ (1662).\n\n120. Bernard Mandeville, _Aesop Dress'd or a Collection of Fables_ (1740).\n\n\n                              1966-1967\n\n124. _The Female Wits_ (1704).\n\n\n                              1968-1969\n\n133. John Courtenay, _A Poetical Review of the Literary and Moral\nCharacter of the Late Samuel Johnson_ (1786).\n\n136. Thomas Sheridan, _A Discourse Being Introductory to His\nCourse of Lectures on Elocution and the English Language_\n(1759).\n\n137. Arthur Murphy. _The Englishman from Paris_ (1756).\n\n\n                              1969-1970\n\n138. [Catherine Trotter] _Olinda's Adventures_ (1718).\n\n139. John Ogilvie, _An Essay on the Lyric Poetry of the Ancients_\n(1762).\n\n140. _A Learned Dissertation on Dumpling_ (1726) and _Pudding and\nDumpling Burnt to Pot or a Compleat Key to the Dissertation\non Dumpling_ (1727).\n\n141. Sir Roger L'Estrange, Selections from _The Observator_ (1681-1687).\n\n142. Anthony Collins, _A Discourse Concerning Ridicule and Irony in\nWriting_ (1729).\n\n143. _A Letter From a Clergyman to His Friend, with an Account of\nthe Travels of Captain Lemuel Gulliver_ (1726).\n\n144. _The Art of Architecture_, A Poem (1742).\n\n\n                              1970-1971\n\n145-146. Thomas Shelton,_ A Tutor to Tachygraphy, or Short-writing_\n(1642) and _Tachygraphy_ (1647).\n\n147-148. _Deformities of Dr. Samuel Johnson_ (1782).\n\n149. _Poeta de Tristibus: or the Poet's Complaint_ (1682).\n\n150. Gerard Langbaine, _Momus Triumphans: or the Plagiaries of the\nEnglish Stage_ (1687).\n\n\n                              1971-1972\n\n151-152. Evan Lloyd, _The Methodist. A Poem_ (1766).\n\n153. _Are These Things So?_ (1740), and _The Great Man's Answer to\nAre These Things So?_ (1740).\n\n154. Arbuthnotiana: _The Story of the St. Alb-ns Ghost_ (1712), and _A\nCatalogue of Dr. Arbuthnot's Library_ (1779).\n\n155-156. A Selection of Emblems from Herman Hugo's _Pia Desideria_\n(1624), with English Adaptations by Francis Quarles and Edmund\nArwaker.\n\n\n                              1972-1973\n\n157. William Mountfort, _The Life and Death of Doctor Faustus_\n(1697).\n\n158. Colley Cibber, _A Letter from Mr. Cibber to Mr. Pope_ (1742).\n\n159. [Catherine Clive] _The Case of Mrs. Clive_ (1744).\n\n160. [Thomas Tryon] _A Discourse ... of Phrensie, Madness or\nDistraction_ from _A Treatise of Dreams and Visions_ [1689].\n\n161. Robert Blair, _The Grave. A Poem_ (1743).\n\n162. [Bernard Mandeville] _A Modest Defence of Publick Stews_\n(1724).\n\n\n                              1973-1974\n\n163. [William Rider] _An Historical and Critical Account of the\nLives and Writings of the Living Authors of Great Britain_\n(1762).\n\n164. Thomas Edwards, _The Sonnets of Thomas Edwards_ (1765,\n1780).\n\n165. Hildebrand Jacob, _Of the Sister Arts; An Essay_ (1734).\n\n166. _Poems on the Reign of William III_ [1690, 1696, 1699, 1702]\n\n167. Kane O'Hara, _Midas: An English Burletta_ (1766).\n\n168. [Daniel Defoe] _A Short Narrative History of the Life and Actions\nof His Grace John, D. of Marlborough_ (1711).\n\n\n                              1974-1975\n\n169-170. Samuel Richardson, _The Apprentice's Vade-Mecum_ (1734).\n\n171. James Bramston, _The Man of Taste_ (1733).\n\n172-173. Walter Charleton, _The Ephesian Matron_ (1668).\n\n174. Bernard Mandeville, _The Mischiefs That Ought Justly to be apprehended\nFrom a Whig-Government_ (1714).\n\n174X. John Melton, _Astrologaster_ (1620).\n\nPublications of the first fifteen years of the society (numbers 1-90)\nare available in paperbound units of six issues at $16.00 per unit from\nKraus Reprint Company, 16 East 46th Street, New York, N. Y. 10017.\n\nPublications in print are available at the regular membership rate of\n$5.00 for individuals and $8.00 for institutions per year. Prices of\nsingle issues may be obtained upon request. Subsequent publications may\nbe checked in the annual prospectus.\n\n                 _Make check or money order payable to_\n\n              THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA\n\n                              _and send to_\n\n               The William Andrews Clark Memorial Library\n           2520 Cimarron Street, Los Angeles, California 90018\n\n\nTranscriber's Note. The original punctuation and spelling have been\nretained.","title":"A Dialogue upon the Gardens of the Right Honorouble the Lord Viscount Cobham at Stow in Buckinghamshire","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":16545}