Part 3

It is thus that far the noblest part of our Chinese Gardens, and those which at first sight appear most impracticable, may be obtained even amongst the common dispositions of English nature; and the great might thus have pleasure-grounds, extensive and extraordinary as those of the East, without any very considerable expence: men of less note would naturally imitate their superiors, by embellishing their possessions in the same manner; and instead of spending large sums to fence and to lard a little field with twigs, to give it the name of a Garden, they would beautify their whole estate; which, by a proper attention to the [oe]conomical precepts of our Chinese Gardeners, might be done in such a manner as to encrease its value, as well as improve its appearance.

By these means this whole kingdom might soon become one magnificent vast Garden, bounded only by the sea; the many noble seats and villas with which it abounds, would give uncommon consequence to the scenery; and it might still be rendered more splendid, if, instead of disfiguring your churches with monuments, our Chinese manner of erecting mausoleums by the sides of the roads was introduced amongst you; and if all your public bridges were adorned with triumphal arches, rostral pillars, bas-reliefs, statues, and other indications of victory, and glorious atchievements in war: an empire transformed into a splendid Garden, with the imperial mansion towering on an eminence in the center,[23] and the palaces of the nobles scattered like pleasure-pavilions amongst the plantations, infinitely surpasses any thing that even the Chinese ever attempted: yet vast as the design appears, the execution is certainly within your reach.

Such, as far as I am able to judge, continued our Orator, is the true application of nature to horticulture; perhaps the only one that can be attempted with success: wherever she is made in little, or introduced upon a confined plan, the effect is always trifling and bad, as will appear to any man of real taste, who inspects the artificial scenery even of your most approved gardens: Nature admits of no reduction in her dimensions; trees will not grow in miniature; nor are her bold movements to be expressed upon the surface of a few acres: and not to mention any of your performances, it is scarcely in the power of the most consummate art, to imitate nature perfectly; nor were it possible, could the most skilful arrangements acquire their true effect, till after the expiration of many years: our children may see the perfection of what we plant; we never can.

Our eastern artists, therefore, seldom attempt to create, but rather imitate the tonsor, the habit-maker, the posture-master, and all the other polishers of man; who dispose, decorate, cleanse, clip, and add grace to what is already formed to their hands: to make nature, they say, is tedious and difficult beyond conception; but she may soon be embellished, her redundancys suppressed, her faults corrected, her wants supplied, her beauties improved, and set to view.

The truth of these assertions is, I think, apparent in many of your famous plantations; but the beauties of improved natural scenery, the defects of artificial, are no where so strongly marked as at B----m, the most magnificent seat I have yet seen in Europe. On our entrance into the Park, we were astonished at the sight of a stupendous palace, surrounded with one of the noblest scenes of nature that can be imagined; the extent is vast, the parts uncommonly large, the grounds naturally well contrasted, the transitions bold, the plantations in perfect maturity: what assistance was necessary from art, has hitherto been judiciously administered; the removal of some trees, has exposed to view beauties that seem before to have been concealed; the addition of some others, has enriched parts that were bare; and the trifling, though very judicious circumstance of raising a head at the end of a valley, has obtained a very considerable lake of water, which enriches and enlivens all the prospects; and which, by following the natural bent or windings of the valley, has taken, without any assistance from art, the most picturesque forms that could be desired: in short, the whole is now admirable; and, when improved to the utmost, according to the design of the munificent owner, will yet be more so. Ornaments to characterize the Garden more strongly, are yet wanting, and some masterly finishing touches still very necessary: one only little twining path, within ten cubits of the fence, is certainly not in character with the grandeur of the place; but the fence may be removed; and there is room, even now, on the declivity of the banks, and by the sides of the lake, for more considerable walks, with many recesses, which, when made and decorated, will add variety to grandeur, and render the whole as entertaining and splendid, as it is now great.

You enjoy the sight of this noble prospect for more than a mile; when the little path is suddenly turned into a little wood, whence, after having advanced a few paces, you behold a piece of scenery, all artificial, which I cannot venture to describe in this presence: some of you, Gentlemen, have seen what it is; and, with all your national partiality, must allow, either that it proves the impossibility of creating nature with any degree of success; or, that the ablest of your countrymen have no talent that way; to create, or to improve, are indeed very different operations; the former of which requires infinitely the most skill: it is ten times more difficult to paint a picture, than to judge, or suggest improvements, in one already painted.

Hitherto I have only described of B----m, what strangers usually see; but the whole park, above twelve miles in circumference, and several farms adjoining to it, are uncommonly beautiful, rich in old planting, in water, and in a great variety of picturesque sites and points of view; so that, with a very little dressing, with some assistance from the sister arts of architecture and sculpture, the whole might easily be converted into one large magnificent Garden.

And give me leave to observe, that these advantages are by no means peculiar to B----m; England boasts at least a hundred other places, many as extensive, most of them as capable of improvement, in various ways; which, under the management of true artists, might soon be made to rival the Tse-hiu and Chang-lin[24] of ancient days, the Yven ming, the Tchang tchun yven,[25] or any of the present splendid pleasure Gardens of our sublime Emperor, Kieng-long; the torch of the east, and true descendant of Tay-tsoy, the providence of Heaven, whom Joss[26] preserve in flesh and good spirits.

It must, however, be confessed, that there is an inconveniency subsisting amongst you, which will always retard, and often prevent the execution of this extensive plan of Gardening; it is the licentiousness of your youth and common people, who delight in destroying every extraordinary thing that comes in their way: if a great man plants trees to shade and beautify a road, the people cut them down; if statues, or other pieces of sculpture, are set to adorn places of public resort, the boys pelt at them with stones, till all their extremities are demolished: wherever there are buildings, or seats, even in your Royal Gardens, we see them constantly disfigured with scurrilous inscriptions, or obscene rhimes; and where there are any uncommon trees, they are divested of every branch within reach; the shrubs are robbed of their blossom; the flowers are trodden under foot; the birds and animals are destroyed: in short, no mischief, that drunken mirth or deliberate malevolence can suggest, is left undone. What pity that such destructive brutality should exist in a country so particularly favoured by Nature, and so capable of improvement in the highest degree; whilst, in every other part of the world, it is unknown, almost unheard of!

But there is a strong tincture of the rhubarb in all human competitions; and liberty, which has so many advantages, is, nevertheless, attended with some inconveniencies, of a very serious nature; amongst which, the ferocity of its lowest votaries is none of the least formidable. Since our arrival here last July, I have seen at least twenty of their boisterous pranks; in which, not to enumerate the broken windows, the bloody noses, the kicks, and the bastinadoes of other gentlemen, I have myself been a melancholy sufferer upon various occasions; particularly at Portsmouth, where I was thrown into the sea, and narrowly escaped drowning, for the diversion of the company. Would to Heaven!--as I say to the mistress Chet-quas in a morning--would to Heaven, my ducks, we were well at Quang-chew-fu again, with all our long nails, and all our whiskers about us! The rigours of an Emperor are less frightful to me, than the frolics of a savage mob, elevated to madness with songs of freedom, and tons of strong beer: it is easier to please a man with one good head, than a monster with ten thousand, all bad ones.

_Miao kao faan-quai_[27] _Tsat paat quai-tsai_

Pardon this digression, which the terrors of a disturbed imagination have drawn me into; and permit your servant to re-assume the thread of his Discourse.

Wherever the extent is considerable, and the lands properly formed for the purpose, the mode of natural Gardening, just recommended, ought certainly to be employed in preference to any other, as it surpasses all others in perfection, and is yet most easily executed: but in or near great cities, where property is much divided, on flats, where nature has no play, in all tame situations; the richer and more artificial manner of our Gardening is preferable: because it may contain much variety in a small compass, and corrects the natural defects of the ground more speedily, more effectually, with less charge than any other.

This manner is also properest for grounds that immediately surround elegant structures, where order and symmetry are absolutely necessary; and for many little enclosures, or resting-places of various kinds, that must always be dispersed in different parts of extensive plantations; where nicety of dress, and excessive decoration are in character; and where they may be conveniently secured with stronger fences, to guard them from public intrusion.

These choice pieces of cultivation are appropriated to the owner and his select friends; set aside for convivial pleasures, and enjoyments that can only be tasted in private: they may be considered as more spacious apartments, as habitations adapted to the milder seasons of the year, in which Art and Nature unite to furnish a variety of whatever is beautiful, elegant, extraordinary or entertaining; whilst the larger improvements are suited to the more open amusements of the owner, contrived upon a bolder system, for a more distant and cursory inspection: they are a noble indication of his consequence; a benevolent, as well as artful tribute to the community; which, whilst it serves to multiply the conveniencys, or promote the innocent amusements of the public, secures the popularity of the benefactor, and marks, in the strongest colours, his power, wealth and munificence. How these considerations operate in England, I, who am a stranger, cannot determine; but in the kingdoms of the East they have great weight.

Your connoisseurs will, I know, object to our artificial scenery; which they consider as unnatural, and represent as too expensive for imitation. On the former of these points you have already heard my sentiments; I need not now repeat them: those who are not yet convinced, may still feed on crabs, and leave ananas to better heads.

Till my arrival in England, I never doubted but the appearance of art was admissible, even necessary to the essence of a splendid Garden: and I am more firmly of that opinion, after having seen your English Gardens; though the contrary is so violently maintained by your countrymen, in opposition to the rest of the world, to the practice of all other polished nations, all enlightened ages; and, as far as I am able to judge, in opposition to reason. But your people delight in extremes; and, whenever they get upon a new scent, pursue it with such rage, that they always overshoot the bounds. We admire Nature as much as you do; but being of a more phlegmatick disposition, our affections are somewhat better regulated: we consider how she may be employed, upon every occasion, to most advantage; and do not always introduce her in the same garb; but show her in a variety of forms; sometimes naked, as you attempt to do; sometimes disguised; sometimes decorated, or assisted by art; scrupulously avoiding, in our most artless dispositions, all resemblance to the common face of the country, with which the Garden is immediately surrounded; being convinced, that a removal from one field to another, of the same appearance, can never afford any particular pleasure, nor ever excite powerful sensations of any kind.

If I must tell you my mind freely, Gentlemen, both your artists and connoisseurs seem to lay too much stress on nature and simplicity; they are the constant cry of every half-witted dabbler, the burthen of every song, the tune by which you are insensibly lulled into dullness and insipidity. If resemblance to nature were the measure of perfection, the waxen figures in Fleet-street, would be superior to all the works of the divine Buonarotti; the trouts and wood-cocks of Elmer, preferable to the cartoons of Raphael: but, believe me, too much nature is often as bad as too little, as may be deduced from many examples, obvious to every man conversant in polite knowledge. Whatever is familiar, is by no means calculated to excite the strongest feelings; and though a close resemblance to familiar objects may delight the ignorant, yet, to the skilful, it has but few charms, never any of the most elevated sort; and is sometimes even disgusting: without a little assistance from art, nature is seldom tolerable; she may be compared to certain viands, either tasteless, or unpleasant in themselves: which, nevertheless, with some seasoning, become palatable; or, when properly prepared, compose a most exquisite dish.

And with respect to simplicity, wherever more is admitted than may be requisite to constitute grandeur, or necessary to facilitate conception, it is always a fault. To the human mind, some exertion is always necessary: it must be occupied to be pleased; and is more satisfied with a treat, than with a frugal repast: for though it doth not delight in intricacies, yet, without a certain, even a considerable degree of complication, no grateful sensations can ever be excited. Excessive simplicity can only please the ignorant or weak, whose comprehensions are slow, and whose powers of combination are confined.

Simplicity must therefore be used with discretion, and the dose be adapted to the constitution of the patients, amongst savages and Hottentots; where arts are unknown, refinements unheard of, an abundant portion may be necessary; but wherever civilization has improved the mental faculties, a little, with proper management, will go a very great way: need I prove what the music, poetry, language, arts and manners, of every nation demonstrate, beyond the possibility of a doubt.

Another favourite word of your virtuosi, is purity; a word of which, being a stranger, I do not perhaps know the full value; nor exactly in what sense it is applied to the art in question. We are told, that in the purity of Gardening, you were never equalled by any nation; even that this boasted purity never appeared in any country but England: it may be so; your Gardens have certainly been purged to the quick, freed of every encumberance, and cleansed of every extrinsick redundancy; so that nothing now remains but the genuine carcass, in its native purity: yet whether this quality, which I apprehend is the only one that can positively be implied, is a perfection or a blemish, will always be disputed; for though pure wine[28] is, without doubt, a delicious beverage, and preferable to that which is mixed, yet pure water is very insipid, and may be much mended, by the additions of arrack, lemon and sugar, to turn it into punch; and ninety-nine persons in a hundred will maintain, that your pure Gardens might be much improved by the addition of embellishments proper to produce variety, and set off the vegetation to advantage: for vary your trees and shrubs as much as possible, combine them in every imaginable arrangement, they are still but trees and shrubs; they can impress but a very few images upon the mind of the spectator, and only affect his senses with very slight perceptions.

That our artificial stile of Gardening is expensive, is doubtless true; yet certainly not ruinously so. In my former voyage, I knew an unfortunate prince, who, on a very moderate allowance from his relations, supported a court in splendour; and, with the surplus, formed one of the most extraordinary, as well as magnificent artificial Gardens I ever saw. It is surprizing what good management will do, where management is necessary; but you are too rich ever to need it in any thing. I have seen more money expended here, in digging an ugly pond, than would have compleated a whole Garden elsewhere; yet, after all, the pond would never hold water. But, to proceed--You have all seen what the French have done at Versailles, Marli, Trianon, Saint Cloud, Liancourt, and Chanilly; the Italians near Rome, at Tivoli, at Frescati, and in many other parts of Italy: I do not here enter into the merit of these works; but they are certainly as costly, perhaps more so, than any of ours; yet these were done by foreigners, of different denominations; all without the least help of magick: you are richer than they; you may, with some trouble, acquire their skill; it is hoped you have already more than their spirit: be not, therefore, afraid to attempt, what they have already long since accomplished.

I have formerly told you what sort of art we employ in our Chinese Gardening; I now recommend it to your imitation; and though in general your European artificial manner appears not to me perfect, yet doth it contain many things highly deserving notice, which you have imprudently laid aside, without substituting any equivalent.

To instance the Gardens of France; they are, I will allow, sufficiently extravagant: you hear of nothing but islands of love, or halls of festivity; every recess is the retreat of a God, every prospect a scene of enchantment: like their petit maitres, they are all out of nature, all affectation; yet it is an affectation often delightful, and absurdity generally overflowing with taste and fancy: in their best works there is such a mysterious, pleasing intricacy in the disposition, such variety in the objects, so much splendour and animation in the scenery, and so much skill apparent in the execution of every part, that the attention of the spectator never flags; the succession is so rapid, that he is hurried on from one exhibition to another, with his mind constantly upon the stretch: he has only time to be pleased; there is no leisure to reflect, none to be disgusted with the extravagance of what he sees. If their Gardens are less rational than yours, they are certainly much more entertaining; and though, upon the whole, they can by no means be proposed as models for imitation, yet are there many things to be borrowed from them, which might be adopted by you with considerable advantage.

I may say the same with regard to the Italian Gardens, of which the style is less affected, less extravagant than in those of France: the heat of the climate obliges the inhabitants to seek for shade; the walks are sheltered, the plantations close, whence their compositions have a gloom, and an air of solitude that are exceedingly awful. There is a grandeur of manner in all their works, seldom to be met with elsewhere; which, about Rome, and in some other parts of Italy, is greatly heightened by the majestick face of Nature, framed upon a larger scale, and broken into nobler forms, than in most other countries. Their vegetation too is uncommonly picturesque; the abundance of water with which they are every where supplied, enables them to form a thousand pleasing combinations; and the venerable vestiges of ancient structures, which rear their decaying heads above the plantations, add surprizingly to the dignity of the scenery.

At every step, the admiration of the spectator is excited by statues, therms, bas-reliefs, sarcophagi urns, vases, and other remains of ancient splendour; or he is delighted with the productions of modern artists, ingeniously imagined, well executed, and skilfully disposed. It is not easy to conceive any thing more entertaining, to a man of taste, than an Italian Garden; in which, amidst a profusion of pleasing objects, the same elegance of choice, the same elevation of style so conspicuous in the sculpture and painting of the great Italian schools, is every where prevalent.

To branch out into farther descriptions of your continental Gardens, is perhaps superfluous, and may be thought foreign to the present purpose; as some of them differ very little from those just mentioned; and others are too trifling, or imperfect, to deserve any notice: yet permit me, before I finish, to give a slight sketch of the Dutch Gardening; from which I am apt to believe your ideas of the artificial style are chiefly collected, and your extraordinary aversion to it principally owing.

In Holland, parterres, embroidered in box, brick-dust, sea-coal, and broken porcelain, are every where admired. No Garden is perfect, that is not surrounded with a wet ditch, and many _lusthouses_ hanging over it, for smoking tobacco; nor is there any elegance, without some tons of lead, transformed into skating Dutchmen, Harlequins, and fluting Shepherdesses, all richly painted, in proper colours: azure flower-pots, with gilt handles, are seen in every corner; and golden mercury are perched, like birds, upon every pinnacle: every pass is guarded by pasteboard Grenadiers; and Fame, straddling over the entrance, displays a Dutch label to the passenger, telling the name and beauties of the place, the virtues and moral opinions of the proprietor. These particularities, with all the formal absurd parts of the French Gardening, make an Eden in Holland; a thing too ridiculous to be out of humour with any where; 'tis a pity it has had so serious an effect upon you. You are a wise people; yet, in the reformation of Gardening, you have followed the beaten road of ignorance: to avoid one fault, you have run headlong into another, its opposite: because, in the Old Gardening, art, order and variety, were carried to an extravagant excess, you have, in the New, almost totally excluded them all three: to mend an exuberant, fantastick dress, you have stripped stark naked: and, to heal a distempered limb, you have, like some famous surgeons of our day, chopped it entirely off.