Chapter II: Part 2

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.

All connoisseurs amongst you, and even amongst us, agree in despising our enchanted, or supernatural scenery; which, they say, is trifling, absurd, extravagant, abounding in conceits and boyish tricks; that operating chiefly by surprize, it has little or no effect, after a first or second inspection, and consequently can afford no pleasure to the owner: yet our best Artists, who have no excessive reverence for the decrees of connoisseurs[29], and who think the owner is not the only person to be entertained, often introduce it; either where the plan is extensive, and admits of many changes; or, where the ground is barren of natural varieties: saying, in their vindication, that it serves as an interlude between more serious expositions; that, at a treat, there should be meats for every palate; in a shop of general resort, goods for every fancy; in a Garden, designed for publick inspection, exhibitions of every kind; that all may find something to their liking, and none go away disappointed or dissatisfied: and, as at a feast, men eat of what they best relish, without mumbling the rest of the dishes, but leave them untainted for others to feed upon, so, in a Garden, if a man be too wise to laugh, or be pleased with trifles, he may pass them over unnoticed: amongst the multitude, there are many fancies to gratify; children, old women, eunuchs, and pleasure-misses, ought to be diverted, as well as sages, mandarines, or connoisseurs. It is not every one, say they, that enjoys the force or fierceness of grand compositions; to some they are even terrifying: weak minds delight in little objects, which are easiest adapted to their confined comprehensions; as children are better pleased with a puppet-show, than with more serious or noble performances.

Thus they reason; and say moreover, that, as the principal parts of this supernatural Gardening consists in a display of many surprizing phenomena, and extraordinary effects, produced by air, fire, water, motion, light, and gravitation, they may be considered at a collection of philosophical experiments, exhibited in a better manner, upon a larger scale, and more forcibly than is common: in that light they think, even men of sense may venture to look at them, without impeachment of their understanding; to admire what is ingenious, new or extraordinary; and stare at what they do not comprehend. Whether the connoisseurs or the artists are most in the wrong, I will not decide; you, Gentlemen, must determine for yourselves.

Some free expressions, relative to your Gardeners, constitute a heavy part of the charge exhibited against me: it seems therefore necessary, in alleviation of this high offence, to declare, that whatever has been said on that subject, was with an eye to the general character of the fraternity; and by no means levelled at yon stately gentleman in the black perriwig, as he has been pleased to maintain. It could not be my business to mark out individuals, either by excessive praise, which was perhaps expected, or by more poignant censure: such conduct must have been fawning in one in instance, invidious in both; for there is no exalting one ph[oe]nomenon, without proportionably degrading the rest: as in a draw-well, one bucket can never rise, but when the other sinks. If a man far outstrips his brothers, he will of course be distinguished; if only a little, his safest station is in the croud. And really it is odd that any one should officiously have stepped out of the ranks, insisting, like master Dogberry in the play, upon his exclusive title; where nothing partial was even distantly hinted at, no names mentioned, nor any thing said, that was not full as applicable to the brotherhood in general, as to the sagacious claimant in particular: but

_Man lup jao kai_
_Tai kup tao bai._

There is reason to believe, from various hints which have been dropped by Gentlemen here present, that the veracity of Chet-qua's description is doubted; nay, that the Gardens described, are supposed to have no existence but in Chet-qua's brain: be it so, my friends; I shall not seek to refute what you seem so strongly disposed to believe; it is not at present material: for the end of all that I have said, was rather as an Artist, to set before you a new style of Gardening; than as a Traveller, to relate what I have really seen: and, notwithstanding your strictures, you all seemed satisfied, even entertained with the description: there is no doubt, but the reality, like all other realities, would affect you still more strongly than the picture. I have endeavoured to shew, how that may be obtained: the rest is left to those it most concerns; the ingenious, the wealthy, and the great; who have power and inclinations to execute what I attempt to plan: my part is done, as far as I am able to do it; theirs may begin when they think fit.

And although they may at first be embarrassed in the execution of a system so much more complicated and dependant on genius, on skill, and on nice judgement, than that which has hitherto been pursued; yet there is no doubt, but practice and perseverance will, by degrees, dispel every difficulty: it is at least glorious to hazard arduous attempts; and more honourable even to fail in manly pursuits, than to succeed in trifling, childish enterprizes. Let the timid or the feeble meanly creep upon the earth, with uniform, sluggard pace; but the towering spirit must attempt a nobler flight, and climb the paths that lead to fame: now gayly sporting on the slippery surface, as doth the gentle, graceful lizard; now thundering up the precipice, with the tremendous dragon's stride; now soaring to the top, stately and splendid as the imperial bird;[30] when, with his glittering crest and twelve irradiant wings, he comes upon the morning's light, while myriads of the warbling tribes, at awful distance, crowd the vaulted air, adore their King, and, with loud songs of frantick joy, shake the firm earth, and all yon starry heaven.

From the whole tenour of this Discourse, and indeed from the substance of the first Dissertation, it is evident, Gentlemen, that your servant Chet-qua has no aversion to natural Gardening; but is, on the contrary, a zealous advocate in its favour, wherever there is room to expand, and work upon a great scale, or where it can conveniently, and with propriety be introduced. The style which in England has been adopted, preferable to others, is not what appears to him reprehensible; but he laments the little use you have made of your adoption, and apprehends your partiality is too excessive, while you obstinately refuse the assistance of almost every extraneous embellishment, and persist in an indiscriminate application of the same manner, upon all occasions, however opposite, or ill adapted; and often where no probability of success appears. Natural Gardening, when treated upon an extensive plan, when employed with judgement, and conducted with art, is perhaps as superior to all other sorts of culture, as heroick verse is to every other species of writing; but there are many occasions, where neither the one nor the other can, with the least propriety, be employed; where they would only serve to give a ridicule to the whole composition; and where different or less elevated modes of expression are, on all accounts, preferable. Artists of other professions, vary their manners of applying to the human affections; suiting them to the circumstances or nature of the subjects before them; and they are oftenest indebted to these variations for their success; why then should Gardeners always confine themselves to the same tract, and torture all dispositions to adapt them to the same method, like that tyrant of old, who stretched or mutilated every guest, till he fitted a particular bed? Can they hope to succeed by means, which others have found ineffectual; or is it reasonable to suppose, that Nature will change her course to please their fancy? Variety is a powerful agent, without the assistance of which, little can be effected; it captivates even with trifles; and, when united to perfection, has charms which nothing can resist: the most exquisite pictures of nature, receive additional beauties from a judicious opposition of art; and the confined, uniform, tasteless walk of imitation, which you have unfortunately fallen into, must have many helps to make it even tolerable; a thousand enlivening additions, to animate its native dulness.

Thus I have considered every part of my first Discourse, and offered in its vindication, what immediately occurs to me: perhaps, with more leisure, I might have contrived a better Speech, and a stronger Defence; but the hurry of Face-making[31] is such, that there is scarcely time to eat rice, or drink brandy,[32] much less to think: I never frequent my wives but by night; I have only heard one of them scold, and seen the others by twilight, these six months: judge then, what can be expected from Chet-qua; the little knowledge he has, or thinks he has, is freely communicated to his neighbours; he wishes it were more and better; yet such as it is, he flatters himself it will be kindly received; and that his neighbours will use what may be useful, without kicking too violently at the rest.

FINIS.

FOOTNOTES:

[20] _Quang-chew-fu_--Canton. _For she was a virago, and had large feet_--Both which are accounted great defects in China. _Nine whiskers, &c._--All beaus wear whiskers in China; and all gentlemen long nails, to shew that they are idle. _Kyang-ning, or_ Nang-king--Capital of Kyang-nang. _Shun-tien-fu_--Peking.

[21] _Tan lou ty tchan yue, &c._--The motto which Chet-qua has made choice of, is part of a poem written by Kien-long, reigning emperor of China, in praise of drinking tea: and published, by his imperial edict, bearing date the twelfth day, of the ninth moon, of the thirteenth year of his reign; in thirty-two different types, or characters; under the inspection of Yun-lou, and Houng-yen, princes, by the title of Tsin-ouang; Fouheng, grandee, by the title of Taypao; Count, by the title of Valiant; and first president of almost all the great tribunals of the empire: whose deputies were Akdoun and Tsing-pou, grandees, by the title of Tay-tsee Chaopao; and these were again assisted by Isan, Fouki, Elguingue, Tetchi, Mingte, Tsoungmin, Tchangyu, Tounmin, and about a dozen other mandarines of rank and reputation; so that there is no doubt but the work is perfectly correct. Here follows the exact copy of it, with an English translation, for the entertainment and instruction of the curious in poetry. There is a French translation of the same work, by Father Amiot, published at Paris, in 1770, from which the present Publication is in a great measure taken; the Editor having found it easier to translate from the French copy, than from the Chinese original.

Mei-hoa che pou yao
Fo-cheou hiang tsie kie,
Soung-che ouei fang ny;
San pin tchou tsing kue;
Pong y tche kio tang,
Ou tche tcheng koang hiue
Houo heou pien yu hie,
Ting yen y cheng mie.

Yue ngueou po sien jou,
Tan lou ty tchan yue,
Ou yun king tai pan
Ko ou, pou ko choue.
Fou fou teou lo ty
Ho ho yun kiang tche
Ou-tsuen y ko tsan
Lin-fou chang che pie.

Lan ku Tchao-tcheou ngan
Po siao Yu-tchouan kiu
Han siao ting sing leou
Kou yue kan hiuen tsue,
Joan pao tchen ki yu
Tsiao king sing ou kie,
Kien-long ping-yn
Siao, tchun yu ty.

TRANSLATION

The colours of the Mei hoa are never brilliant, yet is the flower always pleasing: in fragrance or neatness the fo-cheou has no equal: the fruit of the pine is aromatick, its odour inviting. In gratifying at once the sight, the smell and the taste, nothing exceeds these three things: and if, at the same time, you put, upon a gentle fire, an old pot, with three legs, grown black and battered with length of service, after having first filled it with the limpid water of melted snow; and if, when the water is heated to a degree that will boil a fish, or redden a lobster, you pour it directly into a cup made of the earth of yue, upon the tender leaves of superfine tea; and if you let it rest there, till the vapours which rises at first in great abundance, forming thick clouds, dissipate by degrees, and at last appear merely as a slight mist upon the surface; and if then you gently sip this delicious beverage, it is labouring effectually to remove the five causes of discontent which usually disturb our quiet: you may feel, you may taste, but it is impossible to describe the sweet tranquillity which a liquor, thus prepared, procures.

Retired, for some space of time, from the tumults of business, I sit alone in my tent, at liberty to enjoy myself unmolested: in one hand holding a fo-cheou, which I bring nearer to my nose, or put it farther off, at pleasure; in the other hand holding my dish of tea, upon which some pretty curling vapours still appear: I taste, by intervals the liquor; by intervals, I consider the mei-hoa--I give a fillip to my imagination, and my thoughts are naturally turned towards the sages of antiquity.--I figure to myself the famous Ou-tsuen, whose only nourishment was the fruit of the pine; he enjoyed himself in quiet, amidst this rigid frugality! I envy, and wish to imitate him.--I put a few of the kernels into my mouth; I find them delicious.

Sometimes, methinks, I see the virtuous Lin-fou, bending into form, with his own hands, the branches of the mei-hoa-chou. It was thus, say I to myself, that he relieved his mind, after the fatigues of profound meditation, on the most interesting subjects. Then I take a look at my shrub, and it seems as if I were assisting Lin-fou, in bending its branches into a new form.--I skip from Lin-fou to Tchao-tcheon, or to Yu-tchouan; and see the first in the middle of a vast many tea-cups, filled with all kinds of tea, of which he sometimes tastes one, sometimes another; thus varying incessantly his potation: while the second drinks, with the profoundest indifference, the best tea, and scarcely distinguishes it from the vilest stuff.--My taste is not their's; why should I attempt to imitate them?----

But I hear the sound of the evening bell; the freshness of the night is augmented; already the rays of the moon strike through the windows of my tent, and with their lustre brighten the few moveables with which it is adorned. I find myself neither uneasy nor fatigued; my stomach is empty, and I may, without fear, go to rest.----It is thus that, with my poor abilities, I have made these verses, in the little spring of the tenth moon of the year Ping-yn, of my reign Kien-long.

[22] _Fo-hii_, _Shing-tong_, or _Whoang-tii_--Some of the first emperors of China; who invented the eight qua's, together with the kay-tse, and created colsus.

[23] _An eminence in the center_--Meaning Windsor, probably.

[24] _Tse-hiu and Chang-lin_--Two celebrated parks, which belonged to the emperors of the Ty.

[25] _Yven-ming-yven, and Tchang-tchun-yven_--Are Gardens near Pe-king, belonging to the present Emperors of China.

[26] _Joss_--A corruption of Dios, God.

[27] _Miao kao, etc._--Muttering expressions from Hoang-fou-tse, or Confucius.

[28] _For though pure wine, etc._--It is remarkable, that our Orator draws most of his similes and allusions either from the kitchen or the cellar; whether this particularity proceeded from any skill of his in the culenary art, from his affection for good living, or from any other hidden motive; or whether it was merely accidental, the Editor never could learn with any degree of certainty.

[29] In China they have an innumerable multitude of connoisseurs and criticks; who, with a very superficial knowledge, a few general maxims, and some hard words, boldly decide on subjects they do not understand: hence the whole fraternity is fallen into disrepute. They have, indeed, like us, some real connoisseurs amongst them; but these are very rare in China.

[30] _The imperial bird_, or foung hoang, is a fabulous being, of the nature of the ph[oe]nix, by the Chinese poets, accounted the emperor of birds, as the dragon is of all the scaly tribe: he is said never to appear, but in great pomp, attended by a numerous train of all the most brilliant and extraordinary of the volatile race.

[31] _Hurry of face-making_--The Chinese call portrait painting, or modelling portraits in coloured clay, which was Chet-qua's particular profession, face-making.

[32] _Eat rice or drink brandy_--The Chinese call dining, eating rice; and their common liquors, at meals, are spirits, of various sorts.

.... Transcriber's note: In this etext the ^ indicates superscript. ....