Chambers, William: A Dissertation On Oriental Gardening (London: Griffin [u.a.], 1773)

jn thole of France: the heat of the climate obliges the
inhabitants to seek for (hade; 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
Xiiajestick face of Nature, framed upon a larger scale,
and broken into nobler forms, than in most other
countries. Their vegetation too is uncommonly pic-
turesque; 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 strudures, which rear their decaying heads above
the plantations, add surprizingly to the dignity os the
seenery.
At every step, the admiration of the speclator is
excited by slatues, therms, bas-reliefs, sarcophagi urns,
vases, and other remains of ancient splendour; or he is
delighted with the productions of modern artists, inge-
niously