DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52243#0056
40
LANDSCAPE GARDENING.
“ I have described; but it had many circum-
“ stances of a similar kind and effect: as I
“ have long since perceived the advantage
44 which I could have made of them, and how
44 much I could have added to that effect, —
“ how well I could, in parts, have mixed the
44 modern style, and have altered and con-
44 cealed many of the stiff and glaring formal-
44 ities,—-I have long regretted its destruction.
44 I destroyed it, not from disliking it: on the
44 contrary, it was a sacrifice I made, against
44 my own sensations, to the prevailing opinion.
44 I doomed it and all its embellishments, with
44 which I had formed such an early connec-
44 tion, to sudden and total destruction.”
Some, indeed, would be found alike indif-
ferent to the claim of antiquity and to the sug-
gestions of the Picturesque, — who would
view change as improvement, and sacrifice every
thing without compunction at the shrine of
novelty. I was once consulted by the owner
of such a place, who told me, with much self-
gratulation, that I could form no idea of the
labour he had accomplished in the removal
of terraces, sloping banks, &c. so as to reduce
the ground to the state in which I then saw
it—a flat insipid lawn, spotted all over with
LANDSCAPE GARDENING.
“ I have described; but it had many circum-
“ stances of a similar kind and effect: as I
“ have long since perceived the advantage
44 which I could have made of them, and how
44 much I could have added to that effect, —
“ how well I could, in parts, have mixed the
44 modern style, and have altered and con-
44 cealed many of the stiff and glaring formal-
44 ities,—-I have long regretted its destruction.
44 I destroyed it, not from disliking it: on the
44 contrary, it was a sacrifice I made, against
44 my own sensations, to the prevailing opinion.
44 I doomed it and all its embellishments, with
44 which I had formed such an early connec-
44 tion, to sudden and total destruction.”
Some, indeed, would be found alike indif-
ferent to the claim of antiquity and to the sug-
gestions of the Picturesque, — who would
view change as improvement, and sacrifice every
thing without compunction at the shrine of
novelty. I was once consulted by the owner
of such a place, who told me, with much self-
gratulation, that I could form no idea of the
labour he had accomplished in the removal
of terraces, sloping banks, &c. so as to reduce
the ground to the state in which I then saw
it—a flat insipid lawn, spotted all over with