A Dialogue upon the Gardens of the Right Honorouble the Lord Viscount Cobham at Stow in BuckinghamshireGilpin, William
Philosophy
A Dialogue upon the Gardens of the Right Honorouble the Lord Viscount Cobham at Stow in Buckinghamshire
Gilpin, William
Cobham, Richard Temple, Viscount, 1669?-1749; Landscape gardening -- Early works to 1800
_Calloph._ Yes: that Lady is the fair _Hellinore_, who having left a
disagreeable Husband, and wandering in the Woods, was met by the polite
Sett of Gentry she is dancing with: She likes their Manner of Life, and
resolves to enjoy it with them. Her old Spouse _Malbecco_ is
inconsolable for his Loss: he wanders many Days in search of her, and at
length finds her (you see him at a distance peeping from behind a Tree)
revelling with a beastly Herd of Satyrs. When the Evening comes on, he
follows the Company to their Retirement, takes a commodious stand, and
to his great Torment sees every thing that passes among them. After they
were all laid asleep, he creeps gently to his Lady, and you see him in
the other Painting offering to be reconciled to her again, if she will
return back with him. But _Hellinore_ threatens to awake the Satyrs, and
get him severely handled if he does not immediately leave her. Upon
which the poor Cuckold is obliged to fly, and soon after runs
distracted.
_Polypth._ This loose Story, these luxurious Couches, and the
Embellishments round the Walls, give the Place quite a _Cyprian_ Air,
and make it a very proper Retreat for its incontinent Inhabitant upon
the Roof.----But let us move forward towards yon cubico-pyramidical
Building. It looks like a mighty substantial one: I fancy it is Sir
_John_'s; he is generally pretty liberal of his Stone. However, it
terminates this Terrace extremely well: the Ascent up to it too has a
good Effect.----Pray, do you know what that Field there, upon the right,
is to be improved into?
_Calloph._ I am surprized the Beauty of it, in its present Form, does
not strike you at first sight. It is designed, like a Glass of Bitters
before Dinner, to quicken your Appetite for the elegant Entertainment
that is to follow. For my part, I assure you, I find it a very great
Relief to my Eye, to take it from these grand Objects, and cast it for a
few Minutes upon such a rural Scene as this. Do not you think that
Haycock contrasts extremely well with this Temple? Such Oppositions, in
my Opinion, are highly pleasing.----That Building there is called, _The
Belvidere_. Whatever you may think of it, from this Stand, it has its
Use, I assure you, in several Prospects in the Gardens.----There is a
very good Copy of the _Roman_ Boxers.
_Polypth._ I like its Situation extreamly: it terminates these Alleys,
and that Opening from the Terrace, very beautifully; much better, I
think, than the fighting Gladiator, and _Sampson_ killing the
_Philistine_, do that other vast Terrace; the Objects there, in my
Opinion, are too small for the Distance: Here both are justly
proportioned.
_Calloph._ Your Criticism, I think, is rather too refined: I cannot see
what occasion there is always for a confined View; a more open one
sometimes makes Variety.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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