A Dialogue upon the Gardens of the Right Honorouble the Lord Viscount Cobham at Stow in Buckinghamshire — John Shaqi
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
Suppose, therefore, we leave your romantic Nature, and continue our View
of her here, where she is treated according to this Prescription of the
Poet.----That Building is called the Temple of Contemplation; those
Bas-relief Heads it is adorned with, are, I assure you, extremely good
ones.
_Polypth._ Pray, Sir, what kind of a Building have we yonder, that
struck our Sight as we crossed that Alley?
_Calloph._ We will walk up to it if you please: It is a _Chinese_ House.
_Polypth._ A mighty whimsical Appearance it makes truly.
_Calloph._ In my Opinion it is a pretty Object enough, and varies our
View in a very becoming manner. Its cool stand upon the Lake, and those
canvas Windows, designed as well to keep out the Sun, as let in the Air,
give us a good Notion of the Manner of living in an hot Country. It is
finely painted in the Inside: Will you look into it?
_Polypth._ Finely painted indeed! Our Travellers tell us the _Chinese_
are a very ingenious People; and that Arts and Sciences flourish amongst
them in great Beauty. But for my Part, whenever I see any of their
Paintings, I am apt, I must confess, in every thing else to call their
Taste into question. It is impossible for one _Art_ to be in Perfection,
without introducing the rest. They are all _Links_ of the same _Chain_:
If you draw up one, you must expect the rest will follow. _Cognoscitur
ex socio_, is an old Rule you know in judging of _Men_; and I believe it
may be applied with as much Propriety in judging of _Arts_. It is hardly
to be imagined that any _Art_, perfect in its Kind, would claim any
Kindred, or even bear to keep Company with such a wretched _Art of
Painting_ as prevails amongst the _Chinese_: Its whole Mystery consists
in dawbing on glaring Colours: Correctness of Drawing, Beauty of
Composition, and Harmony of colouring, they seem not to have even the
least Notion of.
_Calloph._ I like your Reflections extremely. We should certainly have
some more elegant Productions from _China_, if they were able to answer
the Character I have sometimes heard given of them. They have very
little of true, manly Taste, I fancy, among them: Their Ingenuity lies
chiefly in the knick-knack Way; and is, I imagine, pretty much of the
_Dutch_ Kind.----Hold, Sir: This Way if you please. We will walk again
towards the River, and pursue it to the Canal.----It is divided, you
see, into three Parts; one takes its Rise from the Grotto; another from
the Pebble Bridge (as it is called) which is, I think, a pretty Object;
and the third issues from a dark Wood.----There, Sir, let me present you
to an illustrious set of your gallant Countrymen. This Place is called
the Temple of _British_ Worthies; and is gloriously filled, you see,
with the greatest Wits, Patriots, and Heroes, that are to be met with in
our Chronicles.
_Unspotted Names, and memorable long!
If there be Force in Virtue, or in Song._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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