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
_Polypth._ No, Sir, I am not so incurious as to suffer any thing that
has been in _Italy_ to slip my Notice: Some of those particularly that
stand on the Side next _Rawleigh_, I was exceedingly taken with.
_Calloph._ Pray what is your Opinion of checquered Marble's being made
use of in Busts?
_Polypth._ Why, Sir, I never see any of these party-coloured Faces, but
I am moved with Indignation at the Sculptor's ridiculous Humour. It is
so absurd a Taste, that I cannot conceive how it should ever enter into
a Workman's Head, to make every Feature of a Man's Face of a different
Colour; and it amazes me, I assure you, that we meet with daily so many
Instances of such Absurdity.----In several Parts of the Garden, I have
had various Views of that old _Gothic_ Building; we are now at last I
hope moving towards it. I am so wonderfully pleased with its outward
Appearance, that I shall be disappointed if I don't meet something
answerable within.
_Calloph._ Why, Sir, as old as it looks, I assure you it is not yet
finished. You will meet with nothing ornamental in the Inside; so I
would have you persuade yourself it has already done all in its Power to
entertain you. And upon my Word I think it has done a great deal:
Without it, I am sure this Part of the Garden would be quite naked and
lifeless; nor would any other Part appear with so much Beauty. It puts
one in Mind of some generous Patriot in his Retirement; his own
Neighbourhood feels most the Effects of that Bounty, which in some
measure spreads itself over a whole Country.
_Polypth._ I like this Disposition within, I assure you, altogether as
well as its Form without.----There are two or three Pieces of the best
painted Glass that I have any where met with: Those little historical
Pieces are exceedingly beautiful; and so are those Landskips
likewise.----This Hill I think appears rather too naked.
_Calloph._ Throw your Eye over it then, and tell me if you are not
ravished with the View before you. Nothing certainly in the kind can be
more beautiful or great, than that pompous Pile rising in so
magnificent a manner above the Wood. The Building cannot possibly be
shewn to greater Advantage: The Appearance it _makes_ presents you with
an Idea sufficiently grand; yet your Imagination cannot be persuaded but
that it is in fact much grander, and that the Wood hides a great Part of
what is to be seen from your Eye. This is a most delightful manner of
pleasing: A grand Object left to a good Imagination to improve upon,
seldom loses by its Assistance. Our View likewise is greatly added to in
point of Beauty, by those several other smaller Buildings which offer
themselves, some only half hid amongst the Branches, and others just
peeping from amongst tufted Trees, which make very beautiful little
garnished Dishes in this most elegant Entertainment.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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