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
_Calloph._ Can you repeat no more? I could have listened with great
Pleasure if you had gone on with the whole Piece. It is quite Nature:
That View of an old Castle, _bosom'd high in tufted Trees_, pleases me
exceedingly: And the two following Lines,
_Where perhaps some Beauty lies,
The Cynosure of neighbouring Eyes,_
give it an elegant, romantic Air; and add greatly to the Idea before
conceived.----But to pursue our former Argument: It must be owned indeed
that these Walks want such Openings into the Country as little as any
Place can well be imagined to do; yet even _Stow_ itself, I assure you,
is much improved by them. They contrast beautifully with this more
polished Nature, and set it off to greater Advantage. After surfeiting
itself with the Feast here provided for it, the Eye, by using a little
Exercise in travelling about the Country, grows hungry again, and
returns to the Entertainment with fresh Appetite. Besides, there is
nothing so distasteful to the Eye as a confined Prospect (where the
Reasonableness of it does not appear) especially if a dead Wall, or any
other such disagreeable Object steps in between. The Eye naturally loves
Liberty, and when it is in quest of Prospects, will not rest content
with the most beautiful Dispositions of Art, confined within a narrow
Compass, but (as soon as the Novelty of the Sight is over) will begin to
grow dissatisfied, till the whole Limits of the Horizon be given it to
range through.
_Polypth._ The Eye, according to your Account, seems to be something
like a Bee: Plant as many Flowers as you will near its Hive, yet still
the little Insect will be discontented, unless it be allowed to wander
o'er the Country, and be its own Caterer.----I have got a few very
severe Exclamations at my Tongue's End, which I will not vent till you
have told me the Architect's Name, who has loaded the Ground with that
monstrous Piece of Building, tho' I believe I can guess him without
your Information.
_Calloph._ Suffer me to intercede in his Behalf. You are so unmerciful a
Reprover, that I have not Patience to hear you. The Room above is
designed, I am told, to be fitted up in a very elegant manner; but as
very little is yet done to it, we shall find nothing I fancy to answer
the Trouble of going up Stairs.----This Part of the Garden, you see, is
yet unfinished. If we have the Pleasure of your Company in this Country
next Year, you will see I dare say great Alterations here. That _Base_
is to shoot up into a lofty Monument: And several of those Objects you
see before you are to take new Forms upon them.
_Polypth._ Yonder likewise seems to be a Monument[19] rising: Pray who is
it intended to do Honour to?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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