An Explanatory Discourse by Tan Chet-qua of Quang-chew-fu, Gent.Chambers, William, Sir
Philosophy
An Explanatory Discourse by Tan Chet-qua of Quang-chew-fu, Gent.
Chambers, William, Sir
Gardens, Chinese -- Early works to 1800; Gardens, English -- Early works to 1800
[11] Chambers' prose is cited _Dunciad_-fashion in the _Epistle, Minor
English Poets, 1660-1780: A Selection from Alexander Chalmers'_ The
English Poets [_1810_], ed. David P. French (New York: Benjamin Blom,
1967), VIII, 108. See Isabel W. Chase, "William Mason and Sir William
Chambers' Dissertation on Oriental Gardening," _JEGP_, 35 (1936),
517-530; R. C. Bald, "Sir William Chambers and the Chinese Garden,"
_JHI_, 11 (1950), 287-320.
[12] Cowper, Book III, "The Garden," 1. 766, in _A Collection of English
Poems 1660-1800_, ed. Ronald S. Crane (New York: Harper, 1932), p. 998;
_Dissertation_ (1773), pp. xi, 23-30, 37-39, 91-99; cf. Derek Clifford,
_A History of Garden Design_, rev. ed. (New York: Praeger, 1966), pp.
211-212.
[13] "Discourse," pp. 125-128, 133, 137-138, 143, 155-156;
_Dissertation_ (1773), pp. vi, 53; Harris, p. 192.
[14] Pevsner, "The Other Chambers," _Architectural Review_, 101 (1947),
195-198.
[15] Temple, "Upon the Gardens of Epicurus," ed. Hunt and Willis, p. 99;
Osvald Siren, _China and Gardens of Europe of the Eighteenth Century_
(New York: Ronald, 1950), p. iv; "Discourse," pp. 155-156.
[16] I owe this information to Prof. Ching-I Tu of Livingston Coll. and
Dr. Nelson Chou of the East Asian Lib., both at Rutgers Univ. Likewise
helpful but in no way blameworthy in my remarks on matters Chinese were
Prof. King-Lui Wu and Mr. Antony Marr of Yale Univ. and Prof. Andrew
Plaks of Princeton Univ. Though some of the proper names Chet-qua uses
eluded verification, the worst blunder noted was "Ty," which means
"emperor," at p. 139_n_. Endowing Chet-qua with "nine whiskers" instead
of the traditional five beards sorts with the unusually narrow
proportions and numerous stories of the Kew Pagoda. Rhymes and short
syntactic groupings in italics, pp. 141, 158, are not Confucian; the
28th year of Ch'ien-lung's reign (p. [115]) would be 1764. Yet the idiom
in the final n., p. 163, is authentic.
[17] The initials stand for Fellow of the Royal Soc. of Sweden; Member
of the Royal Acad. of Arts, Paris; Member of the Italian Acad. of Arts,
Florence; Treasurer of the Royal Acad.; Comptroller General of His
Majesty's Works; Architectural Tutor to the Queen. Chambers'
international reputation was assured by his _Treatise on Civil
Architecture_ (1759).
[18] "Historical Chronicle," G.M., 41 (1771), 237-238; William T.
Whitley, _Artists and their Friends in England, 1700-1799_ (Boston:
Medici Society, 1928), I, 269-272; "Johnson, Percy, and Sir William
Chambers," _Bodleian Library Record_, 4 (1952-53), 291-292.
[19] Harris, p. 193 (Chambers' emphasis).
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
The facsimile of "An Explanatory Discourse" is reproduced from a copy
(Shelf Mark: PML 53026) "annexed to" the second and last edition of _A
Dissertation on Oriental Gardening_ (1773) in The Pierpont Morgan
Library. The total type-page (p. 113) measures 208 x 127 mm.
A
DISSERTATION
ON
_ORIENTAL GARDENING_;
BY
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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