Obrázky stránek
PDF
ePub

says he," rising in the upper part of my garden, which forms a little wandering rill, and administers to the pleasure as well as the plenty of the place. I have so conducted it, that it visits most of my plantations; and have taken particular care to let it run in the same manner as it would do in an open field; so that it generally passes through banks of violets and primroses, plats of willow, or other plants, that seem to be of its own producing. There is another circumstance in which I am very particular, or as my neighbours call me, very whimsical: as my garden invites into it all the birds of the country, by offering them the conveniency of springs and shades, solitude and shelter, I do not suffer any one to destroy their nests in the spring, or drive them from their usual haunts in fruit time; I value my garden more for being full of blackbirds than cherries, and very frankly give them fruit for their songs. By this means I have always the music of the season in its perfection, and am highly delighted to see the jay or the thrush hopping about my walks, and shooting before my eyes across the several little glades and alleys that I pass through *."

In scenes such as these, whose flowers

* Spectator, vol. vii. No 477.

-not nice Art

In beds and curious knots, but Nature boon

Pours forth profuse on hill, and dale, and plain,

most men of taste and genius have wished to reside. It was the prayer of Horace, that he might possess, a Garden, a Rivulet, and a little Grove.

Hortus ubi, et tecto vicinus jugis aquæ fons
Et paulum silvæ super his foret.

Sat. Lib. ii. Sat. vi. 2.

And that Virgil was enamoured of similar scenery, of the humble beauties of a garden arranged on Nature's plan, is evident from that exquisite passage in the fourth Georgic, where he poignantly expresses his regret on being obliged to wave a subject so congenial to his feelings:

Atque equidem, extremo ni jam sub fine laborum
Vela traham, et terris festinem advertere proram,
Forsitan et pingues hortos quæ cura colendi
Ornaret canerem, biferique rosaria Pæsti;
Quoque modo potis gauderent intyba rivis,
Et virides apio ripæ, tortusque per herbam
Cresceret in ventrem cucumis; nec sera comantem
Narcissum, aut flexi tacuissem vimen acanthi,
Pallentesque hederas et amantes litora myrtos.-
Verùm hæc ipse equidem, spatiis exclusus iniquis,
Prætereo, atque aliis post me memoranda relinquo.

Ah fav'rite scenes! but now with gather'd sail
I seek the shore, nor trust th' inviting gale;
Else had my song your charms at leisure trac'd,
And all the garden's varied arts embrac'd;

Sung, twice each year, how Pæstan roses blow,
How endive drinks the rill that purls below,
How trailing gourds pursue their mazy way,
Swell as they creep, and widen into day;
How verdant celery decks its humid bed,
How late-blown flow'rets round narcissus spread;
The lithe acanthus and the ivy hoar,

And myrtle blooming on the sea-beat shore.-
Ah! fav'rite scenes! to other bards resign'd,
I leave your charms, and trace my task assign'd.

SOTHEBY.

In short, as Mr. Mason has justly observed, the commencement of an actual reformation of gardening in this country may be dated from these essays of Addison, who forsook the clipped yew-trees, the jets d'eau, stone terraces, and embroidered knots of his tasteless contemporaries,

For hanging walks, and darksome groves,
Where sooth'd imagination roves,

Mid shelving rocks, with laurel crown'd;

Sequester'd caves, dark glades, and arched bowers,
Clear founts, with rich poetic powers

Endued, and purest classic ground.

Sannazarius apud Greswell.

If we now pause to recapitulate the ameliorations which Addison, as a critic, and a man of taste, introduced into the polite literature of his country, it will be but a merited tribute of applause if we assert, that to no man has it been under greater obligations. He corrected in a most effectual manner the bad taste which pre

vailed both on the stage and in the literary world; he taught the public to admire, to understand, and even to emulate, the noblest efforts of sublimity, beauty, and pathos; he presented them with the first, and a very happy, specimen of philosophical criticism; and, by the fascination of his style and manner, he infused into his readers a love for the harmony and elegancies of composition.

To these invaluable gifts may be added his successful efforts to introduce a relish for nature and simplicity in the formation of landscape gardening, efforts which, through the joint endeavours of succeeding writers and artists, have at length rendered his native isle the Paradise of Europe.

PART III.

ESSAY IV.

ON THE HUMOUR AND COMIC PAINTING OF ADDISON.

THAT the moderns are superior to the ancients in the production of wit and humour, is a position which has been generally and successfully maintained. The more extended and diversified knowledge of modern Europe, its political institutions as springing from the feudal system, its gallantry and deference towards the fair sex, its religious liberty and contrasted manners, have mutually contributed to this effect. When again it is asserted that England has almost exclusively monopolized the praise of humour, and that the very term is peculiar to this island, it will, perhaps, be found that prejudice and partiality have had too ample a share in the formation of the opinion.

Although the word itself be not found in any other European language save our own, who will

« PředchozíPokračovat »