Classic Audiobook Collection - Dissertation on Oriental Gardening by William Chambers ~ Full Audiobook [philosophy]

Episode Date: May 26, 2026

Dissertation on Oriental Gardening by William Chambers audiobook. Genre: philosophy First published in 1772 and expanded in 1773, William Chambers' Dissertation on Oriental Gardening is a lively 18th-century work of aesthetic argument in which the architect and designer asks what a garden should make people feel. Drawing on European ideas about Chinese and 'oriental' landscapes, Chambers rejects purely orderly or merely informal layouts and instead imagines gardens as carefully staged sequences of scenes - cheerful, melancholy, wondrous, and even frightening - that guide a visitor's emotions. The book's central figures are Chambers himself as polemical guide and the wandering observer who moves through pavilions, ruins, water, monuments, and dramatic contrasts, learning to see landscape as an art of mood and meaning. In the enlarged edition, Chambers also appends an 'explanatory discourse' attributed to Tan Chet-qua, extending the debate and defending his principles. What emerges is both a manifesto for garden design and a window into 18th-century British ideas about taste, nature, China, and the power of art to shape experience. For listeners interested in design history, aesthetics, and cultural exchange, this is a compact but provocative classic. ([preview.wellcomecollection.org](https://preview.wellcomecollection.org/works/h4exw928?utm_source=openai)) For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:15:01) Chapter 02 (00:47:22) Chapter 03 (01:19:54) Chapter 04 (01:50:26) Chapter 05 (02:17:56) Chapter 06 (02:52:47) Chapter 07 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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discourse by Tan Chet Kwa of Kwang Chou Fu, gentlemen. Section 1 To the King I humbly beg leave to lay at your Majesty's feet the following dissertation upon an art of which you are the first judge, as well as the most munificent encourager. A sketch of the present little performance was graciously received by Your Majesty many years ago, and found a kind reception in the world under the influence of your patronage.

This is more ample. I wish it may be more perfect than the original, that it may have a just a title to your indulgence, and better pretensions to the favour of the public. I am, may it please your majesty, your majesty's dutiful servant and faithful subject, William Chambers. Preface Amongst the decorative arts, there is none, of which the influence is so extensive as that of gardening. The productions of other arts have their separate classes of admirers,

who alone relish or set any great value upon them. To the rest of the world they are indifferent, sometimes disgusting. A building affords no pleasure to the generality of men, but what results from the grandeur of the object or the value of its materials, nor doth a picture affect them, but by its resemblance to life. A thousand other beauties of a higher kind are lost upon them, for in architecture, in painting, and indeed in most other arts, men must learn before they can admire. Their pleasure keeps pace with their judgment, and it is only by knowing much that they can be highly delighted.

But gardening is of a different nature. Its dominion is general, its effects upon the human mind certain and invariable. Without any previous information, without being taught, all men are delighted with the gay, luxuriant scenery of summer, and depressed at the dismal aspect of autumnal prospects. The charms of cultivation are equally sensible to the ignorant and the learned, and they are equally disgusted at the rudeness of neglected nature. Lorns, woods, shrubberies, rivers and mountains, affect them both in the same manner, and every combination of these will excite similar sensations in the minds of both. Nor are the productions of this art less permanent than general in their effects. Pictures, statues, buildings, soon glut the

sight and grow indifferent to the spectator. But in gardens there is a continual state of fluctuation that leaves no room for satiety, the progress of vegetation, the vicissitudes of seasons, the changes of the weather, the different directions of the sun, the passage of clouds, the agitation and sounds produced by winds. Together with the accidental intervention of living or moving objects vary the appearances so often and so considerably that it is almost impossible to be cloyed even with the same. prospects. Is it not singular, then, that an art with which a considerable part of our enjoyment is so universally connected, should have no regular professors in our quarter of the world?

Upon the continent it is a collateral branch of the architect's employment, who, immersed in the study and avocations of his own profession, finds no leisure for other disquisitions, and in this island it is abandoned to kitchen gardeners, well skilled in the culture of salads, but little acquainted with the principles of ornamental gardening. It cannot be expected that men, uneducated, and doomed by their condition to waste the vigour of life in hard labour, should ever go far in so refined, so difficult a pursuit.

To this unaccountable want of regular, masters may in a great measure be ascribed the scarcity of perfect gardens. There are indeed very few in our part of the globe, wherein nature has been improved to the best advantage, or art employed with the soundest judgment. The gardens of Italy, France, Germany, Spain, and of all the other countries where the ancient style still prevails, are, in general, mere cities of verdure. Their walks, like streets, all conducted in straight lines, diverge from different large open spaces, resembling public squares, and the hedges with which they are bordered rise in imitation of walls, adorned with pilasters, niches, windows, and doors, or they are cut

into colonnades, arcades, and porticos. All the detached trees are shaped like obelisks, pyramids, and vases, and all the recesses in the thickets bear the names and forms of theatres, amphitheaters, temples, banqueting halls, ballrooms, cabinets and saloons. The streets and squares are well-manned with statues of marble or lead, ranged in regular lines like soldiers at a procession, which, to make them more natural, are sometimes painted in proper colours and finally given. The lakes and rivers, confined by keys of hewn stone, are taught to flow in geometric border, and the cascades glide from the heights, by many a succession of marble steps. Not a twig is suffered to grow as nature directs, nor is a form admitted but what is

scientific, and determinable by the rule or compass. In England, where this ancient style is held in detestation, and where, in opposition to the rest of the world, a new manner is universally adopted, in which no appearance of art is tolerated, our gardens differ very little from common fields. So closely is vulgar nature copied in most of them. There is generally so little variety and so much want of judgment in the choice of the objects, such a poverty of imagination in the contrivance, and of art in the arrangement, that these compositions rather appear the offspring of chance than design, and a stranger is often at a loss to know whether he is walking in a common meadow or in a pleasure ground,

made and kept at a very considerable expense. He finds nothing either to delight or to amuse him, Nothing to keep up his attention or excite his curiosity, little to flatter the senses, and less, to touch the passions, or gratify the understanding. At his first entrance he sees a large green field, scattered over with a few straggling trees, and verged with a confused border of little shrubs and flowers. On farther inspection he finds a little serpentine path, twining in regular esses, among the shrubs of the border, upon which he is to go round, to look on one side at what he has already seen, the large green field, and on the other side at the boundary, which is never more than a few yards from him, and always obtruding on his sight. From time to time he perceives a little seat or temple stuck up against the wall. Happy in the discovery he sits down to rest his wearied limbs, and then reels on again.

cursing the line of beauty, till, spent with fatigue, half roasted by the sun, for there is never any shade, and, dying for want of entertainment, he resolves to see no more. Vane resolution, there is but one path. He must either drag on to the end, or return by the tedious way he came. Such is the favourite plan of all our smaller gardens, and a little of our smaller gardens, and a Larger works are only a repetition of the small ones. More green fields, more shrubberies, more serpentine walks, and more temples. Like the honest bachelor's feast, which consisted in nothing but a multiplication of his own dinner, three legs of mutton and turnips, three roasted geese, and three buttered apple pies. Sometimes indeed by what

of regale, where such dainties are attainable, you are treated with a serpentine river, that is, a stripe of stagnant water, waving in semicircles as far as it will reach, and finishing in a pretty little orderly step cascade that never runs but when it rains. The banks of these curious rivers are everywhere, uniform, parallel, level, smooth and green as a billiard table. And the whole composition bears a great resemblance to the barge-canals of Holland. The only difference being that the Dutch ditches are regularly straight, whilst ours are regularly crooked. Of the two, ours are certainly the most formal and affected. They are, by no means, the most picturesque. It is, I think, obvious that neither the artful nor the

simple style of gardening here mentioned, is right, the one being too much refined, and too extravagant a deviation from nature, the other, like a Dutch picture, an affected adherence to her, without choice or judgment. One manner is absurd, the other is insipid and vulgar. A judicious mixture of art and nature, an extract of what is good in both manners, would certainly be more perfect than either. Yet how this union can be affected is difficult to say. The men of art and the friends of nature are equally violent in defence of their favourite system, and, like all other partisans, loath to give up anything, however unreasonable.

Such a coalition is therefore now not to be expected. Whoever should be bold enough to attempt it would probably incur the censure of both sides without reforming either, and consequently prejudice himself without doing service to the art. But though it might be impertinent, as well as useless, to start a new system of one's own, it cannot be improper, nor totally unserviceable, to publish that of others, especially of a people whose skill in gardening has often been the subject of praise, and whose manner has been set up amongst us as the standard of imitation, without ever having been properly defined.

It is a common saying that, from the worst things, some good may be extracted, and even if what I have to relate should be inferior to what is already known, yet surely some useful hints may be collected from it. I may, therefore, without danger to myself, and it is hoped without offence to others,

offer the following account of the Chinese manner of gardening, which is collected from my own observations in China, from conversations with their artists and remarks transmitted to me at different times by travellers. A sketch of what I have now attempted to finish was published some years ago, and the favourable reception granted to that little performance induced me to collect materials for this. Whether the Chinese manner of gardening be better or worse than those now in use of amongst the Europeans, I will not determine. Comparison is the surest as well as the easiest test of truth. It is in every man's power to compare and to judge for himself.

Should the present publication contain anything useful, my purpose will be fully answered. If not, it may perhaps afford some little entertainment, or serve at worst to kill an idle I must not enter upon my subject without apologising for the liberties here taken with our English gardens. There are indeed several that do not come within the compass of my description, some of which were laid out by their owners, who are as eminently skilled in gardening as in many other branches of polite knowledge. The rest owe most of their excellence to nature, and are upon the whole very little improved by the interposition of art, which, though it may have heightened some of their beauties,

has totally robbed them of many others. It would be tedious to enumerate all the errors of a false taste, but the havoc it has made in our old plantations must ever be remembered with indignation. The axe has often in one day laid waste the growth of several ages, and thousands of venerable plants, whole woods of them, have been swept away to make room for a little grass and a few American weeds. Our virtuosi have scarcely left an acre of shade,

nor three trees growing in a line, from the land's end to the tweed. And if their humour for devastation continues to rage much longer, there will not be a forest tree left standing in the whole kingdom. End of Section 1 Section 2 of Dissertation on Oriental Gardening This Librevox recording is in the public domain Read by Peter Yearsley

Section 2 Dissertation Amongst the Chinese Gardening is held in much higher esteem than it is in Europe They rank a perfect work in that art With the great productions of the human understanding And say that its efficacy in moving the passions

yields to that of few other arts whatever. Their gardeners are not only botanists, but also painters and philosophers, having a thorough knowledge of the human mind and of the arts by which its strongest feelings are excited. It is not in China, as in Italy and France, where every petty architect is a gardener, neither is it as in another famous country,

where peasants emerge from the melon grounds to take the peri-wig and turn professors, as Scannerle, the faggot-maker, quitted his hatchet and commenced physician. In China, gardening is a distinct profession, requiring an extensive study, to the perfection of which few arrive. The gardeners there, far from being either ignorant or illiterate, are men of high abilities, who join to good natural parts most ornaments that study, travelling, and long experience can supply them with.

It is in consideration of these accomplishments only that they are permitted to exercise their profession, for with the Chinese the taste of ornamental gardening is an object of legislative attention, it being supposed to have an influence upon the general culture, and consequently upon the beauty of the whole country. They observe that mistakes committed in this art are too important to be tolerated, being much exposed to view and, in a great measure, irreparable, as it often requires the space of a century to redress the blunders of an hour. The Chinese gardeners take nature for their pattern,

and their aim is to imitate all her beautiful irregularities. Their first consideration is the nature of the ground they are to work upon, whether it be flat or sloping, hilly or mountainous, small or of considerable extent, abounding with spring-sing, and rivers, or laboring under a scarcity of water, whether woody or bear, rough or even, barren or rich, and whether the transitions be sudden, and the character grand, wild, or tremendous, or whether they be gradual, and the general bent, placid, gloomy, or cheerful, to all which circumstances they carefully attend, choosing such dispositions as humour the ground,

hide its defects, improve or set off its advantages, and can be executed with expedition at a moderate expense. They are also attentive to the wealth or indigence of the patron by whom they are employed, to his age, his infirmities, temper, amusements, connections, business and manner of living, as likewise to the season of the year in which the garden is likely to be most frequented by him, suiting themselves in their composition to his circumstances, and providing for his wants and recreations. their skill consists in struggling with the imperfections and defects of nature and with every other impediment and in producing in spite of every obstacle works that are uncommon and perfect in their kind

though the chinese artists have nature for their general model yet are they not so attached to her as to exclude all appearance of art on the contrary they think it on many occasions necessary to to make an ostentatious show of their labour. Nature, say they, affords us but few materials to work with. Plants, ground, and water are her only productions. And though both the forms and arrangements of these may be varied to an incredible degree, yet have they but few striking varieties. The rest being of the nature of changes rung upon bells which, though in reality different, produce the same, uniform kind of jingling, the variation being too minute to be easily perceived.

Art must therefore supply the scantiness of nature, and not only be employed to produce variety, but also novelty and effect, for the simple arrangements of nature are met with in every common field to a certain degree of perfection, and are therefore too familiar to excite any strong sensations in the mind of the beholder, or to produce any uncommon degree of pleasure. It is indeed true that novelty and variety may both be attained by transplanting the peculiarities of one country to another, by introducing rocks, cataracts, impending woods, and other parts of romantic situations in flat places, by employing much water where it is rare, and cultivated plains amid the rude irregularities of mountains. But even this resource is easily exhausted,

and can seldom be put in practice, without a very great expense. The Chinese are therefore no enemies to straight lines, because they are, generally speaking, productive of grandeur, which often cannot be attained without them, nor have they any aversion to regular geometrical figures, which they say are beautiful in themselves, and well-suited, to small compositions where the luxuriant irregularities of nature would fill up and embarrass the parts they should adorn. They likewise think them properist for flower gardens, and all other compositions where much art is apparent in the culture, and where it should therefore not be omitted in the forms. Their regular buildings, they generally surround with artificial terraces, slopes, and many flights of steps,

the angles of which are adorned with groups of sculpture and vases, intermixed with all sorts of artificial waterworks, which, connected with the architecture, spread the composition, serve to give it consequence, and add to the gaiety, splendour and bustle of the scenery. Round the main habitation, and near all their decorated structures, the grounds are laid out with great regularity and kept with great care. No plants are admitted that intercept the view of the buildings, nor any lines but such

as accompany the architecture properly, and contribute to the general symmetry and good effect of the whole composition, for they hold it absurd to surround an elegant fabric with disorderly rude vegetation, saying that it looks like a diamond set in lead, and always conveys the idea of an unfinished work. When the buildings are rustic, the scenery which surrounds them is wild. When they are grand, it is gloomy, when gay it is luxuriant. In short, the Chinese are scrupulously nice in preserving the same character through every part of the composition, which is one great cause of that surprising variety with which their works abound. They are fond of introducing statues, busts, bough-relief, and every production

of the chisel, as well in other parts of their garden as round. their buildings, observing that they are not only ornamental, but that by commemorating past events and celebrated personages, they awaken the mind to pleasing contemplation, hurrying our reflections up into the remotest ages of antiquity, and they never fail to scatter ancient descriptions, verses, and moral sentences about their grounds, which are placed upon the backs of colossal tortoise and elephants, on large ruinate. stones and columns of marble, or engraved on trees and rocks, such situations being always chosen for them as correspond with the sense of the inscriptions, which thereby acquire additional force

in themselves, and likewise give a stronger expression to the scene. They say that all these decorations are necessary to characterize and distinguish the different scenes of their compositions, among which, without such assistance, there would unavoidably be a tiresome similarity. And whenever it is objected to them that many of these things are unnatural, and ought therefore not to be suffered, they answer that most improvements are unnatural, yet they are allowed to be improvements, and not only tolerated but admired. Our vestments, say they, are neither of leather nor like our skins, but formed of rich silks and embroidery. Our houses and palaces bear no resemblance to caverns in the rocks, which are the only natural habitations. Nor is our music either like thunder

or the whistling of the northern wind, the harmony of nature. Nature produces nothing, either boiled, roasted or stewed, and yet we do not eat raw meat, nor doth she supply us with any other tools for all our purposes but teeth and hands. Yet we have saws, hammers, axes, and a thousand other implements. In short, there is scarcely anything in which art is not apparent. And why should its appearance be excluded from gardening only? Poets and painters saw above the pitch of nature when they would give energy to their compositions. The same privilege, therefore, should be allowed to gardeners. Inanimate simple nature is too insipid for our purposes.

Much is expected from us, and therefore we have occasion for every aid that either art or nature can furnish. The scenery of a garden should differ as much from common nature as an heroic poem doth from a prose relation, and gardeners, like poets, should give a loose to their imagination, and even fly beyond the bounds of it.

of truth whenever it is necessary to elevate, to embellish, to enliven, or to add novelty to their subject. The usual method of distributing gardens in China is to contrive a great variety of scenes, to be seen from certain points of view, at which are placed seats or buildings adapted to the different purposes of mental or sensual enjoyments. The perfection of their gardens consists in the number and diversity of these scenes. and in the artful combination of their parts, which they endeavour to dispose in such a manner

as not only separately to appear to the best advantage, but also to unite in forming an elegant and striking whole. Where the ground is extensive, and many scenes can be introduced, they generally adapt each to one single point of view, but where it is confined and affords no room for variety, they dispose their objects so that being viewed from different points, they produce different representations,

and often such as bear no resemblance to each other. They likewise endeavour to place the separate scenes of their compositions in such directions as to unite and be seen altogether from one or more particular points of view, whence the eye may be delighted with an extensive, rich, and variegated prospect, They take all possible advantage of exterior objects, hiding carefully the boundaries of their own grounds, and endeavouring to make an apparent union between them and the distant woods, fields, and rivers. And where towns, castles, towers, or any other considerable objects are in sight,

they artfully contrive to have them seen from as many points and in as many directions as possible. The same they do, with regard to navigable rivers. high roads, footpaths, mills, and all other moving objects which animate and add variety to the landscape. Besides the usual European methods of concealing boundaries by ha-hars and sunk fences, they have others, still more effectual. On flats, where they have naturally no prospects of exterior objects, they enclose their plantations with artificial terraces in the form of walks, to which you ascend by insensible slopes. There they border on the inside

with thickets of lofty trees and underwood, and on the outside with low shrubberies, over which the passenger sees the whole scenery of the adjacent country, in appearance forming a continuation of the garden, as its fence is carefully concealed amongst the shrubs that cover the outside declivity of the terrace. And where the garden happens to stand on higher ground, than the adjacent country.

They carry artificial rivers round the outskirts, under the opposite banks of which the boundaries are concealed amongst trees and shrubs. Sometimes, too, they make use of strong wire fences painted green, fastened to the trees and shrubs at border the plantations, and carried round in many irregular directions, which are scarcely seen till you come very near them. And, wherever ha-hars or sunk fences are used,

they always fill the trenches with briars and other thorny plants, to strengthen the fence, and to conceal the walls which otherwise would have an ugly appearance from without. In their large gardens they contrive different scenes for the different times of the day, disposing at the points of view buildings which, from their use, point out the proper hour, for enjoying the view in its perfections, and in their small ones, where, as has been observed, one arrangement produces many representations, they make use of the same artifice. They have, beside, scenes for every season of the year, some for winter, generally exposed to the southern sun, and composed of pines, furs, cedars, evergreen oaks, phileas, hollies, ews, junipers,

and many other evergreens, being enriched with laurels of various sorts, Loristinus, Arbutus, and such other plants and vegetables as grow or flourish in cold weather. And to give variety and gaiety to these gloomy productions, they plant amongst them, in regular forms divided by walks, all the rare shrubs, flowers and trees of the Torrid Zone, which they cover during the winter with frames of glass disposed in the forms of temples or other elegant buildings. Footnote

Those who are acquainted with the NACTS, history of China, know that it produces almost all the plants and vegetables cultivated in Europe, with many others that are not to be found even in our best hot houses, amongst which are several evergreens, as the Césong, of which the leaves resemble both the juniper and Cyprus, mixed in a very beautiful manner, the Mo Lien, producing large flowers like lilies, some yellow, some red, and some white, which open in December, and fly. flourished through the greater part of the winter, the La Mu, a kind of bay, reducing fine yellow flowers that appear in winter, with many others, which, as they cannot here be obtained,

it is superfluous to enumerate. End footnote. These they call conservatories. They are warmed by subterranean fires, and afford a comfortable and agreeable retreat when the weather is too cold to walk in the open air. All sorts of beautiful and melodious birds are let loose in them, and they keep there in large porcelain cisterns, placed on artificial rocks, gold and silver fishes, with various kinds of the Lienhua, and other aquatic plants and flowers. Footnote, the Lienhua is a water-lily much esteemed in China. In the province of Chiang Fie, whole lakes are covered with it in a very beautiful manner,

and it is cultivated by all the great lords in ponds and cisterns for the decoration. of their courts and gardens. The flower resembles a tulip and is either yellow, white, violet, crimson, or streaked with various colours. Its smell is very pleasing, and the fruit, which produces a white kernel, being accounted a great restorative and strengthener, is given in China as a medicine after severe fits of illness. The leaves are large of a circular form, and brilliant green colour. They float upon the surface of the water. end footnote they also raise in them strawberries cherries figs bananas liches grapes apricots and peaches which cover the woodwork of their glass frames and serve for ornament as well as use footnote the fruit of the lichy resembles the berry of the arbutus in everything but size it being as large as a pigeon's egg and full of a juicy pulp that in flavour far surpasses any other fruit whatever

End footnote. Their scenes of spring, likewise abound with evergreens, intermixed with lilacs of all sorts, laburnums, limes, larynxes, double-blossomed thorn, almond and peach-trees, with sweet briar, early roses and honeysuckles. The ground, and verges of the thickets and shrubberies, are adorned with wild hyacinths, walts, daffodils, violets, primroses, polyantheses, crocuses, daisies, snowdrops, and various species of the iris. With such other flowers as appear in the months of March and April, and as these scenes are also scanty in their natural productions, they intersperse amongst their plantations, menageries for all sorts of tame or ferocious animals,

and birds of prey, aviaries and groves, with proper contrivances for breeding domestic fowls, decorated dairies, and buildings for the exercises of wrestling, boxing, quail-fighting, and other games known in China. They also contrive in the woods large open recesses for military sports as riding, vaulting, fencing, shooting with the bow, and running. Their summer scenes compose the richest and most studied parts of their gardens. They abound with lakes, rivers, and waterworks of every contrivance, and with vessels of every construction, calculated for the uses of sailing, rowing, fishing, fowling and fighting. The woods consist of oak, beach, Indian, chestnut, elm, ash, plain, Uton Shoe, and common sycamore, maple, abeley, and several

other species of the poplar, with many other trees peculiar to China. Footnote, the Uton Shu is a beautiful species of the sycamore peculiar to China, end footnote. The thickets are composed of every fair deciduous plant that grows in that climate, and every flower or shrub that flourishes during the summer months, all uniting to form the finest verdure, the most brilliant harmonious colouring imaginable. The buildings are spacious, splendid and numerous, every scene being marked by one or more, some of them contrived for banquets, balls, concerts, learned disputations, plays, rope dancing and feats of activity, others again for bathing, swimming, reading, sleeping or meditation. In the centre of these summer plantations, there is generally a large tract of ground

set aside for more secret and voluptuous enjoyments, which is laid out in a great number of close walks, colonnades, and passages, turned with many intricate windings, so as to confuse and lead the passenger astray, being sometimes divided by thickets of underwood, intermixed with straggling large trees, and at other times by higher plantations, or by clumps of the caitan, common rose trees and other lofty flowering shrubs. footnote setan is a very large species of the rose-tree the wood of which is uncommonly beautiful and used by the chinese workmen for tables cabinets and so on end footnote the whole is a wilderness of sweets adorned with all sorts of fragrant and gaudy productions gold and silver pheasants peafels partridges bantam and golden hens quails and game of every kind swarm in the wood Doves, nightingales, and a thousand melodious birds perch upon the branches.

Deer, antelopes, musk goats, spotted buffaloes, shensi sheep, and Tartarian horses, frisk upon the plains. Footnote, musk goats are a sort of robucks called by the Chinese Yangchang Tse, found in the mountains west of Peking, where they feed on the flesh of serpents, who, by the scent of the musk are easily killed by the animals, though some of them are of enormous size very strong and naturally very fierce." End footnote. Footnote, Shenzhi sheep are a sort of sheep with very large tails which trail upon

the ground. End footnote. Every walk leads to some delightful object, to groves of orange and myrtle, to rivulets, whole banks are clad with roses, woodbion and jessamine, to murmuring fountains with statues of sleeping nymphs and water gods, to cabinets of verdure, with beds of aromatic herbs and flowers, to grottoes cut in rocks adorned with incrustations of coral shells, oars, gems, and crystallisations, refreshed with rills of sweet-scented water, and cooled by fragrant artificial breezes. Amongst the thickets which divide the walks

are many secret recesses, in each of which there is an elegant pavilion consisting of one state apartment, without houses, and proper conveniences for eunuchs and women's servants. These are inhabited during the summer by their fairest and most accomplished concubines, each of them, with her attendants,

occupying a separate pavilion. The principal apartment of these, buildings, consists of one or more large saloons, two cabinet or dressing rooms, a library, a couple of bedchambers and waiting rooms, a bath, and several private closets, all which are magnificently furnished, and provided with entertaining books, amorous paintings, musical instruments, implements for gaming, writing, drawing, painting and embroidering, with beds, couches and chairs of various constructions, for the uses of sitting and lying in different postures. The saloons generally open to little enclosed courts, set round with beautiful flower-pots

of different forms, made of porcelain, marble or copper, filled with the rarest flowers of the season. At the end of the court there is generally an aviary, an artificial rock, with a fountain and basin for goldfish or blue fishes of Hainang. Footnote, a little beautiful blue fish caught near the island of Hainang, of which the Chinese ladies are very fond, end footnote. A cascade, an arbour of bamboo or vine interwoven with flowering shrubs, or some other elegant contrivance of the like nature. Besides these separate habitations, in which the ladies are privately visited by the patron, as often as he is disposed, to see them and be particular. There are in other recesses of the thickets more splendid and spacious buildings, where the women all meet at certain hours of the day, either to eat at the public tables,

to drink their tea, to converse, bathe, swim, work, romp, or play at the Moorah, and other games known in China, or else to divert the patron with music, singing, lascivious posture dancing, and acting plays or pantomimes, at all which they generally are very expert. Some of these structures are entirely open, the roof being supported on columns of rosewood or cedar, with bases of Korean Jasper and Crystal of Changchufu, or upon wooden pillars made in imitation of bamboo and plantain trees, surrounded with garlands of fruit and flowers artfully carved, being painted and varnished in proper colours. Others are enclosed, and consists sometimes only of one spacious hall, and sometimes of many different sized rooms of various forms, as triangles, squares, hexagons,

octagons, circles, ovals, and irregular, whimsical shapes. All of them elegantly finished with incrustations of marble, inlaid precious woods, ivory, silver, gold, and mother of pearl, with a profusion of ancient porcelain, mirrors, carving, gilding, painting and lacquering of all colours. The doors of entrance to these apartments are circular and polygonal, as well as rectangular, and the windows by which they are lighted are made in the shapes of fans, birds, animals, fishes, insects, leaves and flowers, being filled with painted glass or different coloured gauze to tinge the light, and give a glow to the objects in the apartment. All these buildings are furnished at a very great expense, not only with the necessary movables, but with pictures,

sculptures, embroideries, trinkets, and pieces of clockwork of great value, being some of them very large, composed of many ingenious movements, and enriched with ornaments of gold, intermixed with pearls, diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and other gems. Besides the different structures already mentioned, they have some built in large trees, and disposed amongst the branches like nests of birds, being finished on the inside with many beautiful ornaments and pictures composed of feathers. Some they have likewise made in the form of Persian tents, others built of roots and pollards puts together with great taste, and others which are called Miao Ting, or Halls of the Moon, being of a prodigious size, and composed each of one single vaulted room

made in the shape of a hemisphere, the concave of which is artfully painted in imitation of a nocturnal sky, and pierced with an infinite number of little windows, made to represent the moon and stars, being filled with tinted glass that admits the light in the quantities necessary to spread over the whole interior fabric, the pleasing gloom of a fine summer's night. The pavements of these rooms are sometimes laid out in partairs of flowers, amongst which are placed many rural seats, made of fine-formed branches. furnished red to represent coral, but oftenest their bottom is full of a clear running water, which falls in rills from the sides of a rock in the centre.

Many little islands float upon its surface and move around as the current directs. Some of them covered with tables for the banquet, others with seats for musicians, and others with arbours, containing beds of repose with sofas, seat and other furniture for various uses. to these halls of the moon the chinese princes retire with their favourite women whenever the heat and intense light of the summer's day becomes disagreeable to them and here they feast and give a loose to every sort of voluptuous pleasure no nation ever equal to the chinese in the splendour and number of their garden structures we are told by father etire that in one of the imperial gardens near Peking, called Ivan Ming Iven, there are, besides the palace, which is of itself a city, 400 pavilions, all so different in their architecture, that each seems the production of a different

country. He mentions one of them that cost upwards of 200,000 pounds, exclusive of the furniture, Another consisting of a hundred rooms, and says that most of them are sufficiently capacious to lodge the greatest European Lord and his whole retinue. There is likewise in the same garden a fortified town, with its port, streets, public squares, temples, markets, shops, and tribunals of justice, in short, with everything that is at Peking, only upon a smaller scale. In this the emperors of China, who are too much the slaves of their greatness to appear in public, and their women, who are excluded from it by custom, are frequently diverted with the hurry and bustle of the capital, which is there represented, several times in the year, by the eunuchs

of the palace, some of them personating merchants, others, artists, artificers, officers, soldiers, shopkeepers, porters, and even thieves and pickpockets. On the appointed day, each puts on the habit of his profession. The ships arrive at the port, the shops are opened, and the goods are offered to sail. Tea-houses, taverns, and inns are ready for the reception of company. Fruits, and all sorts of refreshments are cried about the streets. The shopkeepers tease the passengers to purchase their merchandise, and every liberty is permitted. There is no distinction of persons.

Even the Emperor is confounded in the crowd. Quarrels happen, battles ensue, the watch seizes upon the competence. They are conveyed before the judge. He examines the dispute and condemns the culprit, who is sometimes very severely bastinadoed, to divert his imperial majesty and the ladies of his train. Neither are sharpers forgot in these festivals.

That noble profession is generally allotted to a lot it, a good number of the most dexterous eunuchs, who, like the Spartan youths of old, are punished or applauded according to the merit of their exploits. End of Section 2. In Toronto, every arrival is a statement, and nothing says it better than this. Cadillac Optic was the number one selling luxury EV in Canada for 2025. Find your rhythm across a seamless 33-inch display and an immersive 19-speaker AKG surround audio system. This city demands agility and optic delivers with precision to make every drive extraordinary.

Let's take the Cadillac. Find out more at Cadillac canada.ca.c. Luxury sales claim based on S&P Global Mobility Canadian New Vehicle Total Registrations for calendar year 2025 for the Cadillac definition of luxury. Section 3 of dissertation on Oriental Gardening by Sir William Chambers. This Librevox recording is in the public domain, read by Peter Yearsley. Section 3 The plantations of their autumnal scenes

consist of many sorts of oak, beech, and other deciduous trees that are retentive of the leaf, and afford in their decline a rich, variegated colouring, with which they blend some evergreens, some fruit trees, and the few shrubs and flowers which blossom late in the year, placing amongst them decayed trees, pollards, and dead stumps, of picturesque forms, overspread with moss and iron, The buildings with which these scenes are decorated are generally such as indicate decay, being intended as mementos to the passenger.

Some are hermitages and armes-houses, where the faithful old servants of the family spend the remains of life in peace, amidst the tombs of their predecessors who lie buried around them. Others are ruins of castles, palaces, temples, and deserted religious houses, or half-buried triumphal arches and mausoleums, with mutilated inscriptions that once commemorated the heroes of ancient times, or they are sepulchres of their ancestors, catacombs and cemeteries for their favourite domestic animals, or whatever else may serve to indicate the debility, the disappointments, and the dissolution of humanity, which, by cooperating with the dreary aspect of autumnal nature and the inclement temperature of the air, fill the mind with melancholy,

and incline it to serious reflections. Such is the common scenery of the Chinese gardens where the ground has no striking tendency to any particular character. But where it is more strongly marked, their artists never fail to improve upon its singularities. Their aim is to excite a great variety of passions in the mind of the spectator, and the fertility of their imagination, always upon the stretch in search of novelty, furnishes them with a thousand artifices to accomplish that aim. The scenes which I have hitherto described are chiefly of the pleasing kind, but the Chinese gardeners have many sorts which they employ as circumstances vary, all which they range in three separate classes, and distinguish them by the appellations

of the pleasing, the terrible, and the surprising. The first of these are composed of the gayest and most perfect productions of the vegetable world, intermixed with rivers, lakes, cascades, fountains, and waterworks of all sorts, being combined and disposed in all the picturesque forms that art or nature can suggest. Buildings, sculptures and paintings are added, to give splendor and variety to these compositions, and the rarest productions of the animal creation are collected to enliven them. Nothing is for God that can either exhilarate the mind,

gratify the senses, or give a spur to the imagination. Their scenes of terror are composed of gloomy woods, deep valleys inaccessible to the sun, impending barren rocks, dark caverns, and impetuous cataracts rushing down the mountains from all parts. The trees are ill-formed, forced out of their natural directions, and seemingly torn to pieces by the violence of tempests. Some are thrown down and intercept the course of the torrents. Others look as if blasted and shattered by the power of lightning. The buildings are in ruins, or half-consumed by fire, or swept to all.

by the fury of the waters, nothing remaining entire, but a few miserable huts dispersed in the mountains, which serve at once to indicate the existence and wretchedness of the inhabitants. Bats, owls, vultures, and every bird of prey flutter in the groves. Wolves, tigers, and jackals howl in the forests, half-famished animals wander upon the plains. crosses, wheels, and the whole apparatus of torture are seen from the roads, and in the most dismal recesses of the woods, where the ways are rugged and overgrown with poisonous weeds, and where every object bears the marks of depopulation, are temples dedicated to the King of Vengeance, deep caverns in the rocks, and descents to gloomy subterranean habitations, overgrown with brushwood

and brambles, near which are inscribed on pillars of stone, pathetic descriptions of tragical events, and many horrid acts of cruelty perpetrated there by outlaws and robbers of former times. And to add both to the horror and sublimity of these scenes, they sometimes conceal in cavities on the summits of the highest mountains, foundries, lime kilns, and glassworks, which send forth large volumes of flame, and continued clouds. of thick smoke that give to these mountains the appearance of volcanoes. Their surprising or supernatural scenes are of the romantic kind, and abound in the marvelous,

being calculated to excite in the mind of the spectator quick succession of opposite and violent sensations. Sometimes the passenger is hurried by steep descending paths to subterranean vaults, divided into stately apartments, where lamps which yield a faint and glimmering light, discover the pale images of ancient kings and heroes reclining on beds of slate. Their heads are crowned with garlands of stars, and in their hands are tablets of moral sentences,

flutes and soft harmonious organs, impelled by subterranean waters, interrupt at stated intervals, the silence of the place, and fill the air with solemn, sacred melody. Sometimes the traveller, after having wandered in the dusk of the forest, finds himself on the edge of precipices, in the glare of daylight, with cataracts falling from the mountains around,

and torrents raging in the depths beneath him, or at the foot of impending rocks, in gloomy valleys overhung with woods, or on the banks of dull moving rivers, whose shores are covered with sepulchral monuments under the shade of willow, laurel, and other plants sacred to Manchu, the genius of sorrow. His way now lies through dark passages, cut in the rocks, on the sides of which are recesses filled with colossal figures of dragons, infernal furies, and other horrid forms, which hold in their monstrous talons mysterious cabalistical sentences inscribed on tables of brass, with preparations that yield a constant flame, serving at once to guide and to astonish the passenger,

From time to time he is surprised with repeated shocks of electrical impulse, with showers of artificial rain, or sudden violent gusts of wind, and instantaneous explosions of fire. The earth trembles under him by the power of confined air, and his ears are successively struck with many different sounds, produced by the same means. Some resembling the cries of men in torment, some the roaring of bulls and howl of ferocious animals,

with the yell of hounds and the voices of hunters. Others are like the mixed croaking of ravenous birds, and others imitate thunder, the raging of the sea, the explosion of cannon, the sound of trumpets, and all the noise of war. His road then lies through lofty woods, where serpents and lizards of many beautiful sorts crawl upon the ground,

and where innumerable apes, cats and parrots clamber upon the trees to intimidate him as he passes, or through flowery thickets, where he is delighted with the singing of birds, the harmony of flutes, and all kinds of soft, instrumental music. Sometimes, in this romantic excursion, the passenger finds himself in spacious recesses,

surrounded with arbours of jessamine, vine and roses, or in splendid pavilions, richly painted and illumined by the sun. Here, beauteous Tartarian damsels, in loose, transparent robes that flutter in the scented air, present him with rich wines, or invigorating infusions of ginseng and amber in goblets of agate, mangustans, ananas, and fruits of quang-fi in baskets of golden filigree. They crown him with garlands of flowers, and invite him to take the sweets of retirement on Persian carpets, and beds of Camuseth skin down.

These enchanted scenes always abound with waterworks so contrived as to produce many surprising effects and many splendid pieces of scenery, amongst which their Kiao King or water palaces are the most extraordinary. They consist of many colonnades, arcades, galleries and open cabinets, formed of smooth sheets and jets of fair water, artfully rising or falling over grounds of different coloured glass, or over innumerable lamps,

which varying the tints of the liquid give to the structures the appearance and luster of diamond, sapphire, emerald, ruby, amethyst and topaz. Air is likewise employed with great success on different occasions, not only for the purposes above mentioned, but also to form artificial and complicated echoes, some repeating the motion of the feet, some the rustling of garments, and others the human voice in many different tones, all of which are calculated to embarrass, to surprise, or to terrify the passenger in his progress. All sorts of optical deception are also made use of, such as paintings on prepared surfaces

contrived to vary the representations, as often as the spectator changes place. exhibiting, in one view, groups of men, in another, combats of animals, in a third, rocks, cascades, trees and mountains, in a fourth temples and colonnades, with a variety of other pleasing subjects. They likewise contrive pavements and incrustations for the walls of their apartments of mosaic work, composed of many pieces of marble, seemingly thrown together without order or design, which, when seen from certain points of view, unite in forming lively and exact representations of men, animals, buildings, or landscapes, and they frequently have pieces of architecture, even hold prospects in perspective, which are formed by introducing temples,

bridges, vessels, and other fixed objects, lessened as they are more removed from the points of view, by giving greyish tints to the distant parts of the composition, and by planting there trees of a fainter colour and smaller growth than those that stand on the foreground, thus rendering considerable in appearance what in reality is trifling. The Chinese artists employ in these enchanted scenes the Vendezhang, the ever-moving poplar, the Pao Lu, with all kinds of sensitive and other extraordinary trees, plants and flowers. Footnote, the Vendijang is a native of Siam. It bears flowers of an agreeable smell which, when they open, are of diverse colours as red, yellow, white and black. The fruit, when it

comes to maturity, has the exact resemblance of a wild duck. End footnote. Footnote, the Pow-Loo is a tree very common in Bengal and some parts of China, to which the large Indian bats have a particular attachment, in so much that during daylight they almost cover its branches, hanging upon them in clusters like fruit. End footnote. They keep in them a surprising variety of monstrous birds, reptiles and animals, which they import from distant countries, or obtain by crossing the breeds. These are tamed by art and guarded by enormous dogs of Tibet, monstrous dwarfs and African giants in the habits of Eastern magicians. They likewise have amongst the plantations, cabinets in which are collected all the extraordinary

productions of the animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms, as well as paintings, sculptures, medals, antiquities, and ingenious inventions of the mechanic arts, which are a fresh sort of entertainment when the weather is bad or when the heat is too intense to admit of being in the open air. The communications to the different scenes and other parts of the Chinese gardens are by walks, roads, bridalways, navigable rivers, lakes and canals, in all which their artists introduce as much variety as possible, not only in the forms and dimensions, but also in their decoration, avoiding nevertheless all the absurdities with which our ancient European style of gardening abounds. I am not ignorant, said one of their artists, that your European planters, thinking nature scanty in her arrangements, or, being perhaps disgusted with the familiarity and commonness of natural objects, introduce artificial forms into their plantations, and cut their trees in the shapes of pyramids, flower-pots, fishes, and birds.

I have heard of colonnades and whole palaces formed by plants, cut as precisely as if they had been built of stone, and of huntsmen, horses, dogs, boars and tigers in full speed, made of you and holly. But this is purchasing variety at the expense of reason. Such extravagancies ought never to be tolerated, excepting in enchanted scenes, and there, but very seldom, for they must be as dead. destitute of beauty as they are of propriety. And if the plan to be a traveller and a man of observation, he can want no such helps to variety, as he will recollect a thousand beautiful effects along the common roads of the countries through which he has passed, that may be

introduced with much better success. Their roads, walks, and avenues are either directed in a single straight line, twisted in a crooked one, or carried zigzag by several straight lines, altering their course at certain points. They observe that there are few objects more strikingly great than a spacious road, planted on each side with lofty trees, and stretching in a direct line beyond the reach of the eye, and that there are few things more variously entertaining than a winding one, which, opening gradually to the site, discovered at every step a new arrangement, and, although in itself it has not the power of raising violent emotions, yet by bringing the passenger suddenly or unexpectedly to great or uncommon things, it

occasions strong impressions of surprise and astonishment, which are more forcibly felt, as being more opposite to the tranquil pleasure enjoyed in the confined parts of the road, and in small compositions, they find crooked directions exceedingly useful to the planter, who, by winding his walks, may give an idea of great extent, notwithstanding the narrowness of his limits. They say that roads which are composed of repeated straight lines, altering their directions at certain points, have all the advantages both of crooked and straight ones, with other properties peculiar to themselves. The variety and new arrangement of objects, say they, which present themselves at every change of direction, occupy the mind agreeably. Their abrupt appearance

occasions surprise which, when the extent is vast, and the repetitions frequent, swells into astonishment and admiration. The incertitude of the mind where these repetitions will end, and its anxiety as the spectator approaches towards the periods, are likewise very strong impressions, preventing that state of languor, into which the mind naturally sinks by dwelling long on the same objects. The straight directions, particularly the zigzag, are on account of these effects, well adapted to avenues or high roads which lead to towns, palaces, bridges or triumphal arches, to castles or prisons for the reception of criminals, to mausoleums, and all other works of which the intent is to inspire

horror, veneration, or astonishment. To humbler objects, the waving line is a more proper approach, the smallness of their parts rendering them unfit for a distant inspection, and as they are trifling in themselves, they please most when their appearance is unexpected, and from the very point whence all their little beauties are seen in the highest lusts. In disposing the walks of their gardens, the Chinese artists are very attentive to lead them successively to all the principal buildings, fine prospects, and other interesting parts of the composition, that the passenger may be conducted insensibly, as it were by accident, and without turning back or seeming to go out of the way, to every object deserving notice.

Both their straight and winding walks are in some places kept at a considerable distance from each other and separated by close-planted thickets to hide all exterior objects, as well to keep the passenger in suspense with regard to the extent as to excite those gloomy sensations which naturally steal upon the mind

in wandering through the intricacies of a solitary forest. In other places the walks approaching each other, and the thickets growing gradually less deep and more thinly planted, the ear is struck with the voices of those who are in the adjacent walks, and the eye amused with a confused sight of their persons between the stems and foliage of the trees. Insensibly again, the plantations spread and darken. The objects disappear, and the voices die in confused murmurs. When unexpectedly the walks are turned into the same open spaces, and the different companies are agreeably surprised to meet where they may view each other and satisfy their curiosity without impediment.

The Chinese gardeners very seldom finish any of their walks en-couled-de-sac, carefully avoiding all unpleasant disappointments, but if at any time the nature of the situation obliges them to it, they always terminate at some interesting object, which lessens the disappointment and takes off the idea of a childish conceit. Neither do they ever carry a walk round the extremities of a piece of ground, and leave the middle entirely open, as it is too often done amongst us, for, though it might render the first glance striking and noble, they think the pleasure would be of short duration, and that the spectator would be but moderately entertained by walking several miles with the same objects continually obtruding upon his sight. If the ground they have to work

upon be small, and they choose to exhibit a grand scene, either from the principal habitation or any other capital point, they do indeed leave a great part of the space open, but still care is taken to have a good depth of thicket, which frequently breaks considerably in upon the open space, and hides many parts of it from the spectator's eye. These projections produce variety by altering the apparent figure of the open space from every point of view, and by constantly hiding parts of it, they create a mystery which excites the traveller's curiosity. They likewise occasion in many places a great depth in the thicket, which affords opportunities of making recesses for buildings, seats, and other objects, as well as for bold windings of the principal walks,

and for several smaller paths to branch off from the principal ones, all which take off the idea of a boundary and furnish amusement to the passenger in his course, and as it is not easy to pursue all the turns of the different lateral paths, there is still, something left to desire, and a field for the imagination to work upon. In their crooked walks they carefully avoid any sudden or unnatural windings, particularly the regular serpentine curves of which our English gardeners are so fond, observing that these eternal, uniform undulating lines are of all things the most unnatural, the most affected, and most tiresome to pursue.

Having nature in view, they seldom turn their walks without some apparent excuse, either to avoid impediments, naturally existing or raised by art, to improve the scenery. A mountain, a precipice, a deep valley, a marsh, a piece of rugged ground, a building, or some old venerable plant, afford a striking reason for turning aside. And if a river, the sea, a wide extension, or a terrace commanding rich prospects present themselves, they hold it judicious to follow them in all their windings, so to protract the enjoyment which these noble objects procure. But on a plain either open or formed into groves and thickets, where no impediments oblige,

nor no curiosity invites to follow a winding path, they think it absurd, saying that the road must either have been made by art, or be worn by the constant passage of travellers. In either of which cases, it cannot be supposed that men would go by a crooked line, where they could arrive by a straight one. In general, they are very sparing of their twists, which are always easy, and so managed that never more than one curve is perceptible at the same time. They likewise take care to avoid an exact parallelism in these walks, both with regard to the trees which border them, and the ground of which they are composed. The usual width given to the walk is from eight to twenty, or even

thirty feet, according to the extent of the plantation. But the trees on each side are, in many cases, more distant, large spaces being left open, which are covered with grass and wild flowers, or with fern, broom, briars, and underwood. The ground of the walk, is either of turf or gravel, neither of them finishing exactly at its edges, but running some way into the thickets, groves or shrubberies on each side, in order to imitate nature more closely, and to take off that disagreeable formality and stiffness, which a contrary practice occasions in our European plantations. In their straight roads or walks, when the extent is vast, the Chinese artists,

observe an exact order and symmetry, saying that, in stupendous works, the appearance of art is by no means disgusting, that it conveys to posterity instances of the grandeur of their ancestors, and gives birth to many sublime and pleasing reflections. The imperial roads are astonishing works of this nature. They are composed of triple avenues, adorned with four rows of enormous trees, generally Indian chestnuts, spruce firs, mountain cedars, and others of formal shapes, or oaks, elms, tulips, and others of the largest growth, planted at proper regular distances, and extending in straight lines, and almost on a perfect level, two, three, and even four hundred miles. The centre avenues are from 150 to 200 feet wide,

and the lateral ones are generally from 40 to 50 feet, the spreading branches. of the trees forming over them, a natural umbrella, under which the travellers pass at all times of the day, unmolested by the sun. In some places these roads are carried by lofty, vaulted passages through the rocks and mountains, in others upon causeways and bridges, over lakes, torrents and arms of the sea, and in others they are supported between the precipices, upon chains of iron or upon pillars, and many tier of arcades over villages, pagodas and cities. In short, no difficulty has been attended to in their construction, but every obstacle has been conquered with amazing industry, and at an almost incredible expense.

There are in different parts of China many works of the kinds just mentioned, but amongst the most considerable are counted the passage of King Tong, the bridges of Fu Chu, those of Swenchu and Lo Yang, with the Kien Tau in the province of Xenfi. The first of these is a communication between two precipices, composed of 20 enormous chains of iron, each 200 feet in length, which are covered with planks and earth to form the road.

The second is a cluster of bridge, between Fu Chiu and Nanti, uniting various islands that divide the river into different streams. The principle of these consists of one hundred arches, of a sufficient size for the passage of ships under full sail. It is built of large blocks of hewn stone, and enclosed with a magnificent marble balustrade, the pedestals of which support two hundred colossal lions artfully cut in the same material. The third is a bridge at Swen Chu Fu, built over an arm of the sea that sometimes is very boisterous.

It is above three-quarters of a mile long, 35 feet wide, and consists of 130 piers, of an astonishing height, upon which are laid vast blocks of a greyish granite that form the road. But the largest and most surprising work of the sort that has yet been heard of, is the bridge of Loyang in the province of Fokien.

It is composed of 300 piers of black marble, joined to each other by vast blocks of the same material, forming the road, which is enclosed with a marble balustrade, whose pedestals are adorned with lions and other works of sculpture. The whole length of the bridge is 16,200 feet, or upwards of three miles. Its width is 42 feet, and the blocks of which it is composed are each 54 feet long and 6 feet diameter. The Kien Tau, or way of pillars, is a communication between many precipices built to shorten a road to Peking. It is near four miles long of a considerable width, and supported over the valleys upon arches and stone piers of a tithe. terrifying height. In the mountains, on each side of these imperial roads, are erected a great number

of buildings, surrounded with cypress groves, and adorned with works of sculpture which afford constant entertainment to the passengers. These are the monuments of their wise men, their saints and their warriors, erected at the expense of the state, and furnished with nervous inscriptions in the Chinese language, giving an account of the lives and actions of those they commemorate. Some of these buildings are distributed into many spacious courts and stately apartments, being little inferior to palaces, either in magnificence or extent. They are furnished with all kinds of movables and utensils, much larger than the common size, and a great number of colossal figures are everywhere seen, representing officers, soldiers,

eunuchs, saddle-horses, camels, lions and dogs, all placed in melancholy attitudes, with countenances expressive of the deepest sorrow. Instead of roads, the centre avenues are sometimes formed into navigable canals, from 100 to 150 feet wide, being sufficiently deep to admit galleys and other small vessels, with horseways on each side of the canals for the convenience of towing them, either against the wind or the stream. On these, the emperor and Chinese mandarins are frequently conveyed in large, magnificent sampans or barges,

divided into many splendid rooms, being sometimes attended by a considerable train of smaller vessels of different constructions, adorned with dragons, streamers, lanterns of painted silk, and various other ornaments, the whole, composing a very brilliant and entertaining show. All the imperial forests, besides the high roads which pass through them, have many spacious avenues cut in the woods, spreading from different centres, like rays of stars, and terminating at idle temples, towers, castles, and all the interesting objects of the circumjacent country.

The centres from which these avenues part are of a circular or octagonal figure, with eight avenues, or of a semicircular form with only three branches. from them. Their area is generally very considerable, and its middle is adorned with a triumphal arch, a pagoda, a magnificent fountain, or some other considerable monument. Where the extent is vast, each single avenue has, besides, in its course, one or more open spaces, from which a number of smaller avenues again branch out, and terminate at many buildings erected in the woods for various purposes, all which, without any confusion, add to the variety and intricacy of these compositions, giving them an appearance of immensity not to be conceived, but by such as have seen them. And wherever a deep valley, a large river or an arm of the sea, interrupt and break off the course

of the avenues, the plantations are nevertheless continued on the opposite shore, in order to make them appear more considerable. of Section 3. Section 4 of Dissertation on Oriental Gardening by Sir William Chambers. This Librevox recording is in the public domain, read by Peter Yearsley. Section 4. In straight roads of smaller dimensions, the Chinese very artfully imitate the irregular workings of nature, for although the general direction be a straight line, yet they easily avoid all appearance of stiffness or formality by plight some of the trees out of the common line, by inclining some of them out of an upright, or by employing different species of plants, and placing them at irregular distances,

with their stems, sometimes bare, and at other times covered with honeysuckle and sweet briar, or surrounded with underwood. They likewise cut and dispose the branches of the trees in various manners, some being suffered to spread, to cover and shade the walks, whilst others are shortened, to admit the sun. The ground, too, is composed of rises and falls, and the banks on each side of the walk are in some places of a considerable height, forming hollow ways, which they often cover at the top with bushes and trunks of fallen trees. Frequently, too, the course of the walk is interrupted by a large oak or elm or tuliphera placed in the middle, or by a screen of trees running quite across,

which, when the part on one side of the screen is opened and illuminated by the sun, and the part on the other side close and shaded, produces a pleasing contrast. I have often seen in China, bierceau and arbours, not of latticework as in France, but of bamboo, hazel and elm, whose branches being indefiards, to oven at the top, formed an arch not at all displeasing to the eye, and exceedingly useful during the heats of summer. And to render these cool retreats more agreeable, jessamine, scarlet beans, sweet-scented peas, granadillas of several sorts, nasturtiums, the convolvulus major, and many other kinds of climbers, were planted round the outside, which, forcing their

way through, enriched the sides and arches of the walks in a very beautiful manner. I have likewise seen in Chinese plantations, walks bordered with the cut-you and elm-hages, so common in most countries of Europe, which the Chinese artists sometimes admit of for variety's sake, but they never have the stiff appearance of our European ones. The shears are used sparingly. Towards the top, the branches are suffered to spread unmolese. and even in the cut parts of them are seen large masses of other plants forcing their way through, such as the sycamore, the fig, the vine, and others whose foliage and verdure are most opposite to those of the hedge. The dimensions both of their straight roads and walks vary according to

the purposes they are designed for, and, in some degree too, according to their length. Roads or avenues to considerable objects are, as has been observed, generally composed of three parallel walks, that in the middle being from 30 to 150 or even 200 feet wide, those on the sides from 15 to 40. In their gardens the principal straight walks are never narrower than 20 feet, and seldom broader than 45 or 50, and the smallest are at least 12 feet, 30 to 36 feet is called a sufficient width for a length of 200 yards, 40 to 50 for one of 400, 60 for one of 600, and 70 for a length of 800 yards. And when the extent is more than this last dimension, they do not tie themselves up to any proportion, but increase their

width as much as they conveniently can. Never, however, exceeding 150 to 250 to 200. hundred feet, which they think the utmost width that can be given without rendering the avenue disproportionate to the trees that border it. In the construction of roads and walks, the Chinese gardeners are very expert and very circumspect. They never situate them at the foot of mountains or rising grounds without contriving drains to receive the waters descending from the heights, which are afterwards discharged by arched gullies under the roads into the plains below, forming, in the rainy season, a great number of little cascades that increase the beauty of the scenery.

The roads which are designed for carriages, they make as level as possible, giving them a solid bottom and shaping them so as to throw off the rain-waters expeditiously. They use as much as possible the nearest materials to save expense, and are very judicious in employing different soils to form mixtures which never become either hard or slippery, never loose in dry weather, nor deep in wet, not easily ground into powder, nor ever forming a rough, flinty surface, difficult and painful for horses to move upon. Their walks are either of grass, of gravel, or chippings of stone covered with a small quantity of coarse river sand. The first sort, which are seldom used but in private gardens,

they being too liable to be spoiled in public walks, are made of the finest and cleanest turf that can be found on downs and commons, and they are kept in order by frequent mowing and rolling with large iron rollers. The second sort are made of binding gravel, laid about six inches deep, upon the natural ground, if it be dry or, if swampy, upon brick-rubbish, flint-stones, or any other hard material easiest to be had, and these are also kept firm and in great beauty by being frequently rolled. Those of stone are composed of gallets laid about a foot thick, rammed to a firm consistence and a regular surface,

upon which is put a sufficient quantity of river sand to fill up all the interstices. This done, the whole is moistened and well-rammed again. both in their roads and walks they are very careful to contrive sink-stones with proper drains and cesspools for carrying off the waters after violent rains and to those that are upon descents they never give more fall at the most than half an inch to every foot to prevent their being damaged by the current of the rain-waters as china even in the northern provinces is exceedingly hot during summer much water is employed in their gardens In the small ones, where the situation admits, they frequently lay the greatest part of the ground under water, leaving only some islands and rocks, and in their large compositions every valley has its brook or rivulet winding round the feet of the hills, and discharging themselves into larger rivers and lakes. Their artists assert that no garden, particularly if it be extensive, can be perfect without that element, distributed in many shapes, saying that it is refreshing and grateful to the sense in the seasons when rural scenes are most frequented, that it is a principal source of variety, from the diversity of forms and changes of which it is susceptible,

and from the different manners in which it may be combined with other objects, that its impressions are numerous and uncommonly forcible, and that, by various modifications, it enables the artist to strengthen the character of every composition, to increase the tranquillity of the quiet scene, to give gloom to the melancholy, gaiety to the pleasing, sublimity to the great, and horror to the terrible. They observe that the different aquatic sports of rowing, sailing, swimming, fishing, hunting, and combating are an inexhaustible fund of amusements, that the birds and fishes, inhabitants of the water, are highly entertaining, especially,

to naturalists, and that the boats or vessels which appear upon its bosom, sometimes furiously impelled by tempests, at others, gently gliding over the smooth surface, form by their combinations a thousand momentary varied pictures that animate and embellish every prospect. They compare a clear lake, in a calm, sunny day, to a rich piece of painting, upon which the circumambient objects are represented in the highest perfection, and say it is like an aperture in the world through which you see another world, another sun, and other skies. They also remark that the beauty of vegetable nature depends in a great degree upon an abundant supply of water, which, at the same time that it produces variety and contrast in the scenery,

enriches the verdure of the lawns, and gives health and vigour to the plantations. Their lakes are made as large as the ground will admit, some several miles in circumference, and they are so shaped that from no single point of view all their terminations can be seen, so that the spectator is always kept in ignorance of their extent. They interspers in them many islands, which serve to give intricacy to the form, to consterns. conceal the bounds, and to enrich the scenery. Some of these are very small, sufficient only, to contain one or two weeping willows, birch, large, laburnum, or some other pendant plants whose branches hang over the water, but others are large, highly cultivated, and enriched

with lawns, shrubberies, thickets, and buildings, or they are rugged, mountainous, and surrounded with rocks and shoals, being covered with fern, high grass, and some straggling large trees planted in the valleys, amongst which are often seen stalking along, the elephant, the tin-hung or man-bear, the rhinoceros, the dromedary, the ostrich, and the Sinsin, or black giant baboon. There are other islands raised to a considerable height

by a succession of terraces, communicating with each other by various flights of magnificent steps. At the angles of all these terraces, as well as upon the sides of the steps, are placed many brazen tripods that smoke with incense, and upon the uppermost platform is generally erected a lofty tower for astronomical observations, an elegant temple filled with idols, the colossal statue of a god or some other considerable work, serving at the same time as an ornament to the garden and as an object to the whole country. They also introduce in their lakes large artificial rocks, built of a particular fine-coloured stone found on the sea-coasts of China, and designed with much taste. These are pierced with many openings through which you discover distant prospects. They have in them caverns for the reception of tortoises, crocodiles, enormous water-serpents, and other monsters, with cages for rare aquatic birds, and grottos divided into many sharp, apartments, adorned with marine productions and gems of various sorts. They plant upon these rocks all kinds of grass, creepers and shrubs, which thrive in such situations as moss, ground ivy, fern, stonecrop, common-house-leek, and various other sorts of the seedum, cranesbill, dwarf

box, rock roses and broom, with some trees rooted into the crevices, and they place on their summits, hermitages, and idle temples, to which you ascend by many rugged, winding steps, cut in the rock. But far the most extraordinary, as well as the most pleasing of their aquatic constructions, are the Hoie Eta, or submerged habitations, consisting of many galleries, cabinets, and spacious halls, built entirely underwater. Their walls are decorated with beautiful shells, corals and sea-plants of all sorts, formed into many singular shapes, and sunk into various irregular recesses, in which are placed in due order, Fung Shang, God of the Winds, Bonghoi, monarch of the sea, Shu Kong, King of the Waters, with all the inferior powers

of the deep. The pavements are laid in compartments of Jasper, Agate, and Madreepours of Hainang of many extraordinary kinds. The ceilings are entirely of glass, which admits the light through the medium of the water that rises several feet above the summits of these structures. The glass is of various bright colours, very strong, and the different pieces artfully joined to resist the pressure of the fluid with which they are loaded. The use of these habitations is the same as that of the Miao Tang, before described, they are resorted to, in very hot weather to feast and to enjoy, and it is singularly entertaining in the intervals of pleasure to observe, through the crystal ceilings, the agitation of the waters, the passage of vessels,

and sports of the fowl and fishes that swim over the spectator's heads. On the borders of their lakes are seen extensive porticos and many detached buildings of different forms and dimensions, accompanied with plantations, seaports with fleets of vessels lying before them, forts with flags flying, and batteries of cannon, also thickets of flowering shrubs, meadows covered with cattle,

cornlands, cotton and sugar plantations, orchards of various fruit trees, and rice grounds which project into the lakes, leaving in the midst of them passages for boats. And in some places, the borders consist of lofts, woods, with creeks or rivers for the admission of vessels. Whole banks are covered with high grass, reeds, and wild spreading trees, forming close,

gloomy arbours, under which the vessels pass. From these arbours are cut many vistas through the woods, to distant prospects of towns, bridges, temples, and various other objects, which successively strike the eye and fill the mind with expectation. When suddenly a father progress is rendered impracticable, by rocks, strong branches, and whole trees lying across the channel, between which the river is seen still to continue with many islands, whereon, and also in the water, appear the remains of ancient structures, monumental inscriptions, and fragments of sculpture, which serve to give an edge to curiosity and to render the disappointment more affecting. Sometimes, too, instead of being intercepted in your passage, the vessel, together

with the whole river, are, by the impetuosity and particular direction of the current, hurried into dark caverns overhung with woods. Whence, after having been furiously impelled for some time, you are again discharged into daylight, upon lakes encompassed with high-hanging woods, rich prospects on mountains, and stately temples dedicated to Tianho and the celestial spirits. Upon their lakes, the Chinese frequently exhibit sea fights, processions and ship races, also fireworks and illuminations, in the two last of which they are more splendid and more expert than the Europeans. On some occasions too, not only the lakes and rivers but all the pavilions, and every part of their gardens, are illuminated by an incredible number of beautiful

lanterns, of a thousand different shapes, intermixed with lamp-ions, torches, firepots, and sky-rockets, than which a more magnificent sight cannot be seen. Even the girandola and illuminations of St. Peter's of the Vatican, though far the most splendid exhibitions of that sort in Europe, are trifles when compared to these of China. At the feast of lanterns, in particular, all China is illuminated during three days. It seems as if the whole empire were on fire. Every person lights up a number of painted lanterns of various beautiful forms, sometimes of horn, glass, or mother-of-pearl, but most commonly framed of wood, carved and varnished and gilt, upon which is strained thin silk painted with flowers,

birds and human figures, that receive an uncommon brilliancy from the number of lights within. Some there are, likewise made like our magic lanterns, representing by coloured shadows, ships sailing, armies marching, horses galloping and birds flying. Others are full of puppets, representing mountebanks, buffoons, boxers, wrestlers and dancers, which are moved by imperceptible threads. the actions being accompanied by the voice of the operator, modified in different manners, also conformable to the size and gestures of the figures that they seem really to speak. There are likewise lanterns made in the form of tigers, dromedaries, and dragons of an enormous size, which are painted in transparency and filled with lights.

These are moved about the streets by men concealed within them, who artfully give to the machine every motion of the animal it represents. Others there are, seen floating upon the lakes and rivers, built like boats and vessels of various kinds, or shaped like dolphins, alligators, and porpoises, that swim and corvette upon the water. Others, again, that resemble birds fluttering amongst trees, or perched on the summits of the houses,

on all parts of their temples, triumphal arches, and public structures of different kinds. In short, there is scarcely any form that can be imagined, which is not given to some of these lanterns, all executed with the greatest taste and neatness, often at a very considerable expense, some even to the amount of a thousand tail, or nearly 350 pounds.

It is likewise upon this festival that the most splendid of their fireworks are exhibited. It would be tedious to describe them particularly, as they resemble in many things our European ones. But what is related on that head by one of the missionaries is curious, and may here be inserted, to give the reader an idea of Chinese skill in works of this sort. I was extremely surprised, says the father, at a firework which I saw at Peking, representing an arbor of vines. It burnt for a very considerable time without consuming.

The grapes were red, the leaves green, and the colour of the stem and branches variegated in imitation of nature. All the forms were represented with the utmost precision, in fires of different colours. The whole was executed with amazing art, and had the most pleasing effect imaginable. Their rivers are seldom straight, but winding, and broken into many irregular points.

Sometimes they are narrow, noisy, and rapid, at other times deep, broad and slow. Their banks are variegated in imitation of nature, being in some places bare and gravelly, in others covered with woods quite to the water's edge, now flat and adorned with flowers and shrubs, then steep, rocky and forming deep winding caverns, where pigeons of the wood and waterfowl build their nests, or rising into many little hills, covered with hanging groves, between which are valleys and glades watered by rivulets, and adorned with pleasure-houses, cottages, and rustic temples, with flocks of sheep and goats feeding about them. The terminations of rivers, the Chinese artists hide, either in woods, or behind hills and buildings, or they turn them under bridges, direct them

into caverns, or lose them among rocks and shoals. Both in their lakes and rivers are seen many kinds of reeds and other aquatic plants and flowers, serving for ornament as well as for covert to their birds. They erect upon them, mills and other hydraulic machines, wherever the situation will permit. They introduce a great many splendid vessels, built after the manner of all nations, and keep in them all kinds of curious and beautiful waterfowl collected from different countries. Nor are they less various and magnificent in their bridges than in their other decorations. Some they build of wood and compose them of rough planks, laid in a rustic manner,

upon large roots of trees. Some are made of many trunks of trees thrown rudely over the stream, and fenced with decayed branches intertwined with the convolvulus and climbers of different sorts. Some are composed of vast arches of carpentry, artfully and neatly framed together. They have also bridges of stone and marble adorned with colonnades, triumphal arches, towers, Lodgias, fishing pavilions, statues, bow-relief, brazen tripods and porcelain vases. Some of them are upon a curve or a serpentine plan, others branching out into various directions, others straight, and some, at the conflux of rivers or canals, are made triangular, quadrilateral, or circular, as the situation requires.

With pavilions at their angles and basins of water in their water in their own. centres, adorned with Gé-Dou, and fountains of many sorts. Of these bridges some are entire, and executed with the utmost neatness and taste. Others seem in ruins, others are left half-finished, being surrounded with scaffolds, machines, and the whole apparatus of building. It is natural for the reader to imagine that all these bridges, with the pavilions, temples, palaces and other structures, which have been occasionally described in the course of this work, and which are so abundantly scattered over the Chinese gardens,

should entirely divest them of a rural character, and give them rather the appearance of splendid cities than scenes of cultivated vegetation. But such is the judgment with which the Chinese artists situate their structures, that they enrich and beautify particular prospects, without any detriment to the general aspect of the whole composition in which nature almost always appears predominant. For though their gardens are full of buildings and other works of art, yet are there many points from which none of them appear,

and more than two or three at a time are seldom discovered. So artfully are they concealed in valleys, behind rocks and mountains, or amongst woods and thickets. There are, however, for variety's sake, in most of the Chinese gardens, particular places consecrated to scenes of an extraneous nature, from whence all or the greatest part of the buildings are collected into one view, rising above each other in amphitheatrical order, spreading out to a considerable extent, and, by their whimsical combinations, exhibiting the most magnificent confusion imaginable.

Their artists, knowing how powerfully contrast agitates the human mind, lose no opportunity of practicing sudden transitions, or of displaying strong oppositions, as well in the nature of the objects which enter into their composition, as in their modifications. Thus they conduct you from limited prospects to extensive views, from places of horror to scenes of delight, from lakes and rivers to woods and lawns, and from the simplest arrangements of nature to the most complicated productions of art. To dull and gloomy colours they oppose such as are brilliant, and to light they oppose darkness, rendering by these means their productions

not only distinct in the parts, but also uncommonly striking in their total effect. The cascades of the Chinese, which are always introduced where the ground admits, and where the supply of water is sufficient, are sometimes regular, like those of Mali, Triscati and Tivoli, but more frequently they are rude, like the falls of Trolheta and the Nile. In one place a whole river is precipitated from the summit of the mountain into the valleys beneath, where it foams and whirls amongst the rocks, till it falls down other pressings, and buries itself in the gloom of impenetrable forests. In another place, the waters burst out with violence from many parts, spouting a great number of cascades in different directions,

which, through various impediments, at last unite, and form one vast expanse of water. Sometimes the view of the cascade is in a great measure intercepted by the branches which hang over it, or its passage is obstructed by trees. and heaps of enormous stones that seem to have been brought down by the fury of the torrent, and frequently rough wooden bridges are thrown from one rock to another over the steepest parts of the cataract. Narrow winding paths are carried along the edges of the precipices, and mills and huts are suspended over the waters, the seeming dangerous situation of which adds to the horror of the scene.

They have likewise cascades contrived to fall from precipices in large regular sheets, smooth as glass, and forming arches that leave a considerable space between the rocks and the water. This is laid out in fine pebble walks, adorned with grass plots and borders of flowers of every sort that thrive in moist situations, and in the upright of the rocks are hollowed grottoes, with many little neat recesses. placed at different heights, and communicating with each other by steps or passages cut in the solid stone, from whence the cascades, when illumined by the sun, appear like a multitude of rainbows, glittering with a thousand colours, and the adjacent trees, buildings, or other objects, seen through the brilliant medium, have a very uncommon, picturesque effect. As the Chinese are so very fond of water, their gardeners endeavour to obtain it by art wherever it is denied by nature. For this purpose they have many ingenious inventions to collect, and many machines of simple construction which raise it to almost any level, at a trifling expense. They use the same method for overflowing valleys that is practiced in Europe, by forming heads of earth or masonry at their excels.

extremities. Where the soil is too porous to hold water, they clay the bottom, in the same manner that we do, to make it tight. And in order to prevent the inconveniences arising from stagnant waters, they always contrive a considerable discharge to procure motion, even where the supply is scanty, which is done by conveying the discharged water back through subterranean drains into reservoirs whence it is again raised into the lake or river. They always give a considerable depth to their waters, at least five or six feet, to prevent the rising of scum and the floating of weeds upon the surface, and they are always provided with swans, or such other birds as feed on weeds, to keep them under. In overflowing their grounds, and also in draining them, they take all

possible care not to kill many of their old trees, either by over-moistening their roots or draining them too much, saying that the loss of a fine old plant is irreparable, that it impairs the beauty of the adjacent plantations, and often likewise destroys the effect of the scenery from many points of view. And in shaping their grounds, they are, for the same reason, equally cautious with regard to the old plantations, carefully observing never to bury the stems, nor to expose the roots of any trees which they mean to preserve. End of Section 4. Section 5 of dissertation on Oriental Gardening.

This Librevox recording is in the public domain, read by Peter Yearsley. Section 5. In their plantations the Chinese artists do not. as is the practice of some European gardeners, plant indiscriminately everything that comes in their way, nor do they ignorantly imagine that the whole perfection of plantations consists in the variety of the trees and shrubs

of which they are composed. On the contrary, their practice is guided by many rules founded on reason and long observations, from which they seldom or ever deviate. Many trees, shrubs, flowers, saith Li Tsong, a Chinese author of great antiquity, thrive best in low, moist situations. Many on hills and mountains. Some require a rich soil, but others will grow on clay, in sand, or even upon rocks, and in

the water. To some a sunny exposition is necessary, but for others the shade is preferable. There are plants which thrive best in exposed situations, but in general shelter is requisite. The skilful gardener, to whom study and experience have taught these qualities, carefully attends to them in his operations, knowing that thereon depend the health and growth of his plants, and consequently the beauty of his plantations. In China, as in Europe, the usual times of planting are the autumn and the spring, Some things answering best when planted in the first, and some in the last of these seasons.

Their gardeners avoid planting whenever the grounds are so moist as to endanger the rotting of the roots, or when the frosts are so near as to pinch the plants before they have recovered the shock of transplantation, or when the earth and air are too dry to afford nurture to them, or when the weather is so tempestuous as to shake or overturn them, whilst loose and unruited in the ground. They observe that the perfection of trees for ornamental gardening consists in their size, in the beauty and variety of their forms, the colour and smoothness of their bark,

the quantity, shape, and rich verdure of their foliage, with its early appearance in the spring and long duration in the autumn, likewise in the quickness of their growth, and their hardiness to endure the extremities of heat, cold, drought or moisture, in their making no litter during the spring or summer by the fall of the blossom, and in the strength of their branches, to resist unhurt the violence of tempests. They say that the perfection of shrubs consists not only in most of the above-mentioned particulars, but also in the beauty, durability, or long succession of their blossom, and in their fair

appearance, before the bloom, and after it is gone. We are sensible, say they, that no plant is possessed of all good qualities, but choose such as have the fewest faults, and avoid all the exotics that vegetate with difficulty in our climate, for though they may be rare, they cannot be beautiful, being always in a sickly state. Have, if you please, hot houses and cool houses for plants of every region. to satisfy the curiosity of botanists, but they are mere infirmaries. The plants which they contain are valetudinarians, divested of beauty and vigour,

which only exist by the power of medicine and by dint of good nursing. Amongst their favourite trees is the weeping willow, which they cultivate with great care, and plant near all their lakes, rivers, fountains, and wherever else it can be introduced with propriety. Four kinds of it are raised in pots for the apartments, and their poets have often celebrated its beauties in verse. There is both a French and English translation extent of one of these poems, which, with the original, is here inserted for the inspection of the curious. LONLY Hwang I teakushy,

Drow, it'so-i-ne-sio-ta-haw-haw-haw-ha-ha-ha-ha-hae. Ityenah, sheen-ehane-y-hue-he-eigh-e-a-ewean-a-eweeweeweeweewee-eweewee-ewee-ewee-ewe-chew-e-e-a-eeeeeeeeeeeee. khi von viu juhobu tai te huni xanekhseu jay yee tzio thon shi a penne the season of the printan is venu that the sole cover of a robe vert the color june of her own to the pache that the depi arrache the fleurs that he repents on the the air, the clad of the more vivid, color, can't compare to grass simple, and you chant of this abbe.

He previen the print-time, and, without having a-vue to veer to-ovese, he'll revere his feats and its branches of nubesed voluette, that insect not found filet. Scarce dawns the genial year, its yellow sprays the sprightly willow clothes in rogely. of green, blushing with shame the gaudy peach is seen, she sheds her blossoms and with spleen decays. Soft harbinger of spring, what glowing rays, what colours with thy modest charms

may vie. No silkworm decks thy shade, nor could supply the velvet down thy shining leaf displays. End footnote. The excessive variety of which some European gardeners are so fond in their plantations, the Chinese artists blame, observing that a great diversity of colours, foliage and direction of branches must create confusion, and destroy all the masses upon which effect and grandeur depend. They observe, too, that it is unnatural, for as in nature most plants sow their own seeds. Whole forests are generally composed of the same sort of trees. They admit, however, of a moderate variety, but are by no means promiscuous in the choice of their plants, attending with great care to the colour, form and foliage of each,

and only mixing together such as harmonise and assemble agreeably. They observe that some trees are only proper for thickets, others only fit to be employed singly, and others equally adapted to both these situations, the mountain cedar, the spruce and silver furs, and all others whose branches have a horizontal direction, they hold improper for thickets, because they indent into each other, and likewise cut disagreeably upon the plants which back them. They never mix these horizontal branched trees with the cypress, the oriental arbavite, the bamboo, or other upright ones, nor with the Larix, the weeping willow, the birch, the laburnum, or any of a pendant nature, observing that the intersection of their branches forms a very unpicturesque kind of network.

Neither do they employ together, the Catalfa and the Acacia, the yew and the willow, the plain and the sumach, nor any of such heterogeneous sorts. But on the contrary, they assemble in their large woods, the oak, the elm, the beech, the tulip, the sycamore, maple and plain, the Indian chestnut, the tong-shu, and the western walnut, the arbeal, the lime, and all whose luxuriant foliagees hide the direction of their branches, and, growing in globular masses, assemble well together, forming by the harmonious combination of their tints, one grand group of rich verdure. Footnote, Tongsu, a kind of walnut peculiar to China, from which a fine oil is extracted, end footnote.

In their smaller plantations, they employ trees of a smaller growth, but of the same concordant sorts, bordering them with Persian lilacs, gelar roses, syringas, coronillas or senos of various sorts, flowering raspberries, yellow jesamine, Hypericum or St John's Wirt, the Spirea fruitex, altheaes, roses, and other flowering shrubs peculiar to China, such as the Moli Hua, the Kuihua, the land-werea, and the Wen-quang-hu, intermixed with flowers and with the tallow tree and paddews of various species, the Tse-Tang or rose-tree, elder, mountain ash, acacia, double-blossomed thorn, and many other sorts of flowering trees. And wherever the ground is bare, they cover it with white, blue, purple, and variegated periwinkle, the convolvulus miner, dwarf-stocks, violets, primroses, and different kinds of creeping flowers, and with strawberries, Tutson, and ivy which climbs up and covers the stems of the trees. In their shrubberies they follow as much as possible the same rules, observing farther to plant in some of them

all such shrubs as flourish at one time, and in some such as succeed each other, of which different methods the first is much the most brilliant, but it still. Duration is short, and the appearance of the shrubbery is generally shabby as soon as the bloom is off. They therefore seldom use it, but for scenes that are to be enjoyed at certain periods, preferring the last on other occasions, as being of long duration and less unpleasing after the flowers are gone. The Chinese gardeners do not scatter their flowers indiscriminately about their borders, as is usual in some parts of Europe, but dispose them with great circumspection, and, if I may be allowed the expression, paint their way very artfully along the skirts

of the plantations, or other places where flowers are to be introduced. They reject all that are of a straggling growth, of harsh colours and poor foliage, choosing only, such as are of some duration, grow either large or in clusters, are of beautiful forms, well-leaved, and of tints that harmonise with the greens that surround them. They avoid all sudden transitions, both with regard to dimension and colour, rising gradually from the smallest flowers to holly oaks, peonies, sunflowers, carnation poppies, and others of the boldest growth, and varying their tints by easy gradations from white, straw colour, purple and incarnate, to the deepest blues and most brilliant crimsons and scarlets.

They frequently blend several roots together, whole leaves and flowers unite, and compose one rich harmonious mass, such as the white and purple candy-tuff, lark spurs, and mellows of various colours, double poppies, lupins, primroses, pinks, and reds, with many more of which the forms and colours accord with each other, and the same method they use with flowering shrubs, blending white, red, and variegated roses together, purple and white lilacs, yellow and white jesamine, altheas of various sorts, and as many others as they can with any propriety unite. By these mixtures they increase considerably the variety and beauty of their compositions.

In their large plantations, the flowers generally grow in the natural ground, but in flower gardens and all other parts that are highly kept, they are in pots buried in the ground, which, as fast as the bloom goes off, are removed, and others are brought to supply their places, so that there is a constant succession for almost every month in the year, and the flowers are never seen but in the height of their beauty. Among the most interesting parts of the Chinese plantations are their open groves, for, as the women spend much of their time there, care is taken to situate them as pleasantly as possible, and to adorn them with all kinds of natural beauties. The ground on which they are planted is commonly uneven, yet not rugged,

either on a plane, raised into many gentle swellings, on the easy declivity of a mountain, commanding rich prospects, or in veils, surrounded with woods and watered with springs and rivulets. Those which are in an open exposure are generally bordered with flowery meadows, extensive cornfields, or large lakes, the Chinese artists observing that the brilliancy and gaiety of these objects form a pleasing contrast with the gloom of the grove. And when they are confined in thickets or close woods, the plantations are so contrived that, from every approach, some part of the grove is hid, which, opening gradually to the eye of the passenger, satisfies his curiosity by degrees. Some of these groves are composed of evergreens, chiefly of pyramidal forms, thinly planted over the surface,

with flowering shrubs scattered amongst them. Others consist of lofty spreading trees whose foliage affords a shady retreat during the heat of the day. The plants are never crowded together, sufficient room being left between them for sitting or walking upon the grass, which, by reason of its shady situation,

retains a constant verdure, and in the spring is adorned with a great variety of early flowers, such as violets, crocuses, polyanthes, and primroses, hyacinths, cowslips, snowdrops, daffodils, and daisies. Some trees of the grove are suffered to branch out from the very bottom of the stem upwards. Others, for the sake of variety, have their stems bare,

but far the greater number are surrounded with rose-trees, sweet briar, honeysuckles, scarlet beans, nasturtiums, everlasting and sweet-scented peas, double-blossomed briar and other odoriferous shrubs, which beautify the barren parts of the plant and perfume the air. Sometimes, too, their open groves are composed of lemon, orange, citron, pompelmose, and myrtle trees, which, as the climate varies, either grow in the earth or in buried tubs and pots that are removed to greenhouses during the winter. They also have groves of all sorts of fine-formed fruit trees, which, when they blossom or when their fruit is ripe, are exceedingly beautiful.

And, to add to the luxuriance of these scenes, the Chinese artists plant vines of different coloured grapes near many of the trees, which climb up their stems and afterwards hang in festoons from one tree to another. In all their open groves Are kept young broods of pheasants, partridges, Pea-fowls, turkeys, And all kinds of handsome domestic birds Who flock thither at certain times of the day to be fed. They also retain in them by the same method,

Squirrels, Pecheli cats, Small monkeys, cockatoos, parrots, Hog deer, spotted capritos, lambs, guinea-pigs, and many other little beautiful birds and animals. The trees which the Chinese gardeners use in their open groves, and also for detached trees, or groups of two, three, or four together, are the mountain cedar, the spruce, silver, and balm of Gilead, furs, the laraics, the smooth-stemmed pine, the arbovite, and cypress,

the weeping willow, the oo-kew, Moo, the birch, the ash, the maple, the western walnut, arbiel, tulip, acacia, oak, elm, and all others that grow in picturesque forms. Footnote, U Q. Mu is the tallow tree, which somewhat resembles the birch, end footnote. And whenever they lose their natural shape, either by too quick vegetation or other accidents, they endeavor to reduce them to an agreeable form by lopping off. their exuberances, or by forcing them into other directions. The Indian, or horse-chestnut, the lime, and some others of a stiff formal growth, they never use detached, but find them, on account of their rich verdure, their blossom and abundant foliage, very fit for thickets, woods and avenues. They have particular plants for the dressed gay parts of the garden,

others in their wilds and scenes of horror, and others appropriated to monuments and ruins, or to accompany buildings of various sorts, according as their properties fit them for these different purposes. In planting they are nicely attentive to the natural size of their plants, placing such as are of humble growth in the front, and those that are higher, gradually inwards, that all may be exposed to view at the same time. They appropriate certain plants to low-moist situations, and others to those that are dry and lofty, strictly attending therein to nature,

for though a willow, say they, may grow upon a mountain, or an oak in a bog, yet are not these by any means natural situations for either. When the patron is rich, they consider nothing but perfection in their plantations. But when he is poor, they have also an eye to economy, introducing such plants, trees and buildings into their design, as are not only beautiful, but useful. Instead of lawns, they have meadows and fields covered with sheep and other cattle, or lands planted with rice and cotton, or sowed with corn, turnips, beans, peas, hemp, and other

things that produce flowers, or variegated pieces of colouring. The groves are composed of all useful kinds of fruit trees, such as apple, pear, cherry, mulberry, plum, apricot, pomegranate, fig, olive, and filbert, with the Tse-Tze, Laichi, Longyu, Chinlan, and many others peculiar to China. The woods are full of the Tongsu, the species of the walnut tree, the watsiao, the pepper tree, The shu, the varnish tree, and pelashu, the wax tree, with the Thier-li-mou, ironwood, the Nangmu, the Chinese cedar, said never to decay, the Tsay Tang, the rose tree, and other common timber trees, useful for fuel or building, which also produce chestnuts, walnuts, acorns, and many profitable fruits or seeds. Both the woods and groves are bound with game of all sorts,

The shrubberies consist of Songleu, Vui and Mao Cha, different species of the tea shrub, dwarf mulberry, cotton, rose, raspberry, bramble, current, lavender, vine and gooseberry bushes, with barbary, elder, peach, nectarine and almond trees. All the walks are narrow and carried under the drip of the trees or skirts of the plantation that they may occupy no useful ground. And of the buildings, part, are barns for grain or hay, part stables for horses and oxen, some are dairies with their cowhouses and calf-pens,

some cottages for the husbandmen, with sheds for implements of husbandry. Others again are dove-houses, menageries for breeding poultry, or stoves and greenhouses for raising early rare fruits, vegetables and flowers, all judiciously placed and designed with taste, though in a rustic style. The lakes and rivers are well stored with fish and waterfell. All the vessels are contrived for fishing, hunting, and other sports that are profitable, as well as entertaining, and in their

borders they plant, instead of flowers, sweet herbs, celery, carrots, potatoes, strawberries, scarlet beans, nasturtiums, endive, cucumbers, melons, pineapples, or other handsome fruits and vegetables. While all the less sightly productions for the kitchen are carefully hid behind espaliers of fruit trees, and thus, they say, every farmer may have a garden without expense, and that if all landholders were men of taste, the world might be formed into one, content, continued garden without difficulty. Such is the substance of what I have hitherto collected relative to the gardens of the Chinese. My endeavour in the present publication has been to give the general outline of their style of gardening

without entering into trifling particulars, and without enumerating many little rules of which their artists occasionally avail themselves. Being persuaded that, to men of genius, such minute discriminations are always unnecessary and often prejudicial, as they burden the memory and clog the imagination with superfluous restrictions. The dispositions and different artifices mentioned in the preceding pages are those which are chiefly practised in China, and such as best characterise their style of gardening. But the artists of that country are so inventive and so various in their combinations that no two of their compositions are ever alike. They never copy nor imitate each other. They do not even repeat their own productions,

saying that what has once been seen operates feebly at a second inspection, and that whatever bears even a distant resemblance to a known object seldom excites a new idea. The reader is therefore not to imagine that what has been related is all that exists. On the contrary, a considerable number of other examples might have been produced, but those that have been offered will probably be sufficient, more especially, as most of them are like certain compositions in music, which, though simple in themselves, suggest to a fertile imagination, an endless succession of complicated variations. To the generality of Europeans, many of the foregoing descriptions may seem improbable, and the execution of what has been described, in some measure impracticable.

But those who are better acquainted with the East know that nothing is too great for Eastern Magnificence to attempt, and there can be few impossibilities where treasures are inexhaustible, where power is unlimited, and where munificence has no bounds. European artists must not always hope to rival Oriental grandeur. they will seldom find islands for ostriches or forests for elephants, where property is much divided, where power is confined, and wealth rare. Men of genius may often conceive more than it is practicable to execute. Yet let them always boldly look up to the sun, and copy as much of its lustre as they can.

Circumstances will frequently obstruct them in their course, and they may be prevented from soaring high, but their attention should constantly be fixed on great objects, and their productions always demonstrate that they knew the road to perfection had they been able to proceed on the journey, where twining serpentine walks, digging holes and crooked ditches for earth to raise molehills, scattering shrubs and wringing never-ceasing changes on lawns, lawns, groves and thickets is called gardening. Artists will have few opportunities of displaying

their talents. It matters little there who are the gardeners. A cabbage-planter may rival a clode and a clown at whine a pussin. The meanest may do the little there is to be done, and the best could reach no further. But wherever a better style is adopted, and gardens are to be natural, semblance to vulgar nature, new without affectation, and extraordinary without extravagance. Where the spectator is to be amused, where his attention is constantly to be kept up, his curiosity excited, and his mind agitated by a great variety of opposite passions, their parts will be necessary, and gardeners must be men of genius, of experience and judgment, quick in perception, rich in expedience, fertile in imagination,

and thoroughly versed in all the affections of the human mind. Finis End of Section 5 Section 6 of Dissetational Oriental Gardening by Sir William Chambers. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. Read by Peter Yearsley. Section 6 An explanatory discourse by Tan Chet Kwa

of Quang Chufu, gentlemen, F-R-S-M-R-A-A-A-P, also M-A-A-F-T-R-A-E, C-G-H-M-W, and A-T-T-Q, wherein the principles laid down in the foregoing dissertation are illustrated and applied to practice. Preface Every new system naturally meets with opposition. When the monster novelty appears, all parties, alarmed at the danger, unite to raise a clamour. Each cavils at what it doth not like or doth not comprehend,

till the whole project is pulled to pieces and the projector stands plumed of every feather, not only robbed of the praise due to his labour and good intentions, but, like a common enemy, branded with scorn and abuse. In the first hurry of criticism, every deviation is accounted an error, Every singularity and extravagance, every difficulty of visionary's dream, warm with resentment, biased by interests and prejudices, the angry champions of the old rarely show mercy to the new,

which is almost always invidiously considered and too often unjustly condemned. Sensible of these difficulties, the author of the foregoing dissertation, written in direct opposition to the stream of fashion, harboured no sanguine hopes of fame from his publication. Far from expecting at the first either applause or encouragement, he even judged artifice necessary to screen him from resentment, and clothed truth in the garb of fiction to secure it a patient hearing. The success of his little work, however, in one sense, far exceeded expectation. At its first appearance here, it found not only a patient but a very indulgent reception, and it has since been equally fortunate in France and other parts of Europe,

where Monsieur de la Rochette's elegant translation has made it known. Yet, flattering as this extensive suffrage may seem, it is in reality rather mortifying to the author, who finds from the nature of the incomiums bestowed upon his performance, that it has been more generally liked than understood, and that, whilst a few have honoured it with a deliberate reading, and separated the substance from the vehicle in which it was contained, far the greater number have mistaken the mask for the reality,

and considered it simply as a pleasing tale, as the mere recital of a traveller's observation, or as the luxuriant effusions of a fertile imagination, a splendid picture of visionary excellence. Whether these misapprehensions arose from want of perspicuity in the writer, or want of attention in the readers, admits of no dispute. The former was most probably the case. The author, therefore, who wishes to be perfectly understood,

and is more ambitious of being useful than entertaining, humbly begs leave to offer at the end of this second edition, Such reasons and explanations as seem necessary, either to remove doubts or clear obscurities. He flatters himself, they will be found sufficient, and serve to place the work in its true, its most advantageous light. Of these illustrations he saw the necessity some time ago, and framed them into a discourse supposed to be pronounced by Chet Choir, then in England. Judging it at that time, a sort of proprietor, to put in the mouth of a Chinese what farther information was wanted relative to his country.

But as there is now no longer any necessity for disguise, both the dissertation and explanatory discourse ought certainly to appear in their natural dress. To new-model them, however, would require more time than the author can possibly spare. He therefore has republished the dissertation in its original form, and the discourse, as it was originally written, hoping the indulgent reader will pardon these defects, and gather the fruit, if there be any together, without minding the trees on which it grows.

Introduction All the world knew Chet Choir and how he was born at Kwang Chou Fu in the fourth moon of the year 28, also how he was bred a facemaker, and had three wives, two of whom he caressed very much, the third but seldom, for she was a verrago,

and had large feet. He dressed well, often in thick satin, wore nine whiskers and four long nails, with silk boots, calico breeches, and every other ornament that mandarins are wont to wear,

equalling therein the prime macarones and savua vivr not only of quangchu, but even of Kianning, or Shun Tianyang Fu. Footnote, Kwang Chu Fu, Canton. For she was a virago and had large feet, both which are accounted great defects in China. Nine whiskers, and so on, all bows wear whiskers in China, and all gentlemen long nails, to show that they are idle.

Kiyang Ning or Nang-king, capital of Kiyang Nang. Shun-Tyang Fu, Peking. End footnote. Of his size, he was a well-spoken portly man for a Chinese, a pretty general scholar, and, for a heathen, a very complete gentleman. He composed a Tie Cé, or Bie A-Doo, at pleasure, recited verses, either in Manchu or Chinese, and sung love-songs in many languages. He likewise danced a fandango after the newest taste of Macau, played divinely upon the bagpipe, and made excellent remarks, which, when he lodged at Mr. Mars in the Strand, he would repeat to his friends over a pipe, as often as they pleased, for he was fond of smoking, provided the tobacco was good, and upon these occasions was always

vastly pleasant and very communicative. Amongst his favourite topics were painting, music, architecture, and gardening, to the last of which he seemed most affected, often discerting thereon till he was tired and the audience fast asleep, for the tone of his voice was like opium to the hearers. His method was diffuse, and the subject, though a good one, not generally interesting. One day he launched out into a long description of the Eastern Gardens, especially those of his own country, to which he was exceedingly partial, and in the conclusion compared them to a splendid feast, at which there were pleasures for every sense, and food for every fancy. Whilst our gardens, he said, were like

Spartan broth, which was disgustful to all but Spartan palates, or like the partial niggardly treats of the fable, adapted only to organs of a peculiar construction. He advanced many other odd positions spoke very freely, as well of our gardeners as gardens, and ended recommending the Chinese taste in preference to all others. We were diverted with the discourse from its singularity and the variety of new ideas in which it abounded, yet as it ran in direct opposition to the general opinion and usage of England, and recommended a system which appeared to us rather visionary than practicable, we animadverted upon all its parts, with the utmost freedom, neither sparing the speech nor speaker in any particular.

The severity of our criticism at first disconcerted poor Chet Croix, who remained silent and in apparent confusion. But, after a short pause, he reassumed his usual good humour, his countenance cleared up, he arose, bowed to the company, and stroking. his nine whiskers began the following discourse. Discourse and so on. Tan Lu Tichanue, ko-u-po-k-cho-wee. U-Yan-King, Tai-Pan, Fou-T-Yo-O-T-Yo, Loti. Footnote, Tan-Ti-Tianue, and so on, the motto which Chetqua has made choice of, is part of,

of a poem written by Kien Long, reigning emperor of China, in praise of drinking tea, and published by his imperial edict, bearing date the twelfth day of the ninth moon of the 13th year of his reign, in 32 different types or characters, under the inspection of Yon Lowe and Hoangian princes by the title of Tsin-O-ung, Fuheng, Grandi, by the title, by the title, of Te Pao, count by the title of Valiant, and first president of almost all the great tribunals of the empire, whose deputies were Ak Daun and Tsing Poe, grandees, by the title of Teci-Chao-Pao, and these were again assisted by Yifan, Fouki, Elguengue, Tetchi, Mingte, Tsung-Win, Shang Yu, Taun Min, and about a dozen other Mandarin's of rank and reputation.

So there is no doubt, but the work is perfectly correct. Here follows the exact copy of it, with an English translation, for the entertainment and instruction of the curious in poetry. There is a French translation of the same work by Father Amio, published at Paris in 1770, from which the present publication is in a great measure taken, The editor, having found it easier to translate from the French copy than from the Chinese original. yen-y-chen-me-e.

Yuen-Gyeo, Pohsien-jo, tan-low-law-tichan-we, O-yon-kink-taipan, Kau-Po-Kew-chew-tow-chew, Fou-Fo-Tai-o-o-y-o-hoy-jong-chang-chay, Cote-San, Lin-Fu-Chang-Chay-Lang-Ey-Lang-Gu-Chang-E-Lang-KU-GAN-KU-Siao-W-T-W-T-Ew, and Siao-Ting-Li-Long-Pin-Y-T, Long Pingin Siao Chun Yu-Ti.

Translation The colours of the Mayhu are never brilliant, yet is the flower always pleasing. In fragrance or neatness the foo ch-h-h-h-yo has no equal. The fruit of the pine is aromatic, its odour inviting. In gratifying at once the sight, the smell and the taste, nothing exceeds these three things, and if at the same time you put upon a gentle fire an old pot with three legs grown black and battered with length of service, after having first filled it with the limpid water of melted snow,

and if when the water is heated to a degree that will boil a fish or redden a lobster, you pour it directly into a cup made of the earth of Uey, upon the tender leaves of superfine tea, and if you let it rest there till the vapours, which rise at first in great abundance, forming thick clouds, dissipate by degrees, and at last appear merely as a slight mist upon the surface, and if you then gently sip this delicious beverage, it is laboring, effectively, to remove the five causes of discontent,

which usually disturb our quiet. You may feel you may taste, but it is impossible to describe the sweet tranquility, which a liquor thus prepared procures. Retired for some space of time from the tumults of business, I sit alone in my tent at liberty to enjoy myself unmolested, in one hand holding a fociau which I bring nearer to my nose or put it farther off at pleasure. In the other hand, holding my dish of tea,

upon which some pretty curling vapours still appear, I taste, by intervals, the liquor. By intervals I consider the May-Hoah. I give a philip to my imagination, and my thoughts are naturally turned towards the sages of antiquity. I figure to myself the famous Oud-Swen, whose only nourishment was the fruit of the pine. He enjoyed himself in quiet, amidst this rigid frugality. I envy and wish to imitate him. I put a few of the kernels into my mouth. I find them delicious. Sometimes, he thinks, I see the virtuous Lin-Foe,

bending into form with his own hands, the branches of the Meijo-a-cho. It was thus, say I to myself, that he relieved his mind, after the fatigues of profound meditation on the most interesting subjects. Then I take a look at my shrub, and it seems as if I were assisting Lin-Foe

in bending its branches into a new form, I skip from Linfo to Chao Chion or to Yu Chuan, and see the first in the midst of a vast many teacups, filled with all kinds of tea, of which he sometimes tastes one, sometimes another, thus varying incessantly his potation, while the second drinks with the profoundest indifference the best tea, and scarcely distinguishes it from the vilest stuff. My taste is not theirs. Why should I attempt to imitate them? But I hear the sound of the evening bell. The freshness of the night is augmented. Already the rays of the moon strike through the windows of my tent, and with their luster brighten the few movables with which it is adorned. I find myself neither uneasy nor fatigued.

My stomach is empty, and I may without fear go to rest. It is thus that with my poor abilities I have made these verses, in the little spring of the tenth moon of the year Ping Yin of my reign, Kien Long. End footnote. If, in the hurry and warmth of speaking, Chet Kwa has used expressions that seemed disrespectful or inadvertently started notions that appeared extravagant, as you gentlemen are pleased to assert,

it is more than he intended. His sole aim at this meeting has been to point out a style of gardening preferable to yours, and to show how much more may be done in that art than has hitherto been thought on by your or any other European nation. To enumerate impossibilities

or amuse an audience with golden dreams and glittering shadows would answer no useful purposes, and could therefore neither be the business nor intention of Chet Choir, who speaks not for the pleasure of speaking, nor with a desire of tickling the ear, but with the hope of being serviceable. He laments his want of perspicuity, to which alone your misapprehensions must be imputed, and begs leave to trespass on your patience a few moments longer, to explain himself more clearly, and endeavour to remove your prejudices against him.

He is sorry to have been under a necessity of censuring, even in a distant manner, what seemed to him imperfect amongst you. But whoever would be instrumental in the advancement of science must declare his mind freely, and sometimes enforce his precepts by examples that exist. His observations have been as general as the subject would permit, for it is never his inclination to give offence. yet where truth is to be investigated, the truth must necessarily be told, else little or no progress can ever be made.

Where men play the sycophants, and tacitly suffer or meanly applaud, what they do not approve, no amendment can ever be expected. It is true that dissensions in opinion, however well meant, will often bear an invidious aspect, and always must offend some interested individuals. Yet to the community they are generally advantageous, and should always be favourably received, as they give birth to new discoveries,

and ultimately point out the highest perfection. Had no man ever ventured to dissent from his neighbour, our age would be as dark as were those of Fouhi, Shing Tong, or Huang Ti, footnote foehi shingtong or huangti some of the first emperors of china who invented the eight quas together with the katesi and created kolaos end footnote and i am firmly persuaded that your english gardening would now have been much more perfect had anyone ever dared to dispute its excellence but to dissent is an unthankful business, a dangerous talk that few have spirits to undertake,

particularly where party rage is violent, as it now and then seems to be amongst you. But I come to the point. In China, our large gardens are obtained at an almost incredible expense, and attended with many inconveniences. Amongst you, whose policy, whose manners, are totally, different from ours, they might often be had at a moderate charge and without much trouble. For formidable as they may at first appear, it is certain that most of their scenery is easily

executed when proper opportunities occur, which is frequently the case in Europe, particularly in England, where your illustrious families have large domains, where agriculture is neater and more various than in other countries, and where the face of nature is, in general, more luxuriant, as well as better contrasted. It is natural enough for a stranger to be dazzled with the splendour of our oriental plantations, upon a cursory inspection, to conclude them too vast, too magnificent, too expensive for European imitation, and that, in your part of the world, the greatest princes should not be indulged with such articles of luxury, calculated as they seem, to exhaust their treasures, waste their lands,

rob and oppress their subjects. But a more attentive examination will probably give birth to more favourable opinions, and serve to prove that not only your princes, but even your private gentlemen, may emulate us in this particular very same. safely, and that our style of gardening may be adopted amongst you, even in its whole extent, without being attended with any of the inconveniences just now recited. It is not the fence that constitutes the garden. Cobham, Steuarton, Blenham, would still be what they are, though the pails or walls by which they are enclosed were taken away. Neither is privacy necessary to the

essence of a garden, for Richmond and Q are surely the same when open to all the world as when they are only accessible to the royal family, nor is useful or profitable culture, incompatible with the idea either of our Chinese or your English gardening. Any tract of land, therefore, whose characteristic expressions have been strengthened by art, and in which the spontaneous arrangements of nature have been corrected, improved, and adorned by the hand of taste, ought to be considered as a garden, though only fenced with common hedges, and although the roads or paths passing through it be public, and the grounds of which it is composed, cultivated to the utmost advantage. There remains then no obstacle to your rivaling the Chinese, either in the grandeur or extent of their gardens, in which you seem to fix the insuperable difficulties of the imitation. Since you have parks, forests, manners, and royalties, some even in private hands,

more extensive than is necessary, and since these may be so improved, and to be so improved, converted into gardens upon the plan now mentioned, without waste of land, without invasion of property, without annoyance or seclusion of the public, and certainly with less damage or expense to the owner than are usually incurred in the article of your common gardening, as no chargeable keeping or fencing would be necessary, no grounds unprofitably employed, no considerable assistance from art wanted, for the features of real nature, being in themselves generally more perfect, as well as greater than the finest imitations, require very few helps, seldom any that are expensive. Every artist, therefore, who has the fortune to meet with patrons of large possessions

and liberal sentiments, may give full scope to his imagination, and boldly apply whatever he he has seen, heard, or his own fancy may have suggested, that is great, extraordinary, or surprising. Instead of confining his views to a few acres to form a trifling composition scarcely superior to the desert at a festival, and which, though insignificant as it would be, none but the healthful and vigorous could ever see, he may convert a whole province into a garden, where the spectator, instead of toiling on foot, as usual, to see a few nothings, and performing more revolutions than a horse in a mill, may wander over a whole country at his ease, in ships or in barges, in carriages or on horseback, feasting the sight,

with scenes of the boldest dimensions, and contemplating the luxuriant, varied productions of nature, improved and nobly enriched by art. And permit me to say that gardens of this sort would not only be more magnificent, but also much more beautiful and perfect in every respect than any even amongst the best of your artificial performances. In the great style of gardening, neatness is not only superfluous,

but destructive of the principal intent. The common roads, bridalways, and paths of a country, however wild, are always preferable to the stiff, formal, made walks of a garden. They are in themselves grander, more natural, and may with a very little assistance, a very few accompaniments, be made as commodious, as rich, as varied, and as pleasant. Fields covered with corn, turnips, beans, potatoes, hemp, or productions of a similar nature, meadows, pastilands, hop grounds, orchards, and other parts of English culture, interwoven with common hedges, or blended with accidental plantations,

require little, if any, assistance from art, to be more picturesque than lawns, the most curiously dotted with clumps, and villages, country churches, farmhouses, or cottages, when placed with judgment and designed with taste, in rich and adorn a landscape, as well as more expensive structures. The rivers of nature flow in forms that art can never equal. Their natural modifications, particularly in mountainous places, are sufficiently numerous.

A little management, heightens or diminishes all their expressions, varies their appearances, and adapts them to scenes of any character. Their banks are soon adorned, even in the richest manner, for roses, A thousand other shrubs, and most perennial flowers, will grow as easily and with as little culture as primroses and briars do. A few of these, a little planting properly employed, and blended with rural buildings, bridges, ruins, monumental urns, and other trifling decorations,

spread over the whole, an appearance that equals even surpasses the most elaborate cultivation. In every large tract of land, there generally are some places abundantly supplied with water, which often flows through uncouth, marshy bottoms of little use or value to the owner. By raising heads at their extremities, these are easily overflowed, and lakes of very considerable dimensions may thus be obtained, often without much trouble, always with great advantages, as well in point of profit as of pleasure,

and wherever it may be necessary to dig, in order to give a proper depth to the water, the earth may be raised into islands of various shapes, which serve to complicate the forms, to enrich and beautify the scenery. Though woods from various causes are now more rare than here to for amongst you, yet are there in most parts,

some still remaining. Their natural beauties are many, and little more is left for art to do in them than to form roads, to thin or thicken them occasionally, where it may be wanting, to interspers amongst the plantations a few proper shrubs and flowers, to open recesses, and to decorate them with objects. This done, they will be infinitely superior in every respect to any of the gaudy, trifling, confused plantations, with which all your English-made gardens are so crowded. England abounds with commons and wilds, dreary, barren,

and serving only to give an uncultivated appearance to the country, particularly near the metropolis. To beautify these vast tracts of land is next to an impossibility, but they may easily be free. framed into scenes of terror, converted into noble pictures of the sublimist caste, and, by an artful contrast, served to enforce the effect of gayer and more luxuriant prospects. On some of them are seen gibbits, with wretches hanging in Terorem upon them.

On others, forges, collieries, mines, coal tracts, brick or lime kilns, glass-werews, and different objects of the horrid kind. What little vegetation they have is dismal. The animals that feed upon it are half famished to the artist's hands, and the cottagers, with the huts in which they dwell, want no additional touches to indicate their misery. A few uncouth straggling trees, some ruins, caverns, rocks, torrents, abandoned villages in part consumed by fire, solitary hermitages, and other similar objects,

artfully introduced and blended with gloomy plantations, would complete the aspect of desolation and serve to fill the mind where there was no possibility of gratifying the senses. In prosecuting a plan of this extensive nature, many other opportunities would present themselves

to the able artist, of dignifying nature, and of heightening his compositions with all the force of novelty and grandeur. Stone quarries, chalk pits, mines, might as easily be framed into vast amphitheaters, rustic arcades, and peristiles, extensive subterraneous habitations, grottoes, vaulted roads and passages, as into other shapes. Hills might, without much difficulty, be transformed into stupendous rocks by partial incrustations of stone, judiciously mixed with turf, fern, wild shrubs, and forest trees. Gravel pits, or other similar excavations, might be converted into the most romantic

scenery imaginable, by the addition of some planting, intermixed with ruins, fragments of sculpture, inscriptions, or any other little embellishments. And, in short, there would be no deviation, however trifling, from the usual march of nature, but what would suggest, to a fruitful imagination, some extraordinary arrangement, something to disguise her vulgarity, to rouse the attention of the spectator, and to excite in his mind a succession of strong and opposite sensations. It is thus that far the noblest part of our Chinese gardens, and those which at first sight appear most impracticable, may be obtained even amongst the common dispositions of English nature, and the great might thus have pleasure grounds extensive and extraordinary as those of the East,

without any very considerable expense. Men of less note would naturally imitate their superiors, by embellishing their possessions in the same manner, and, instead of spending large sums, to fence and to laud a little field with twigs to give it the name of a garden, they would beautify their whole estate, which, by a proper attention to the economical precepts of our Chinese gardeners, might be done in such a manner as to increase its value, as well as improve its appearance. By these means this whole kingdom might soon become

one magnificent vast garden, bounded only by the sea. The many noble seats and villas with which it abounds would give uncommon consequence to the scenery, and it might still be rendered more splendid if, instead of disfiguring your churches with monuments, our Chinese manner of erecting mausoleums by the sides of the roads was introduced amongst you, and if all your public bridges were adorned with triumphal arches,

rostral pillars, bare-leafs, statues, and other indications of victory and glorious achievements in war an empire transformed into a splendid garden with the imperial mansion towering on an eminence in the centre footnote an eminence in the centre meaning windsor probably end footnote and the palaces of the nobles scattered like pleasure pavilions amongst the plantations infinitely surpasses anything that even the chinese ever attempted. Yet, vast as the design appears, the execution is certainly within your reach. End of Section 6. Section 7 of Dissertation on Oriental Gardening by Sir William Chambers. This Librevox recording is in the public domain, read by Peter Yearsley. Such, as far as I am able to judge, continued our orator, is the true appearance. application of nature to horticulture, perhaps the only one that can be attempted with success.

Wherever she has made in little or introduced upon a confined plan, the effect is always trifling and bad, as will appear to any man of real taste who inspects the artificial scenery, even of your most approved gardens. Nature admits of no reduction in her dimensions, trees will not grow in miniature, nor are her bold movements to be expressed upon the surface of a few acres, and, not to mention any of your performances, it is scarcely in the power of the most consummate art to imitate nature perfectly. Nor, were it possible, could the most skillful arrangements acquire their true effect, till after the expiration of many years. Our children may see the perfection of what we plant. We never can. Our Eastern artists, therefore, seldom attempt to

create, but rather imitate. The tonsor, the habit-maker, the posture-master, and all the other polishers of man, who dispose, decorate, cleanse, clip, and add grace to what is already formed to their hands. To make nature, they say, is tedious and difficult beyond conception, but she may soon be embellished, her redundances suppressed, her faults corrected, her once supplied, her beauties improved and set to view. The truth of these assertions is, I think, apparent in many of your famous plantations, but the beauties of improved natural scenery, the defects of artificial, are nowhere so strongly marked as at B-blank M, the most magnificent seat I have yet seen in Europe. On our entrance into the park we were astonished at the site of a stupendous palace,

surrounded with one of the most noblest scenes of nature that can be imagined. The extent is vast, the parts uncommonly large, the grounds naturally well contrasted, the transitions bold, the plantations in perfect maturity. What assistance was necessary from art has hitherto been judiciously administered. The removal of some trees has exposed to view beauties that seem before to have been concealed. The addition of some others has enriched parts that were bare, and the trifling, though very judicious circumstance of raising ahead at the end of a valley, has obtained a very considerable lake of water,

which enriches and enlivens all the prospects, and which, by following the natural bent or windings of the valley, has taken, without any assistance from art, the most picturesque forms that could be desired. In short, the whole is now admirable, and when improved to the utmost, according to the design of the munificent owner, will yet be more so. Ornaments to characterize the garden more strongly are yet wanting, and some masterly finishing touches, still very necessary. One only little, twining path, within ten cubits of the fence, is certainly not in character with the grandeur of the place, but the fence may be removed, and there is room even now on the declivity of the

banks and by the sides of the lake, for more considerable walks, with many recesses, which, when made and decorated, will add variety to grandeur, and render the whole as entertaining and splendid, as it is now great. You enjoyed the sight of this noble prospect for more than a mile, when the little path is suddenly turned into a little wood, whence, after having advanced a few paces, you behold a piece of scenery, all artificial, which I cannot venture to describe in this presence. Some of you, gentlemen, have seen what it is, and with all your national partiality, must allow either that it proves the impossibility of creating nature with any degree of success, or that

the ablest of your countrymen have no talent that way. To create or to improve are indeed very different operations, the former of which requires infinitely the most skill. It is ten times more difficult to paint a picture than to judge or suggest improvements in one already painted. hitherto i have only described of b blank m what strangers usually see but the whole park above twelve miles in circumference and several farms adjoining to it are uncommonly beautiful rich in old planting in water and in a great variety of picturesque sights and points of view, so that with a very little dressing and with some assistance from the sister arts of architecture and sculpture, the whole might easily be converted into one large, magnificent garden.

And give me leave to observe that these advantages are by no means peculiar to B-blank M. England boasts at least a hundred other places, many as extensive, most of them as capable of improvement in various ways, which, under the management of true artists, might soon be made to rival the Tsehu and Chang Lin of ancient days,

the Yven Ming, the Changchun Yvesen, or any of the present splendid pleasure gardens of our sublime emperor, Kying Long, the torch of the east and true descendant of Tait Tsui, the provenance of heaven,

whom Joss preserve in flesh and good spirits. Footnote. Tse Hiu and Chang Lin, two celebrated parks which belonged to the emperors of the Tai. Iven Ming Iven and Chang Changchang Iven are gardens near Peking, belonging to the present emperors of China. Joss, a corruption of Dios, God, end footnote.

It must, however, be confessed, that there is an inconveniency subsisting amongst you, which will always retard and often prevent, the execution of this extensive plan of gardening. It is the licentiousness of your youth and common people, who delight in destroying every extraordinary thing that comes in their way. If a great man plants trees to shade and beautify a road, the people cut them down.

If statues or other pieces of sculpture are such a great man, to adorn places of public resort. The boys pelt at them with stones till all their extremities are demolished. Wherever there are buildings or seats, even in your royal gardens, we see them constantly disfigured with scurrilous inscriptions or obscene rhymes. And where there are any uncommon trees, they are divested of every branch within reach. The shrubs are robbed of their blossom, the flowers are trodden underfoot, the birds and animals are destroyed. In short, no mischief that drunken mirth or deliberate malevolence can suggest is left undone. What pity that such destructive brutality should exist in a country so particularly favoured by

nature, and so capable of improvement in the highest degree, whilst in every other part of the world it is unknown, almost unheard of. But there is a strong tincture of the rhubarb in all human compositions, and liberty which has so many advantages, is nevertheless attended with some inconveniences of a very serious nature, amongst which the ferocity of its lowest votaries is none of the least formidable. Since our arrival here last July, I have seen at least least twenty of their boisterous pranks, in which, not to enumerate the broken windows, the bloody noses, the kicks, and the bastinados of other gentlemen, I have myself been a melancholy sufferer upon various occasions, particularly at Portsmouth, where I was thrown

into the sea and narrowly escaped drowning for the diversion of the company. Would to heaven, as I say to the mistress Chet Quas in a morning, Would to heaven, my ducks, we were well at Chang Chufu again, With all our long nails and all our whiskers about us, The rigours of an emperor are less frightful to me than the frolics of a savage mob, elevated to madness with songs of freedom and tons of strong beer. It is easier to please a man with one good head than a monster with ten thousand, all bad ones. Miao Kaan Kai, Tsat Pat Kai Tsai.

Footnote, Miao, and so on, muttering expressions from Hoang-So-Zi, or Confucius, end footnote. Pardon this digression, which the Hul terrors of a disturbed imagination have drawn me into, and permit your servant to re-assume the thread of his discourse. Wherever the extent is considerable, and the lands properly formed for the purpose, the mode of natural gardening just recommended ought certainly to be employed in preference to any other, as it surpasses all others in perfection, and is yet most easily executed, but in or near great cities where property is much divided, on flats where nature has no play,

in all tame situations. The richer and more artificial manner of our gardening is preferable, because it may contain much variety in a small compass, and corrects the natural defects of the ground, more speedily, more effectually, with less charge than any other. This manner is also proper rest for grounds that immediately surround elegant structures where order and symmetry are absolutely necessary, and for many little enclosures or resting

places of various kinds that must always be dispersed in different parts of extensive plantations, where nicety of dress and excessive decoration are in character, and where they may be conveniently secured with stronger fences to guard them from public intrusion. These choice pieces of cultivation are appropriated to the owner and his select friends, set aside for convivial pleasures and enjoyments that can only be tasted in private. They may be considered as more spacious apartments, as habitations adapted to the milder seasons of the year, in which art and nature unite to furnish a variety.

of whatever is beautiful, elegant, extraordinary or entertaining, whilst the larger improvements are suited to the more open amusements of the owner, contrived upon a bolder system, for a more distant and cursory inspection. They are a noble indication of his consequence, a benevolent as well as artful tribute to the community, which, whilst it serves to multiply the conveniences or promote the innocent amusements of the public, secures the popularity of the benefactor, and marks in the strongest colours, his power, wealth, and munificence.

How these considerations operate in England, I, who am a stranger, cannot determine, but in the kingdoms of the East, they have great weight. Your connoisseurs will, I know, object to our artificial scenery, which they consider as unnatural, and represent as too expensive for imitation. On the former of these points you have already heard my sentiments. I need not now repeat them. Those who are not yet convinced may still feed on crabs and leave bananas to better heads.

Till my arrival in England I never doubted, but the appearance of art was admissible, even necessary, to the essence of a splendid garden, and I am more firmly of that opinion after having seen your English gardens, though the contrary is so violently maintained by your countrymen, in opposition to the rest of the world, to the practice of all other polished nations,

all enlightened ages, and, as far as I am able to judge, in opposition to reason. But your people delight in extremes, and whenever they get upon a new scent, pursue it with such rage that they always overshoot the bounds. We admire nature as much as you do, but being of a more phlegmatic disposition, our affections are somewhat better regulated. We consider how she may be employed upon every

occasion to most advantage, and do not always introduce her in the same garb, but show her in a variety of forms, sometimes naked, as you attempted to do, sometimes disguised, sometimes decorated or assisted by art, scrupulously avoiding in our most artless dispositions, all resemblance to the common face of the country with which the garden is immediately surrounded, being convinced that a removal from one field to another of the same appearance can never afford any particular pleasure, nor ever excite powerful sensations of any kind. If I must tell you my mind freely, gentlemen, both your artists and connoisseurs seem to lay too much stress on nature and simplicity. They are the constant cry of every half-witted

dabbler, the burthen of every song, the tune by which you are insensibly lulled into dullness and insipidity. If resemblance to nature, were the measure of perfection, the waxen figures in Fleet Street would be superior to all the works of the divine Buena Routi, the trouts and woodcocks of Elmer, preferable to the cartoons of Raphael. But believe me, too much nature is often as bad as too little, as may be deduced from many examples, obvious to every man conversant in polite knowledge. Whatever is familiar is by no means calculated to excels to excels. the strongest feelings, and though a close resemblance to familiar objects may delight the ignorant, yet to the skillful it has but few charms, never any of the most elevated sort, and is sometimes even disgusting. Without a little assistance from art, nature is seldom tolerable. She may be compared to certain viennes, either tasteless or unpleasant in themselves, which, nevertheless, with some seasoning, become palatable, or, when properly prepared, compose

a most exquisite dish. And with respect to simplicity, wherever more is admitted than may be requisite to constitute grandeur, or necessary to facilitate conception, it is always a fault. To the human mind, some exertion is always necessary. It must be occupied to be pleased, and is more satisfied with a treat than with a frugal repast, for though it doth not delight in intricacies, yet without a certain, even a considerable degree of complication, no grateful sensations can ever be excited. Excessive simplicity can only please the ignorant or weak, whose comprehensions are slow,

and whose powers of combination are confined. must therefore be used with discretion, and the dose be adapted to the constitution of the patients. Amongst savages and hottentots, where arts are unknown refinements unheard of, an abundant portion may be necessary, but wherever civilization has improved the mental faculties, a little, with proper management, will go a very long way. Need I prove what the music, poetry, language, arts and manners of every nation demonstrate beyond the possibility of a doubt? Another favourite word of your virtuosi is purity, a word of which, being a stranger,

I do not perhaps know the full value, nor exactly in what sense it is applied to the art in question. We are told that in the purity of gardening you were never equaled by any nation, even that this boasted purity never appeared in any country but England. It may be, sir, your gardens have suddenly been purged to the quick, freed of every encumbrance and cleansed of every extrinsic redundancy, so that nothing now remains but the genuine carcass in its native purity. Yet whether this quality which I apprehend is the only one that can positively be implied is a perfection or a blemish will always be disputed, for though pure wine is, without doubt, a delicious beverage, and preferable to that which is mixed, yet pure water is very insipid and may be much mended by the additions of arach, lemon and sugar to turn it into punch. and 99 persons in 100 will maintain that your pure gardens might be much improved by the addition of embellishments proper to produce variety and set off the vegetation to advantage. For vary your trees and shrubs as much as possible.

Combine them in every imaginable arrangement. They are still but trees and shrubs. They can impress but a very few images upon the mind of the spectator and only affect his senses with very slight perceptions. Footnote, for though pure wine, and so on, it is remarkable that our orator draws most of his similes and illusions, either from the kitchen or the cellar, whether this particularity proceeded from any skill of his in the culinary art,

from his affection for good living, or from any other hidden motive, or whether it was merely accidental, the editor could never learn with any degree of certainty. End footnote. That our artificial style of gardening is expensive, is doubtless true, yet certainly not ruinously so. In my former voyage I knew an unfortunate prince, who, on a very moderate allowance from his relations, supported a court in splendour, and with the surplus, formed one of the most extraordinary, as well as magnificent artificial gardens I ever saw. It is surprising what good management will do,

where management is necessary, but you are too rich ever to need it in anything. I have seen more money expended here in digging an ugly pond than would have completed a whole garden elsewhere. Yet, after all, the pond would never hold water. But to proceed, you have all seen what the French have done at Versailles, Mali, Triannon, St. Claude, Liancor, and Cheney, the Italians near Rome at Tivoli, at Frescati, and in many other parts of Italy. I do not here enter into the merit of these works,

but they are certainly as costly, perhaps more so, than any of ours, yet these were done by foreigners of different denominations, all without the least help of magic. You are richer than they, You may, with some trouble, acquire their skill. It is hoped you have already more than their spirit. Be not, therefore, afraid to attempt what they have already long since accomplished. I have formerly told you what sort of art we employ in our Chinese gardening. I now recommend it to your imitation, and though in general your European artificial manner appears not, to me, perfect, yet doth it contain many things highly deserving notice,

which you have imprudently laid aside, without substituting any equivalent. To instance the gardens of France, they are, I will allow, sufficiently extravagant. You hear of nothing but islands of love, or halls of festivity. Every recess is the retreat of a god, every prospect a scene of enchantment.

Like their petit metre, are all out of nature, all affectation, yet it is an affectation often delightful, and absurdity generally overflowing with taste and fancy. In their best works there is such a mysterious, pleasing intricacy in the disposition, such variety in the objects, so much splendour and animation in the scenery, and so much skill apparent in the execution of every part, that the attention of the spectator never flags. The succession is so rapid that he is hurried on from one exhibition to another, with his mind constantly upon the stretch. He has only time to be pleased. There is no leisure to reflect, none to be disgusted with the extravagance of what he sees.

If their gardens are less rational than yours, they are certainly much more entertaining, and though upon the whole they can by no means be proposed as models for imitation, yet are there many things to be borrowed from them, which might be adopted by you with considerable advantage. I may say the same with regard to the Italian gardens, of which the style is less affected, less extravagant, than in those of France. The heat of the climate obliges the inhabitants to seek for shade. The walks are sheltered.

the plantations close, whence their compositions have a gloom and an air of solitude that are exceedingly awful. There is a grandeur of manner in all their works, seldom to be met with elsewhere, which, about Rome and in some other parts of Italy, is greatly heightened by the majestic face of nature, framed upon a larger scale, and broken into nobler forms than in most other countries. Their vegetation, too, is uncommonly picturesque. The abundance of water, with which they are everywhere supplied, enables them to form a thousand pleasing combinations and the venerable vestiges of ancient structures,

which rear their decaying heads above the plantations, adds surprisingly to the dignity of the scenery. At every step the admiration of the spectator is excited by statues, thirms, barrelief, sarcophagi urns, vases, and other remains of ancient splendour. Or he is delighted with the production, of modern artists, ingeniously imagined, well executed, and skillfully disposed. It is not easy to conceive anything more entertaining to a man of taste than an Italian garden, in which, amidst the profusion of pleasing objects, the same elegance of choice, the same elevation of style

so conspicuous in the sculpture and painting of the great Italian schools, is everywhere prevalent. To branch out into farther descriptions of your continental gardens is perhaps superfluous, and may be thought foreign to the present purpose, as some of them differ very little from those just mentioned, and others are too trifling or imperfect to deserve any notice. Yet permit me before I finish to give a slight sketch of the Dutch gardening, from which I am apt to believe your ideas of the artificial style are chiefly collected, and your extraordinary aversion to it, principally owing. In Holland, parterre, embroidered in box, brick dust, sea-cold and broken porcelain,

are everywhere admired. No garden is perfect that is not surrounded with a wet ditch, and many lust houses hanging over it for smoking tobacco, nor is there any elegance without some tons of lead, transformed into skating Dutchmen, Harlequins, and fluting shepherdesses, all richly painted in proper colours.

Azure flower pots with gilt handles are seen in every corner, and golden mercury are perched like birds upon every pinnacle. Every pass is guarded by pasteboard grenadiers, and fame straddling over the entrance, displays a Dutch label to the passenger, telling the name and beauties of the place

the virtues and moral opinions of the proprietor. These particularities, with all the formal absurd parts of the French gardening, make an Eden in Holland, a thing too ridiculous to be out of humour with anywhere. It is a pity it had so serious an effect upon you. You are a wise people, yet in the reformation of gardening, you have followed the beaten road of ignorance. To avoid one fault, you have run headlong into another. its opposite. Because in the old gardening, art, order and variety were carried to an extravagant

excess, you have, in the new, almost totally excluded them, all three. To mend an exuberant, fantastic dress, you have stripped stark naked, and to heal a distempered limb, you have, like some famous surgeons of our day, chopped it entirely off. All connoisse. All connoissephed, mrs amongst you, and, even amongst us, agree in despising our enchanted or supernatural scenery, which, they say, is trifling, absurd, extravagant, abounding in conceits and boyish tricks, that, operating chiefly by surprise, it has little or no effect after a first or second inspection, and consequently can afford no pleasure to the owner. Yet our best artists, who have no excessive reverence for the decrees of connoisseurs, and who think the owner is not the only person to be

entertained, often introduce it, either where the plan is extensive and admits of many changes, or where the ground is barren of natural varieties, saying in their vindication, that it serves as an interlude between more serious expositions, that at a treat there should be meats for every palette. In a shop of general resort, goods for every fancy, in a garden designed for public inspection, exhibitions of every kind, that all may find something to their liking, and none go away disappointed or dissatisfied. And as at a feast men eat of what they best relish, without mumbling the rest of the dishes, but leave them untainted for others to feed upon, so in a garden, If a man be too wise to laugh, or be pleased with trifles, he may pass them over unnoticed.

Among the multitude there are many fancies to gratify. Children, old women, eunuchs, and pleasure misses ought to be diverted, as well as sages, mandarines, or connoisseurs. Footnote. In China they have an innumerable multitude of connoisseurs and critics, who, with a very superficial knowledge, a few general maxims and some hard words boldly decide on subjects they do not understand. Hence the whole fraternity has fallen into disrepute. They have indeed, like us, some real connoisseurs amongst them,

but these are very rare in China. End footnote. It is not everyone, say they, that enjoys the force or fierceness of grand compositions. To some they are even terrifying. Weak minds delight in little objects, which are easiest adapted to their confined comprehensions, as children are better pleased with a puppet show than with more serious or noble performances. Thus they reason, and say, moreover, that, as the principal parts of this supernatural gardening, consists in a display of many surprising phenomena and extraordinary effects,

produced by air, fire, water, motion, light, and gravitation, they may be considered as a collection of philosophical experiments, exhibited in a better manner upon a larger scale and more forcibly than is common. In that light, they think, even men of sense may venture to look at them without impeachment of their understanding, to admire what is ingenious, new or extraordinary, and stare at what they do not comprehend. Whether the connoisseurs or the artists are most in the wrong, I will not decide.

You, gentlemen, must determine for yourselves. Some free expressions, relative to your gardeners, constitute a heavy part of the charge exhibited against me. It seems, therefore, necessary in alleviation of this high offence, to declare that whatever has been said on that subject was with an eye to the general character of the fraternity, and by no means, leveled at yon stately gentleman in the black periwig, as he has been pleased to maintain. It could not be my business to mark out individuals, either by excessive praise, which was perhaps expected, or by more poignant censure. Such conduct must have been fawning in one instance, invidious in both, for there is no

exalting one phenomenon without proportionably degrading the rest. As in a draw-well, one bucket can never rise but when the other sinks. If a man far outstrips his brothers, he will, of course, be distinguished, if only a little, his safest station is in the crowd. And really it is odd that anyone should officiously have stepped out of the ranks, insisting, like Master Dogbury in the play, upon his exclusive title, where nothing partial was even distantly hinted at, no names mentioned, nor anything said that was not full as applicable to the Brotherhood in general, as to the sagacious claimant in particular, but Manlup Zhao Kai, Tai Kup Tao Haii. There is reason to believe from various hints which have been dropped by gentlemen here present that the veracity of Chet Chet Chetcua's description is doubted, nay, that the gardens described are supposed to have no existence but in Chetcua's brain.

Be it so, my friends, I shall not seek to refute what you seem so strongly disposed to believe. It is not at present material, for the end of all that I have said was rather as an artist to set before you a new style of gardening than as a traveller to relate what I have really seen. And notwithstanding your strictures, you all seemed satisfied, even entertained with the description. There is no doubt, but the reality, like all other realities, would affect you still more strongly than the picture. I have endeavoured to show how that may be obtained. The rest is left to those it most concerns, the ingenious, the wealthy, and the great, who have power and inclinations to execute what I attempt to plan. My part is done, as far as I am able to do it. Theirs may begin when they think fit.

And although they may at first be embarrassed in the execution of a system so much more complicated and dependent on genius, on skill, and on nice judgment, than that which has hitherto been pursued, yet there is no doubt, but practice and perseverance will, by degrees, dispel every difficulty. It is at least glorious to hazard arduous attempts, and more honourable even, to fail in manly pursuits than to succeed in trifling childish enterprises. Let the timid or the feeble, meanly creep upon the earth with uniform sluggard pace. But the towering spirit must attempt a nobler flight, and climb the paths that lead to fame, now gaily sporting on the slippery surface,

as doth the gentle, graceful lizard, now thundering up the precipice with the tremendous dragons stride, now soaring to the top, stately and splendid as the imperial bird, when, with his glittering crest and twel the irradiant wings, he comes upon the morning's light, while myriads of the warbling tribes, at awful distance, crowd the vaulted air, adore their king, and, with loud songs of frantic joy, shake the firm earth and all yon starry heaven. Footnote. The imperial bird, or foeng, Hoang, is a fabulous being of the nature of the phoenix, by the Chinese poets accounted the emperor of birds, as the dragon is of all the Scaly tribe.

He is said never to appear but in great pomp, attended by numerous train of all the most brilliant and extraordinary of the volatile race. End footnote. From the whole tenor of this discourse, and indeed from the substance of the first dissertation, it is evident, gentlemen, that your servant Chet Kwa has not. no aversion to natural gardening, but is, on the contrary, a zealous advocate in its favour, wherever there is room to expand and work upon a great scale, or where it can conveniently, and with propriety, be introduced. The style which in England has been adopted, preferable to others,

is not what appears to him reprehensible, but he laments the little use you have made of your adoption, and apprehends your partiality is too excessive, while you obstinately refuse the assistance of almost every extraneous embellishment, and persist in an indiscriminate application of the same manner upon all occasions, however opposite or ill-adapted, and often where no probability of success appears. Natural gardening, when treated upon an extensive plan, when employed with judgment and conducted with art, is perhaps as superior to all other sorts of culture, as heroic verse is to every other species of writing. But there are many occasions where neither the one nor the other can, with the least propriety, be employed, where they would only serve to give a ridicule to the

whole composition, and where different or less elevated modes of expression are on all accounts preferable. Artists of other professions vary their manners of applying to the human affections, suiting them to the circumstances or nature of the subjects before them, and they are oftenest indebted to these variations for their success. Why, then, should gardeners always confine themselves to the same tract, and torture all dispositions to adapt them to the same method, like that tyrant of old who stretched or mutilated every guest till he fitted a particular bed. Can they hope to succeed by means which others have found ineffectual? Or is it reasonable to suppose that nature will change her course to please their fancy?

Variety is a powerful agent, without the assistance of which little can be affected. It captivates even with trifles, and when united to perfection, has charms which nothing can resist. The most exquisite pictures of nature receive additional beauties from a judicious apposition of art, and the confined, uniform, tasteless walk of imitation, which you have unfortunately fallen into, must have many helps to make it even tolerable,

a thousand enlivening additions to animate its native dullness. Thus I have considered every part of my first discourse, and offered in its vindication what immediately occurs to me. Perhaps with more leisure I might have contrived a better speech and a stronger defence, but the hurry of facemaking is such that there is scarcely time to eat rice or drink brandy, much less to think. Footnote, hurry of facemaking. The Chinese call portrait painting or modelling portraits in coloured clay, which was Chet Kwa's particular profession, face-making.

Eat rice or drink brandy. The Chinese call dining, eating rice, and their common liquors at meals are spirits of various sorts. End footnote. I never frequent my wives, but by night. I have only heard one of them scold, and seen the others by twilight these six months. Judge, then, what can be expected from Chet Qua?

The little knowledge he has, or thinks he has, is freely communicated to his neighbours. He wishes it were more and better, yet such as it is he flatters himself, it will be kindly received, and that his neighbours will use what may be useful without kicking too violently at the rest. finis end of dissertation on oriental gardening by sir william chambers