Samuel Felton

“ He advises "little walks and paths running through such pastures as adjoin the gardens, passing through little paddocks, and corn fields, sometimes through wild coppices, and gardens, and sometimes by purling brooks, and streams; places that are set off not by nice art, but by luxury of nature." And again, "these hedge-rows mixed with primroses, violets, and such natural sweet and pleasant flowers; the walks that thus lead through them, will afford as much pleasure, nay, more so, than the largest walk in the most magnificent and elaborate fine garden." ”

“ The Dutch, whom we are apt to despise for want of genius, shew an infinitely greater taste of antiquity and politeness in their buildings and works of this nature, than what we meet with in those of our own country. The monuments of their admirals, which have been erected at the public expense, represent them like themselves; and are adorned with rostral crowns and naval ornaments, with beautiful festoons of sea-weed, shells, and coral. ”

“ Nothing, he says, is now so much wanted to complete the grandeur of the British nation, as noble and magnificent gardens, statues, and water-works; long extended shady walks, and groves, and the adjacent country laid open to view, and not bounded by high walls. The pleasant fields, and paddocks, in all the beautiful attire of nature, would then appear to be a part of it, and look as if the adjacent country were all a garden. Walls take away the rural aspect of any seat; wood, water, and such like, being the noble and magnificent decorations of a country villa. ”

“ And now we have come hither, what painter can draw a landskip more charming and beautiful to the eye, than an old Newington peach-tree laden with fruit in August, when the sun has first begun to paint one side of the fruit with such soft and tempting colours? The apricot, the pear, the cherry and plum, when they appear in plenty as they ought, present themselves to the eye at the time of ripening in very inviting blushes. ”

“ Gentlemen, I take the chair with much diffidence; but I will presume to say, that, in the absence of other qualities, I bring with me a passionate love for plants and flowers, for the sweets and beauties of the garden, and no inconsiderable fondness for its more substantial productions. Gardening, as a recreation and relaxation from severer studies and more important avocations, has exquisite charms for me; and I am ready, with old Gerarde, to confess, that 'the principal delight is in the mind, singularly enriched with the knowledge of these visible things ”

“ When I am in a serious humour, I very often walk by myself in Westminster Abbey; where the gloominess of the place, and the use to which it is applied, with the solemnity of the building, and the condition of the people who lie in it, are apt to fill the mind with a kind of melancholy, or rather thoughtfulness, that is not disagreeable. I yesterday passed a whole afternoon in the church-yard, the cloisters, and the church, amusing myself with the tomb-stones and inscriptions that I met with in those several regions of the dead. ”

“ The sun, before he leaves the horizon, seems to blend earth and sky, and it is from sky that evening views receive their greatest beauty. The imagination dwells with delight upon the exquisite variety of soft and pleasing colours, which embellishes the clouds and the distant country, in this peaceful hour of enjoyment and contemplation."
[9] He was enthusiastically devoted to the cultivation of his gardens, which exhibited enchanting scenery, umbrageous walks, and magnificent water-falls. ”

“ I must again trespass on the pages of the great Bacon, by briefly shewing the natural wildness he wishes to introduce into one part of his garden:—"thickets, made only of sweet-briar and honeysuckle, and some wild vine amongst, and the ground set with violets, strawberries, and primroses; for these are sweet, and prosper in the shade."
The dew or pearly drops that one sees in a morning on cowslips, remind one of what is said of Mignon:—"Ses ouvrages sont précieux par l'art avec le quel il représentoit les fleurs dans tout leur éclat, et les fruits avec toute leur fraicheur. ”

“ His lively perception and delicate feeling, irritated by wretched ill health, made him too quickly take fire, but his good sense and humanity soon rendered him placable. With regard to the extent of his genius, it was so wide and various, that perhaps it may not be too much to say, that he excelled in every species of composition; and, beside his excellence as a poet, he was both an antiquarian and an architect, and neither in an inferior degree. [77] No man ever entertained more exalted notions of friendship, or was ever more sincere, steady, warm, and disinterested, in all his attachments. ”

“ May, he says, "He that delights not in physick, let him now exercise himself in the garden, and take the smell of the earth with the rising sun, than which to the virtuously inclined, there is nothing more pleasant; for now is nature herself full of mirth, and the senses stored with delights, and variety of pleasures." His month of July thus recommends itself: "Grotts and shady groves are more seasonable to recreate yourself in than the open air, unless it be late in the evening, or early in the morning, to such that can afford time to take a nap after noon." ”

“ Bridgman, the next fashionable designer of gardens, was far more chaste; and whether from good sense, or that the nation had been struck and reformed by the admirable paper in the Guardian, No. 173, he banished verdant sculpture, and did not even revert to the square precision of the foregoing age. He enlarged his plans, disdained to make every division tally to its opposite; and though he still adhered much to straight walks with high clipped hedges, they were only his great lines, the rest he diversified by wilderness and with loose groves of oak, though still within surrounding hedges. ”

“ And as noble fountains, grottoes, statues, &c. are excellent ornaments and marks of magnificence, so all such dead works in gardens, ill done, are little better than blocks in the way to intercept the sight, but not at all to satisfy the understanding. A choice collection of living beauties, rare plants, flowers and fruits, are indeed the wealth, glory, and delight of a garden." He seems enamoured with tulips. He describes no less than one hundred and ninety different sorts. He calls them "Flora's choicest jewels, and the most glorious ornaments of the best gardens. ”

“ Evelyn lived to the great age of eighty-six, and wished these words to be inscribed on his tomb:—"all is vanity that is not honest, and there is no solid wisdom but in real piety." [66] Cowley, in a [Pg 99] letter to him, says, "I know nobody that possesses more private happiness than you do in your garden; and yet no man who makes his happiness more publick, by a free communication of the art and knowledge of it to others. All that I myself am able yet to do, is only to recommend to mankind the search of that felicity, which you instruct them how to find and to enjoy." ”

“ The cascades seem to break through the clefts and cracks of rocks that are covered over with moss, and look as if they were piled upon one another by accident. There is an artificial wildness in the meadows, walks, and canals; and the garden, instead of a wall, is fenced on the lower end by a natural mound of rock-work that strikes the eye very agreeably. For my part, I think there is something more charming in these rude heaps of stone than in so many statues, and would as soon see a river winding through woods and meadows, as when it is tossed up in so many whimsical figures at Versailles. ”

“ If to support the dignity of the first literary society in the world, and by firmness and candour to conciliate the regard of its members; if rejecting the allurements of dissipation, to explore sciences unknown, and to cultivate the most manly qualities of the human heart; if to dispense a princely fortune in the enlargement of science, the encouragement of genius, and the alleviation of distress, be circumstances which entitle any one to a more than ordinary share of respect, few will dispute the claim of the person whose portrait ornaments the present magazine.... ”

“ He leaped the fence, and saw that all nature was a garden. Thus the pencil of his imagination bestowed all the arts of landscape on the scenes he handled. But of all the beauties he added to the face of this beautiful country, none surpassed his management of water. Thus, dealing in none but the colours of nature, and catching its most favourable features, men saw a new [Pg 134] creation opening before their eyes." And again he calls him "the inventor of an art that realizes painting, and improves nature: Mahomet imagined an elysium, but Kent created many." ”

“ He then, in glowing lines, pays an animated tribute to Addison, Pope, and Kent. Hume records that "he was full of honour and humanity." Sir William thus concludes one of his philosophic essays:—"When this is done, human life is, at the greatest and the best, but like a froward child, that must be played with and humoured a little to keep it quiet till it falls asleep, and then the care is over." His garden was one of his last delights. He knew what kind of life was best fitted to make a man's last days happy. ”

“ When the Lord Chancellor Bacon declares a garden "is the purest of human pleasures; it is the greatest refreshment to the spirits of man:" and when this wonderfully gifted man thus fondly dwells on part of its allurements; [Pg xxxi] —"the breath of flowers is far sweeter in the air (where it comes and goes like the warbling of music) , than in the hand; therefore, nothing is more fit for that delight, than to know what be the flowers and plants that do best perfume the air; the flower, which above all others yields the sweetest smell in the air, is the violet ”

“ In this Preface he also relates the origin of fruit gardens, by the hermits, and monastic orders. In his Introduction, he says, that "every kind of fruit tree seems to contend in spring, who shall best entertain the possessor with the beauty of their blossoms. Mankind are always happy with the prospect of plenty; in no other scene is it exhibited with such charming variety, as in the fruit garden and orchard. Are gentlemen fond of indulging their tastes? Nature, from the plentiful productions of the above, regales them with a variety of the finest flavours and exalted relishes. ”

“ This pleasing volume, after stating the excellency of fruits, observes, "if fruit trees had no other advantage attending them than to look upon them, how pleasurable would that be? Since there is no flowering shrub excels, if equals that of a peach, or apple tree in bloom. The tender enamelled blossoms, verdant foliage, with such a glorious embroidery of festoons and fruitages, wafting their odours on every blast of wind, and at last bowing down their laden branches, ready to yield their pregnant offspring into the hands of their laborious planter and owner." ”

“ Darwin's, (the System of Nature, by Linnæus) will well apply to that searching and penetrating mind, which so strongly possessed him through life.—"How small a part of the great works of nature is laid open to our eyes, and how many things are going on in secret which we know nothing of! How many things are there which this age first was acquainted with! How many things that we are ignorant of will come to light when all memory of us shall be no more! for nature does not at once reveal all her secrets. We are apt to look on ourselves as already admitted into the sanctuary of her temple ”

“ Plants, when taken from the places whence they derive their extraction, and planted in others of different qualities, betray such fondness for their native earth, that with great difficulty they are brought to thrive in another; and in this it is that the florist's art consists; for to humour each plant with the soil, the sun, the shade, the degrees of dryness or moisture, and the neighbourhood it delights in, (for there is a natural antipathy between some plants, insomuch that they will not thrive near one another) are things not easily attainable, but by a length of study and application. ”

“ In fields and gardens we have pleasures unenvied, and beauties unsought for; and any discovery for the improvement of them, is highly praiseworthy. In the growth of a plant, or a tree, we view the progress of nature, and ever observe that all her works yield beauty and entertainment. To cultivate this beauty, is a task becoming the wealthy, the polite, and the learned; this is so generally understood, that there are few gentlemen of late, who are not themselves their chief gardeners. ”

“ I have seen many gardens of the new model, in the hands of unskilful persons, with good walls, walks and grass-plots; but in the most essential adornments so deficient, that a green meadow is a more delightful object; there nature alone, without the aid of art, spreads her verdant carpets, spontaneously embroidered with many pretty plants and pleasing flowers, far more inviting than such an immured nothing. ”

“ A thousand of pleasant delightes are attendant in an Orchard: and sooner shall I be weary, than I can recken the least part of that pleasure, which one that hath and loues an Orchard, may find therein.
"What is there of all these few that I haue reckoned, which doth not please the eye, the eare, the smell, and taste? And by these sences as organes, pipes, and windowes, these delights are carried to refresh the gentle, generous, and noble mind. ”