was nearly finished, he wrote to me to propofe, what I confider as the higheft poffible compliment, and the ftrongest mark of confidence in my tafte, that my papers (when properly modelled) fhould be pub. lifhed with his poem, in the fame manner as Sir Joshua Reynolds's notes were publifhed with Mr. Mafon's Du Fresnoy. This propofal, could it have been made at an earlier period, I fhould have accepted with pride; but my work had then taken too much of a form and character of its own to be incorporated with any thing elfe; for indeed alinoft the whole of what I have now published had been written fome time before.' We cannot but differ fomewhat from Mr. Price, refpecting his idea of the fuccefs of Mr. K.'s poem *. We, on the contrary, entertain fome apprehenfion that, fo far from having excited the general curiofity, there feems reafon to conclude that no work of equal poetic merit has, for many years past, lefs engaged the public mind: a fact which, if it be established, will furnish a proof that the fubject matter of it is not fuitable to the general tafte; and hence it may be inferred that Mr. P.'s motive for abruptly drawing forth his referved forces is fo far from being, as we are indirectly led to understand, that of fharing in the victory, that he has evidently haftened to the field for the purpose of preventing the defeat of his ingenious and fpirited ally. We are not infenfible to Mr. Price's high merits as a writer: but we regret that fo much genius and learning fhould have. been bestowed fo unprofitably. We will not, however, in endeavouring to fupport, with generosity, the cause of the late Mr. Brown, (who cannot now defend his own well-earn'd fame,) retaliate with injustice. In defining with intelligence, and in feparating with fufficient difcrimination, the picturefque from the beautiful, Mr. Price has fhewn great knowlege of painting, as well as an intimate acquaintance with the beft masters in that charming art; and he deferves highly of the critic in that art, for having furnifhed him with fresh aids to his decifions:-but, in the improvement of a place in which Nature has furnished few materials, in which the groundwork of improvement is tame, and in which fuitable diftances cannot be had, the rules of science and the "ready-made tafte" of connoiffeurs are of little avail to the artist. A ftudy of natural fcenery and of the given subject to be improved, with fome judgment previously acquired from practice in fimilar fituations, are much more requifite to the layer-out of grounds. It would not be lefs abfurd to fuffer Art to bufy itself in the lovely Dingles, and among the picturesque fcenery, which Nature has bountifully fcattered on the Confines * For our account of "The Landicape, a Poem," fee our Review for May 1794, P. 78. of of the Cambro British mountains, than it would be to fpurn its affiftance where the nature of the fituation requires it. As a fpecimen of Mr. P.'s manner of writing, and of his knowlege in painting, we give the following extract: This art of preferving breadth with detail and brilliancy has been ftudied with great fuccefs by Teniers lan Steen, and many of the Dutch matters. Oftade's pictures and etchings are among the happieft examples of it; but above all others, the works of that scarce and wonderful mafter, Gerard Dow. His eye feems to have had a microfcopic power in regard to the minute texture of objects, (for in his paintings they bear the fevere trial of the ftrongeft magnifier,) and at the fame time the oppofite faculty of excluding all particulars with respect to breadth and general effect. His mafter, Rembrant, though he did not attend to minute detail, yet by that commanding manner of marking, with equal force and juftnefs, the leading character of each object, produced an idea of detail much beyond what is really exprefied. Many of the great Italian mafters have done this alfo, and with a tafte, and a grandeur and noblenefs of ftile unknown to the inferior fchools, though none have exceeded or even equalled Rembrant in truth, force, and effect. But when artists, neglecting the variety of detail, and thofe characteristic features that well fupply its place, content themselves with mere breadth, and propofe that as the final object of attainment, their productions, and the intereft excited by them, will be, in comparison of the ftyles I have mentioned, what a metaphyfical treatife is to Shakespeare or Fielding; they will be rather illuftrations of a principle than reprefentations of what is real; a fort of abitract idea of nature, not very unlike Crambe's abstract idea of a lord mayor. As nothing is more flattering to the vanity and indolence of mankind, than the being able to produce a pleafing general effect with little labour or ftudy, fo nothing more obftructs the progrefs of the art than fuch a facility: yet ftill these abftracts are by no means without their comparative merit, and they have their ufe as well as their danger; they fhew how much may be effected by the mere naked principle, and the great fuperiority that alone gives to whatever is formed upon it, over thofe things which are done on no principle at all; where the feparate objects are fet down as it were article by article, and where the confufion of lights fo perplexes the eye, that one might fuppofe the artist had looked at them through a multiplying glafs." Although we are not of our author's party in regard to the controverted points in which he is here engaged, yet we freely acknowlege that we have attended to his obfervations with plea fure. His abilities and connoiffeur fhip, in the delightful and elegant ftudies which are fo ingenioufly difcuffed in the prefent volume, must certainly entitle him to rank among the foremost Dilettanti in this country. ART. G. Mars...l. ART. XVI. A Sketch-om the Landscape, a Didactic Poem. Addreffed to R. P. Knight, Efq. With Notes, Illuftrations, and a Poftfcript. 4to. 2s. Faulder. 1794. WE E were fo much attracted by a Vignette in the title-page of this little playful poem, that it was with fome difficulty that we turned our eyes from it to look over the poem itself. The artift, be he whom he may, is a merry man. Availing himself of one of the open paffages in the "Landscape," he has given us a tasteful sketch of the tomb of CAPABILITY, furrounded by a groupe of landicape-garden men, with fpade and mattock, fcythe and roller; while the knight of the landscape,' with glee in his countenance and a modern vafe in his hands, befpatters the edifice with its contents; which are fo extremely offenfive to the unconfcious crew, that they are turned quite fick, and thrown into the greatest disorder. The poetry keeps up the laugh which the pencil had raised, and with equal effect. We quote the graveft paffage : Nature, I own a mother kind, Yet to her faults I am not blind; In her long work fometimes fhe dozes; In thefe her skill fhe much expofes. Since the good dame thought fit to fend 'em, And make their ftiff, hard outlines fainter; As with his fponge the old Greek painter. PAINE blufters for the Rights of Man; The fair Mifs WOLLSTONCRAFT does prattle: Whilft foftly I put in a word In favour of the Rights of Cattle. To mould the fir, of form fo ftarch, To crop th' afpiring, faucy larch, O men of clump, ye greatly need 'em ; For this, O let 'em not be found In durance vile, yclep'd a pound: They'll give you grace, O give them freedom. Much, too, the free-born Mufe bewails Thofe curs'd defpotic things call'd pales, In which is included A Word to Uvedale Price, Efq.' Which bar these commoners from browsing: Pigs, goats, fheep, oxen, calves and cows in.' A piece of the Poftfcript is more to the purpose: • If a word in fober fadnefs may be permitted to close a long train of sportive irony, let it exprefs a with that no part of this jeu d'efprit may give ferious offence to a writer, whole learning always merits refpect, and whofe tafte often claims approbation. Nevertheless, very few, probably, will be convinced, by his Poetry, that the old ftyle of laying out grounds was "negatively good.” Those who think, on the contrary, that it was positively bad; who look up with reverence to the memory of BROWN, as the great deftroyer of an unnatural and abfurd fyftem, will feel with indignation an injury offered to his afhes.' The "Word to Uvedale Price, Efq." in the P. S. is not a long one: we copy the better half of it: I am ready to acknowlege, that this Gentleman has marked out the limits of the Picturefque and Beautiful with as much precifion as the nature of that debuteable ground feems to admit; his manner of doing it, cannot be better characterized than in his own language. He is full of unexpected turns, of flashes of light: objects the mot familiar are placed by him in fuch fingular, yet natural points of view, -he ftrikes out fuch unthought-of agreements and contrafls-fuch combinations fo little obvious, yet never forced or affected, that the attention cannot flag; but, from the delight of what is paffed, we eagerly liften for what is to come." Such an affailant is truly formidable. But if it was referved for him to lay down better precepts; if he is the first who has properly invoked the rural Graces folutis zonis, why fhould poor BROWN, who made way for them by the deftruction of the formal and the ugly, meet with fuch harsh, fuch very fevere criticifm? Would it not be more jutt, as well as candid, to detect his errors, but at the fame time give him his due fhare of praife? The whole li of crimes committed by this great culprit in the regions of tafte, and for which he is now impeached at the bar of the public, may be comprized in one article, viz. that he made the Beautiful his fole aim, without fufficiently attending to the Picturefque. If his merits fhould not be thought a complete fet-off, to balance this defect, I would fhortly urge in his defence, that the higher ftyle of the Pic turefque is not much in the power of the Improver. For example, the landscapes of RUBENS are admired in the Effay for being full of the picturefque accidents of Nature; among thefe, the most striking are, "the effects of thunder and lightning, torrents rolling down, trees torn up by the roots, and the dead bodies of men and animals."? "But ah! how diff'rent is the formal lump Break, break, ye Nymphs, the fence that guards it round! KNIGHT'S LANDSCAPE, P. 25. Mr. P. has given a pleafant caricature of an Improver working upon a picture of CLAUDE. A picturefque Imitator of RUBENS, attempting to transfer these accompaniments from the canvas of Nature, might be sketched by way of companion, with features no lefs ridiculous. In gardening, I conceive, we must only hope for the picturesque in the wilder parts of the fcene; and here Art must tread With unfandal'd foot, Printlefs, as though the place were holy ground." It is the Beautiful, which is more within the reach of the Improver. This is furely to be found in the undulating play of fmooth verdure, in the contraft of different trees happily difpofed, and in the endless variety of foliage and flowers of humbler growth. All these circumftances are charming in reality, though they may not furnish good fubjects for the pencil. The faftidious eye, which turns from fuch a fcene with difguft, because there is no temptation to take out the fketch-book, is, I think, not much to be envied. Hollow lanes, rutts and rubbish," burdock and thiftles, produce a very pleafing effect in their proper places; an exuberant beard is also a moft picturefque ornament to the human countenance; but haven turf and prim gravel walks," like a smooth chin, are facrifices to the comfortable, (a principle not totally to be forgotten in laying out grounds,) which, I apprehend, cannot well be avoided; and even thefe, if Mr. P.'s remarks with regard to avoiding monotony be attended to, are in themselves by no means deftitute of beauty.' ART. XVII. A Letter to Uvedale Price, Efq. By H. Repton. 8vo. 'HIS fhort epiftle is intended as a vindication of Mr. Brown's THIS and the writer's principles of improvement, and to manifeft the weakness and injuftice of the attacks which have been made against them by Mr. Knight and Mr. Price. We will tranfcribe a few of thofe paffages which, we think, apply the most closely, and with the best effect: During the pleafant hours we paffed together amidst the romantic fcenery of the Wye, 1 do remember my acknowledging that an enthufiafm for the picturefque, had originally led me to fancy greater affinity betwixt painting and gardening, than I found to exist after more mature confideration, and more practical experience; becaufe, in whatever relates to man, propriety and convenience are not lefs objects of good talle, than picturefque effect; and a beautiful garden-fcene is not more defective because it would not look well on canvas, than a didactic poem because it neither furnishes a subject for the painter or the musician. There are a thousand scenes in nature to delight the eye, befides thofe which may be copied as pictures; and indeed one of the keenett obfervers of picturefque fcenery (Mr. Gilpin), has often regretted that few are capable of being fo reprefented, without confiderable licence and alteration. If therefore the painter's lanícape be indifpenfible to the perfection of gardening, it would furely be far better to paint it on canvas Mars.... at |