The first detailed account of this style, however, was brought to England by Sir William Chambers ; and pub lished in an essay in the appendix to his "Designs of Chi nese Buildings, &c. in 1757 ; and at greater length in his Dissertation on Oriental Gardening, in 1772 ; and com mended, as G. Mason observes, by so good a judge as Gray. (Life, p. 387.) This author avows, that his information is not derived entirely from personal examination, but chiefly from the conversation of a celebrated Chinese painter ; and it has been very reasonably conjectured, that he has drawn, in some eases, on his own imagination, in order to enhance the reader's opinion of Chinese taste, with the laudable end of improving that of his own country. In his Essay of 1757, which was published in French as well as English, and was soon translated, as Hirschfield informs us, into German, he says, " the Chinese taste in laying out gardens is good, and what we have for some time past been aiming at in England." With the exception of their formal and continual display of garden buildings, and their attempts of raising characters, not only picturesque and pleasing, but also of horror, surprise, and enchantment, Sir William's directions, especially in his second work, will apply to the most improved conceptions of planting and forming pieces of water for the modern style ; or, in other words, for cre ating scenery such as will always resemble, and often might be mistaken for that of nature.
By perusing the work of Sir William Chambers, some idea may be formed as to the probability of its having given rise to the English manner, and how far the two varieties of gardening still agree.
There can be no doubt of the entire originality of their style ; though it may reasonably be conjectured, that their taste for picturesque beauty is not exactly so conformable to European ideas on that subject as Sir William would lead us to believe. At all events, it is carried to such an extreme, so encumbered with deceptions, and what we would not hesitate to consider puerilities ; and there ap pears throughout so little reference to utility, that the more mature and chastened taste of Europeans cannot sympa thise with it. It is indeed altogether a peculiar taste, un doubtedly perfectly natural to that people, and therefore not to be subjected to European criticism.
" The Chinese gardens," observes Lord Walpole, " are as whimsically irregular as European gardens were for mally uniform and unvaried ; nature in them is as much avoided as in those of our ancestors." In allusion to those of the emperor's palace, described in the Lettres Ed (antes, as of vast extent, and which contained 200 palaces, all painted and varnished, he says, " this pretty gaudy scene is the work of caprice and whim, and, when we reflect on their buildings, presents no image but that of unsubstantial tawdriness." At the same time, they do not seem to be
altogether devoid of picturesque and even wild scenes ; for Lord Macartney mentions that the view from one of the imperial gardens might be compared to that from the ter race at Lowther Castle, which is altogether wild and ro mantic, and bounded by high uncultivated mountains, with no other buildings than one or two native cottages. In -what degree of estimation Such a view is there held does not, however, appear ; it would be' too much to conclude, that, because it existed in that situation, it was therefore considered as eminently beautiful or desirable.
His Lordship's other observations, as well as those of Sir George Staunton and Mr. Barrow, do justice to the material facts and general character of Sir William.Charn bers' account. " It is our excellence," observes his Lord ship, " to improve nature ; that of a Chinese gardener to conquer her ; his aim is to change every thing from what he found it. A waste he adorns with trees ; a desert he waters with a river or a lake ; and on a smooth flat is raised hills, formed wallies, and placed all sorts of buildings." The Chinese style most probably originated in that coun try, as being an arrangement of verdant scenery the most contrasted to common cultivation. So far this is in just taste, as the only means left them of distinguishing orna mental from useful scenes. The farther desire of obtain ing distinction among the distinguished, could only be effected by lavishing expense in multiplying objects, or exaggerating expression. Art among them seems to have attained that last culpable extreme, the object of which is to excite admiration of the skill of the artist ; and the limited extent of individual territory, and the cramped state of the human mind in that country, seem to account for their approbation of this expression.
An attentive examination of the great majority of those seats in which appeared the first indications of a change of taste in this country, and throughout Europe, will prove that our object was to copy, or, at least, to imitate, the Chinese manner. Sir 'William Chambers, (see a passage quoted in the beginning of this article,) Hirschfield, (Theorie des Gartenkunst, 12mo. Lipsig, 1775,) Watelet, (" Cette nation (the English) irnprunte. dit on, elle meme l'Indee de ses jardins des Chinois " Essai sur les Jardins, Paris, 1774,) say so, in express terms ; and the numerous books of grot tos, root-houses, covered seats, Chinese buildings of various sorts, rock•works, and other objects, published during the the first 50 years of the lath century, put this matter, in our opinion, beyond a doubt. The good sense of the country, however, soon disapproved of such expensive and yet hete rogeneous scenery ; and by introducing greater simplicity, the English style gradually arose from the ruins of that of the Chinese.