Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/567

 1869.] Landscape, Decorative, and Economic Gardening. 457 ideas. It is unconnected in our minds ■with any other of the elements of beauty, although the object or scene need not necessarily be devoid of such elements ; but the}', at the time, do not exercise any great influence upon our imagina- tion. The emotions produced will be heightened and increased, when con- nected with grandeur and sublimity; and their intensity will, at all times, be controlled by the nature of the associa- tion, from whence they proceeded, or, that called them into existence. A simple flower, blooming on the bank of a stream, may recall scenes of youth and pleasant recollections, without any effort of the memory. If, in my walks, I see a plant that I have not met since early boyhood, but which grew abundantly in a locality, where I then resorted, "With ill -fashioned hook, To draw th' incautious miuuow from the brook," immediately all the scenery of the situ- ation, and many of the incidents of the period are presented to my mind, as if I viewed them in a picture ; and that with- out any effort of memory. To me, that plant is picturesque ; my companion, who has, perhaps, never before seen the plant, may admire the beauty of its foliage or flowers ; but its presence has no connection with previous association ; and he passes it without any emotion. It is related of an Otaheitean, visiting the Jardin des Plantes, of Paris, that he sprang forward at the unexpected sight of a banana tree, embraced it, and with tears in his eyes, exclaimed : " Ah ! tree of my country !" Amidst all the splendors of that city, that tree transported him at once, in imagination, thousands of miles distant, to the home of his boyhood, with all its tender associations and endearing mem- ories. While I consider that, strictly speak- ing, picturesque beaut}*- is simply the beauty of association ; and that it can- not be treated as a style, in the sense implied by the terms geometrical and natural, yet there are scenes in nature, that most persons of literary culture, mutually agree in describing as pictur- esque. A mountain stream plunging over rocky precipices rugged pine trees growing on rocky eminences, old ruins weather-stained and moss-covered, steep mouldering cliffs, and rocky coasts washed by the spray of the sea, are ob- jects of this kind, well calculated to awaken interesting emotions, and origi- nate a train of retrospective thought ; but, practically, the beauty of associa- tion, or the picturesque, is not an arti- ficial production bound by rules that can allow of its classification as a style of gardening. The picturesque has been defined, as indicating any scene or object, that would look well in a painting. This appears to be a very meagre and unsatis- factory definition. There seems to be no conclusive reason, why this would not include every object in nature, be- cause, in criticising a work of art, our attention is not so much directed to the beauty of the subject imitated, as to the merits of the imitation. There are many natural scenes, quiet, pleasing, rural views, such as are frequently ob- served in a cultivated campaign country, which make a very satisfactory compo- sition for a painting ; and yet do not possess, to an}* degree, those more strik- ing characteristics generally felt, or designated, as picturesque. Again, nat- ural objects of great scenic splendor seem to be but imperfectly described by this term ; although, as subjects for paintings, they stand in the foremost class. To describe the falls of Niagara as picturesque would be but a weak ex- pression of their grandeur ; they are sublime. I therefore think it probable, that the more correct definition of the word pic- turesque is, any object or scene in nature, in painting, or in poetical description, that recalls, or suggests, a picture to the imagination, through the associa- tion of ideas.