The
scenery around must be naturally rich, that its variety of line may
relieve the slight stiffness of the architecture itself: and the climate
must always be considered; for, as we saw, the chief beauty of these
flights of steps depends upon the presence of the sun; and, if they are
to be in shade half the year, the dark trees will only make them gloomy,
the grass will grow between the stones of the steps, black weeds will
flicker from the pedestals, damp mosses discolor the statues and urns,
and the whole will become one incongruous ruin, one ridiculous decay.
Besides, the very dignity of its character, even could it be kept in
proper order, would be out of place in any country but Italy. Busts of
Virgil or Ariosto would look astonished in an English snowstorm; statues
of Apollo and Diana would be no more divine, where the laurels of the
one would be weak, and the crescent of the other would never gleam in
pure moonlight. The whole glory of the design consists in its unison
with the dignity of the landscape, and with the classical tone of the
country. Take it away from its concomitant circumstances, and, instead
of conducting the eye to it by a series of lofty and dreamy impressions,
bring it through green lanes, or over copse-covered crags, as would be
the case in England, and the whole system becomes utterly and absolutely
absurd, ugly in outline, worse than useless in application, unmeaning in
design, and incongruous in association.
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