vi. Gardening as an Art of Design and Taste, in Wurtemberg
339. Landscape-gardening has been as much patronised in Wirtemberg as in Bavaria; but, as in that country, it is almost exclusively confined to the gardens of the sovereign, and those of the members of his family. The extravagance of some of these, in laying out gardens in the ancient style, excites surprise, when we consider the smallness of the state which supplied the wealth thus lavished; and contempt, when we look at the taste of the designs, even estimating them, in good faith, according to the times in which they were produced. The ruins of the numerous royal palaces and gardens in Wirtemberg, and the yet continued creation of such works, say little for the energies of the people, blessed as they are by nature, but blighted by man. We shall first notice the ancient gardens, and gradually proceed to those most recently laid out.
