When I was wandering around Blaise Castle, wondering about the relationship between Romanticism and the picturesque (as you do), John Terry, who was along for the ride, quoted this from memory.
"Allow me," said Mr Gall. "I distinguish the picturesque and the beautiful, and I add to them, in the laying out of grounds, a third and distinct character, which I call unexpectedness." "Pray, sir," said Mr. Milestone, "by what name do you distinguish this character when a person walks around the grounds for the second time?" "Mr. Gall bit his lips, and inwardly vowed to revenge himself on Milestone, by cutting up his next publication.
Thomas Love Peacock. Headlong Hall (1815)
I knew I'd seen that somewhere before!
ReplyDeleteWhen I'd Googled it, it seemed too good not to use twice!
ReplyDeleteNever read the Peacock quote before, but it seems very apropos. Checking wikipedia, Headlong Hall was his first novel, but he'd published seven volumes of poetry before. Wiki quotes one:
ReplyDeleteA DAY AT THE INDIA HOUSE
From ten to eleven, have breakfast for seven;
From eleven to noon, think you've come too soon;
From twelve to one, think what's to be done;
From one to two, find nothing to do;
From two to three, think it will be
A very great bore to stay till four.
Thanks for that, Larry. It reads like his other work, seemingly; I tried Nightmare Abbey once, and found it hard going with the dryness. Actually, now I think of it, there's a link here; NA was mentioned in the intro to my edition of Northanger Abbey, in which an expedition to Blaise Castle is central to the plot. Austen spoofs Gothic more entertainingly than Peacock. Of course...
ReplyDeleteWell, I'll have to have a go at Austen's book---starring Catherine Morland!
ReplyDelete