STRAWBERRY HILL AND THE GOTHIC ROCOCO

Chinese bridge, a miniature Pantheon and a Gothic ruin all belong
together. In fact we find that even Robert Adam enjoyed drawing
ruins with all the Rococo sparkle of Piranesi, and occasionally de-
signed domestic work in a mildly mediaeval taste. And we also
find Sir William Chambers in spite of his staunch adherence to
Palladianism designing the Pagoda at Kew Gardens.

Kew had originally the most varied set of such Rococo garden
extravaganzas: besides the Pagoda (which alone survives) a temple
of Pan, a temple of ^Eolus, a temple of Solitude, a temple of the
Sun, a temple of Bellona, a temple of Victory, a house of Confucius,
a Corinthian colonnade, an Alhambra, a mosque, a Gothic cathedral,
a ruin, various stone seats, etc. The fun of Turkish, Moorish, Gothic
and Chinese in this omnium gatherum of exotic styles is that of
Voltaire's Zadig and Babouc and of Montesquieu's Lettres Persanes,
that is one of a sophisticated Rococo double-meaning. Not much of
the solemn meditation of the Romantics could in fact be evoked by
a Pagoda. When the Romantic Movement somewhat later instilled
these sentiments into gardening, a good many of the current garden
adornments were eliminated as unsuitable. Yet to Walpole too
Strawberry Hill had associational qualities. It was, in some ways,
his Castle ofOtranto. It seems difficult to believe that; but that Beck-
ford's mansion, Fonthill Abbey, with its vast galleries and enormous

95. GARDEN SEAT FROM P. DECKER S GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE
DECORATED/' 1759.
193