For a fu ller discussion o f the ways in which the m iddle and upper classes were taught to view the landscape see M Andrews, ‘A

Picturesque Tem plate: The Tourists and th e ir Guidebooks’ in D Arnold (ed) The Picturesque in late Georgian England, London 1995

concepts o f th e p ic tu re s q u e a n d its c o rre la tiv e th e b e a u tifu l helped galvanize m onarch, state and n a tio n in to an a p p re cia tio n o f th is u rb a n p la n . The w orks b y B u rto n can be p o s itio n e d betw een tw o events w h ic h s ig n ify the changes w h ic h to o k place in the a ttitu d e s tow ards u rb a n landscape d u rin g th is p e rio d - the b eginnings o f the Regent’ s Park p ro je c t and the 1833 C om m ittee on Public Walks.6

Nash’s p la n fo r the fo r the Regent’s Park and Regent Street was passed in 1813 as ‘A n act fo r a m ore co n ven ie nt co n u n u n ica tio n fr o m M a ry -le -b o n e Park a n d th e n o rth e rn m o s t p a rts o f th e m e tro p o lis to C h a rin g Cross an d fo r th e m a k in g o f a m o re c o n v e n ie n t sewage fo r the same’ . Nash id e n tifie d th re e m a in o b je ctive s: U tility to the P ublic, Beauty o f the M e tro p o lis and P ra c tic a b ility . The p u b lic here were the u p p e r and m id d le class residents o f the west end and the beauty o f the c ity com prised its a rc h ite c tu re an d th e p ic tu re s q u e lan d sca p in g o f the R egent’s Park. B ut th is signals an im p o rta n t d e velo p m en t in the idea o f the b e a u tific a tio n o f a c ity th ro u g h an o v e ra ll con cern w ith a c ity ’s appearance and the zoning o f d iffe re n t classes o f residents. T here was an im p o rta n t s h ift in a ttitu d e w ith in tw e n ty years w hen in 1833 the Com m ittee on Public Walks was set up. Here i t is the in e q u a litie s caused b y the developm ent o f a ll the Royal Parks w h ic h causes concern. The west and n o rth west o f London is w ell endow ed w ith p u b lic open spaces fo r the e n jo ym e n t o f the low er o rd ers whereas elsewhere the in te nsive b u ild in g d e velo p m en t o f the p revious f if t y years had covered m ost o f the lan d . These two

events fra m e the b u lk o f B u rto n 's w o rk in the Royal Parks. His w o rk reflects the changing a ttitu d e s tow ards u rb a n landscapes in th is tw e n ty y e a r span. M o re o v e r, th e im p o r ta n t ro le B u rto n played in the emergence o f the m e tro p o lita n landscape comes to the fore.

T h e T e rm 'P ic tu re s q u e '

I t is im p o rta n t f ir s t o f a ll to c la r ify the m eaning o f th e te rm picturesque as used here^ and examine how i t can be useful in the d iscussion o f th e R oyal Parks, A lth o u g h th e w ritin g s o f Rev W illia m G ilp in , U vedale Price and R ich a rd Payne K n ig h t d re w to g e th e r d is p a ra te stra n d s o f e ig h te e n th -c e n tu ry p ic tu re s q u e th e o ry th e y were b y no means u n ifie d o r in d e e d w ith o u t th e ir own in te rn a l c o n tra d ic tio n s . & But key themes emerge in the w o rk o f G ilp in , Price and K n ig h t w h ic h shed im p o rta n t lig h t on the d e fin itio n o f th e p ic tu re s q u e an d its p o litic a l a n d / o r m o ra l significance. Two strands are im p o rta n t here. F irst the d e fin itio n s o f beauty and th e picturesque as seen in the w orks o f G ilp in and Price an d second th e im p a c t Price an d Payne K n ig h t h a d on p o litic a l re a d in g s o f th e landscape w h ic h fe a tu re d in debates a b ou t the pictu resq u e in the opening decades o f the n in e te e n th century. Both these areas are re le va n t to the concerns to im p ro ve the Royal Parks in London.

7 A discussion o f changing attitudes towards the meaning o f the term picturesque can be found in S Copley and P Garside (eds), The Politics o f the Picturesque, Cambridge, 1994, pp 1-12.

8 On this point see W Hippie, The Beautiful, The Sublime and the