China and the West

Lloyd, Robert. The cit's country box [ID D27206].
Well then to be sure, it must be own'd,
It is a charming spot of ground ;
So sweet a distance for a ride,
And all about to countrified !
'Twould come but to a trifling price
To make it quite a paradise :
I cannot bear those nasty rails,
Those ugly broken mouldy pales :
Suppose, my dear, instead of these,
We build a railing, all Chinese…
Now bricklay'rs, carpenters, and joiners,
With Chinese artists, and designers,
Produce their schemes of alteration,
To work this wond'rous reformation.
The useful dome, which secret flood,
Embosom'd in the yew-tree's wood,
The trav'ler with amazement sees
A temple, Gothic, or Chinese,
With many a bell, and tawdry rag on,
And crested with a sprawling dragon ;
A wooden arch is bent astride
A ditch of water, four foot wide,
With angles, curves, and zigzag lines,
From Halfpenny's exact designs.
In front, a level lawn is seen,
Without a shrub upon the green,
Where Taste would want its first great law,
But for the skulking, fly ha-ha,
By whose miraculous assistance,
You gain a prospect two fields distance.