1824.) 
of this description, should be collected 
and preserved; as there is too much 
reason to apprehend, that ina very few 
years, every vestige of these fascinating 
embellishments will be totally oblite- 
rated; and whut was once so interesting 
and lovely, shall have no record but 
vague and unsatisfactory description. 
By the bye, is there any portrait of 
Shenstone to be found?* On the 2d 
of June 1795, the estate came under the 
hammer of Mr. Christie, in Pall-mall ; 
when Mr. Hartepp, from his taking pos- 
session, I suppose to have been the 
purchaser. Among the many allure- 
ments held out to the public, one was 
“ That there were capital seams of coal 
of great value, under the whole of the 
estate, and which had lately been in part 
ascertained ; that in some parts the coal 
crops out to the surface; and that a 
neighbouring celliery, distant but about 
a mile, contains a stratum not less than 
seven yards thick.” In addition to these 
lucrative advantages, even the abomi- 
nable canal itself is held out as “ facili- 
tating the intercourse with the first mart 
in the world, without injury to the beau- 
ties of the place.”’ Bravo, Mr. Christie! 
Sad prognostications these of the future 
destiny of the genii here abiding! 
Haunts of Apollo and the muses, and ot 
the rural deities—of sylphs, elves, and 
fairies ! to be ransacked with more than 
Vandal desolation, and become the abode 
of the d.formed Vulcan and the sordi 
Plutus ! 
The talent, the energies, and the so- 
cial character of Shenstone, have never, 
I think, been fully scrutinized, nor faith- 
fully appreciated. A popular, but ano- 
nymous, novel of the day, under the 
title of “ Columella, or the distressed 
Anchorite,” held him up by implication 
as a proper subject for banter and ridi- 
cule; with the idea of his being a pee- 
vish discontented bachelor, instead of a 
rural gentleman, or a contemplative 
philosopher. And his redoubtable bio- 
grapher Dr. Johnson has, by the un- 
Sparing use of inuendo and surmise, 
tinged the mental portrait of the bard 
with his accustomed splenetic gloom. 
Surely no man was ever less qualified 
by natural disposition to sit in judgment 
on his admired contemporary. The 
contrast between them in taste and en- 
dowments was extreme. The one an 
* The portrait of Shenstone is no “de- 
sideratum.”” Jt not only exists, but there 
is an engraving from it in Bell’s British 
Poets, and other editions of Shenstone’s 
works.—Ep. 
Montuty Mac. No. 403, 
. 
Shenstone.and the Leasowes. 
401 
ardent admirer of the beautiful and un- 
cloying simplicity of Nature; the other 
as artificial a composition of pedantic 
dogmatism and prejudice as can well be 
imagined. It does not appear that 
Johnson was personally acquainted with 
him, or that he had ever seen his charm- 
ing retreat: or if he had seen it, would 
it have possessed any charms for his 
singular mind, at once so capacious and 
so contracted? ‘ Whether,” says he, 
* to plant a walk in undulating curves, 
and to place a bench at every turn 
where there is an object to catch the 
view; to make water ‘run where it will 
be heard, and to stagnate it where it 
will be seen; to leave intervals where 
the eye will be pleased, and to thicken 
the plantation where there is something 
to be hidden; demands any great powers 
of mind, I will not inquire; perhaps a 
sullen and surly spectator may think 
such performances rather the sport than 
the business of human reason.” John- 
son, however, admits (but almost as 
though not coming from himself), “that 
the improvements were made with such 
judgment of fancy, as made his little 
domain the envy of the great, and the 
admiration of the skilful; a place to be 
visited by travellers, and copied by 
designers.” 
There is one broad insinuation, which 
certainly ought not to have appeared 
unless supported by something more 
than conjecture. “ In time,” says the 
biographer, “ his expenses brought cla- 
mours about him, that overpowered the 
lamb’s bleat and the linnet’s song ; and 
his groves were haunted by beings very 
different from fawns and fairies.” There 
is no reason to assert that he was in- 
jured by his expenses. It is true, that 
his friend Dodsley represents him “ as 
a man of great tenderness and genc- 
rosity, kind to all who were within his 
influence ; but once offended, not easily 
appeased; inattentive to economy and 
careless of his expenses ;” this we may 
admit as coming. from one who knew 
him; but it will not authorize a stran- 
ger to go to such conclusions as the 
surly biographer has drawn. 
Whether Gray was intimate with 
Shenstone, I cannot: tell, but the pro- 
bability, at least, is that he knew him»; 
and Johnson brings him forward to ex- 
claim, “ Poor man! he was always 
wishing for money, for fame, and other 
distinctions ; and his whole philosophy 
consisted in living against his will in 
retirement, and in a place. which his 
taste had adorned: but which he only 
3 F nejoyed 
