

23.5 



place, where the dissipation of a Town life is cultivated in a 

 continual round of idle, heartless society ; without that li 



which formerly endeared the life of a family in the countrj 



4 



nd after all, the most romantic spot, the most picluresq 

 situations, and the most delightful assemblage of Natures 

 choicest materials, will not long engage our interest, without 

 some appropriation ; something we can call our oav n ; and 



not our own property, at least it may be endeared to us by 

 calling it our own Home. 



I will conclude these Fragments with the most interesting 



subject I have ever known; it is the View from the humble 

 Cottage to which for more than thirty years I have anxiously 



retreated from the pomp of palaces, the elegancies of fashion, 



or the allurements of dissipation : it stood originally within 



five yards of a broad part of the high road : this area was 



often covered with droves of cattle, of pigs, or geese. I ob- 



tained leave to remove the paling twenty yards farther from 



the windows ; and by this Appropriation of twenty-five yards 



of Garden, I have obtained a frame to my Landscape ; the 



frame is composed of flowering shrubs and evergreens ; beyond 

 which are seen the cheerful village, the high road, and that 

 constant moving scene, which I would not exchange for any 



of the lonely parks, that I have improved for others ; some 



of their Proprietors on viewing the scene I have described, 

 have questioned my taste ; but my answer has always been, that 

 in improving places for others I must consult their inclinations; 



