122 Hints on Landscape Gardening 



bad might be improved by a pasture, and this 

 was done later on; and drawback (3) was solved 

 in greater part by advantage (4). But here came 

 a still more important consideration. The hard- 

 ships caused by war were nothing less than un- 

 bearable for the poor peasants ; the burdens and 

 state imposts had become exorbitant. Without 

 an exceptional opportunity to earn wages, I may 

 say, as acknowledged by all the people around, 

 a proportion of the inhabitants here would have 

 starved or been forced to emigration of the most 

 helpless kind. 



Nearly two hundred people whom I employed 

 for many years almost daily, partly in my fac- 

 tories, which at that time were my only source 

 of income, partly in the grounds, owe their ex- 

 istence to this alone, and so it was a precious 

 boon to me that I could in such an easy man- 

 ner combine my duty with my pleasure. How 

 seldom is this the lot of poor mankind ! 



Nevertheless, I encountered much opposition ; 

 and when I began to demolish the road and to 

 use the material to fill the moat, several persons 

 were even doubtful whether I was still in my 

 right mind, and many capitalists who had put 

 money into my property gave me notice at once 

 and withdrew it, only to lose it later in stock 

 speculations. Others asserted that it was impos- 

 sible, even for a man ten times as rich as I, to 

 realize such projects. But he who lets himself 

 be frightened by this word has but little experi- 

 ence; nineteen times out of twenty a firm will 



