IV PREFACE. 



puzzle than to enlighten or direct those who might 

 adopt it. He himself had experienced the difficulty of 

 making practical application of the general reasonings^ 

 and of the diffuse, and at times irrelevant discussions 

 to be found in some of these authors ; and it was only 

 by means of light derived from his own practice that he 

 was able to put them to profit. In the work of Price, 

 for example, the leading precepts substantially are — 

 Study pictures — familiarize your taste with scenes which 

 painters would delight to copy — become acquainted with 

 the elements of the picturesque — and seek to realize the 

 resulting ideas in and about your residence. Most 

 gentlemen of liberal education know something of pic- 

 tures ; but there are few who would not disclaim such a 

 special culture in the fine arts, as would fit them to 

 apply the principles of painting to the improvement of 

 their grounds. To prescribe such a course is virtually 

 to require a professional education, or to impose the 

 amateur labour of half a lifetime. The object of the 

 present work is to preserve a plain and direct method 

 of statement, to be intelligible to all who have had 

 an ordinary education, and to give directions which, it 



