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Repton appears to have been of the same opinion as myself; for he 

 says : — " But I am compelled by the duties of my profession to notice those 

 ■• parts only which tend to vitiate the taste of the nation by introducing 

 " false principles, by recommending negligences for ease, and slovenly weeds 

 " for native beauty." If we, in fact, examine the matter a little more closely, 

 we shall find that many objects which would be worth the study of a painter, 

 and be highly pleasing as subjects for a picture, would be inadmissible into 

 the home or even park scenery of a residence. 



What would either Sir Uvedale Price or Mr. Knight have said to the 

 introduction of a tawny weather-worn tent, pitched among wild bushes of 

 thorns, whins, and brambles ; a crazy cart and lanky half-starved horse, or an 

 ass and panniers ; a slovenly wood fire half formed, with an overhanging 

 mess-pan, (which there would be no difficulty in fancying redolent of many 

 abominations); a slovenly mother nursing her "puling" infant, amid the 

 gambols of half a dozen ragged urchins of the same swarthy origin, into the 

 home view of an otherwise excellent site ? Or, suppose a grassy swell blended 

 with mallows, docks, thistles, nettles, and brambles, on which rests the 

 antiquated ivy-dressed cottage, with its appendages of cowhouse, piggeries, 

 and hen roost, — here and there in the broken fence the stately elm, the 

 sturdy oak, the reclining ash, associated with groups of native whin and 

 ragged thorn, interwoven with the odoriferous honeysuckle and indigenous 

 rambling rose, — a polled cow, which has just yielded the family beverage, with 

 the smoking milk-pail cooling at the door, on which hangs pussy, partaking of 

 its contents, — the half-dressed cottage dame, feeding the poultry, amongst 

 which the muddy swine pokes himself in, — such would afford no mean subject 

 for an artist's pencil, but would be perfectly out of keeping and highly offen- 

 sive, if seen in reality in the dress grounds or the park of a mansion or other 

 residence. But further, to shew the absurdity of attempting to make the 

 paintings of great masters the standard of scenic improvement, I may observe 

 that though, by the rules of their art, it is necessary for effect that some dark 

 object should be introduced into the foreground of their picture, such as an 

 old broken-paled fence, with a corresponding gate, or a tumble-down wall, or 

 a half-prostrate tree, probably a decayed stump, or a ragged thorn hedge, with 

 a rail, here and there, resting on the surviving bushes ; a heap of stones, 

 partly covered with brambles or nettles ; in short, anything that is wild or 



