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and use? Are we not to interfere, screen, divert, and convert, the raw 

 material of the soil into the comfort of cultivation ? Yes, we may say with 

 Shenstone : — 



" Tis Nature here bids pleasing scenes arise, 

 And wisely gives them Cynthia to revise, 

 To veil each blemish, lighten every grace, 

 Yet still preserve the lovely parent's face. 

 How well the bard obeys, each valley tells; 

 These lucid streams, gay meads and lonely cells, 

 Where modest Art in silence lurks concealed; 

 While Nature shines, so gracefully revealed, 

 That she triumphant claims the total plan, 

 And with fresh pride adopts the work of man." 



Mr. Pepton, whilst treating on the palace at Attingham, says, in oppo- 

 sition to Sir Uvedale Price's idea, that all improvement of scenery should be 

 derived from the works of great painters : — 



" I shall observe that at present there are very near the house some fragments of an 

 old mill, brick arches, that make a charming study for the painter; the composition is 

 not unlike a beautiful picture of Ruysdaal's at Attingham, which every man of taste must 

 admire. Of this scene, which now exists, I have endeavoured to give a faint idea, which 

 is represented by a sketch. Among the trees is seen part of the colonnade, that which 

 joins the east wing to the body of the house. From the general character of this scenery, 

 we cannot but suppose this to be a fragment of some ruined Grecian temple, and not 

 part of a modern inhabited palace. Hence it is evident, that the mind cannot associate 

 the ideas of elegance with neglect, or perfect repose and neatness with ruin and decay. 

 Such objects, therefore, however picturesque in themselves, are incongruous and misplaced 

 if near such a palace as Attingham." 



After bringing forward other objects to shew the absurdity of taking 

 pictures for our models of natural improvements, Mr. Kepton remarks : — 



" However I may respect the works of great masters in painting, and delight to look 

 at Nature with a painter's eye, yet I shall never be induced to believe that the best 

 Landscape Painter would be the best Landscape Gardener." 



Towards the close of his letter to Sir Uvedale Price, the same writer 

 says : — 



" I shall conclude this long letter by an allusion to a work which it is impossible 

 for you to admire more than I do. Mr. Burke, in his ' Essay on the Sublime and 

 Beautiful,' observes that ' habit will make a man prefer the taste of tobacco to that of 

 sugar, yet the world will never be brought to say that sugar is not sweet.' In like manner. 



