SPONTANEITY. 349 



from its origin been so exclusively an affair of princes 

 and nobles, that the ideas which are the foundation of the 

 painter's art are almost unintelligible to him. He is a 

 purveyor to the wants of a sort of rural epicurism, and 

 of a class of men whose love of Nature would never for 

 a moment cause them so far to forget their own personal 

 dignity as to allow her within their grounds to wear any- 

 thing but the livery of their own pride. 



One of the most prominent qualities of an interesting 

 landscape is spontaneity, consisting not only of a natural 

 irregularity of grouping, but of such plants as are in- 

 digenous or naturalized to the soil and situation. Exotics 

 require so much careful attention that no carelessness of 

 arrangement could give the assemblage an appearance of 

 unrestrained freedom. One great pattern of spontaneity 

 is the unbroken wilderness ; but this is not what we de- 

 sire in landscape. Nature is greatly deficient in interest 

 when she exhibits no connection with human life. Her 

 original features awaken more sympathy when blended 

 with the operations of a simple agriculture. We are 

 pleased with those modifications of landscape which are 

 required by the unambitious wants of man in a humble 

 condition; while we turn with aversion from those de- 

 signed only for embellishment. We would see the hills 

 and valleys clothed, but not ornamented; for the land- 

 scape is not a garden, and in proportion as the spon- 

 taneous embroidery of nature is unimpaired by the inter- 

 ference of art does it affect us with pleasure. 



In the wilderness, or primitive forest, vegetation is 

 generally uniform in its growth ; but in tracts which have 

 been once reduced to tillage and then left to nature, it is 

 always more or less grouped. We often see in this part 

 of the country an irregular surface, consisting of hill and 

 dale, rolling land and level meadows, once cultivated and 

 reduced to the purposes of agriculture and then left to 



