Original Preface vii 



trace of the ideas of his forefathers, or takes no care about 

 them." 



The love of country is inseparably connected with the 

 love of home. Whatever, therefore, leads man to assemble 

 the comforts and elegancies of life around his habitation, 

 tends to increase local attachments, and render domestic 

 life more delightful; thus not only augmenting his own 

 enjoyment, but strengthening his patriotism, and making 

 him a better citizen. And there is no employment or 

 recreation which affords the mind greater or more perma- 

 nent satisfaction, than that of cultivating the earth and 

 adorning our own property. "God Almighty first planted 

 a garden; and, indeed, it is the purest of human pleas- 

 ures," says Lord Bacon. And as the first man was shut 

 out from the garden, in the cultivation of which no alloy 

 was mixed with his happiness, the desire to return to it 

 seems to be implanted by nature, more or less strongly, in 

 every heart. 



In Landscape Gardening the country gentleman of leisure 

 finds a resource of the most agreeable nature. While there 

 is no more rational pleasure than that derived from its 

 practice by him, who 



"Plucks life's roses in his quiet fields," 



the enjoyment drawn from it (unlike many other amuse- 

 ments) is unembittered by the after recollection of pain or 

 injury inflicted on others, or the loss of moral rectitude. 

 In rendering his home more beautiful, he not only con- 

 tributes to the happiness of his own family, but improves 

 the taste, and adds loveliness to the country at large. 

 There is, perhaps, something exclusive in the taste for some 

 of the fine arts. A collection of pictures, for example, is 

 comparatively shut up from the world, in the private gal- 

 lery. But the sylvan and floral collections, - - the groves 

 and gardens, which surround the country residence of the 

 man of taste,- -are confined by no barriers narrower than 

 the blue heaven above and around them. The taste and 

 the treasures, gradually, but certainly, creep beyond the 



