288 Landscape Gardening 



States, lives a lady- -a young, unmarried lady; mistress of 

 herself; of some thousands of acres of the finest lands; and 

 a mansion which is almost the ideal of taste and refinement. 

 Very well. Does this lady sit in her drawing room all day, 

 to receive her visitors? By no means. You will find her, 

 in the morning, either on horseback or driving a light car- 

 riage with a pair of spirited horses. She explores every 

 corner of the estate; she visits her tenants, examines the 

 crops, projects improvements, directs repairs, and is thor- 

 oughly mistress of her whole demesne. Her mansion opens 

 into the most exquisite garden of flowers and fruits, every 

 one of which she knows by heart. And yet this lady, so 

 energetic and spirited in her enjoyment and manage- 

 ment in out-of-door matters, is, in the drawing room, 

 the most gentle, the most retiring, the most refined of 

 her sex. 



A word or two more, and upon what ought to be the most 

 important argument of all. Exercise, fresh air, health, - 

 are they not almost synonymous? The exquisite bloom on 

 the cheeks of American girls, fades, in the matron, much 

 sooner here than in England, - - not alone because of the 

 softness of the English climate, as many suppose. It is 

 because exercise, so necessary to the maintenance of health, 

 is so little a matter of habit and education here, and so 

 largely insisted upon in England ; and it is because exercise, 

 when taken here at all, is taken too often as a matter of 

 duty; that it is then only a lifeless duty, and has no soul in 

 it; while the English woman, who takes a living interest in 

 her rural employments, inhales new life in every day's 

 occupation, and plants perpetual roses in her cheeks, by the 

 mere act of planting them in her garden. 



"But, Mr. Downing, think of the hot sun in this country, 

 and our complexions!" 



Yes, yes, we know it. But get up an hour earlier, fair 

 reader, put on your broadest sun-bonnet, and your stoutest 

 pair of gloves, and try the problem of health, enjoyment and 

 beauty, before the sun gets too ardent. A great deal may 

 be done in this way; and after a while, if your heart is in 



