Spectator 137 



charming than that neatness and elegancy 

 which we meet with in those of our own coun- 

 try. It might, indeed, be of ill consequence to 

 the public, as well as unprofitable to private 

 persons, to alienate so much ground from pas- 

 turage, and the plow, in many parts of a coun- 

 try that is so well peopled, and cultivated to a 

 far greater advantage. But why may not a 

 whole estate be thrown into a kind of garden 

 by frequent plantations, that may turn as much 

 to the profit as the pleasure of the owner? A 

 marsh overgrown with willows, or a mountain 

 shaded with oaks, are not only more beautiful, 

 but more beneficial, than when they lie bare and 

 unadorned. Fields of corn make a pleasant 

 prospect, and if the walks were a little taken 

 care of that lie between them, if the natural 

 embroidery of the meadows were helped and 

 improved by some small additions of art, and 

 the several rows of hedges set off by trees and 

 flowers that the soil was capable of receiving, a 

 man might make a pretty landscape of his own 

 possessions. 



Writers who have given us an account of 

 China tell us the inhabitants of that country 

 laugh at the plantations of our Europeans, 

 which are laid out by the rule and line ; be- 

 cause, they say, any one may place trees in 

 equal rows and uniform figures. They choose 



