156 tTbe (Barfcett 



seats, or, if you will, villas, of the nation. This 

 he described to me in those verses with which 

 Martial begins one of his epigrams : 



Baiana nostri villa, Basse, Faustini, 

 Non otiosis ordinata myrtetts, 

 Viduaque platano , tonsilique buxeto ; 

 Ingrata lati spatia detinet campi 

 Sed rure vero barbaroque Icstatur. 



"Our friend Faustinus' country-seat I 've seen : 

 No myrtles, plac'd in rows, and idly green, 

 No widow'd platane, nor clipp'd box-tree there, 

 The useless soil unprofitably share ; 

 But simple nature's hand, with nobler grace, 

 Diffuses artless beauties o'er the place." 



There is certainly something in the amiable 

 simplicity of unadorned nature that spreads 

 over the mind a more noble sort of tranquillity, 

 and a loftier sensation of pleasure, than can be 

 raised from the nicer scenes of art. 



This was the taste of the ancients in their 

 gardens, as we may discover from the descrip- 

 tions extant of them. The two most celebrated 

 wits of the world have each of them left us a 

 particular picture of a garden ; wherein those 

 great masters, being wholly unconfined, and 

 painting at pleasure, may be thought to have 

 given a full idea of what they esteemed most 

 excellent in this way. These (one may observe) 

 consist entirely of the useful part of horticul- 



