226 Gbe <3arDen 



a button to be of a regular pattern, so the same 

 regularity ought to obtain in a landscape. Be 

 this as it will, he employed the shears to some 

 purpose ; he clipped up the hedges, cut down 

 the gloomy walks, made vistas upon the stables 

 and hog-sties, and showed his friends that a 

 man of taste should always be doing. 



" The next candidate for taste and genius was 

 a captain of a ship, who bought the garden be- 

 cause the former possessor could find nothing 

 more to mend ; but, unfortunately, he had taste 

 too. His great passion lay in building, in mak- 

 ing Chinese temples, and cage-work summer- 

 houses. As the place before had an appearance 

 of retirement and inspired meditation, he gave 

 it a more peopled air ; every turning presented 

 a cottage, or ice-house, or a temple ; the im- 

 provement was converted into a little city, and 

 it only wanted inhabitants to give it the air of a 

 village in the Bast Indies. 



"In this manner, in less than ten years, the 

 improvement has gone through the hands of as 

 many proprietors, who were all willing to have 

 taste, and to show their taste too. As the place 

 had received its best finishing from the hand of 

 the first possessor, so every innovator only lent 

 a hand to do mischief. Those parts which were 

 obscure have been enlightened ; those walks 

 which led naturally, have been twisted into 



