260 Gbe <3arDen 



all. Within this fantastic paradise is a square 

 town, each side a mile long. Here the eunuchs 

 of the court, to entertain his imperial majesty 

 with the bustle and business of the capital in 

 which he resides, but which it is not of his 

 dignity ever to see, act merchants and all sorts 

 of trades, and even designedly exercise for his 

 royal amusement every art of knavery that is 

 practised under his auspicious government. 

 Methinks this is the childish solace and repose 

 of grandeur, not a retirement from affairs to 

 the delights of rural life. Here, too, his ma- 

 jesty plays at agriculture. There is a quartet 

 set apart for that purpose. The eunuchs sow, 

 reap, and carry in their harvest in the imperial 

 presence, and his majesty returns to Pekin 

 persuaded that he has been in the country. 



Having thus cleared my way by ascertaining 

 what have been the ideas on gardening in all 

 ages as far as we have materials to judge by, 

 it remains to show to what degree Mr. Kent in- 

 vented the new style, and what hints he had re- 

 ceived to suggest and conduct his undertaking. 



We have seen what Moor Park was when 

 pronounced a standard. But as no succeeding 

 generation in an opulent and luxurious country 

 contents itself with the perfection established 

 by its ancestors, more perfect perfection was 

 still sought, and improvements had gone on, 



