276 Gbe (Barren 



other countries mimic or corrupt our taste ; but 

 let it reign here on its verdant throne, original 

 by its elegant simplicity, and proud of no other 

 art than that of softening nature's harshnesses 

 and copying her graceful touch. 



The ingenious author of the " Observations 

 on Modern Gardening" is, I think, too rigid 

 when he condemns some deceptions because 

 they have been often used. If those decep- 

 tions, as a feigned steeple of a distant church, 

 or an unreal bridge to disguise the termination 

 of water, were intended only to surprise, they 

 were indeed tricks that would not bear repe- 

 tition ; but being intended to improve the 

 landscape, are no more to be condemned be- 

 cause common, than they would be if employed 

 by a painter in the composition of a picture. 

 Ought one man's garden to be deprived of a 

 happy object, because that object has been 

 employed by another? The more we exact 

 novelty, the sooner our taste will be vitiated. 

 Situations are everywhere so various that there 

 never can be a sameness, while the disposition 

 of the ground is studied and followed, and every 

 incident of view turned to advantage. 



In the meantime, how rich, how gay, how 

 picturesque the face of the country ! The demo- 

 lition of walls laying open each improvement, 

 every journey is made through a % succession of 



