PREFACE, Vil 



trust, I have never lost sight of in any part 

 of my work, rests the whole force of m/ 

 argument. If I have succeeded in estab*- 

 lishing them, the system of modern Garden- 

 ing, which, besides banishing all picturesque 

 effects, has violated every principle of paint- 

 ing, is of course demolished. ' 

 All such abstract reasoning, however, 

 makes but a slight impression unlesi^ it bfe 

 applied t 1^ therefore, took examples fforii 

 the works of the most celebrated lay^r oiit 

 of grounds, Mr. Brown,* and examined 



* It has been mentioned as an objection, that Mr. Ha- 

 milton and Mr. Shenstone are in reality the most celebrated 

 for their skill in laying out grounds, and, therefore, I*ain- 

 shill and the Leasowes, are the true examples of the taste 

 of English Gardening. The acknowledged superiority of 

 men of liberal education who embellished their own places, 

 IS strongly in favour of the whole of my argument ; but ha» 

 nothing to do with the objection. Poussin and Le Sueur 

 T.ere models of simplicity, and were the two most cele- 



