35 



such a picture as he, or any painter of the 

 same character and excellence^ would have 

 j)aintcd. 



These are some of my reasons for think- 

 ing that the banks of artiticial water may 

 be more enriched, than those of rivers ap- 

 pear to be in painting ; or, I may add, 

 than they are in nature, if an average were 

 taken between the plain and the enrich- 

 ed parts of the most admired river. A 

 piece of made water bears the same rela- 

 tion to a lake, or a river, that a sonnet, or 

 an epigram, does to an heroic or a di- 

 dactic poem : in any short poem, a quick 

 succession of brilliant images and expres- 

 sions, is not only admired, but expected:* 

 whereas they would be ill placed in the 

 narrative, or the connecting parts of a 

 long work. The case is particularly strong 

 with respect to artificial water ; as it is 

 professedly ornamental, and made with no 

 other intention. 



In order to point out a few of those va- 



* La brevita del sonetto, uon comporte che una sola 

 parola sia vana. Lorenzo d^ Medici. 



d2 



