46 



to regular slopes, even though frequent 

 precedents should be found to exist in na- 

 ture. The case is different in the gravel 

 walk ; for that is no imitation of nature, but 

 an avowed piece of art: avowedly made for 

 comfort and neatness. The two sides of a 

 gravel walk, may, therefore, be as even and 

 smooth as art can make them, and the 

 sweeps regular and uniform. From not 

 attending to this very obvious difference, 

 Mr. Brown has formed the banks of his 

 rivers, just as he did the sides of his walks; 

 he made the curves equally regular, and 

 the lines equally distinct.* 



I shall, very probably, be accused of a 

 passion for enrichment, and a contempt for 

 simplicity, as I have been of an exclusive 

 fondness for the picturesque, and of a want 

 of feeling for w4iat is beautiful. I have the 

 same defence to make against both charges 

 — the necessity of counteracting the strong 

 and manifest tendency of the general taste 

 towards monotony and baldness, to which 

 simplicity is nearly allied, and into which 



* Essay on the Picturesc^ue, page 364. 



