108 



the embellishments of gardens, the examples 

 given in pictures are comparatively few; 

 and also the influence of fashion, which 

 has little or no effect on the character of 

 landscapes, with respect to them is very 

 powerful. 



There is another circumstance which ren- 

 ders the task more difficult : namely, that 

 from this influence of fashion, and the par- 

 ticular influence of Mr. Brown, models of 

 old gardens are in this country, still scarcer 

 in reality than in painting ; and therefore 

 what good parts there may be in such gar- 

 dens, whether proceeding from orioinal de- 

 sign, or from the changes produced by time 

 and accident, can no longer be observed : 

 and yet from these specimens of ancient 

 art, however they may be contemned as 

 old-fashioned, many decorations mioht cer- 

 tainly be taken, and blended with such mo- 

 dern improvements- as really deserve the 

 name. 



^ What appears to me the great defect of 

 modern gardening in the confined sense, is 

 exactly what has given them their greatest 



