Theory and Practice 167 



tion of Burley would lose much of its sublimity by 

 anticipation. 



The prevalence of fashion, in all subjects of taste, 

 will at times have its influence, but as fashion is more 

 the effect of whim and caprice than of reason and ar- 

 gument, it has been my great object to rescue land- 

 scape gardening from its fascinating power; and while 

 accommodating myself to the wishes of those who con- 

 sult me, to the customs of the times, or to the peculiar- 

 ity of various situations and characters, I hope never 

 to lose sight of the great and essential object of my 

 profession, the elegance, the magnificence, and the con- 

 venience of rural scenes, appropriated to the uses of 

 a gentleman's habitation, ^^ 



This may be equally effected, whether we revert to the 

 formal fashion of straight walled gardening or adopt 

 the serpentine lines of modern improvers, under the 

 pretended notion of imitating nature. But there is a 

 certain dignity of style in Burley, which, like the cum- 

 brous robes of our nobility, neither can nor ought to be 

 sacrificed to the innovation of fashion or the affectation 

 of ease and simplicity. 



Mr. Burke justly observes that "a true artist should 

 put a generous deceit on the spectators and effect the 

 noblest designs by easy methods. Designs that are vast 

 only by their dimensions are always the sign of a com- 

 mon and low imagination. No work of art can be great 

 but as it deceives; to be otherwise is the prerogative 

 of nature only." This precept seems to have been 

 overlooked in the attempt to modernise Burley: the 

 spacious court surrounded by a colonnade has been 

 frequently quoted as a wonderful effort of art : and 

 when the distant country was excluded by a wall, by 

 the village, and by trees beyond it, this ample area was 



