262 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



nature : and I believe it will be found that in all old settle- 

 ments, a pleasure ground, that extends beyond the space of 

 an acre, will afford satisfaction to the visitor in proportion as 

 it is made to resemble the work of nature, without her de- 

 fects. 



In the close vicinity of our dwelling-houses, it is useless 

 to attempt an imitation of nature in the style of their en- 

 closures. Neatness, beauty and convenience are to be re- 

 garded above all other considerations. But in an extensive 

 tract which is designed for rural recreation, the more, nearly 

 we can imitate the ways of nature consistently with the at- 

 tainment of other needful purposes, the more satisfaction 

 shall we derive from the place. There is an air of freedom 

 and seclusion about a place that seems entirely inartificial, 

 that fills the soul with the most agreeable emotions. We 

 feel secure from interruption, and a pleasing sense of our right 

 to ramble and loiter there. The first highly-wrought fence 

 or other artificial structure immediately suggests the idea that 

 we may be trespassers, and that we may meet some one who, 

 as guardian or proprietor, may dispute our right to enter upon 

 his grounds. It does not follow that there is anything like 

 envy combined with this feeling ; but every object that is 

 palpably artificial produces a sense of constraint, and damps 

 the poetic emotion of solitude. Though the proprietor of a 

 place may feel disposed to disregard these influences on the 

 minds of strangers, I am confident that, in the same propor- 

 tion as, on any account, it would fail in exciting agreeable 

 emotions in the minds of others, would it also fail in yield^ing 

 pleasure to himself and his family. 



Though complete and uninterrupted solitude would be 

 hardly preferable to death, yet every man of reflective mind 

 delights in occasional retirement. He loves to go out so far 

 into the fields and woods that he may not be liable to inter- 

 ruption ; and he feels this charming seclusion most powerfully 

 in scenes of native wildness, or in those in which the planter 

 has designedly or otherwise imitated the spontaneous ways of 

 nature. No sooner does he perceive this careless irregularity, 

 unmixed with the costly works of art, than he feels that he 



