7he PREFACE. vli 



that Books of this kind already publiflied may 

 afford, (the greateft part of them being Ti an- 

 flations from other Languages, and calcula- 

 ted for Soils and Regions quite different from 

 ours) they have been complain'd of as very 

 deficient 5 and what Succefs thofe Gentlemen 

 have had, after all their Care and Pains iit 

 Abridging, ^c. ^ they themfelves beft know. 

 And perhaps it might have been more 

 cafy for them, as well as more inftruftive 

 to the World, if they had begun de novo^ if 

 on a Rafa Tabula^ and an original Bafis of 

 their own laying, they had fuperftrufted the 

 pleafing Rules of Gardening ^ for tho' Inven- 

 tion may not be put fo much to the Stretch 

 in compofing, yet 'tis certain, Labour and 

 Judgment are much more fo, by extricating 

 the effential parts of thofe circumlocutory anl 

 confus'd Rules that abound in one, and by 

 making fiich Remarks as would be of any 

 great Ufe in the other. The Theory andFra- 

 8ice of Gard'niTig, lately Tranflated by Mr. 

 James of Greenwich^ is efteemed, in its way, 

 the beft that has appeared iji this or any other 

 Language, and feems to be the beft- laid De- 

 lign, and carried on with the moft Judg- 

 ment 5 but that being writ in a Country much 

 differing, and very far inferior to this, in re- 

 fbed of the Natural Embellifhments. of our 

 Gardens, as good Grafs, Gravel, &c. makes 

 a great Alteration in point oiBefign. Be- 

 fides, there arc fome confiderable Defefts iii 

 that way of Gardening, as well as in the 

 ' 34 'Defigm 



