91 



the revival of learning, and seemed for a while to advance, 

 with the improvements of luxury : In the hands, however, 

 of one of the most powerful monarchs that Europe ever saw, 

 it did not rise beyond the rank of a mechanical art : And 

 finally, in those of the most cultivated nation of modern 

 times, a nation too, which has added one more to the num- 

 ber of the Fine Arts, it still remains a practice without a 

 foundation in fixed pri7iciples. It is regarded, by their best 

 practical writers, as wholly unfit for general purposes, as lim- 

 ited in its application, and hazardous and uncertain in its 

 execution. 



Yet, in this state of things, there is reason to suspect that 

 a prejudice still exists, at least in England, against any at- 

 tempt to supply these defects, and to raise it to the rank of a 

 regular art. In either division of the island, the attempt will 

 be deemed a bold one, and by some treated as altogether 

 visionary. The only ground, on which I venture to look 

 for a different result in my own country, is not laid in any 

 fanciful theory, however ingenious, but in the laws of vege- 

 tation plainly applied to practice. In attaining the object, I 

 shall strive, in the words of a great orator (which have been 

 chosen to grace my title-page), " so to adopt the ministration 

 of Art, as humbly to imitate Nature ; to tread in her footsteps, 

 wherever they are to be found, and to strike out a kindred 

 path, wherever they are wanting." It is on such principles 

 alone, that I can hope to communicate, to this neglected prac- 

 tice, some stability from arrangement, and some light from 

 science. 



