viii Preface 



fill, whether in Art or in Nature, that it is almost impossible 

 for the observant wayfarer to stumble upon such objects 

 without being cheered and benefited, while their effect on 

 those who have them daily beneath their eye is of a still 

 deeper kind. 



From the author's every-day intercourse with gentlemen 

 who are either laying out new grounds or are seeking to 

 amend errors in design formerly committed, he is also enabled 

 to perceive that sound and useful information is greatly 

 wanted on the subject of landscape gardening, and that to 

 this defect are mainly attributable the deformities so lament- 

 ably frequent. He feels certain, moreover, that other land- 

 scape gardeners will bear him out in the assertion, that their 

 services are more employed to remedy irregularities which 

 have been fallen into for want of due consideration and en- 

 lightenment, than to furnish entirely new designs. And the 

 difificulty and expense of rectifying such errors can scarcely 

 be overestimated. It is wisely ordained that while a truly 

 beautiful object will yield permanent and increasing dehght, 

 everything of a contrary nature is nearly sure, at some 

 period or other, to pall and disgust the mind. 



As far as the writer's own observation has extended, — and 

 he has reason to believe that is a fair criterion of the real 

 facts of the case, — there is no v/ant of appreciation, among 

 the classes for whom this work is intended, of what is tasteful 

 and elegant in gardening. Most persons are able to admire 

 a chaste and beautiful garden when they see it. What is 

 rather required is something or some one to develop and guide 

 their tastes and direct them to fitting objects. 



On all these accounts, then, and as a humble but earnest 

 effort to supply these demands, the book now submitted has 

 been written. It is clearly required by the multitude, for how 

 few there are among the middle classes who do not possess a 



