IMPROVEMENTS. 45 



it follows, that the manse, in the situation of which 

 the minister has seldom any choice, has, by a law 

 of nature, nearly the best advantages of soil and 

 shelter which the parish can afford. 



Surely this holds out to the incumbent great 

 encouragement to accomplish what nature has left 

 to be done by art for completing the beauty and 

 comfort of his residence; and as he, from superior 

 education, must be supposed to possess a cultivated 

 taste, and ought to have charity, he cannot be 

 excused either in suffering dirty doors, or refusing 

 to plant a tree because he plants not for his 

 children. But where is the ground of complaint, 

 it may be said, seeing that so much has already 

 been done? Improvements, it must be owned, have 

 taken place in an age so replete with improvements; 

 and as this is just the ground of expecting more, 

 so, indeed, much more may yet reasonably be ex- 

 pected. And therefore these pages are humbly 

 submitted to my honoured fathers and beloved 

 brethren. Were the times as formerly when there 

 was no stir no taste in this way, who would have 

 written what none would have read? But now 

 that improvements are begun and progressive, 

 many are looking out for hints on a subject in 

 which they are interested ; and for any that may 

 be here suggested, I can answer that they are the 

 result of experiment, and adapted to the circum- 

 stances of the persons for whom they are designed. 



Having provided for the shelter and ornament of 

 your garden, as well as its safety from devastation 



