MEMOIR. XXV 



the great principles of taste, and their application to actual 

 circumstances, with a clearness that satisfied the dullest 

 mind ; its genial grace of style, illuminated by the sense 

 of that beauty which it was its aim to indicate, and with a 

 cheerfulness which is one of the marked characteristics of 

 Downing as an author ; the easy mastery of the subject, 

 and its intrinsic interest ; all these combined to secure 

 to the book the position it has always occupied. The tes- 

 timony of the men most competent to speak with author- 

 ity in the matter was grateful, because deserved, praise. 

 London, the editor of " Kepton's Landscape Gardening," 

 and perhaps at the time the greatest living critic in the 

 department of rural art, at once declared it "a masterly 

 work ;" and after quoting freely from its pages, remarked : 

 " We have quoted largely from this work, because in so 

 doing we think we shall give a just idea of the great merit 

 of the author/' Dr. Lindley, also, in his " Gardener's 

 Chronicle/' dissented from " some minor points," but 

 said : " On the whole, we know of no work in which the 

 fundamental principles of this profession are so well or so 

 concisely expressed : " adding, " No English landscape 

 gardener has written so clearly, or with so much real in- 

 tensity." 



The "quiet, thoughtful, and reserved boy" of the 

 Montgomery Academy had thus suddenly displayed the 

 talent which was not suspected by his school-fellows. 

 The younger partner had now justified the expectation he 

 aroused ; and the long, silent, careful years of study and 

 experience insured the permanent value of the results he 

 announced. The following year saw the publication of the 

 " Cottage Kesidences," in which the principles of the first 

 volume were applied in detail. For the same reason it 

 achieved a success similar to the " Landscape Gardening/ 1 



