40 THE MANSE GARDEN. 



manse, in the situation of which the minister has sel- 

 dom 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 en- 

 couragement 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 re- 

 plete with improvements; and as this is just the ground 

 of expecting more, so, indeed, much more may yet 

 reasonably be expected. 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 sug- 

 gested, I can answer that they are the result of ex- 

 periment, and adapted to the circumstances 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 

 and annoyance by small foes, we come now to take 

 a look of its interior ; and for the following reasons I 

 venture to suppose, that the observations next to be 



