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pen. The Prince de Ligne (a perfect judge) thus speaks of 

 his History of the Modern Taste in Gardening : " Je n'en 

 admire pas moins 1'eloquence, et la profondeur, de son ou- 

 vrage sur les jardins." Mr.. Walpole himself says: " We 

 have given the true model of gardening to the world : let 

 other countries mimic or corrupt our taste ; but let it reign 

 here on its verdant throne, original by its elegant simplicity, 

 and proud of no other art than that of softening nature's 

 harshnesses, and copying her graceful touch." 



Sir U. Price, in vol. i. p. 18 of his Essays, pays high re- 

 spect to Mr. Walpole, and differs from him " with great 

 deference and reluctance." He observes : "I can hardly 

 think it necessary to make any excuse for calling Lord Or- 

 ford, Mr. Walpole ; it is the name by which he is best 

 known in the literary world, and to which his writings have 

 given a celebrity much beyond what any hereditary honour 

 can bestow. 3 ' Mr. Johnson observes : " To his sketch of 

 the improvements introduced by Bridgman and Kent, and 

 those garden artists, their immediate successors, we may 

 afford the best praise ; he appears to be a faithful, and is, 

 an eloquent annalist." It is impossible to pass by this tri- 

 bute, without reminding my reader, that Mr. Johnson's own 

 review of our ornamental gardening, is energetic and lumin- 

 ous ; as is indeed the whole of his comprehensive general 

 review of gardening, from the earliest period, down to the 

 close of the last century. 



THE HON. DAINES HARRINGTON. He devoted himself to 

 literary pursuits ; was a profound antiquary, and a truly 

 worthy man. He died in 1800, aged 73, at his chambers in 

 the Temple, and was buried in the Temple church. The 

 attractive improvements in the gardens there, may be said to 

 have originated with him. He possibly looked on them as 

 classic ground ; for in these gardens, the proud Somerset 



2 A 



