296 On the term Natural, as applied to 



It is not my aim to depreciate elegance, neatness or gran- 

 deur ; neither do I wish to recommend about a gentleman's 

 estate the rusticity of a farm in the woods. A perfect natu- 

 rahiess is not attainable consistently with other indispensable 

 designs. But were the wealthy owner of a place, like the 

 one above described, guided by a desire to preserve in his 

 grounds that simplicity which pervades all the works of na- 

 ture, he might easily have accomplished his purpose without 

 any sacrifice of neatness or elegance. We should carefully 

 distinguish between the elegant and the finical. But a man 

 of ample wealth often allows his vanity to control his taste. 

 If he resolves to make a landscape garden that shall harmo- 

 nize with the beauty of nature, his ambition to advertise on 

 the face of it the expense he has lavished upon it spoils the 

 whole efi'ect. If his pecuniary means had been more limited 

 he might have accomplished a better work. In his efforts to 

 avoid the appearance of rusticity he has marred the" face of 

 nature, either by decorating her with ornaments that do not 

 belong to her, or by depriving her of some of those natural 

 ringlets which always adorn her face when you see her in 

 company with farmers and rustics. 



An appearance of rusticity in any grounds, combined with 

 neatness and beauty, is more pleasing than an equal degree 

 of naturalness combined with the evidence of great cost. In 

 this essay I am not aiming to build up a theory. It is my 

 object, by analyzing the different emotions which are felt on 

 beholding different scenes of combined nature and art, to 

 ascertain their character and origin. If we can tell why men 

 are pleased with one scene and displeased with another, we 

 have, to a certain extent, acquired a knowledge of the prin- 

 ciples of taste ; and when employed in improving the face of 

 nature, we should not be guilty of those common errors, by 

 which the beauty of a landscape is often destroyed. The 

 exhibition of pride has been fatal, in hundreds of instances, 

 to the picturesque effects of some magnificent grounds. 

 Nothing is more difficult than to lay out a great expense on 

 a tract of land, already moderately wooded, without injuring 

 that beauty which originally belonged to it. There are more 



