Chapter X 



Ancient and Modern Gardening — Change of Style 

 — Art and Nature considered 



IT is not my intention to enter into a minute history 

 of gardening, or, pursuing the course of some other 

 writers, to trace back the gradual progress of the art from 

 Brown to Kent, from Kent to Le Notre, from him to the 

 Italians, the Romans, the Grecians, and, ultimately, to 

 Adam, who was " the first gardener " ; but I shall confine 

 myself to a few observations on the change in the fashion 

 of gardens, to shew how much of each different style 

 may be preserved or rejected with advantage; and lest 

 it should appear to some readers that my allusions are 

 too frequent to the late theoretical writers on landscape 

 gardening, it is necessary to observe that many of the 

 manuscripts whence I now transcribe were written long 

 before Mr. Knight's and Mr. Price's works appeared; of 

 course the allusions relate to other authors on the sub- 

 ject, whose sentiments these gentlemen seem to have 

 taken up without acknowledging that they had ever 

 read them. 



It may not be uninteresting here to mention a few 

 of the authors who have written on gardening, especially 

 as the works of some are become scarce, and are not 

 generally known. 



I scarcely need mention the late Horace Walpole, who, 

 in his lively and ingenious manner, has given both the 

 history and the rules of the art better than any other 

 theorist. 



