PRKFACE. IX 



readily loses the trace of the ideas of his forefathers, or 

 takes no care about them." 



The love of country is inseparably connected with the 

 love of home. Whatever, therefore, leads man to assemble 

 the comforts and elegancies of life around his habitation, 

 tends to increase local attachments, and render domestic 

 life more delightful ; thus not only augmenting his ovirn 

 enjoyment, but strengthening his patriotism, and making 

 him a better citizen. And there is no employment or 

 recreation which affords the mind greater or more 

 permanent satisfaction, than that of cultivating the earthi 

 and adorning our own property. "God Almighty first 

 planted a garden ; and, indeed, it is the purest of humair. 

 pleasures," says Lord Bacon. And as the first man was 

 shut out from the garden, in the cultivation of which no 

 alloy was mixed with his happiness, the desire to return to 

 it seems to be implanted by nature, more or less strongly, 

 in every heart. 



In Landscape Gardening the country gentleman of 

 leisure finds a resource of the most agreeable nature. 

 While there is no more rational pleasure than that derived 

 from its practice by him, who 



" Plucks life's roses in his quiet fields," 



the enjoyment drawn from it (unlike many other amuse- 

 ments) is unembittered by the after recollection of pain 

 or injury inflicted on others, or the loss of moral rectitude. 

 In rendering his home more beautiful, he not only con- 

 tributes to the happiness of his own family, but improves 

 the taste, and adds loveliness to the country at large. 

 There is, perhaps, something exclusive in the taste for 

 some of the fine arts. A collection of pictures, for 

 example, is comparatively shut up from the world, in the 

 private gallery. But the sylvan and floral collections, — 

 the groves and gardens, which surround the country 

 residence of the man of taste, — are confined by no 

 barriers narrower than the blue heaven above and 

 around them. The taste and the treasures, gradually, but 

 certainly, creep beyond the nominal boundaries of the 



