45 



iure, botany, and architecture. It can 

 hardly be expected that a man bred, and 

 constantly living, in the kitchen garden, 

 should possess all these requisites; yet, be- 

 cause tlie immortal Brown was originally 

 a kitchen gardener, it is too common to 

 find every man, who can handle a rake 

 or a spade, pretending to give his opinion 

 on the most difficult points of improve- 

 ment. It may perhaps be asked, from. 

 whence Mr. BroM'n derived his know- 

 ledge? the answer is obvious: that bein^ 

 at first patronised by a few persons of 

 rank and acknowledged good taste, he 

 acquired by degrees the faculty of pre- 

 judging effects; partly from repeated trials, 

 and partly from the experience of those 

 to whose conversation and intimacy his 

 genius had introduced him : and although 

 he could not design himself, there exist 

 many pictures of scenery, made under his 

 instruction, which his imagination alone 

 had painted.'' 



k I must not in this place omit to acknowledge my 

 obligations to Launcelot Brown, Esq. late member for 



