170 



fully approved, where I have found it ne- 

 cessary merely to assent, I shall here beg 

 leave to subjoin my opinion negatively, 

 as the only means of doing so without 

 giving offence to those from whom I may 

 differ; at the same time, with the humility 

 of exptrience,^ I am conscious my opinion 

 may, in some cases, be deemed wrong. 

 The same motives which induce me to 

 mention what I recommend, will also jus- 

 tify me in mentioning what I disapprove: 

 a few observations, therefore, are sub- 

 joined to mark those errors, or absurdi- 

 ties in modern gardening and architec- 

 ture, to which I have never willingly 



° By one of the periodical critics this is called an 

 affected expression ; perhaps I ought to have said Hu- 

 mility acquired by Experience. I meant to express 

 tliat degree of diffidence which arises in the mind from 

 observing the different lights in which the same subject 

 is viewed by different persons, and even the changes in 

 a man's own mind from a more intimate kno?vledge of 

 the subject : in this sense the Humility of Experience 

 may be contrasted witli the pride and presumption of 

 ignorance. Thus the practical professor will often hum- 

 bly doubt, where the haughty theorist will dogmatically 

 decide. 



