ii P R E F A C E. 



But Gardening is of a different nature: its dominion 

 is general ^ its effects upon the human mind certain and 

 invariable; without any previous information, without 

 being taught, all men are delighted with the gay lux- 

 uriant fcenery of fummer, and depreffed at the difmal 

 afpeet of autumnal profpects ; the charms of cultivation 

 are equally feniible to the ignorant and the learned, and 

 they are equally difgufted at the rudenefs of neglected 

 nature ; lawns, woods, fhrubberies, rivers and mountains, 

 affect them both in the fame manner; and every com- 

 bination of thefe will excite fimilar fenfations in the 

 minds of both. 



Nor are the productions of this Art lefs permanent than 

 general in their effects. Pictures, Itatues, buildings, foon 

 glut the fight, and grow indifferent to the fpectator s 

 but in gardens there is a continual ftate of fluctuation 

 that leaves no room for fatiety ; the progrefs of vege- 

 tation, the viciiTitudes of feafons, the changes of the 

 weather, the different directions of the fun, the paffage 

 of clouds, the agitation and founds produced by winds, 



together 



