he really intended that we should take him seri- 

 ously.) He writes : " I have no more scruples in 

 using the shears upon tree or shrub, where trim- 

 ness is desirable, than I have in mowing the turf 

 of the lawn that once represented a virgin soil, 

 and in the formal part of the garden the yews 

 should take the shape of pyramids or peacocks, or 

 cocked hats, or any other conceit I have a mind to." 



And while on this subject I wish to quote 

 from a letter of Sir Richard Steele to a friend ; he 

 writes : " I believe it is no wrong observation that 

 persons of genius, and those who are most capable 

 of art, are always most fond of nature, as such 

 are chiefly sensible that all art consists in the imi- 

 tation and study of nature. On the contrary, people 

 of the common level of understanding are princi- 

 pally delighted with the little niceties and fantas- 

 tical operations of art, and constantly think that 

 finest which is least natural. A citizen is no sooner 

 proprietor of a couple of yews than he entertains 

 thoughts of erecting them into giants like those 

 of Guildhall. I know an eminent cook who beau- 

 tified his country seat with a coronation dinner in 

 greens, where you see the champion flourishing 



