PREFACE. XI 



middle distance, is all that is under the 

 control of the improver. In this Essay I 

 have followed the example of painters : I 

 have bestowed particular pains on what is 

 to be viewed close to the eye, and have 

 worked it up more distinctly, and with 

 greater minuteness of detail ; in the hope 

 that I may induce improvers to follow the 

 same example in real scenery. 



But, besides these fore-grounds, of which 

 the models are in nature, there are others 

 manifestly and avowedly artificial ; which, 

 however, on that account, are the best 

 suited to artificial objects, and indeed the 

 only fore-grounds strictly in character with 

 them. I have, therefore, in the second 

 Essay, examined the character of the old 

 Italian Gardens, and the principles on 

 which, as I conceive, their excellence is 

 founded : I have compared them with mo- 

 dern gardens, and have stated what appear 



