vi 



PREFACE. 



I have in this Essay, undertaken to treat 

 of two subjects, distinct, but intimately, 

 connected; and which, as I conceive, throw 

 a reciprocal light on each other. I have 

 besrun with that which is last mentioned in 

 the title, as I thought some previous discus- 

 sion with regard to pictures and picturesque 

 scenery, would most naturally lead to a 

 particular examination of the character it- 

 self. In the first chapter, I have stated 

 the general reasons for studying the works 

 of eminent landscape painters, and the 

 principles of their art, with a view to the 

 improvement of real scenery ; and in order 

 to shew how little those works, or the prin- 

 ciples they contain, have been attended to, 

 I have supposed the scenery in the land- 

 scape of a great painter, to be new mo- 

 delled according to the taste of Mr. Brown. 

 Having shewn this contrast between dress- 

 ed scenery, and a picture of the most or- 



