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or at least to acknowledge it; but I do not 

 think it extravagant to suppose that a man, 

 thoroughly persuaded,- from his own taste, 

 and from the authority of such a writer as 

 Mr. Walpole, that an art unknown to 

 every age and climate, that of creating 

 landscapes, had advanced with master- 

 steps to vigorous perfection; that enough 

 had been done to establish such a school 

 of landscape as cannot be found in the rest 

 of the globe ; and that Milton's description 

 of Paradise seems to have been copied from 

 some piece of modern gardening; — that 

 swell a man, full of enthusiasm for this new 

 art, and with little veneration for that of 

 painting, should chuse to shew the world 

 ^hat Claude might have been, had he had 

 the advantage of seeing the works of Mr. 

 Brown. The only difference he would 

 make between improving a picture and a 

 real scene, would be that of employing a 

 painter instead of a gardener. 



What would more immediately strike 

 him would be the total want of that lead- 

 ing feature of all modern improvements, 



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