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piece of made water, or of an improved 

 river, his banks are perfectly savage; parts 

 of them covered with trees and bushes that 

 hang over the water; and near the edge of 

 it tussucks of rushes, large stones, and 

 stumps; the ground sometimes smooth, 

 sometimes broken and abrupt, and seldom 

 keeping for a long space, the same level 

 from the water: no curves that answer 

 each other ; no resemblance, in short, to 

 what the improver had been used to ad- 

 mire: a few strokes of the painters brush 

 would reduce the bank on each side to one 

 level, to one green; would make curve 

 answer curve, without bush or tree to hin- 

 der the eye from enjoying the uniform, 

 smoothness and verdure, and from pursuing 



and artificial an appearance. A Frenchman, who was also 

 looking at the picture, cried out, " Cependant, Monsieur, 

 on pourroit y donner line si belle fete!" This was very 

 characteristic of that gay nation, but it is equally so of a 

 number of Claude's pictures. They have an air de fite 

 beyond all others ; and there is no painter whose works 

 ought to be so much studied for highly dressed yet varied 

 nature. 



C 2 



