ance of hardness, and also of edginess. 

 A stone or rock, when polished by water, 

 is smoother, but less soft than when co- 

 vered with moss ; and upon this principle, 

 the wooded banks of a river have often a 

 softer general effect, than the bare, shaven 

 border of a canal. There is the same dif- 

 ference between the grass of a pleasure- 

 ground mowed to the quick, and that of a 

 fresh meadow; and it frequently happens, 

 that continual mowing destroys the ver- 

 dure, as well as the softness. So much 

 does excessive attachment to one princi- 

 ple destroy its own ends. 



Before I end this chapter, I wish to say 

 a few words with respect to my adoption 

 of Mr. Burke's doctrine. It has been as- 

 serted, that I have pre-sup posed our ideas 

 of the sublime and beautiful to be clearly 

 settled*'; whereas the least attention to 

 what I have written, would have shewn 

 the contrary. As far as my own opinion is 

 concerned, I certainly am convinced of 



# Essay on Design in Gardening, by Mr. George 

 Mason, page 201. 



