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catches you at your return ; and the idea 

 of this distinct, unavoidable line of sepa- 

 ration, damps all search after novelty. 

 Far different from those magic circles of 

 fairies and enchanters, that gave birth to 

 splendid illusions, to the palaces and gar- 

 dens of Alcina and Armida, this, like the 

 ring of Angelica, instantly dissipates every 

 illusion, every enchantment. 



If ever a belt be allowable, it is where 

 the house is situated in a dead flat, and in 

 a naked ugly country; there at least it 

 cannot injure any variety of ground, or 

 exclude any distant prospect : it will also 

 be the real boundary to the eye, however 

 uniform, and any exclusion in such cases 

 is a benefit ; but where there is any play 

 of ground, and a descent from the house, 

 it more completely disfigures the place 

 than any other improvement. What most 

 delights us in the intricacy of varied 

 ground, of swelling knolls, and of vallies 

 between them, retiring from the sight in 

 different directions amidst trees or thickets, 



