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among them, that I should have been sorry 

 to have had the whole covered with the 

 finest wood ; nay, I could hardly have 

 wished for trees the most happily disposed, 

 and of course should have dreaded those 

 which are usually placed there by art. 

 An improver has rarely such dread : in 

 general the first idea that strikes him, is 

 that of distinguishing his property ; nor is 

 he easy till he has put his pitch-mark on 

 all the summits. Indeed this gratifies his 

 desire of celebrity, by exciting the curiosity 

 and admiration of the vulgar; and tra- 

 vellers of taste will naturally be provoked 

 to enquire, though from another motive, to 

 whom those unfortunate hills belong. 



It is melancholy to compare the slow 

 progress of beauty, with the upstart growth 

 of deformity ; trees and woods planted in 

 the most judicious style, will not for years 

 strongly attract the painter's notice, though 

 the planter, like a fond parent, feels the 

 greatest tenderness for his children, at the 

 time they are least interesting to others *. 



* Madame de Sevigne, whose maternal tenderness seems 



