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is called nature. It is obvious on the same 

 principle, that all roads, walks, and com- 

 munications -immediately connected with 

 the house, should be completely regular and 

 uniform ; and where a more extended part, 

 as at Blenheim, is richly dressed with 

 shrubs and exotics, and kept in the highest 

 state of polished neatness, a regular walk 

 of the same high polish is perfectly in 

 character : but in other parts, not solely 

 the more distant, but wherever there is any 

 thing of natural wildness and intricacy in 

 the scene, the improver should conceal 

 himself like a judicious author, who sets 

 his reader's imagination at work, while he 

 seems not to be guiding, but exploring 

 with him some new region. Among the 

 numberless excellencies of Homer it is not 

 the least, that he scarcely ever appears in 

 his own person : you are engaged amidst 

 the most interesting and striking scenes, 

 and are carried on from One to another in 

 such a manner, as to be totally unconsci- 

 ous of the consummate skill with which 

 your route has been prepared : and his 



