12 INTRODUCTION. 



their operations. Trees are still planted in clumps and belts; 

 and parks could be referred to, laid out in 1804, if .possible 

 more ridiculous in these respects than even Fisherwick, one 

 of Mr. Brown's first efforts. Water is uniformly confined in 

 long canals regularly serpentine ; and instances are common, 

 both in England and Scotland, where natural brooks and rivers 

 have had their banks shaped, sloped, and smoothed, and often 

 their general direction rendered serpentine in imitation of made 

 canals. 



But these things, with many others practised and recom- 

 mended by the. followers of Brown, have not escaped the 

 criticisms of men of taste. A few years ago Mr. Price of 

 Foxley, and Mr. Knight of Downton, exposed its absurdities ; 

 the one in the " Essay on the Picturesque/' and the other 

 in " The Landscape/' a didactic poem. These works have 

 had considerable influence in stimulating a number of persons 

 to think for themselves ; and it is highly probable that they 

 will finally effect a change in landscape gardening very diffe- 

 rent from Mr. Brown's system. Its introduction will be the 

 more gradual, because in matters of practice men are less in- 

 fluenced by precept than example ; but when once intro- 

 duced, it is reasonable to suppose that it will be of longer du- 

 ration than any style hitherto adopted. 



