356* PICTURESQUE IMPROVEMENT. BOOK I. 



this term would be too limited also. The nature of these im- 

 provements, made upon the scenery may assist us: they are not 

 done solely with a view to render it' more useful; nor can we 

 with propriety say more ornamental, because this quality de- 

 pends chiefly on fashion, and what is ornamental in one age is 

 often the reverse in another. The term picturesque, how- 

 ever, will fully express the leading principles of the whole ope- 

 rations alluded to. This epithet, in the common language of 

 mankind, seems to have two significations: by the one, it de- 

 notes a particular character, or kind of beauty, distinguished by 

 roughness, abruptness, and irregularity, either in form, colour, 

 sound or, touch, and may be produced in every polite art; 

 by the other, it is applied chiefly to visible objects, and is used 

 to signify that they are capable of producing a good effect 

 when painted. In this last sense of the word I propose to ap- 

 ply it, and thenceforth to use the term picturesque im- 

 provement in place of landscape gardening. This par- 

 tial innovation is nbt at variance either with the common sense 

 of mankind, or the general sentiments of judicious writers 

 upon this subject, who have bestowed various designations 

 upon it, but have never fully approved or made use of the 

 term landscape gardener*. 



* See the reviews of publications on this subject ; also Mr. Knight's Inquiry into 

 the Principles of Taste ; the review of that work in the Edinburgh Review for 1806 ; 

 and several other works. See also, as proof of another kind, Mr. Repton's writings 

 on landscape gardening. 



