400 



PICTURES Q D E I M P R O V £ M E N T . 



BOOK I. 



excellence to quantity. If any proprietor hesitate to alter a 

 piece of water which he has long been accustomed to see with- 

 out being sensible perhaps of any great deformity*, if he look 

 from his windows to a serpentine river winding among smooth 

 naked turf, with only here and there a few clumps placed at 

 some distance from its margin; if the water presents one uni- 

 form glare of light, clear blue, or dull green, and seldom varied 

 by any shadows or reflections but those of clumps and sky, 

 (which last Mr. Repton is willing to shew) let him, before he 

 decides in favour of the tame river, imagine that in place of 

 this a broad irregular lake forming bays and recesses, retiring 

 among thick woods, and with its margin in some places abrupt, 

 broken, and varied by stones, plants, and creepers, in one place 

 smooth, sloping, and covered with grass, and in another clothed 

 with shrubs, trees, and low-growths; then let him imagine that 

 he sees these trees, woods, and the different coloured earths and 

 stones of the banks, reflected upon the still surface of the 

 water, which in some places was covered with dark shadows 

 from the wood, and in others was bright and clear as the hea- 



* Custom will reconcile mankind to every thing, and even make them fond of de- 

 formity ; but then it is from secondary associations, which can only be felt by the 

 person subject to them- An active desire of improvement in excellence is equally 

 necessary both in the moral and material world, and consequently is essential to 

 the propagation of taste, and to the progress of civilization in society. There 

 is nothing in nature fixed and immutable ; of course every thing must be in a pro- 

 gressive state either of amelioration or deterioration. It is the part of judgment to 

 pursue the former in order to avoid the latter. 



