34 



LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



should have fallen a sacrifice to the undistin- 

 guishing and desolating hand of the modem 

 system of improvement. Upon what prin- 

 ciple of grandeur, of harmony, of propriety, 

 or comfort, has the exchange been made ? 



It seems to be universally allowed, that the 

 habitation of man should be distinct from 

 that of the cattle that graze around him. We 

 see this principle acted upon from the palace 

 to the cottage ; which, with its dwarf wall or 

 garden pales, broken and enriched with the 

 simple creepers of honeysuckle, ivy, &c. is an 

 object pleasing to every eye as well as to that 

 of the painter. The variety of material, of 

 form, and of colour, with the light and shadow 

 which pervades the whole, are the secret 

 source of this pleasure. Strip the cottage of 

 these accompaniments, and what eye can fail 

 to regret the destruction? " What such rustic 

 " embellishments," says Sir Uvedale Price, 

 " are to the cottage, terraces, urns, vases, 

 " statues, and fountains are to the palace 

 " and palace-like mansion." * It will be 



* I will here remind the reader of my professed object 

 in these pages, as expresed in the introduction to them ; 

 viz. to concentrate and render more practically useful the 

 principles of true taste, diffused through the whole of Sir 



