PLANTING. 



135 



" They go about 



6 With leaden eye that loves the ground ;' 



" and are so continually occupied with turns 

 " and sweeps, and manoeuvring stakes, that 

 " they never gain an idea of the first prin- 

 " ciples of composition. 



" Such a mechanical system of operations 

 " little deserves the name of an art. There 

 " are, indeed, certain words in all languages 

 " that have a good and a bad sense ; such as 

 " simplicity and simple, art and artful, which 

 " as often express our contempt as our 

 " admiration. It seems to me, that whenever 

 " art, with regard to plan or disposition, is 

 " used in a good sense, it means to convey an 

 " idea of some degree of invention, of con- 

 " trivance that is not obvious ; of something 

 " that raises expectation, and which differs 

 " with success from what we recollect having 

 " seen before. With regard to improving, 

 " that alone I should call art, in a good sense, 

 <e which was employed in collecting from the 

 " infinite varieties of accident (which is com- 

 " monly called Nature, in opposition to what 

 tfi is called Art), such circumstances as may 

 " be happily introduced according to the 



k 4 



