ii 
practice of what is called improving both Houses and Palaces. In the 
former, if the inside display of magnificence or comfort be accomplished, 
the external Architecture is little attended to; while in Gardening the 
perfection of improvement seems to consist in the extent of ground 
appropriated to the private enjoyment of the possessor and his friends. 
It has frequently been observed, “ that England would in time become 
the Garden of Europe, by the continual increase in the number and 
extent of its improved places:” but the improvement of individual places 
has rather injured than benefitted the traveller, because all view is totally 
excluded from the highways by the lofty fences and thick belt with which 
the improver shuts himself up within his improvement. This arises from 
the seclusion which is perhaps in some cases necessary; but which in 
the course of long practice I have generally observed to be carried too 
far, and has introduced the fashion, that in all places, whether of five 
acres or of five thousand, the first step is, to inclose with a wall or 
pale, and the next, to cover that boundary with a belt or 1 plantation. 
This gratifies the desire of seclusion and private enjoyment, while that 
of displaying great possessions has introduced the fashion of considering 
the importance of a place by its extent, rather than by its variety; and 
describing it rather by its number of acres, than of its beauties ! ! 
I his same false principle of mistaking greatness of dimensions, for 
greatness of character, has of late extended itself to the arts of every 
kind . . . the Statuary surprises by the immense blocks of marble which 
fill the Abbey and St. Paul’s ! . . . the Painter by an expanse of canvass 
too large for any private houses ! . . . the Jeweller, by large masses of 
amber and aqua marina, which by their size outweigh, though they 
cannot outshine the diamond and the ruby ! . . . while in Architecture, 
the first question concerning a house is, What are the dimensions 
of the rooms ?... Indeed every thing is swelled out in the same pro- 
portion. Thus we continually see, in modern houses, Windows too large 
to be glazed . . . Doors too large to be opened . . . Furniture too large to be 
moved . . . and even Beds too lofty to be reached without a ladder ! ! ! 
T remar V''.' ! be ™° re sinking, when exemplified bj a comparison between a new place and an old one 
the ,d,n" T r ’ “ b ,j' Ck T c paling is put so near the road as to leave no margin of waste land, while 
the old hcdgeiow thorns and pollard trees are taken away, to make room for young plantations of firs and larch, 
ZiTtl I poplars. How different from the ancient manorial domains! where the public road has a broad 
3 j® c ’ e “ nclled 'T' 1 tho , ms “d spreading timber, under whose twisted branches the rough and 
F,“‘ m f “ Vle ' V * ' e '“‘T ' vl, . cre ron,ail tic and decaying oaks denote the old proprietor's taste and 
pieteiencc for picturesque objects, rather than for the intrinsic value of his timber: while, on the contrary, the 
T ’ " '° has perhap f. ale,J ’ pald dear, y tor 11* timber, is too often anxious to realise the value of his 
purchase, by converting to profit every tree that has ceased to grow, and is therefore deemed ripe for the axe. 
