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domesticated; they are, only as it were, 
partly reclaimed from a state of nature, 
and invited by the protecting hand of man 
to decorate and embellish the artificial 
lakes which beautify his pleasure grounds. 
On these, the Swan cannot be accounted a 
captive, for he enjoys all the sweets of li- 
berty. Placed there, as he is the largest 
of all the British Water-Birds, so is he to 
the eye the most pleasing and elegant. 
What in Nature can be more beautiful 
than the grassy margined lake, hung 
round with the varied foliage of the grove, 
when contrasted with the pure resplendent 
whiteness of the majestic Swan, wafted 
along, with erected plumes, by the gen- 
tle breeze, or floating, reflected on the 
glassy surface of the water? On no other 
species has Nature diffused so much of those 
noble and gentle graces, which recal the 
image of her most charming productions. 
In the exhibition of its form, we see no 
broken or harsh lines, no constrained or ab- 
rupt motions, but the roundest contour 
and the easiest transitions imaginable : the 
eye wanders over every part with pleasure. 
