256 A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND 
Brown has had for his Lordship at Sandbeck, previous to this 
Agreement. Lord Scarbrough to find Rough Timber, four 
able Horses, carts, and Harness for them, wheelbarrows and 
Planks, as also Trees and Shrubbs. 
The Times of Payment in 
June, 1775 
Feb.1776 
June, D°. 
Feb.1777 
On Finishing the work 
(Signed) 
£800 
400 
400 
600 
Roo 
£3000 
Scarbrough. 
Lancelot Brown. 
The melancholy spectacle presented by some of the stately 
houses surrounded by the stiff and unreal “ natural land¬ 
scape ” substituted by Brown for the carefully designed and 
well-kept old gardens, is thus described by Knight i 1 
“ Oft when I’ve seen some lonely mansion stand 
Fresh from the improver’s desolating hand, 
Midst shaven lawns that far around it creep 
In one eternal undulating sweep ; 
And scatter’d clumps, that nod at one another, 
Each stiffly waving to its formal brother : 
Tired with the extensive scene, so dull and bare, 
To Heaven devoutly I’ve address’d my prayer 
Again the moss-grown terraces to raise. 
And spread the labyrinth’s perplexing maze ; 
Replace in even lines the ductile yew, 
And plant again the ancient avenue. 
Some features then, at least, we should obtain 
|To mark this flat, insipid, waving plain : 
|' 3 ome vary’d tints and forms would intervene 
To break this uniform, eternal green.” 
Although Brown was assailed by Gilpin, Price, Knight, and 
Mason, he had many adherents and imitators. Repton is the 
best known of these. He was an admirer of Brown’s works, 
1 “ The Landscape,” a didactic poem in three books, addressed to 
Sir Uvedale Price by R. P. Knight, second edition, 1795. 
