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is, or where to find it, as otherwise I have only succeeded in 
creating a dilemma for you in the place of affording easy in¬ 
struction. But, alas ! I too can only say : 
“ Teil me where is fancy bred, 
Or in the heart, or in the head. 
How begotj how nourished.” 
Fancy is said to be a lady, and in order to possess her, it is 
first necessary to cultivate her acquaintance. A cultivated 
taste will go far to supply the absence of particular rules. 
But fortunately for us, where these rules are applicable only 
with great difficulty, there are always some general principles 
to be found for our guidance, which with the aid of taste and 
judgment are all sufficient for our purpose. 
It was the practice of those noble masters of architec¬ 
ture, the artffiitects of ancient Eome, to suit the style of 
their buildings to the character of the scenery or the ob¬ 
jects of the vicinity where they were about to build. 
And I have observed that where this practice has been adopted 
by landscape gardeners in the making of gardens, the effect 
was good, because in perfect keeping, everything was harmon¬ 
ized. The best specimens I have ever seen of this kind of 
gardening, was the far-famed and justly celebrated Leasowes, 
designed and executed by the poet Shenstone, and which Dr. 
Johnson, in his “ Lives of the Poets,” has so aptly termed “ a 
perfect poem.” It is, or rather was, in itself a perfect epitome 
of all that is beautiful in natural scenery. ’Twas here that 
Shenstone spent both his life and his fortune, and sweet as were 
his verses, his true and best poem was his garden. Bold, sub¬ 
dued, hilled, vallied, treed, shrubbed, flowered and fruited ; 
grottoed, cascaded, and rivuleted, meandered by walks lead¬ 
ing by “devious ways” to spots opening upon views or ob¬ 
jects of beauty and interest. Nothing left to accident, but all 
ordered by design—a perfect plan—the work or creation of 
one tasteful, thoughtful, cultivated and poetic mind; no won¬ 
der that it should rank as the first of England's gardens, though 
the land itself is but a land of gardens. The great charm, 
however, of the Leasowes, was its harmony with the surround- 
