Nothing, however, fhould appear vulgar, nor fhould fimplicity be pared down to baldness; every thing whimfical or expenfive ought to be studiously avoided;-chafteness and frugality should appear in every part.

Near the house a ftudied neatness may take place; but, at a distance, negligence fhould rather be the characteristic.

If a tafte for botany lead to a collection of native fhrubs and flowers, a fhrubbery will be requiLite; but, in this, every thing fhould be native. A gaudy exotic ought not to be admitted; nor fhould the lawn be kept clofe fhaven; its flowers fhould be permitted to blow; and the herbage, when mown, ought to be carried off, and applied to fome useful purpose.

In the artificial accompaniments, ornament muft be fubordinate; utility muft prefide. The buildings, if any appear, fhould be those in actual use in rural economics. If the hovel be wanted, let it appear; and, as a fide-screen, the barn and rickyard are admiffible; whilft the dove-house and poultry-yard may enter more freely into the compofition.

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In fine, the ORNAMENTED COTTAGE ought to exhibit cultivated Nature in the first stage of refinement. It ranks next above the farm-houfe. The plain garb of rufticity may be set off to advantage; but the studied drefs of the artift ought not to appear. That becoming neatnefs, and thofe domeftic conveniencies, which render the rural life agreeable to a cultivated mind, are all that should be aimed at.

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THE VILLA.

HERE, a ftyle very different from the preceding ought to prevail: It ought to be elegant, rich, or grand, according to the style of the house itself, and the ftate of the furrounding country; the prin'cipal business of the artift being to connect thefe two in fuch a manner, that the one fhall not appear naked or flareing, nor the other defolate and inho-. fpitable.

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If the house be stately, and the adjacent country rich and highly cultivated, a fhrubbery may intervene, in which Art may fhew her utmoft fkill. Here, the artift may even be permitted to play at landscape: for a place of this kind being fuppofed. to be small, the purpose principally ornamental, and the point of view probably confined fimply to. the house, fide-fcreens may be formed, and a foreground laid out fuitable to the best distance that can be caught.

If buildings or other artificial ornaments abound in the offscape, fo as to mark it ftrongly, they ought alfo to appear more or lefs in the fore-ground: if the distance abound with wood, the fore-ground fhould be thickened, left baldnefs fhould offend if open and naked, elegance rather than richness ought to be ftudied, left heavinefs fhould appear.

It is far from being any part of our plan to cavil unneceffarily at artists, whether living or dead; we cannot, however, refrain from expreffing a concern for the almoft total neglect of the principles

here

here laid down, in the prevailing practice of a late celebrated artift, in ornamenting the vicinages of villas. We mention it the rather, as Mr. BROWN feems to have fet the fashion, and we are forry to find it copied by the inferior artifts of the day. Without any regard to uniting the houfe with the adjacent country, and, indeed, feemingly without any regard whatever to the offscape, one invariable plan of embellishment prevails; namely, that of ftripping the fore-ground entirely naked, or nearly fo, and surrounding it with a wavy border of shrubs and a gravel walk; leaving the area, whether large or small, one naked sheet of greenfward.

In fmall confined fpots, this plan may be eligible. We diflike thofe bolstered flower-beds which abound in the fuburbs of the metropolis, where the broken-ground fometimes exceeds the lawn; nevertheless, to our apprehenfion, a fimple border round a large unbroken lawn only ferves to fhew what more is wanted. Simplicity in general is pleafing; but even fimplicity may be carried to an extreme, fo as to convey no other idea than that of poverty and baldnefs. Befides, how often. do we fee in natural fcenery, the holly, and the foxglove flourishing at the foot of an oak, and the primrofe and the campion adding charms to the hawthorn scattered over the paftured lawn? And we conceive that fingle trees footed with evergreens and native flowers, and clumps as well as borders of fhrubs, are admiffible in ornamental as well as in natural fcenery..

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The species of fhrub will vary with the purpose. If the principal intention be a winter retreat, evergreens and the early-blowing fhrubs should predominate; but in a place to be frequented in fummer and autumn, the deciduous tribes ought chiefly to be planted.

PRINCIPAL RESIDENCE.

HERE the whole art centers. The artist has here full fcope for a difplay of taste and genius, He has an extent of country under his eye, and will endeavour to make the most of what nature and accident have spread before him.

Round a Principal Refidence, a gentleman may be fuppofed to have fome confiderable eftate, and it is not a fhrubbery and a ground only, which fall under the confideration of the artift: he ought to endeavour to difclofe to the view, either from the houfe or fome other point, as much as he conveniently can of the adjacent eftate. The love of poffeffion is deeply planted in every man's breast; and places fhould bow to the gratification of their

To curtail the view by an artificial fidefcreen, or any other unnatural machinery, fo as to deprive a man of the fatisfaction of over-looking his own estate, is an abfurdity which no artist ought to be permitted to be guilty of. It is very dif ferent, however, where the property of another in

trudes

trudes upon the eye: Here the view may, with fome colour of propriety, be bounded by a woody (creen.

After what has been faid under the head GENERAL APPLICATION, little remains to be added here. Indeed, it would be in vain to attempt to lay down particular rules: different places are marked by fets of features as different from each other as are those in men's faces. Much must be left to the skill and taste of the artist; and let thofe be what they may, nothing but mature study of the natural abilities of the particular place to be improved, can render him equal to the execution, fo as to make the most of the materials that are placed before him.

Some few general rules may nevertheless be laid down. The approach ought to be conducted in fuch a manner, that the ftriking features of the place fhall burft upon the view at once: no trick however should be made ufe of: all fhould appear to fall in naturally. In leading towards the house its direction fhould not be fully in front, nor exactly at an angle, but should pass obliquely upon the house and its accompaniments; so that their position with respect to each other, as well as the perspective appearance of the house itself, may vary at every step and, having fhewn the front and the principal wing, or other accompaniment, to advantage, the approach should wind to the back-front, which,