natural river look like an artificial one; I hope Mr. Repton will have a nobler ambition—that of having his pieces of water mistaken for natural lakes and rivers.

P.318, 1.9. Although I have allowed Mr. Brown the negative merit of having left the wooded bank at Blenheim as he found it, yet I cannot allow that he or any of his school could ever have felt or distinguished the peculiar beauties of its unimproved state. A professed improver is in many respects like a professed picture-cleaner; the one is always occupied with grounds, and the other with pictures; but the eyes and taste of both are in general so vitiated by their practice, that they see nothing in either but subjects for smoothing and polishing; and they work on, till they have skinned and flayed every thing they meddle with. Those characteristic, and spirited roughnesses, together with that patina, the varnish of time, which time only can give, (and which in pictures may sometimes hide crudities which escape even the last glazing of the painter) immediately disappear; and pictures and places are scoured as bright as Scriblerus's shield, and with as little remorse on the part of the scourers.

P.320, 1.5. As I have dwelt very much on the bad effect of distinct edges, it may be right to observe, that whenever a separation of the ge peral covering of the ground, whether grass,

heath, moss, or whatever it be, is made by the action of water or frost, or by the tread of animals, it is free from that sharp liny appearance which the spade always leaves. Such edginess is scarcely less adverse to the beautiful than to the picturesque: it is hard and cutting; it destroys all variety and play of outline, and every kind of intricacy. Digging, therefore, with the edges it occasions, is a blemish, which is endured at first, and with reason, for the sake of luxuriant vegetation: and in some cases, as where the plants are very small, or where flowers are cultivated, must always be continued; but when the end is answered, why continue the blemish? No one, I believe, would think it right to dig a circle or an oval and keep its edges pared, round a group of kalmeas, azaleas, rhododendrons, &c. that grew luxuriantly in their own natural soil and climate, in order to make the whole look more beautiful. Why then continue to dig round them, or any other foreign plants in this country, after they have begun to grow as freely your own? Why not suffer them to appear without the marks of culture,

As glowing in their native bed?

P.323, 1.9. As Blenheim is the only place I have criticised by name, an apology is due to the noble possessor of it, to whom, on many ac

counts I should be particularly sorry to give offence, for the freedom I have taken. I trust, however, that the liberality of mind, which naturally accompanies that love and knowledge of the fine arts for which he is so distinguished, will make him feel that in criticising modern gardening, it would have been unfair to Mr. Brown not to have mentioned his most famous work; and that my silence on that head, would have been attributed to other motives than those of delicacy and respect. I must also add in my defence, that I can hardly look upon Blenheim in the light of common private property: it has the glorious and singular distinction of being a national reward for great national services: and the public has a more than common interest, in all that concerns so noble a monument.

P. 341, 1. 16. The language (if it may be so called) by which objects of sight make themselves intelligible, is exactly like that of speech. To a man who is used to look at nature, pictures, or drawings with a painter's eye, the slightest hint, on the slightest inspection, conveys a perfect and intelligible meaning; just as the slightest sound, with the most negligent articulation, conveys meaning to an ear that is well acquainted with the language of the speaker: but to a person little versed in that language, such a sound is quite unintelligible;

he must have every word pronounced distinctly and articulately.

Then again, as these slight hints and slurred articulations, have often a grace and spirit in language which is lost when words are distinctly pronounced; so many of these slight and expressive touches both in art and in nature, give most pleasure to those who are thoroughly versed in the language. This may, perhaps, in some degree account for the plainly marked distinctions in improvement; for as in order to convey any idea to a man unused to a language addressed to one sense, you must mark every word; so to a man unused to it when addressed to another sense you must mark every object; must cut sharp lines, must whiten, redden, blacken, &c. &c.

J. G. Barnard, Printer,
Skinner-street, London.

END OF VOL. 1.

A

LATELY PUBLISHED BY

J. MAWMAN, 22, POULTRY.

GENERAL VIEW of the WRITINGS of LINNÆUS,
By Richard Pulteney, M. D. F. R. S.

The Second Edition; with Corrections, considerable Additions, and Memoirs of the Author. By William George Maton, M. D. F. R. S. F. S. A. Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, and a Vice-president of the Linnæan Society of London.

To which is annexed, the Diary of Linnæus, written by himself, and now translated into English, from the Swedish Manuscript, in Possession of the Editor. Handsomely printed in one large Volume, Royal 4to. (uniform in Size and Type with the Transactions of the Linnæan Society of London), and embellished with Portraits of Linnæus and Dr. Pulteney, with a fine Plate of Medals, and a Fac-Simile of Linnæus's Hand-writing. 11. 11s. 6d. boards.

An HISTORICAL VIEW of the ENGLISH GOVERNMENT, from the Settlement of the Saxons in Britain to the present Time; with some Dissertations connected with the History of the Government. By John Millar, Professor of Law in the University of Glasgow. 4 vols. 8vo. 11. 12s. boards.

TOURS in WALES, by THOMAS PENNANT, Esq. in 3 Vols. 8vo. 21. 5s. boards, and Royal paper, 31. 13s. 6d.

CHARACTERS of the late CHARLES JAMES FOX; selected, and in part Written, by PHILOPATRIS VARVICENSIS. With Notes by the Editor. In 2 Vols. 8vo. 20s. boards.

MEMOIRS of the LIFE and WRITINGS of Sir PHILIP Sidney. By Thomas Zouch, D. D. F. L. S. Prebendary of Durham. Second Edition.

"Nor love thy life, nor hate; but what thou liv'st
"Live well; how long, or short, permit to Heaven."

MILTON.

Handsomely printed in Demy 4to, with a fine Portrait of Sir Philip Sidney, beautifully engraved by C. Warren. 11. 5s. boards.

The HISTORY of FRANCE, under the Kings of the Race Valois, from the Accession of Charles the Fifth, in 1364, to the Death of Charles the Ninth, in 1574. By Nathaniel William Wraxail, Esq. The Third Edition, with very considerable Augmentations, 2 vols. 8vo. 16s. boards. By the same Author, A TOUR THROUGH the WESTERN, SOUTHERN, and INTERIOR PROVINCES of FRANCE, in the Years 1775 and 1776. Third Edition, corrected and augmented, 4s. boards.