charming than that neatness and elegance which we meet with in those of our own country.

The expression - represent every where an artificial rudeness, is so inaccurate, that I am inclined to think, what stood in Mr. Addison's manuscript must have been - present every where. For the mixture of garden and forest does not represent, but actually. exhibits or presents, artificial rudeness. That mixture represents indeed natural rudeness, that is, is designed to imitate it; but it in reality is, and presents artificial

rudeness.

It might indeed be of ill consequence to the public as well as unprofitable to private persons, to alienate so much ground from pasturage and the plough, in many parts of a country that is so well.peopled and cultivated to a far greater advantage. But why may not a whole estate be thrown into a kind of garden by frequent plantations that may turn as much to the profit as the pleasure of the owner? A marsh overgrown with willows, or a mountain shaded with oaks, are not only more beautiful, but more beneficial, than when they lie bare and unadorned. Fields of corn make a pleasant prospect: and if the walks were a little taken care of that lie between them, and the natural embroidery of the meadows were helped and improved by some small additions of art, and the several rows of hedges were set off by trees and flowers that the soil was capable of receiving, a man might make a pretty landscape of his own possessions.

The ideas here are just, and the Style is easy and perspicuous, though in some places bordering on the careless. In that passage, for instance, if the walks were a little taken care of that lie between them - one member is clearly out of its place, and the turn of

the phrase, a little taken care of, is vulgar and colloquial. Much better if it had run thus - if a little care were bestowed on the walks that lie between them.

Writers who have given us an account of China tell us, the inhabitants of that country laugh at the plantations of our Europeans, which are laid out by the rule and the line; because, they say, any one may place trees in equal rows and uniform figures. They chuse rather to shew a genius in works of this nature, and therefore always conceal the art by which they direct themselves. They have a word, it seems, in their Language, by which they express the particular beauty of a plantation, that thus strikes the imagination at first sight, without discovering what it is that has so agreeable an effect.

These sentences furnish occasion for no remark, except that in the last of them, particular is improperly used instead of peculiar - the peculiar beauty of a plantation that thus strikes the imagination, was the phrase to have conveyed the idea which the Author meant; namely, the beauty which distinguishes it from plantations of another kind.

Our British gardeners on the contrary, instead of humouring nature, love to deviate from it as much as possible. Our trees rise in cones, globes, and pyramids. We see the marks of the scissars on every plant and bush.

These sentences are lively and elegant. They make an agreeable diversity from the strain of those which went before; and are marked with the hand of Mr. Addison. I have to remark only, that, in the phrase, instead of humouring nature, love to deviate from it - humouring and deviating, are terms not properly opposed to each other; a sort of person

ification of Nature is begun in the first of them which is not supported in the second. - To humouring, was to have been opposed thwarting - or if deviating was kept, following or going along with nature, was to have been used.

I do not know whether I am singular in my opinion, but, for my own part, I would rather look upon a tree, in all its luxuriancy and diffusion of boughs and branches, than when it is thus cut and trimmed into a mathematical figure; and cannot but fancy that an orchard, in flower, looks infinitely more delightful, than all the little labyrinths of the most finished parterre.

This sentence is extremely harmonious, and every way beautiful. It carries all the characteristics of our Author's natural, graceful, and flowing Language. - A tree, in all its luxuriancy and diffusion of boughs and branches, is a remarkably happy expression. The Author seems to become luxuriant in describing an object which is so, and thereby renders the sound a perfect echo to the sense.

But as our great modellers of gardens have their magazines of plants to dispose of, it is very natural in them, to tear up all the beautiful plantations of fruittrees, and contrive a plan that may most turn to their profit, in taking off their evergreens, and the like moveable plants, with which their shops are plentifully

stocked.

An Author should always study to conclude, when it is in his power, with grace and dignity. It is somewhat unfortunate, that this paper did not end, as it might very well have done, with the former beautiful period. The impression left on the mind by the beauties of nature with which he had been entertaining us, would then have been more agree

able. But in this sentence there is a great falling off; and we return with pain from those pleasing objects, to the insignificant contents of a nurseryman's shop.

LECTURE XXIV.

CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF THE STYLE IN A PASSAGE OF DEAN SWIFT'S WRITINGS.

My design, in the four preceding Lectures, was not merely to appreciate the merit of Mr. Addison's Style, by pointing out the faults and the beauties that are mingled in the writings of that great Author. They were not composed with any view to gain the reputation of a critic; but intended for the assistance of such as are desirous of studying the most proper and elegant construction of sentences in the English language. To such, it is hoped, they may be of advantage; as the proper application of rules respecting Style will always be best learned by means of the illustration which examples afford. I conceived that examples, taken from the writings of an author so justly esteemed, would, on that account, not only be more attended to, but would also produce this good effect, of familiarising those who study composition with the style of a writer, from whom they may, upon the whole, derive great benefit. With the same view, I shall, in this Lecture, give one critical exercise more of the same kind, upon the Style of an author of a different character, Dean Swift; repeating the intimation I gave formerly, that such as stand in need of no assistance of this kind, and who, therefore, will naturally consider such minute discussions concerning the propriety of words, and structure of sentences, as beneath their attention, had best pass over what will seem to them a tedious part of the work.

I formerly gave the general character of Dean Swift's Style. He is esteemed one of our most correct writers. His style is of the plain and simple kind; free from all affectation, and all superfluity; perspicuous, manly, and pure. These are its advantages. But we are not to look for much ornament and grace in it. * On the contrary, Dean Swift seems to have slighted and despised the ornaments of Language, rather than to have studied them. His arrangement is often loose and negligent. In elegant, musical, and figurative Language, he is much inferior to Mr. Addison. His manner of writing carries in it the character of one who rests altogether upon his sense, and aims at no more than giving his meaning in a clear and concise manner.

* I am glad to find, that, in my judgment concerning this Author's composition, I have coincided with the opinion of a very able critic: "This easy and safe conveyance of meaning, it was " Swift's desire to attain, and for having attained, he certainly " deserves praise, though, perhaps, not the highest praise. For

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purposes merely didactic, when something is to be told that was " not known before, it is in the highest degree proper: but against "that inattention by which known truths are suffered to be

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neglected, it makes no provision; it instructs, but does not

" persuade." Johnson's Lives of the Poets; in Swift.