Another favourite word of your virtuosi, is purity; a word of which, being a stranger, I do not perhaps know the full value; nor exactly in what sense it is applied to the art in question. We are told, that in the purity of Gardening, you were never equalled by any nation; even that this boasted purity never appeared in any country but England: it may be so; your Gardens have certainly been purged to the quick, freed of every encumberance, and cleansed of every extrinsick redundancy; so that nothing now remains but the genuine carcass, in its native purity: yet whether this quality, which I apprehend is the only one that can positively be implied, is a perfection or a blemish, will always be disputed; for though pure wine[28] is, without doubt, a delicious beverage, and preferable to that which is mixed, yet pure water is very insipid, and may be much mended, by the additions of arrack, lemon and sugar, to turn it into punch; and ninety-nine persons in a hundred will maintain, that your pure Gardens might be much improved by the addition of embellishments proper to produce variety, and set off the vegetation to advantage: for vary your trees and shrubs as much as possible, combine them in every imaginable arrangement, they are still but trees and shrubs; they can impress but a very few images upon the mind of the spectator, and only affect his senses with very slight perceptions. That our artificial stile of Gardening is expensive, is doubtless true; yet certainly not ruinously so. In my former voyage, I knew an unfortunate prince, who, on a very moderate allowance from his relations, supported a court in splendour; and, with the surplus, formed one of the most extraordinary, as well as magnificent artificial Gardens I ever saw. It is surprizing what good management will do, where management is necessary; but you are too rich ever to need it in any thing. I have seen more money expended here, in digging an ugly pond, than would have compleated a whole Garden elsewhere; yet, after all, the pond would never hold water. But, to proceed--You have all seen what the French have done at Versailles, Marli, Trianon, Saint Cloud, Liancourt, and Chanilly; the Italians near Rome, at Tivoli, at Frescati, and in many other parts of Italy: I do not here enter into the merit of these works; but they are certainly as costly, perhaps more so, than any of ours; yet these were done by foreigners, of different denominations; all without the least help of magick: you are richer than they; you may, with some trouble, acquire their skill; it is hoped you have already more than their spirit: be not, therefore, afraid to attempt, what they have already long since accomplished.