Neatness in British gardens

978. Neatness and greenness, says Horace Walpole, 'are so essential, in my opinion, to the country, that in France, where I see nothing but chalk and dirty peasants, I seem in a terrestrial purgatory, that is neither in town nor country. The face of England is so beautiful that I do not believe Tempe or Arcadia was half so rural; for both lying in hot climates must have wanted the moss of our lawns.' (Letters, celi., 1796.)