SECTION THE THIRD.

GROUND..

BY GROUND is meant, that portion of surface, which is included within the place to be improved; whether that surface be swamp, lawn, roughet, broken ground, or rock; and whether it be a hill, a valley, a plain, or a composition of swells, dips, and Levels.

MR. GILPIN, in his excellent Cbservations on the Wye, &c. (page 62) gives an admirable description of what ground ought to be."Nothing," says he," gives so just an idea of the beautiful swellings of ground, as those of water, where it has sufficient room to undulate and expand. In ground which is composed of very refractory materials, you are presented often with harsh lines, angular insertions, and disagreeable abruptnesses. In water, whether in gentle or in agitated motion, all is easy, all is softened into itself; and the hills and the vallies play into each other, in a variety of the most beautiful forms. In agitated water, abruptnesses indeed there are, but yet they are such

abruptnesses as, in some part or other, unite properly with the surface around them; and are on the whole peculiarly harmonious. Now, if the ocean in any of these swellings and agitations could be arrested and fixed, it would produce that pleasing variety, which we admire in ground. Hence, it is common to fetch our images from water, and apply them to land: we talk of an undulating line, a playing lawn, and a billowy surface; and give a much stronger and more adequate idea by such imagery, than plain language could possibly present.

THE exertions of art, however, are here inadequate, and the artist ought not to attempt to create a mountain, a valley, or a plain; and should but rarely meddle, even with the smaller inequalities of grounds. The rock stands equally above the reach of human art, and to attempt to make or unmake it is absurd. Roughets and broken ground may generally be reduced to lawn, or hid with wood; and a swamp may be drained, or covered with water; while lawn may be varied, at pleasure, with wood, and sometimes with water.

SECTION THE FOURTE

WATER.

THIS is either sea, lake, pool, river, rivulet, or

A BROAD lake and a copious river are too great for human art to cope with: nevertheless, the margin, and the bank, may be ornamented, and the surface of the water disclosed to advantage. Rivulets are often in themselves delightful, and, where broad waters are wanted, may be turned to great advantage by art. Stowe* affords a proof of what may be accomplished even with a rill. If the base of the valley be broad, a lake may be formed; if narrow, a river.

IN countries where natural waters abound, art may improve, but should not attempt to create: but in places naturally deficient in water, the artist may frequently call forth the creative powers with

* STOWE, the seat of the MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM, in Buckinghamshire.

success. In any situation, however, art must miscarry, if Nature has not furnished a sufficient supply of materials: confined stagnant pools are always disgusting: stews, indeed, may often be valuable : but, like the kitchen garden, they ought not to be

seen.

SECTION THE FIFTH.

WOOD.

OVER this element of the rural art the

power

of the artist is absolute; he can increase or diminish at pleasure: if the place be over-wooded, he can lighten it with lawn, or with water: if too naked, he can supply the deficiency by Planting.

IN forming ORNAMENTAL PLANTATIONS, two things are to be considered, the species of plantation, and the species of tree.

THE different species of plantation are the Wood, the Grove, the Coppice or Thicket, the Border or Skreen, the Mass, Clump, or Turf, the Group, and the Single Tree.

.Woods, Groves, and extensive Thickets, are more particularly adapted to the sides of hills, and elevated situations: detached Masses, Groups, and Single Trees, to the lower grounds. A naked hill gives an idea of bleakness; as a valley filled with wood does that of dankness. The Shrubery depends more on the given accompaniments, than on its own natural situation.

MUCH depends upon the disposition of the several distinct woodinesses (whether accidental or designed) with respect to each other; and much also on the respective outlines, particularly those of the larger kind. The Atmosphere and the Earth are equally bountiful, in affording the rural artist fit subjects for study. The margins of seas and lakes give him, in their bays and promontories, an ample choice of outline; while the blue expanse, scattered with summer's clouds, discovers infinite variety, both of figure and disposition.

In the choice of trees, four things are observable: the height, the form, the colour, and the use. This is more essential to a good choice, than may appear at first sight; nothing heightens the idea of ornament, especially in the eye of the owner, more than utility; nor, on the contrary, does any thing tend to throw a damp on the gratification, more than does the worthlessness of the object before us.