132 
lands of Scotland, to prove that they are 
capable of all the embellishments of 
landscape. There is nothing perhaps 
more necessary than wood, and yet wood 
has, for many generations, been wilfully 
neglected, Dunkeld and Inverary, are 
instances that the Highlands might be 
rendered as rich as the southern hills of 
Devonshire; and the great predominance 
of the Scottish fir, even in the little that 
is planted, makes the traveller regret that 
some regard had not been paid to beauty, 
as weil as utility, when these plantations 
were formed. 
There is another circumstance by 
. which the appearance of nature is in- 
fluenced; the style of archicecture used 
in erecting gentlemens’ mansions. The 
grand scenes of nature are always more 
or less beholden to art, perhaps the wil- 
dest river scene would not be injured by 
a picturesque bridge; nor the frowning 
hills receive.a meaner character if a 
tower occupied the summit of a rock, or 
if some ruined castle were seen ‘to blend 
with the wild scene around, The French 
chateau, the Italian palace, and the 
English castle, are all even necessary 
emhellishments to their respective dis- 
tricts; but we must candidly confess that 
we know of no country so entirely di- 
vested of artificial embellishments as the 
Highlands of Scotland; even the gar- 
dens of the Duke of Athol at Blair, are 
einbellished with leaden images, the pro- 
duce of Hyde-Park corner.”” 
. There is perhaps no art or science but 
what taste insinuates itself into, in a 
greater or less degree ; beauty of style in 
composition, or in eloquence, is nothing 
more than putting in practice the prin- 
ciples of taste. Perhaps no science is 
more susceptible of the beauties of taste 
than architecture, and in no science has 
it been so palpably neglected : by studying 
what is useful, we have lost what is ele- 
gant. 
The buildings in this kingdom, re- 
markable for their antiquity, exclude 
every idea of comfort as well as elegance. 
We may instance the old palace of the 
bishops of Dunkeld, and the house of the 
earls of Errol, in the Watergate and 
Speygate of Perth. The inconvenience 
usually attendant upon what were once 
deemed fine houses, was_noticed so long 
ago as the time of Lord Bacon, “It is 
strange,” says that acute philosopher, 
** to see in Furope such huge buildings as 
the Vatican and the Escurial, and some 
_ ™ See Gilpin’s Scottish Tour. v. 2. 
Beauties and Defects of the Scottish Landscape. (Sept. 1, 
others be, and yet scarce a very fair room 
inthem.”* But I am afraid the buildings 
of past ages are not the only ones where 
we may find instances of tasteless inele- 
gance and inconvenience. 
The principal defect remaining to be 
noticed, is the fence or division of ground 
made use of here; the hedgerows of Eng- 
land have been often complained of as 
being formal and disagreeable to the eye 
of the artist; but in most parts of Scot- 
land the ficlds are divided by sunk 
ditches, which at a distance Jose their 
appearance and add in a great degree to 
the natural coldness of aspect of the 
country; but I am afraid that this is not 
. the worst; the stone wall or dyke, where- 
evera quarry can be found, is perpetually 
rising, and the richest pasture and-the 
finest cornfields are frequently secn ene 
closed with walis as formal as those of a 
citizen's kitchen garden. 
Having said a little on the peculiar 
character of the Scottish landscape, I 
shall consider how it is influenced by the 
effect of climate and the seasons. 
Perhaps there is something in the ir- 
regular climate of Britain, very favour- 
able to picturesque beauty, the richest 
sunset is encreased in beauty by the 
broken and disparted clouds of the -re- 
tiring storm; the moist atmosphere is not 
only favourable to verdure, but the hazy 
medium is frequently one of the greatest 
beauties of landscape. The clouds sail- 
ing along the sides of the hills; the moun- 
tains invested with the blue mists of the 
morning are particularly interesting to the 
lover of the picturesque, and the gran- 
deur of the storm is perhaps in no country 
seen to more advantage than in Scotland. 
The fresh winds of October, with the al- 
ternate accompaniment of driving rain, 
the billowy clouds hanging upon the 
highest hills, are always noticed with 
pleasure by the lover of nature. During 
the gloomy month of November, winter 
appears withall its horrors; the shortened 
day scarcely affords a tolerable light, and 
the sun struggles with difficulty through a 
cloudy atmosphere. The winter months, 
in some parts of Scotland, are indeed 
most horribly dismal; the long-protracted 
spring makes no appearance till the con- 
tinued south wind begins to effect the 
melting of the snow on the mountains, 
The swelling of the rivers is seen by the 
inhabitants with joy, as itis the prelude 
to returning vegetation. During the 
melting of the show, I have seen the 
* Vide Essays, art. Buildings. ’ 
river 
