< 



173 



I perfectly remember, when I was about ten years old, that 

 my father (a man of such general observation, that no innova- 

 tion or novelty escaped him) remarked to me the change which 



was then 



taking pi 



namental plantin 



aiu 



then 



though little supposing how much it would become the future 



study of my life, I recollect his observing the discovery made 

 by some ingenious planter (perhaps Kent or Brown), that the 

 straight line might be preserved in appearance from the ends of 

 a vista or avenue, without actually filling up all the sides; and 

 thus alternate openings of views to the country might be ob- 

 tained, without losing the grandeur of the straight line, which 

 was then deemed indispensable.* He then observed, that this 



would lead to the abolishing of avenues ; and, I believe, few 



were planted after that date, viz. the middle of the last cen- 

 tury. 



About this time a total change in the fashion took 



u 



er 



rown we were taught that Nature was to 



e our 



It 



model, and that Nature seldom moved in a straight line, 

 was not therefore to be wondered at, that his illiterate followers 



sh 



ou 



Id 



ave copied the means he used, and not the model he 



proposed. 



Th 



e 



saw him prefer curved lines, and concluded 





* c< 



The late Lord Bathurst told me, that he was the first person who ventured 



deviate from straight lines, in a brook which he had widened at Ryskins. The Lord 

 Stafford being carried to see the effect of the new improvement, asked him to own fairly 

 how little more it would have cost to have made the course of the brook in a straight 



direction 



Daines Baerington. Archwolog 



Vol. VII 



