I50 Xan^scape Hrcbitecture 



may find a place in that variety, and it is sometimes 

 of singular use to prevent the semblance of a river 

 in a channel formed between islands and the shore. 

 i But no figure perfectly regular ought ever to be 

 admitted; it always seems artificial, unless the size 

 absolutely forbids the supposition. A semicircular 

 bay, though the shape be beautiful, is not natural; 

 and any rectilinear figure is absolutely ugly; but if 

 one line be curved, another may sometimes be al- 

 most straight; the contrast is agreeable; and to 

 multiply the occasions of showing contrasts may 

 often be a reason for giving several directions to a 

 creek and more than two sides to a promontory. 



"Bays, creeks, and promontories, though extremely 

 beautiful, should not, however, be very numerous, 

 for a shore broken into little points and hollows has 

 no certainty of outline, it is only ragged not diversi- 

 fied; and the distinctness and simplicity of the great 

 parts are hurt by the multiplicity of subdivisions: 

 but islands, though the channels between them be 

 narrow, do not so often derogate from greatness; 

 they intimate a space beyond them whose boundaries 

 do not appear; and remove to a distance the shore 

 which is seen in perspective between them. Such 

 partial interruptions of the sight suggest ideas of 

 extent to the imagination. 



"The inlets and outlets of rivers have similar effects ; 

 fancy pursues the course of the stream far beyond 

 the view — no limits are fixed to its excursions. The 

 greatest composition of water is that which is in 



