176 Xant)scape Brcbltecture 



"But too strong a force on the nature of the place 

 always fails; a winding path which appears to be 

 worn, not cut, has more effect than a highroad, all 

 artijEicial and level, which is too weak to overbear, 

 and yet contradicts the general idea; the objects 

 therefore to be introduced must be those which hold 

 a mean betwixt solitude and population; and the 

 inclination of that choice towards either extreme 

 should be directed by the degree of wildness which 

 prevails ; for though that runs sometimes to an excess 

 which requires correction, at other times it wants 

 encouragement, and at all times it ought to be pre- 

 served; it is the predominant character of rocks, 

 which mixes with every other, and to which all the 

 appendages must be accommodated; and they may 

 be applied so as greatly to increase it: a licentious 

 irregularity of wood and of ground, and a fantastic 

 conduct of the streams, neither of which would be 

 tolerated in the midst of cultivation, become and 

 improve romantic spots; even buildings, partly by 

 their style, but still more by their position, in strange, 

 difficult, or dangerous situations, distinguish and 

 aggravate the native tendencies of the scene. In 

 the choice and application of these accompaniments 

 consists all our power over rocks ; they are themselves 

 too vast and too stubborn to submit to our control; 

 but by the addition or removal of the appendages 

 which we can command, parts may be shown or 

 concealed, and the characters with their impressions 

 may be weakened or enforced: to adapt the accom- 



