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of a river, he ordered it to run in a careless line, be- 

 twixt the banks ot the river on the one hand, 

 and a Hne of trees, flowers, and flowering shrubs, 

 equally careless on the other. To make the care- 

 lessness of both appear the stronger too, the walk 

 sometimes quitted the river altogether, and lost itself 

 in a thicket; and the hne of planting, on its part again, 

 sometimes ran betwixt the walk and the river, and at 

 other times made a stop, and left a vacuity altogether. 

 But this walk, careless and undesigned as it seemed, 

 continually led to some building or place of repose, 

 or lake with an island in it, joined to the laud by a 

 CHINESE bridge. 



The river, if of a size to be under command, he 

 led along in the same easy manner in a serpentine 

 form ; sometimes losing itself in the appearance of a 

 thicket, and sometimes in that of a lake ; but for the 

 most part keeping its own pleasing meander. Where 

 there was a considerable sweep, he planted a tree of 

 a fine form at the point of ground running farthest into 

 the water, in order to mark that point more strongly. 

 The banks of this river he sometimes adorned with a 

 small temple, sometimes with a grotto, and at other 

 times with a neat but elegant cottage; in the designs 

 of which last buildings he was lucky beyond others. 

 The most beautiful way for a river such as this to lose 

 itself, would be under a palladia^ bridge, support- 

 ed behind by a grove of evergreens, planted of differ- 

 ent heights above each other. The best serpentine 

 riverjof its size I have seen, is that of lord Burling- 

 ton ; and the best decorations of such a river I have 

 seen, are those in the elysian fields of lord cob- 

 ham. 



The planting in such a place should consist of 

 trees of the most beautiful forms and colours, both 

 of home and exotic kinds. They should be planted 

 in the loose and open manner; so that both the 

 beauty of each particular tree, and the beauty of the 

 ground they cover, may be seen ; or if the particular 

 roughness of a hill forces the gardener to plant them 



