ACQUIRED CIIAIJACTER OF THE GROUND. Ill 



be room for admirable pictorial effect in the middle 

 distance and opposite ridge, as well as for delicious 

 ■walks or rides in the lower grounds. "We throw out 

 these hints rather as illustrative of contour than as in- 

 dicating specific plans for j^articular localities. We 

 need scarcely add, that this natural diversity of surface, 

 while in its individual forms it affords one of the es- 

 sential elements of beauty, and has probably suggested 

 most of what is really fine in the practice of the art, 

 utterly precludes the laying down of any general rule 

 as everywhere applicable. TVe shall have occasion to 

 revert to this principle; meanwhile, we beg the atten- 

 tion of our readers to its importance. 



Acquired Character or the Ground. — Except 

 where a residence has to be formed in an unimproved 

 and desolate region, (and that is a task not of common 

 occurrence.) the locality to be dealt with will have not 

 only a natural, b^ut also an acquired character. Some 

 growing timber is generally found where a man thinks 

 of setting down a house, and there are fences, roads, 

 and perhaps farm buildings or other rural objects 

 already existing. And if the designer is called in, not 

 to give a primary plan, but to improve or extend wliat 

 has been already done, he is sure to find before him 

 buildings, plantations, and other matters connected 

 with country residences. All these circumstances 

 originate what we have called an acquired character, 

 which, in some cases, may have obliterated in a great 

 measure the natural expression of the place, particu- 

 larly if the latter was not strongly marked at first, or 

 it may have brought out such a want of harmony as 

 to necessitate improvement. In dealing with the ac- 

 quired character of the place, the artist will find that 



