CHAP. X.J EOCKWORK. 277 



erected on a solid rock, to prepare a foundation 

 for it of brickwork; not suffering, however, 

 any of the wall to appear above the surface of 

 the ground. To prevent the possibility of this 

 foundation wall being seen, it will be best not 

 to carry it higher than to within six or eight 

 inches of the surface. Ail being prepared, the 

 stones may be arranged, the largest at the 

 base, and the upper ones diversified according 

 to the taste of the designer. 



The following g-eneral rules will apply to all 

 the different kinds of rockwork. rsever to let 

 the stones rest against any kind of building; ; 

 as, when so disposed, they give ideas of dis- 

 order and insecurity. Never to mix up decay- 

 ing materials, such as roots of trees, &c, with 

 durable materials, such as rocks and stones ; 

 or things evidently natural with those evidently 

 formed by art. Never to let the rockwork rise 

 abruptly out of the turf, like a great mass of 

 stones discharged from a cart; but gradually 

 to prepare the way for it, by sinking some 

 fragments of stone half-way in the ground, 

 and letting; them become larger and more nu- 

 merous, till the spectator at last arrives at the 

 principal mass. Xever to begin to work with- 

 out having some fixed design, whether avow- 

 edly artificial or apparently natural : and, when 

 the design is to make what may be called a 

 natural rock-garden, like that of the Duke of 

 Marlborough at Blenheim, always to take care 

 that the stones are very large, and piled upon 

 one another so as to imitate the stratification 

 of a rocky country. 



" In general," says Mr. Loudon in his Villa 



