DRESS GROUND. 79 



" As far as vision is concerned, taste, in 

 " Shen stone's language, 



* Appropriates all we see.' 



' But (without any reference to actual pro- 

 ^ perty) a narrow line of partition is of 

 ' itself a disgreeable object; and wherever it 

 ' obtrudes upon the sight in such a form, 

 ' necessarily destroys harmony of landscape. 

 * A place, however, must be very destitute 

 ' of inequality of ground, not to admit a 

 ' change in the nature of the narrow line by 

 ' low plantations adjoined to it, without ob- 

 ' structing the view above it. There are 

 ' shrubs of every stature (down to the creep- 

 ' ing perriwinkle) proper for this purpose 

 ' within a garden, and there are hollies and 

 ' thorns for pastures." 



Can any thing be more superficial than 

 these observations ? and yet their author 

 applies that term to the elaborate discussion 

 we have just been considering, as taken from 

 the Observations on Modern Gardening. 

 Mr. Mason's ideas upon the subject, I think, 

 are not to be ascertained from the above 

 extract; the only use of which is, that it 



