ON WATER. 175 



when varied in their shape and accom- 

 paniments, have the same effect as forest 

 thickets, circular islands that of clumps ; 

 and the same system which gives rise to 

 round distinct clumps, of course, produces 

 islands equally round and unconnected. As 

 the prevailing idea has been to show a 

 great uninterrupted extent, whether of grass 

 or of water, islands on that account have 

 been but little in fashion : I have, indeed, 

 seldom seen more than one in any piece of 

 artificial water, and that apparently made 

 rather for the sake of water-fowl than of 

 ornament. When one of these circular 

 islands is too near the shore, the canal 

 which separates them is mean, and the 

 island from most points appears like a pro- 

 jection from the shore itself; and when, on 

 the other hand, it is nearly in the centre 

 (a position of which I have seen some very 

 ridiculous instances), it has much the same 

 unnatural, unmeaning look, as the eye 

 which painters have placed in the middle 

 of the Cyclops' forehead ; and that is one 

 of the few points on which the judgment 

 of painters seems to me to be nearly on a 

 level with that of gardeners : they have 



