MISCELLANEOUS. 211 



to class the composition of landscape under 

 the two leading characters of cheerfulness 

 and grandeur. With the former of these, 

 the elegant and pendant branches of the ash, 

 or the light feathery extremities of the beech, 

 are in unison : while the close formal outline 

 and deep-toned foliage of the sycamore assi- 

 milate with the latter. It will be obvious to 

 the most casual observer, that many circum- 

 stances of difference in each of these cha- 

 racters of landscape, and many more arising 

 from the varied degrees of mixture with each 

 other, will demand various modifications of 

 the above hint. The solemnity of the syca- 

 more may be relieved by the light playful 

 birch, or the more masculine yet elegant 

 limbs of the Spanish chestnut, which ought, 

 indeed, to have been named as a principal, 

 rather than an auxiliary, in forming such a 

 group, as no tree offers a fairer subject for 

 the pruning necessary for it. The cheerful 

 character may, in like manner, occasionally 

 require a mixture of closer foliage and deeper 

 colour. Variety is the leading feature of the 

 cheerful ; unity the characteristic of the grand. 

 An example of a foreground group of the 

 lip'hter character will be found at WooUaton 



p 2 



