DRESS SCENERY. 



I shall now treat upon scenery under distinct heads, and according to its 

 special characteristics. 



The creation and improvement of scenery are subjects of the highest 

 interest to the Landscape Gardener. 



" VNliat adds to Nature is an art 

 That Nature makes." 



I propose, therefore, to consider this part of the subject rather in detail. 



By Dress Scenery, or kept grounds, I mean not only what is in the 

 immediate vicinity of the house, but also that which is generally under- 

 stood by " pleasure grounds." On tbe formation and arrangement of these 

 I have already treated; but I wish further to observe, that whatever may 

 be the natural character of the countiy which tbe house commands, 

 whether picturesque, romantic, grand, beautiful, or rural, the mansion itself 

 is a purely artificial object, and consequently the grounds immediately around 

 it ought to partake of the same artificial character. To a refined taste the 

 effect would be disagreeable, if, while the eye was at one moment gratified by 

 the harmonious display of the objects within the drawing room, in the next 

 rudeness and disorder were observed in the grounds. It seems, indeed, 

 hardly necessary to insist upon the propriety of order and neatness being 

 maintained about the house, as well as about those parts of the pleasure 

 grounds which are appropriated to the display of ornamental trees, shrubs, 

 and flowers in their natural beauty. It is this artificial character of the 

 house as an object which renders its site, even amidst the most romantic 

 scenery, a matter of primary consideration, not only with reference to comfort 

 and convenience, but to taste : and yet, strange to say, some amongst the 

 most eminent connoisseurs of painting have argued as if there was but 

 one kind of beauty in natural scenery, namely, the picturesque. Thus 



