80 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



especially point out those growing out of the principles of 



UNITY, HARMONY, and VARIETY. 



Unity, or the production of a lohole, is a leading 

 principle of the highest importance, in every art of taste or 

 design, without which no satisfactory result can be 

 realized. This arises from the fact, that the mind can only 

 attend, with pleasure and satisfaction, to one object, or one 

 composite sensation, at the same time. If two distinct 

 objects, or classes of objects, present themselves at once to 

 us, we can only attend satisfactorily to one, by withdraw- 

 ing our attention for the time from the other. Hence the 

 necessity of a reference to this leading principle of unity. 



To illustrate the subject, let us suppose a building, 

 partially built of wood, with square windows, and the 

 remainder of brick or stone, with long and narrow 

 windows. However well such a building may be con- 

 structed, or however nicely the different proportions of the 

 edifice may bo adjusted, it is evident it can never form a 

 satisfactory whole. The mind can only account for such 

 an absurdity, by supposing it to have been built by two 

 individuals, or at two different times, as there is nothing 

 indicating unity of mind in its composition. 



In Landscape Gardening, violations of the principle of 

 unity are often to be met Avith, and they are always indi- 

 cative of the absence of correct taste in art. Looking upon 

 a landscape from the windows of a villa residence, we 

 sometimes see a considerable portion of the view embraced 

 by the eye, laid out in natural groups of trees and shrubs, 

 and upon one side, or perhaps in the middle of the same 

 scene, a formal avenue leading directly up to the house. 

 Such a view can never appear a satisfactory whole, 

 because we experience a confusion of sensations in con- 



