BEAUTIES ANU PRINCIPLES OF THE AKT. 81 



temp.ating it. There is an evident incongruity in bringing 

 two modes of arranging plantations, so totally different, 

 under the eye at one moment, which distracts, rather than 

 pleases the mind. In this example, the avenue, taken by 

 itself, may be a beautiful object, and the groups and con- 

 nected masses may, in themselves, be elegant ; yet if the 

 two portions are seen together, they will not form a whole, 

 because they cannot make a composite idea. For the 

 same reason, there is something unpleasing in the introduc- 

 tion of fruit trees among elegant ornamental trees on a 

 lawn, or even in assembling together, in the same beds, 

 flowering plants and culinary vegetables — one class of 

 vegetation suggesting the useful and homely alone to the 

 mind, and the other, avowedly, only the ornamental. 



In the arrangement of a large extent of surface, where a 

 great many objects are necessarily presented to the eye at 

 once, the principle of unity will suggest that there should 

 be some grand or leading features to which the others 

 should be merely subordinate. Thus, in grouping trees, 

 there should be some large and striking masses to which 

 the others appear to belong, however distant, instead of 

 scattered groups, all of the same size. Even in arranging 

 walks, a whole will more readily be recognised, if there are 

 one or two of large size, with which the others appear 

 connected as branches, than if all are equal in breadth, 

 and present the same appearance to the eye in passing. 



In all works of art which command universal admiration 

 we discover an unity of conception and composition, an 

 unity of taste and execution. To assemble in a single 

 composition forms which are discordant, and portions 

 dissimilar in plan, can only afford pleasure for a short time 

 to tasteless minds, or those fond of trifling and puerile 



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