30 Landscape Gardening 



curved lines; the banks, sometimes covered with soft turf 

 sprinkled with flowers, and in other portions clothed with 

 luxuriant masses of verdant shrubs. Here are all the ele- 

 ments of what is termed natural beauty, - - or a landscape 

 characterized by simple, easy, and flowing lines. 



For an example of the opposite character, let us take a 

 stroll to the nearest woody glen in your neighborhood - 

 perhaps a romantic valley, half shut in on two or more 

 sides by steep rocky banks, partially concealed and over- 

 hung by clustering vines, and tangled thickets of deep 

 foliage. Against the sky outline breaks the wild and irreg- 

 ular form of some old, half decayed tree near by, or the 

 horizontal and unique branches of the larch or the pine, 

 with their strongly marked forms. Rough and irregular 

 stems and trunks, rocks half covered with mosses and 

 flowering plants, open glades of bright verdure opposed to 

 dark masses of bold shadowy foliage, form prominent objects 

 in the foreground. If water enlivens the scene, we shall 

 hear the murmur of the noisy brook, or the cool dashing 

 of the cascade, as it leaps over the rocky barrier. Let the 

 stream turn the ancient and well-worn wheel of the old 

 mill in the middle ground, and we shall have an illustration 

 of the picturesque, not the less striking from its familiarity 

 to every one. 



To the lover of the fine arts, the name of Claude Lor- 

 raine cannot fail to suggest examples of beauty in some of 

 its purest and most simple forms. In the best pictures of 

 this master we see portrayed those graceful and flowing 

 forms in trees, foreground, and buildings, which delight so 

 much the lover of noble and chaste beauty, - - compositions 

 emanating from a harmonious soul, and inspired by a cli- 

 mate and a richness of nature and art seldom surpassed. 



On the other hand, where shall we find all the elements 

 of the picturesque more graphically combined than in the 

 vigorous landscapes of Salvator Rosa! In those rugged 

 scenes, even the lawless aspects of his favorite robbers and 

 banditti are not more spirited, than the bold rocks and wild 

 passes by which they are surrounded. And in the produc- 



