158 Landscape Gardening 



beautiful shape in ground is that where one undulation 

 melts gradually and insensibly into another. Every one 

 who lias observed scenery where the foregrounds were re- 

 markable for beauty, must have been struck by this preva- 

 lence of curved lines; and every landscape gardener well 

 knows that no grassy surface is so captivating to the eye, as 

 one where these gentle swells and undulations rise and 

 melt away gradually into one another. Some poet, happy 

 in his fancy, has called such bits of grassy slopes and swells, 

 "earth's smiles;" and when the effect of the beauty and 

 form of outline is heightened by the pleasing gradation of 

 light and shade, caused by the sun's light, variously reflected 

 by such undulations of lawn, the simile seems strikingly 

 appropriate. With every change of position the outlines 

 vary, and the lights and shades vary with them, so that the 

 eye is doubly pleased by the beauty of form and chiaro- 

 oscuro, in a lawn with gracefully undulating surface. 



A flat or level surface is considered beautiful by many 

 persons, though it has no beauty in itself. It is, in fact, 

 chiefly valued because it evinces art. Though there is no 

 positive beauty in a straight or level line, it is often inter- 

 esting as expressive of power, and we feel as much awed by 

 the boundless prairie or desert, as by the lofty snow-capped 

 hill. On a smaller scale, a level surface is sometimes agree- 

 able in the midst of a rude and wild country by way of 

 contrast, as a small, level garden in the Alps will sometimes 

 attract one astonishingly, that would be passed by, un- 

 noticed, in the midst of a flat and cultivated country. 



Hence, as there are a thousand men who value power, 

 where there is one who can feel beauty, we see all ignorant 

 persons who set about embellishing their pleasure-grounds, 

 or even the site for a home, immediately commence levelling 

 the surface. Once brought to this level, improvement can 

 go no further, according to their views, since to subjugate or 

 level, is the whole aim of man's ambition. Once levelled, 

 you may give to grounds, or even to a whole landscape, ac- 

 cording to their theory, as much beauty as you like. It is 

 only a question of expense. 



