( 226 ) 



fun-fhine, it never fails to pleafe. But it 

 muft receive it's black hue from clearnefs. 

 Where a pool is the principal part of a little 

 landfcape, the leaft muddinefs, or ftain from 

 clay, or filth of any kind, robs it of it's 

 beauty. 



The green mantle of the ftanding pool, 



as Shakefpeare calls it, hurts the eye exceedingly 

 from it's ambiguous texture. It porTerTes nei- 

 ther the character of land, nor of water. 



Nor is the cottage, which is often found in 

 the woody fcenes of the foreft, a circumfrance 

 without it's* effect. In nature at leaft it 

 pleafes: not only as the embellifhment of a 

 fcenej but as it mews us a dwelling, where 

 happinefs may refide, unfupported by wealth- 

 as it fhews us a refource, where we may ftill 

 continue to enjoy peace, tho we mould be 

 deprived of all the favours of fortune. Yet 

 on canvas, where the foreft-view is formally 

 introduced, the cottage is an improper deco- 

 ration. In nature, the eye, fated with a 

 profufion of rich foreft-fcenes, often feizes 

 even the humbleft circumftance as an object of 

 relief. But when a foreft-fcene is fmply, and 

 formally introduced, it ought to appear, like 



itfelf, 



