OBSERVATIONS 



ON 



FOREST SCENERY. 



BOOK I. 



SECTION I. 



IT is no exaggerated praife to call a tree the 

 grandeft, and moft beautiful of all the pro- 

 ductions of the earth. In the former of 

 thefe epithets nothing contends with it; for 

 we coniider rocks and mountains, as part of 

 the earth itfelf. And tho among inferior plants, 

 fhrubs, and flowers, there is great beauty ; 

 yet when we confider, that thefe minuter pro- 

 ductions are chiefly beautiful as individuals ; 

 and are not adapted to form the arrangement 

 of compojition in landfcape ; nor to receive the 

 effe&s of light and fhade -, they muft give place 

 in point of beauty of pitturefque beauty at 

 leaft, which we are here confidering to the 

 form and foliage, and ramification of the tree. 

 Thus the fplendid tints of the infect, how- 

 ever beautiful, muft yield to the elegance, and 

 VOL. i. B pro- 



