ffntro&uction 21 



formal introduction of it. Wild undergrowth 

 may be an appendage of the grandest scene. 

 It is a beautiful appendage. A bed of violets 

 or lilies may enamel the ground, with propriety, 

 at the root of an oak ; but if you introduce 

 them artificially in a border, you introduce a 

 trifling formality, and disgrace the noble object 

 you wish to adorn." 



Gilpin's extensive journey ings had made him 

 so familiar with broad landscape effects, and par- 

 ticularly with the rough beauties of Scotland and 

 the north of England, that he naturally applied 

 his canons of criticism, as deduced from the 

 elements of their beauty to the improvement of 

 many spots not at all adapted to such treatment. 

 Perhaps, too, the very contrast of these wild 

 mountainous scenes to the gentle slopes and 

 open groves of the New Forest, where he lived 

 many years as the Vicar of Boldre, may have 

 warped his opinion. At all events he and Uve- 

 dale Price were for the time the champions of 

 that freer treatment of a landscape which had 

 for its object the production of a natural and 

 picturesque effect. 



