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character of a grove is beauty ; fine trees are 

 lovely objects ; a grove is an assemblage of 

 them, in which every individual retains much 

 of its own peculiar elegance ; and whatever it 

 loses, is transferred to the superior beauty of 

 the whole. To a grove, therefore, which ad- 

 mits of endless variety in the disposition of the 

 trees, differences in their shapes and their 

 greens are seldom very important, and some- 

 times they are detrimental. Strong contrasts 

 scatter trees which are thinly planted, and 

 which have not the connection of underwood ; 

 they no longer form one plantation ; they are a 

 number of single trees. A thick grove is not 

 indeed exposed to this mischief, and certain situ- 

 ations may recommend different shapes and dif- 

 ferent greens for their effects upon the surface ; 

 but in the outline they are seldom much re- 

 garded. The eye, attracted into the depth of 

 the grove, passes by little circumstances at the 

 entrance ; even varieties in the form of the 

 line do not always engage the attention : they 

 are not so apparent as in a continued thicket, 

 and are scarcely seen, if they are not consider- 

 able. 



But the surface and the outline are not the 

 only circumstances to be attended to. Though 

 a grove be beautiful as an object, it is besides 

 delightful as a spot to walk or to sit in ; and the 



