75 



however, from recommending iVcquent and 

 wanton atteinpU to change the surface of 

 ground, as 1 hold them to be very dan- 

 gerous on many accounts : for besides the 

 danger of their having an unnatural cha^ 

 ractcr if not judiciously managed, heaps 

 of earth might sometimes affect the drain- 

 age of the land ; a point of equal conse- 

 quence both to beauty and profit: but I 

 wished to shew by what means the differ- 

 ent varieties in ground, wiiether natural 

 or artificial, abrupt or gradual, connected 

 or disjoined, may at once be disguised 

 and set off to the greatest advantage. I 

 wished also to suggest, that when a quan- 

 tity of mould must somehow^ be disposed 

 of, it had better be employed in creating 

 and increasing variety, than (according to 

 the usual practice) in destroying that 

 which does exist, by filling up all inequa- 

 lities without distinction, and reducing the 

 whole to the strictest and stiffest mono- 

 tony.* 



* The folly of attempting to create variety and pic- 

 turesque effect, by means of single objects without conuec- 



