Theory and Practice 79 



ing had distorted the natural surface, and where it 

 would now be attended with much greater trouble and 

 expense to restore the ground to its original shape 

 than had been formerly dedicated to make those slopes 

 and regular forms, which are more like the works of 

 a military engineer than of a painter or a gardener. 



Few instances have occurred to me where great 

 expense in moving ground was requisite to produce 

 pleasing effects, and it is always with reluctance that I 

 advise much alteration in the surface of ground, because, 

 however great the labour or expensive the process, it 

 is a part of the art from which the professor can derive 

 but little credit, since his greatest praise must be that 

 the ground looks, when finished, as if art had never 

 interfered. 



When I was first consulted, at Sundridge Park, by 

 Mr. Lind, the former possessor, the house, which has 

 since been pulled down, stood on the south side of the 

 valley ; and those who knew the spot despaired of 

 finding a situation for a house on the opposite side 

 of the valley, that the rooms might have a southern 

 aspect, as the bank was too steep to admit of any 

 building. My much respected friend, the present pos- 

 sessor, was aware of this circumstance, and by art we 

 have produced a situation which nature denied. The 

 earth was lowered thirty feet perpendicularly, at the 

 spot on which the house was built, and so disposed at 

 the foot of the hill that no trace of artificial manage- 

 ment is now to be discovered. 



Among the greatest examples of removing ground 

 may be mentioned the work going on at Bulstrode, 

 under the direction of His Grace the Duke of Portland 

 himself; whose good taste will not suffer any part of 

 that beautiful park to be disguised by the misjudging 



