Theory and Practice 95 



without making any violent or unnecessary circuit to 

 include objects that do not naturally come within its 

 reach. This I deem to be a just and sufficient motive, 

 and an allowable display of property without ostentation. 



The former approach to the house was on the south 

 side of the valley, and objectionable for two reasons : 

 1st, it ascended the hill, and, after passing around the 

 whole of the buildings, it descended to the house, mak- 

 it appear to stand low ; 2d, by going along the side 

 of the hill, little of the park was shewn, although the 

 road actually passed through it, because, on an inclined 

 plane, the ground which either rises on one side or 

 falls on the other, becomes foreshortened and little 

 observed, while the eye is directed to the opposite side 

 of the valley, which in this instance consisted of enclos- 

 ures beyond the park. On the contrary, the proposed 

 new approach, being on the north side of the valley, 

 will shew the park on the opposite bank to advantage, 

 and, by ascending to the house, it will appear in its 

 true and desirable situation upon a sufficient eminence 

 above the water : yet, backed by still higher ground, 

 richly clothed with wood, this view of the house will 

 also serve to explain and, I hope, to justify the sacri- 

 fice of those large trees which have been cut down 

 upon the island, and whose dark shadows, being re- 

 flected on the water, excluded all cheerfulness. 



The water at West Wycombe, from the brilliancy 

 of its colour, the varieties of its shores, the diff^erent 

 courses of its channel, and the number of its wooded 

 islands, possessed a degree of pleasing intricacy which 

 I have rarely seen in artificial pools or rivers ; there 

 appears to be only one improvement necessary to give 

 it all the variety of which it is capable. The glassy sur- 

 face of a still, calm lake, however delightful, is not more 



