98 The Art of Landscape Gardening 



petuous the stream, the sooner will it be buried within its 

 banks, unless they are of such materials as can resist its 

 fury. To imitate this natural effect, therefore, in a soil 

 hke that of Thoresby, we must either force the stream 

 above its level and deprive it of natural motion, or in- 

 troduce a foundation of stones disposed in such a man- 

 ner as to appear the rocky channel of the mountain 

 stream. The former has been already done in forming 

 the lake, and the latter has been attempted, according 

 to the fashion of geometric gardening, in the regular 

 cascade, where a great body of water was led under- 

 ground from the lake to move downstairs, into a scal- 

 loped basin, between two bridges immediately in front 

 of the house. 



The violence done to nature by the introduction of 

 rock scenery at Thoresby is the more allowable, since 

 it is within a short distance of Derbyshire, the most 

 romantic county in England ; while, from the awful 

 and picturesque scenery of Creswell Crags, such strata 

 and ledges of stone, covered with their natural vegeta- 

 tion, may be transported thither, that no eye can 

 discover the fraud. 



It is scarcely possible for any admirer of nature to 

 be more enthusiastically fond of her romantic scenery 

 than myself; but her wildest features are seldom within 

 the common range of man's habitation. The rugged 

 paths of alpine regions will not be daily trodden by the 

 foot of affluence, nor will the thundering cataracts of 

 Niagara seduce the votaries of pleasure frequently to 

 visit their wonders ; it is only by a pleasing illusion that 

 we can avail ourselves of those means which nature 

 herself furnishes, even in tame scenery, to imitate her 

 bolder effects ; and to this illusion, if well conducted, 

 the eye of genuine taste will not refuse its assent. 



