Theory and Practice 



cult to be represented in painting; because quantity and 

 variety are apt to destroy that unity of composition which 

 is expected in an artificial landscape : for it is hardly pos- 

 sible to convey an adequate and distinct idea of those 

 numerous objects so wonderfully combined in this ex- 

 tensive view ; the house, the church, the lawns, the woods, 

 the bold promontory of Beachy Head, and the distant 

 plains bounded by the sea, are all collected in one splendid 

 picture, without being crowded into confusion. 



This view is a perfect landscape, while that from the 

 tower is rather a prospect. It is of such a nature as not to 

 be well represented by painting, because its excellence 

 depends upon a state of the atmosphere which is very 

 hostile to the painter's art. An extensive prospect is most 

 admired when the distant objects are most clear and dis- 

 tinct ; but the painter can represent his distances only by 

 a certain haziness and indistinctness, which is termed 

 aerial perspective. 



In the woodland counties, such as Hertfordshire, 

 Herefordshire, Hampshire, etc., it often happens that 

 the most beautiful places may rather be formed by felling 

 than by planting trees ; but the effect will be very dif- 

 ferent, whether the axe be committed to the hand of 

 genius or the power of avarice. The land steward, or 

 the timber-merchant, would mark those trees which have 

 acquired their full growth and are fit for immediate use, 

 or separate those which he deems to stand too near to- 

 gether, but the man of science and of taste will search 

 with scrutinising care for groups and combinations, such 

 as his memory recalls in the pictures of the best mas- 

 ters ; these groups he will studiously leave in such places 

 as will best display their varied or combined forms. He 

 will also discover beauties in a tree which the others would 



