132 The Art of Landscape Gardening 



addition to this, an iron rail on the top, only three feet 

 high, becomes a sufficient fence, and forms a sort of 

 terrace in front of the house making an avowed separa- 

 tion between grass kept by the scythe and the park fed 

 by deer or other cattle, while at a little distance it forms 

 a base-line or deep plinth, which gives height and con- 

 sequence to the house. This will, I know, be objected 

 to by those who fancy that everything without the 

 walls of a house should be natural ; but a house is an 

 artificial object, and, to a certain distance around the 

 house, art may be avowed : the only difference of 

 opinion will be, where shall this line of utility, separat- 

 ing art from nature, commence? Mr. Brown said, at 

 the threshold of the door, yet he contradicted himself 

 when he made, as he always did, another invisible line 

 beyond it. On the contrary, I advise that it be near the 

 house, though not quite so near: and that the line 

 should be artificially and visibly marked.^' 



When Mr. Brown marked the outline of a great 

 wood sweeping across hill and valley, he might indulge 

 his partiality for a serpentine or graceful curve, which 

 had been then newly introduced by Hogarth's idea 

 respecting the line of beauty ; but it may be observed 

 that a perfectly straight line, drawn across a valley 

 diagonally, appears to the eye the same as this line of 

 fancied beauty, and therefore, in many cases, the line 

 should be straight. I have already hinted in this chap- 

 ter that the fence of a wood or plantation should be 

 considered as merely temporary, that is, till the thorns 

 planted among the trees can supersede its use. Where- 

 fore, it is of little consequence in what manner a hurdle, 

 or rough posts and rails, without any hedge or ditch, 

 may be placed : a straight line is ever the shortest, and 



