152 The Art of Landscape Gardening 



quiet home scene of a country residence. It consists of 

 a beautiful lawn or valley, having its opposite bank 

 richly clothed with wood, which requires very little as- 

 sistance to give it an irregular and pleasing outline, 

 and is one of the many subjects more capable of de- 

 lighting the eye in nature than in a picture. 



It has been laid down, by a recent author before 

 named, as a general rule for improvement, to plant 

 largely and cut down sparingly. This is the cautious 

 advice of timidity and inexperience, for, in some situ- 

 ations, improvement may be effected by the axe rather 

 than by the spade, of which Sufton Court furnishes an 

 instance : the trees in a straight line, at the bottom of 

 the hill, have in vain been encumbered by young trees, 

 planted with a view of breaking their formal row, while 

 in reality they produce the contrary effect. I rather 

 advise boldly taking away all the young trees and part 

 of the old ones, but particularly an oak, which not only 

 hides the forked stem of a tree behind, but from its 

 situation depresses the other trees and lessens the mag- 

 nitude and importance both of the hill and of the 

 grove by which its brow is covered. 



The situation of Attingham is at variance with 

 its character, since it is impossible to annex ideas of 

 grandeur and magnificence to a mansion with little 

 apparent domain. The flat lawn between the highroad 

 and the house, although very extensive, yet, possessing 

 no variety in the size of the trees, and but little in the 

 shape of ground, the eye is deceived in its real distance. 



By the laws of perspective, the nearer any object is 

 to the eye, the larger it will appear ; also, the larger 

 any object is, the nearer it will appear to the eye : con- 

 sequently, the magnitude of the house makes it appear 



