230 Notes 



public road, and because I shall, in the course of this volume, 

 have occasion to mention the many beauties of this place. 



'9 Of this I observed a curious instance at Hooton House, 

 from whence a distant view of Liverpool and its busy scenery 

 of shipping is not easily seen without opening the windows, 

 while the difference of a few yards in the original position of 

 the house would have obviated the defect, while it improved 

 its general situation. 



*° That 1 may not be misunderstood, as recommending a 

 road over hill and dale to shew the extent or beauty of a place, 

 I must here observe that nothing can justify a visible devia- 

 tion from the shortest line in'^^an approach to a house but such 

 obstacles as evidently point out the reason for the deviation. 



^' To produce this effect two or more trees should some- 

 times be planted in the same hole, cutting their roots so as to 

 bring them nearer together ; and we sometimes observe great 

 beauty in a tree and a bush thus growing together, or even in 

 trees of different characters, as the great oak and ash at Wel- 

 beck and the oak and beech in Windsor Forest. Yet it will 

 generally be more consonant to nature if the groups be formed 

 of the same species of trees. 



^^ All trees exposed to cattle are liable to this browsing- 

 line, although thorns, crabs, and other prickly plants will 

 sometimes defend themselves : the alder, from the bitterness 

 of its leaves, is also an exception ; but where sheep only are 

 admitted, the line will be so much below the eye that it pro- 

 duces a different effect, of which great advantage may some- 

 times be taken, especially in flat situations. 



^3 This remark is verified at Aston, where it is found that 

 more cattle are fed in the park from the improved quality of 

 the pasture, since the quantity has been reduced by the ample 

 plantations made within the last ten years. 



24 u 'phe outline of a wood may sometimes be great and 

 always be beautiful ; the first requisite is irregularity. That 

 a mixture of trees and underwood should form a long straight 

 line can never be natural, and a succession of easy sweeps 

 and gentle rounds, each a portion of a greater or less circle, 



