St3e an& Extent of an Estate 85 



St. Peter's the same size as the Pantheon, but 

 how unfortunate is the result! Looming up in 

 the air above the enormous masses of the building, 

 St. Peter's Dome appears in proportion small and 

 insignificant, whilst the dome of the old Pantheon, 

 placed on the right base, appears after centuries 

 as sublime as the arch of the firmament. 



"Poised on the summit of Mont Blanc the Pyra- 

 mids would hardly appear as large as sentry boxes, 

 and Mont Blanc itself, seen from the distant plains, 

 looks like a little snow hill. Large and small are, 

 therefore, relative terms. It is not from the thing 

 itself we judge, but from its appearance in given 

 surroundings, and it is here that landscape archi- 

 tecture has the widest of fields. For instance, trees 

 a hundred feet high, which in the middle distance 

 hardly rise above the horizon, will at a short distance 

 tower above it, hence, with intelligent management, 

 with due appreciation of the value the foreground 

 has to distance, it is possible to give character and 

 expression to the landscape and secure an effect of 

 grandeur and extent. 



"I cannot help remarking here that if I have al- 

 ways held up as a model the general appearance of 

 English parks, which testify to a universally diffused 

 taste for park culture and embellishment, I still be- 

 lieve that in given ways England might have done 

 much better. It seems to me that with much beauty 

 most English parks have one blemish which makes 

 them rather tedious and monotonous on long ac- 



