134 Xanfcscape Hrcbitectute 



for the mind must recognize the fitness of the details 

 before the eye will be satisfied by the entire picture. 

 "In a landscape of wide sweep, the form given to 

 the grass plots especially by the enclosing roads 

 must be carefully considered. One may entirely 

 spoil an extensive territory by a short piece of road 

 badly arranged. I call to mind one example which 

 first attracted my attention to this point. There is 

 a hill in my park which extends out conspicuously 

 in a wide stretch of meadow, thereby apparently 

 dividing it into two equal parts. The river flows 

 along this entire stretch of country and a road fol- 

 lows its course. See ground plan, e. Observe par- 

 ticularly the line of the ridge indicated by the shading 

 in the plan, being the most conspicuous object in 

 the neighbourhood, as well as the two markedly 

 divided portions of the meadows which are over- 

 looked by a certain building on the height. Another 

 road leads to this building along the upper side and 

 for the sake of convenience I required a footpath 

 connecting the two roads which had to be at the 

 left side leading to the castle. I first laid it down as 

 in Plate V., e, where the ascent is easiest, this being 

 the line it would follow in accordance with ordinary 

 rules, yet I was never satisfied with it and although 

 I changed the line ten times, the path persisted in 

 spoiling the harmony of the view until it finally 

 occurred to me that since the hill once for all conspic- 

 uously divided the prospect in two almost symmetri- 

 cal portions, the path interrupting the stretch of 



