150 Xanfcscape Hrcbttecture 



may find a place in that variety, and it is sometimes 

 of singular use to prevent the semblance of a river 

 in a channel formed between islands and the shore. 

 But no figure perfectly regular ought ever to be 

 admitted ; it always seems artificial, unless the size 

 absolutely forbids the supposition. A semicircular 

 bay, though the shape be beautiful, is not natural; 

 and any rectilinear figure is absolutely ugly; but if 

 one line be curved, another may sometimes be al- 

 most straight; the contrast is agreeable; and to 

 multiply the occasions of showing contrasts may 

 often be a reason for giving several directions to a 

 creek and more than two sides to a promontory. 



"Bays, creeks, and promontories, though extremely 

 beautiful, should not, however, be very numerous, 

 for a shore broken into little points and hollows has 

 no certainty of outline, it is only ragged not diversi- 

 fied; and the distinctness and simplicity of the great 

 parts are hurt by the multiplicity of subdivisions: 

 but islands, though the channels between them be 

 narrow, do not so often derogate from greatness; 

 they intimate a space beyond them whose boundaries 

 do not appear; and remove to a distance the shore 

 which is seen in perspective between them. Such 

 partial interruptions of the sight suggest ideas of 

 extent to the imagination. 



' ' The inlets and outlets of rivers have similar effects ; 

 fancy pursues the course of the stream far beyond 

 the view no limits are fixed to its excursions. The 

 greatest composition of water is that which is in 



