(Brabing ant> Sbaping Grounds 195 



equal one to another, is far from the line of beauty. 

 A long straight line has no variety at all; and a little 

 deviation into a curve, if there be still a continued 

 conformity, is but a trifling amendment. Though 

 ground all falling the same way requires every 

 attention to its general tendency, yet the eye must 

 not dart down the whole length, immediately in one 

 direction, but should be insensibly conducted to- 

 wards the principal point with some circuity and 

 delay. The channels between hillocks ought never 

 to run in straight, nor even regularly curved lines; 

 but winding gently among them, and constantly 

 varying in form and in dimensions should gradually 

 find their way. The beauty of a large hill, especially 

 when seen from below, is frequently impaired by 

 the even continuation of its brow. An attempt to 

 break it by little knolls is seldom successful, they 

 seem separate independent hillocks artificially put 

 on. The intended effect may indeed be produced by 

 a large knoll descending in some places lower than 

 in others, and rooted in several points in the hill. 

 The same end may be attained by carrying some 

 channel or hollow on the side upward till it cut the 

 continued line; or by bringing the brow forward in 

 one place, and throwing it back in another, or by 

 forming a secondary ridge a little way down the side, 

 and casting the ground above it into a different 

 though not opposite direction to the general descent. 

 Any of these expedients will at least draw the atten- 

 tion off from the defect; but, if the break were to 



