14 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



and picturesque in the larch, which confer or create a charac- 

 ter in scenes in which they are happily introduced: and, lay- 

 ing down the shears of the old gardeners, he feels that there 

 is a grace and beauty in their free and unshorn luxuriance, 

 infinitely above that of the tree, clipped according to the rules 

 of a formal art. Undulating surfaces of ground have an ex- 

 pression superior to the tame level ; and there is a more de- 

 lightful variety in a walk of half a mile in length, which winds 

 naturally here and there, over a diversified surface, bordered 

 occasionally with luxuriant groups of trees, open spaces of 

 fine lawn, and dense thickets of shrubbery, or underwood, 

 than in a straight level avenue over the same distance, whose 

 sides present but one continuous line of trees seen at the same 

 moment, and presenting but one single and monotonous view. 

 Losing by degrees his reverence for avowed and uniform art, 

 he learns to appreciate those flowing, smooth, and continuous 

 lines, which characterize objects the most graceful and deli- 

 cate around us; in short that, instead of endeavouring to dis- 

 tort Nature, we should rather strive to heighten her beauties 

 and remove all her defects. 



" Although," as Loudon remarks, '-it is impossible to doubt 

 that beautiful scenery was admired, by minds of refinement, 

 in all times and places, and that the wealthy would frequently 

 endeavour to create it," yet it is no less true that to England 

 belongs the honour of having first established the principles 

 of modern Landscape Gardening. Lord Bacon in his Essay 

 on Gardens, attempted during the reign of James I. to effect 

 some change in the method of laying out places. "As for the 

 making of knots," says he, "or figures with divers coloured 

 earth ; they be but toys ; I do not like images cut out in ju- 

 niper or other garden stufi"; they are for children." 



Some of the English writers on this subject assert, that 



