258 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



neighbourhood of the house, or the scenery directly under 

 the eye. Here, by judicious levelling and smoothing in 

 some cases, or by raising gentle eminences with interposing 

 hollows in others, much may be done, at a moderate ex- 

 pense, to improve the beauty of the surrounding landscape. 



It is however fortunately the case, that in the modern 

 style of landscape improvement, extensive and costly opera- 

 tions upon ground are very seldom needed. By the aid of 

 plantations arranged as we have already suggested, much 

 may be done to soften too great inequality of surface, as 

 well as to heighten the apparent magnitude of gentle undu- 

 lations. The art of the improver, when employed upon this 

 material, will therefore be directed to the production of neg- 

 ative, rather than positive effects, — to the removal of ex- 

 isting faults or blemishes, rather than to the production of 

 an entirely new and artificial surface. 



To pursue this method with success, it is necessary that 

 he should refer constantly to the principle which we sugges- 

 ted in the commencement of our remarks: the j^Teservation 

 of the natural character of the scene, or, we may here add, 

 the heightening of the character intended for the form of 

 the surface. We have already remarked that scenes abound- 

 ing in natural beauty were chiefly characterized by gentle 

 undulations of surface, and smooth easy transitions from the 

 level plain to the softly swelling hill or flowing hollow ; and 

 that on the contrary, highly picturesque scenes exhibited a 

 more irregular and broken surface, abounding with abrupt 

 transitions, and more strongly marked elevations and depres- 

 sions. 



In a scene expressive of sitJijjle or graceful heauty^ 

 where the surface is more or less undulating, the first pro- 

 ceeding of the improver will be to remove any accidental or 



