282 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



inal form and outline; this will a^ive him a more complete 

 view of the method in which his labours must commence ; 

 for uncouth and apparently mis-shapen as those banks are 

 and must be, when raw and unclothed, to exhibit all their 

 variety and play of light and shadow when verdant and 

 complete, so the original form of the banks and margin of the 

 piece of artificial water, must, in order finally to assume the 

 beautiful or picturesque, be made to assume outlines equally 

 rough and harsh in their raw and incomplete state. 



It occasionally happens, though rarely, that around the 

 hollow or valley where it is proposed to form the piece of 

 water, the ground rises in such irregular form, and is so un- 

 dulating, receding, and projecting in various parts, that when 

 the water is dammed up by the head below, the natural out- 

 line formed by the banks already existing, is sufficiently 

 varied, to produce a pleasing effect without much further 

 preparatory labour. This, when it occurs, is exceedingly 

 fortunate ; but the examples are so unfrequent, that we must 

 here make our suggestions upon a different supposition. 



When, therefore, it is found that the form of the intended 

 lake would not be such as is desirable, it must be made so 

 by digging. In order to do this with any exactness, the im- 

 prover should take his stand at that part of the ground where 

 the dam or head is to be formed, and raising his levelling in- 

 strument to the exact height to which the intended lake 

 shall rise, sweep round with his eye upon the surrounding 

 sides of the valley, and indicate by placing marks there, the 

 precise line to which the water will reach. This can easily 

 be done throughout the whole circumference, by a few changes 

 of position. 



"When the outline is ascertained in this way, and marked 



