AUGUST. 



351 



ingly, that the excellence of all such compositions is deter- 

 mined. In real nature we forgive slight inaccuracies, or 

 trifling inconsistencies : but in such productions of design we 

 expect and require more perfect correspondence. Every 

 object that is not suited to the character of the scene, or that 

 does not strengthen the expression by which it is distin- 

 guished, we condemn as an intrusion, and consider as a 

 reproach upon the taste of the artist. But when the hand of 

 the artist disappears, and the embellishments of his fancy 

 press themselves upon our belief, as the voluntary profusion 

 of nature, we immediately pronounce the composition per- 

 fect — we acknowledge that he has attained the end of his 

 art. 



In the forms of ground, of water and of vegetation, it is 

 difficult to find any instance of a perfectly simple form, or 

 one in which lines of different descriptions do not unite. It 

 is obvious, however, that such objects are not beautiful in a 

 great proportion, and that in all of them there are cases where 

 this mixture is mere confusion, and in no respect beautiful. 

 It will be found in general that it is some determinate charac- 

 ter or expression perceived in them that constitutes the beauty 

 of these objects. Amid a great extent of landscape, there 

 are few spots in which we are sensible of any beauty in 

 their original formation ; and wherever such spots occur, they 

 are always distinguished by some prominent character — as of 

 greatness, wildness, gaiety, tranquillity, or melancholy. As 

 soon as we feel the expression of the scene, we immediately 

 become sensible that the different forms that compose it are 

 suited to this character. All this beauty of composition, 

 however, would have been unheeded if the scene itself had 

 not some determinate character. 



In the laying out of grounds, every man knows that the 

 mere composition of similar and dissimilar forms does not 

 constitute beauty ; that some character is necessary, to which 

 we may refer the relation of the different parts ; and that 

 where no such character can be created, the composition itself 

 is only confusion. It is upon these principles, accordingly, 

 that we uniformly judge of the beauty of such scenes. If 



