LAYING OUT OF GROUNDS. 177 



mossy stones from the higher slopes, and equip it 

 with the wood-ferns or clematis. There is no spot, 

 indeed, so ungainly that it cannot be cheated of its 

 roughness by such appliances of bush and vine and 

 plant as our own woods will furnish ; no stretch of 

 lawn so meagre that you may not throw across it 

 morning and afternoon, such splintered bars of light 

 and shadow from its encompassing trees as will 

 charm the looker-on. In all places of limited range, 

 and which, from the necessities of position, are with- 

 out wide-reaching views, it is doubtful if the eye 

 should be allowed to rest upon any very determinate 

 and defined barrier, as marking the extreme limit of 

 the grounds. An irregular belt of wood or lesser 

 growth of shrubbery will offer pleasant concealment 

 and take away the sharpness of limitation, while some 

 picturesque feature in a neighbor's grounds beyond, 

 though it be only a dove-cot or the ventilator upon 

 the barn-roof, or a gardener's cottage, may, by the 

 vagueness and indeterminate character of the inter- 

 vening barrier, become more surely yours by the pos- 

 session of the eye. It is specially the province of the 

 art we are considering, to avail itself of all within 

 reach of the view, whatever may lie between, and 

 make it contribute to the oneness of the home pic- 

 ture. True art does not inquire who made the pig- 

 ments, or whose name they bear, but only, will they 

 8* 



