Whately's Observations on Windsor Castle. 147 



for the gentlest declivities. The ground has different inclin- 

 ations ; ancient oaks and lofty elms are scattered about it, to 

 crown the brows or to favour the descents ; between them 

 and above them appear the several towers of the castle, and 

 in some points two fronts of it may be seen at once in per- 

 spective. The spot suggests such a variety of beautiful scenes, 

 that the difficulty would be in the choice, not in the invention. 



The beauties of which the second division is capable are 

 of a tamer character. The castle is entirely hid, and in- 

 equalities of the ground cannot be considerable. The parts 

 therefore must be small, and consist of openings separated by 

 thickets constantly varied and continually succeeding each 

 other. One, however, might perhaps be contrived, of greater 

 extent and importance than the rest, by means of a little 

 watercourse, which, I believe, at certain seasons runs along 

 the bottom. This might be converted into a rivulet, too in- 

 considerable, indeed, for an object, but sufficient to furnish 

 opportunities for making its banks delightful. Through the 

 whole of the division, however, nothing very picturesque or 

 striking can be expected, but a number of little spots may be 

 devised, and all of them retired, elegant, and agreeable. A 

 particular part of this flat may also be appropriated to a col- 

 lection of such plants as are not fit to mix with others in con- 

 tinued plantations,. The avenues here quit the wall at a much 

 greater distance than is requisite for the thicket, and leave 

 room for an enclosure sufficient to contain not only specimens, 

 but numbers, of all those plants which are more apt to engage 

 attention as individuals, ihan to contribute to effect in a group. 

 The green-house and the stoves might be there, and every 

 curious shrub, every tender and evei'y delicate flower. 



The plain between the castle and the Thames requires 

 a bolder style of disposition, for it is a principal part of the 

 view from the terrace, and should be adapted to the improve- 

 ment of that view ; for which purpose it should be thrown 

 into one great lawn, to be broken by trees saved out of the 

 present regular rows, and formed into clumps, with the assist- 

 ance of younger plantations. The wall, which extends all 

 along the bank of the river, should also be taken away, and 

 a fosse substituted in its stead. The whole course of the 

 Thames from Windsor to Datchet Bridge would then be let 

 into the garden, and the grove in the play-fields at Eton 

 would seem to belong to the lawn. Perhaps it would not be 

 difficult to supply with water a winding channel cut across 

 the opening, and conducted just imder the castle, in such a 

 form and of such a breadth as to seem a branch of the river. 

 The home scene would then be irriguous and picturesque | 



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