Water ;^2 



I am inclined to add the meer, as an intermediate term 

 between the lake and the pool ; it being, frequently, 

 too large to be deemed a pool, and too small as well 

 as too round in its form to deserve the name of a lake: 

 for the beauty of a lake consists not so much in its size 

 as in those deep bays and bold promontories which 

 prevent the eye from ranging over its whole surface. 

 What is best respecting the two large meers in Tatton 

 Park is a question of some difficulty, and on which 

 there has been a variety of opinions. I shall now pro- 

 ceed to deliver mine, and endeavour to explain the 

 reasons on which it is founded. 



Unity of design in all compositions is, confessedly, 

 one of the first principles in each of the polite arts ; 

 and nothing, perhaps, evinces more strongly the love 

 of unity acting on the mind in landscape gardening 

 than the following fact, — viz. that the most super- 

 ficial observer of any park scene will be displeased by 

 the view of two separate pieces of water; and he will 

 probably ask, without reflecting on the difference of 

 levels, why they are not formed into one? The first 

 opinion seems, therefore, that these two waters should 

 be united : but if the union is not clearly possible, it 

 certainly ought not to be attempted. The second opin- 

 ion is that the upper pool ought to be destroyed, or, 

 as some express themselves, should be filled up : but 

 the latter would be an Herculean labour to very little 

 purpose, and the former, though practicable, would 

 not be advisable, because so deep a hollow immediately 

 in front of the house would be a yawning chasm, very 

 difficult to convert into an object of beauty. My opin- 

 ion, therefore, is that the two waters should, from the 

 house, appear to be connected with each other, although 

 in reality they are very far asunder ; and the means of 



