Theory and Practice ioi 



The rippling motion of water is a circumstance to 

 which improvers have seldom paid sufficient attention. 

 They generally aim at a broad expanse and depth, not 

 considering that a narrow shallow brook in motion over 

 a gravelly bottom is not less an object of beauty and 

 worthy of imitation ; the deep dell betwixt the boat- 

 house and the bridge might be rendered very interesting 

 by bringing a lively brook along the valley; the em- 

 bouchure of this brook should be laid with gravel, to 

 induce cattle to form themselves in groups at the edge 

 of the water, which is one of the most pleasing circum- 

 stances of natural landscape. It sometimes happens, 

 near large rivers, that a clear spring bubbles from a 

 fountain, and pours its waters rapidly into the neigh- 

 bouring stream ; this is always considered a delightful 

 object in nature, yet I do not recollect it has ever been 

 imitated by art. It would be very easy to produce it in 

 this instance by leading water in a channel from the 

 upper pool, and after passing underground by tubes 

 for a few yards, let it suddenly burst through a bed of 

 sand and stones, and being thus filtered by ascent, it 

 would ripple along the valley till it joined the great 

 water. Milton was aware of this contrast betwixt the 

 river and the rill, where he mentions, amongst the 

 scenery of his Allegro, 



" Shallow brooks and rivers wide." 



Where two pieces of water are at some distance 

 from each other, and of such different levels that they 

 cannot easily be made to unite in one sheet, if there 

 be a sufficient supply to furnish a continual stream, or 

 only an occasional redundance in winter, the most 

 picturesque mode of uniting the two is by imitating 

 a common process of nature in mountainous countries, 



