158 The Art of Landscape Gardening 



the treading of cattle will soon give them all the irreg- 

 ularity they require ; and with respect to plantations, 

 we must always recollect that no young trees can be 

 planted without fences, and every fence near the water 

 is doubled by reflection ; consequently, all rules for 

 creating bushes to enrich the banks are nugatory, ex- 

 cept where cattle are excluded. 



The difficulty of clothing the banks of artificial 

 water has been a source of complaint made against 

 Mr. Brown, for having left them bare and bald ; but 

 the river at Attingham will be sufficiently enriched 

 by the few trees already growing on its margin, and by 

 the plantations proposed on the island. 



There is a part of the River Terne, above the house, 

 where both its banks are richlv clothed with alders, 

 and every person of discernment must admire the 

 beauty of this scene, but if the same were continued 

 quite to the bridge the river would be invisible from the 

 house and from every part of the park : how, then, is it 

 possible that the banks of water should everywhere be 

 covered with wood ? I contend that a broad ample 

 channel, in proportion to the bridge, will be far more in 

 character with the style of the house and the bridge 

 than the more intricate, which, on paper, is perhaps 

 more picturesque. If it is ridiculous to imitate nature 

 badly in a picture, how much more ridiculous will it 

 appear to imitate a picture badly in nature; an imita- 

 tion which, after all, must be left for half a century, 

 to be finished by the slow process of " neglect and ac- 

 cident." 



The water at Attingham having been completed, 

 and a new channel made to connect the River Terne 

 with the Severn, the improvement is obvious to every 

 person who travels the great road to Shrewsbury : it is 



