ii6 XanOscape arcbttecture 



unfold to admit you in a deep hollow way blasted 

 in the rock, the stone walls of which are tapestried 

 with the most luxuriant vegetation. The carriage 

 rolls with a dull heavy sound along the smooth 

 rock, which old oaks darkly overshadow. Suddenly 

 at a turn of the way, the castle starts from the wood 

 into broad daylight, resting on a soft grassy slope; 

 and the large arch of the entrance dwindles to the 

 size of an insignificant doorway between the two 

 enormous towers, at the foot of which you stand." 

 "Let your fancy conjure up a space about twice 

 the size of the Coliseum at Rome, and let it transport 

 you into a forest of romantic luxuriance. You now 

 overlook the large court surrounded by mossy trees 

 and majestic buildings, which, though of every va- 

 riety of form, combine to create one sublime and 

 connected whole, whose lines, now shooting upwards, 

 now falling off into the blue air, with the contin- 

 ually changing beauty of the green earth beneath, 

 produce, not symmetry indeed, but that higher har- 

 mony elsewhere proper to nature's own works 

 alone. " 



And describing the scene more fully he writes in the 

 same letter: 



"The first glance at your feet falls on a broad 

 simple carpet of turf, arotmd which a softly winding 

 gravel path leads to the entrance and exit of the 

 gigantic edifice. Looking backwards, your eye 



