(Bra&ing anb Sbapfng ©rounbs 187 



generally pleasing; and the number of degrees and 

 combinations into which they may be cast is infinite, 

 those forms only in each which are perfectly regular 

 must be avoided ; a semicircle can never be tolerable : 

 small portions of large circles blended together or 

 lines gently curved which are not parts of any circle, 

 a hollow sinking but little below the level; a swell 

 very much flattened at the top, are commonly the 

 most agreeable figures. In ground that lies beauti- 

 fully the concave will generally prevail; within the 

 same compass it shows more compass than a swell; 

 all the sides of the latter are not visible at the same 

 time, except in a few particular situations; but it is 

 only in a few particular situations that any part of a 

 hollow is concealed, earth seems to have been accumu- 

 lated to raise the one, and taken away to sink the 

 other. The concave, therefore, appears the Hghter, 

 and for the most part it is the more elegant shape; 

 even the slope of a swell can hardly be brought down 

 unless broken now and then into hollows to take off 

 from the heaviness of the mass. In made ground 

 the connexion is, perhaps, the principal consideration. 

 A swell that wants it is but a heap, a hollow but a 

 hole; and both appear artificial. The one seems 

 placed upon a surface to which it does not belong; 

 the other dug into it. Trees, too, without being con- 

 nected with those within, and seeming part of a 

 clump or a grove there wiU frequently obliterate every 

 trace of an interruption. By such or other means 

 the line may be, and should be hid oi- disguised; not 



