©rabttis an& Sbaping (3roun5s 191 



they become more impatient of control : they are not 

 only less nianageable, but ought to be less restrained ; 

 they require more variety and contrast. But still 

 the same principles are applicable to the least, and 

 to the greatest, tho' not with equal severity: neither 

 ought to be rent to pieces; and though a small neglect, 

 which would distract the one, may not disturb the 

 other, yet a total disregard of all the principles of 

 union is alike productive of confusion in both. 



"The style also of every part must be accommo- 

 dated to the character of the whole, for every piece 

 of ground is distinguished by certain properties: it 

 is either tame or bold, gentle or rude; continued or 

 broken; and if any varieties inconsistent with those 

 properties be obtruded, it has no other effect than to 

 weaken one idea without raising another. The in- 

 sipidity of a fiat is not taken away by a few scat- 

 tered hillocks; a continuation of uneven ground can 

 alone give the idea of inequality. A large, deep, 

 abrupt break, along easy swells and falls, seems at 

 the best but a piece left unfinished, which ought to 

 have been softened, it is not more natural because 

 it is more rude ; nature forms both one and the other 

 but seldom mixes them together. On the other hand, 

 a small, fine, polished form, in the midst of rough mis- 

 shapen ground, though more elegant than all about 

 it, is generally no better than a patch, itself disgraced, 

 and disfiguring the scene. A thousand instances 

 might be produced to show, that the prevailing idea 

 ought to pervade every part, so far at least indis- 



