24 Gilpin's forest scenery. 



and, in the representation of elevated subjects, 

 assists tlie sublime. 



,/ Whether these maladies in trees ever produce 

 beauty in adorned Nature, I much doubt. Kent * 

 was hardy enough even to plant a withered tree ; 

 but the error was too glaring for imitation. 

 Objects in every mode of composition should 

 harmonize ; and all we venture to assert, is, that 

 these maladies are then only sources of beauty, 

 either in the wild scenes of Nature or in artificial 

 landscape, when they are the appendages of some 

 particular mode of composition. 



The planting of a withered tree, though seldom, if ever, 

 attempted by modern gardeners, would bo perfectly 

 consistent in any portion of a wooded estate to which it 

 was desired to give the aspect of a forest, provided the 

 ground was of sufficient extent. But in such a case the 

 size of the tree would need to be proportioned to the 

 living trees surrounding it. It is^ in fact, a common 

 practice to plant old tree stumps upon lawns, for the 

 reception of ferns and mosses ; for a lawn, in such a case, 

 may be said to represent a forest glade in which one may 



* William Kent, who is regarded as the founder of Englisli 

 landscape gardening, was horn in Yorlcshire in 1684 and died 

 in 1748.— Ed. 



