290 Gilpin's forest scenery. 



I great beauty of these close scenes arises from the 

 ' openings and recesses which we find among them. 

 By these I do not mean the laions and pas- 

 turage, which I mentioned as one of the great 

 divisions of forest scenery,* but merely those 

 httle openings among the trees which are pro- 

 duced by various circumstances. A sandy bank 

 or a piece of rocky ground may prevent the 

 contiguity of trees and so make an opening ; or 

 / a tree or two may have been blasted or have been 

 cut down ; or, what is the happiest of all circam- 

 stances, a winding road may run through the wood. 

 The simple idea, which is varied among all these 

 little recesses, is the exhibition of a few trees 

 seen behind others. The varieties of this mode 

 \ of scenery, simple as it is, are infinite. Nature 

 is wonderfully fertile. The invention of the 

 painter may form a composition more agreeable 

 to the rules of his art than Nature commonly 

 produces, but no invention can reach the varieties 

 of particular objects. 



Waterlo delighted in these close forest scenes. 



* See page 28G. 



