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nite beauty to be produced by judicious 

 management of the home scenery, as may 

 well compensate the want of prospect. 

 There is always great cheerfulness in a 

 view on a flat lawn well stocked with cat- 

 tle, if it be properly bounded by wood at a 

 distance ; neither too far off to lessen its 

 importance, nor too near to act as a con- 

 finement to the scene; and which contri- 

 butes also to break those straight and 

 parallel lines, that are the only causes of 

 disgust in a flat situation. Uneven ground 

 may be more striking as a picture, and 

 more interesting to the stranger's eye; 

 it may be more bold, or magnificent, or 

 romantic; but the character of cheerful- 

 ness is peculiar to the plain. Whether this 

 effect be produced by the apparent ease 

 of communication, or by the larger pro- 

 portion of sky which enters into the land- 

 scape, or by the different manner in which 

 cattle form themselves into groups on a 

 plain, and on a sloping bank, I confess I 

 am at a loss to decide : all three causes 

 may, perhaps, contribute to produce that 

 degree of cheerfulness which every one 



