m 



hot therefore to be wondered at, that 

 . Brown's ilUterate followers should have 

 copied the means he used, and not the 

 model he proposed : they saw him prefer 

 curved lines to straight ones, and hence 

 proceeded those meandering, serpentine, 

 and undulating lines in all their works, 

 which were unfortunately confirmed by 

 Hogarth's recommendation of his imagi- 

 nary line of beauty. Thus we see roads 

 sweeping round, to avoid the direct line, 

 to their object, and fences fancifully tak- 

 ing a longer course, and even belts and 

 plantations in useless curves, with a drive 

 meandering in parallel lines, which are 

 full as much out of nature as a straight 

 one. Thus has fashion converted the belt 

 or skreen of plantation, introduced by 

 Brown, into a drive quite as monotonous, 

 and more tedious, than an avenue or vista, 

 because a curved line is always longer 

 than a straight one. 

 Brown's Browu's belt consisted of a wood, 



through which a road might wind to va- 

 rious points of view, or scenery shewn un- 

 der various circumstances of foreground; 



