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wood following the natural shapes of the 

 ground: the affectation of such lines is 

 often more offensive than a straight line, 

 which is always the shortest, generally 

 the easiest to disguise, and very often 

 appears curved, and even crooked, from 

 crossing uneven ground. '' The sweeping- 

 lines of art, when applied to nature, be- 

 come ridiculous, because they are liable 

 to be compared with works of art, and 

 not of nature. ' 



I have often wished it were possible 

 by any art to produce the outline of 

 Stokenchurch Hill, as seen in the road 

 from Oxford to London ; but this is a 

 forest partially cleared of wood by time 

 and accident: in vain will any new place 

 assume the same degree of respectability; 



^ The strongest example of this fact may be taken 

 from a view of large tracts of open country recently in- 

 closed, where the lines of hedges are often drawn on 

 tlie map by the commissioners at right angles, and the 

 fields exactly square : but from tine occasional inequality 

 of surface they generally appear diversified, and each 

 square field takes a different shape in appearance, al- 

 though on the map they may be exactly similar. 



