131 



then shall any scale be applied to a land- 

 scape which presents parts innumerable, 

 and those at various distances from the 

 eye? My sketches, therefore, do not at- 

 tempt to describe the minutiae of a scene, 

 but the general effects; and all the accu- 

 racy of portraiture to M'hich they pre- 

 tend is the representation of objects as 

 they appear to the eye, and never to insert 

 those that do not exist, although they 

 cannot represent all that do.* 



The enthusiasm for picturesque effect Answer to 



* ^ MrKnight'3 



seems to have so completely bewildered " ^and- 



*■ *' scape. 



the author of The Landscape, a poem, that 

 he not only mistakes the essential differ- 

 ence between the landscape painter and 

 the landscape gardener, but appears even 



i Since so much depends on the relative propor- 

 tions or apparent dimensions of objects at different dis- 

 tances, it becomes necessary for the landscape gardener 

 to ascertain with great precision the exact scale of his 

 proposed improvements, for which there is no better 

 expedient than to place men with long staffs or poles of 

 equal height at different stations, while he sketches the 

 scene before him. The use of this is particularly de- 

 monstrated by the plate at p. g in the " Observations, 

 &c." but cannot be so well explained by mere words. 



