Book IV. 



OPERATING WITH ROCKS. 



1013 



Sect. IV. Roctes> 



122%. The imitation of rocks forms no part of the geometric style of gardening, and 

 are a material of the natural style, equally unsuitable to be created. But though rocks 

 cannot readily be imitated, their expression may sometimes be heightened when desirable, 

 and concealed when disagreeable. 



7229. The character of rocks may be savage, terrific, sublime, picturesque, or fantastic. 

 By attending to the forms of the milder characters, and their connection with ground and 

 trees, we shall discover whether, and to what extent, they may be improved. Savage 

 rocks are too inhospitable to be permanently admitted, in any extent, near the eye. All 

 rocks convey something of this idea that are not accompanied by vegetation ; and, there- 

 fore, planting among or near them is, in eveiy case, an improvement where trees do 

 not exist. All rocks are expressive of dignity ; those eminently so, are not greatly varied 

 by projections from their surface : their beauty is to be augmented, either by increasing 

 their surface in height or depth, or by connecting it if too scattered. The removal of a 

 few feet of earth, or part of the bushes or trees from the bottom of a precipice or ridge, 

 and the emplacement of a line of wood along its summit, will increase its real and appar- 

 ent height ; a similar process, with respect to the sides, will add to the idea of stability 

 and continuation. If the parts are too much scattered, a few trees placed before, or 

 bushes or creepers planted in the intervals between the parts, will connect them, and give 

 the idea of a whole, partly concealed. But in this case, a considerable breadth of surface 

 is necessary, at least in one place, otherwise dignity must give way to picturesque beauty. 

 But the least indications of rocks that are not very fantastic in their form, even including 

 such whose chief expression is picturesque beauty, are, to a certain degree, expressive of 

 dignity. The slightest indication of a stratum or ledge appearing above the surface, con- 

 veys something of this idea, and ought not to be neglected. When they are discovered by 

 alterations in the ground with a view to the formation of roads, fences, and water, or to 

 the erection of buildings, occasional advantage may be taken of their appearance. A 

 road across a declivity may be accompanied by a ledge of rocks instead of a bank of earth. 

 Grounds which are broken and picturesque, will display a more sufficient reason for the 

 appearance. The walls of a terrace evidently in part founded on a rock, will give an 

 idea of dryness, dignity, and security to the house ; and the margin of a stream displaying 

 even large stones, increases the idea of impetuosity ; or, in lakes, of the action of water in 

 washing away the earth. Among imitations of wild scenery, detached stones heighten 

 the illusion, and carry back the mind to the aboriginal state of the country. Loose or de- 

 tached fragments of rocks may often aid the effect of real or supposed masses. The ap- 

 pearance of a large rude stone near a wooded steep, unless of one evidently rounded by 

 water or art, always leads the mind to the larger mass up the acclivity from which it has 

 been broken and rolled down ; if partly sunk in the ground, and concealed by vegetation, 

 the fertility of the imagination considers them as parts of magnitudes which lie buried, 

 under the surface. All this, however, can only be successfully accomplished in a coun- 

 try which, by the character of its general surface, does not preclude the idea of rocks. On 

 a flat or a champaign country, the want of truth, or seeming truth, would render them 

 disagreeable ; and, indeed, did rocks exist in such a landscape, they should be hidden 

 rather than displayed, unless of such extraordinary magnitude and effect, as to form an 

 exception to general principles. 



702 



7G3 



7230. The judicious distribution of stones, in situations where they are not evidently 

 foreign to the character of soil and surface, may greatly heighten wildness and picturesque 

 beauty, { fig. 702.) Every thing, however, will depend on the manner in which this is 

 done ; they must not be merely laid down at random on ' 

 the surface (a), or formally joined together [h), or merely 

 connected, which, however, is better (c) ; but grouped with 

 taste ((/), and partially concealed by vegetation and sunk in 

 the soil. (/, ^0- 



7231. Fantastic stones {fig. 703. a) should be avoided in ^ 

 all cases, unless in some peculiar scene; and where there 

 are already indications of stratified or regular masses ofi 

 rock (6 , it can never appear natural to place near them 

 round, water-worn stones (c). Where angular and laminated stones are near j or where 



3T 3 



