C m 3 



tivated country, with a varied boundary of 

 hills or mountains; and to that again, effects 

 of water and buildings, it is enchantment. 

 If from a high fummit you look from moun- 

 tain to mountain, acrofs their craggy breaks^ 

 and down unto their recefles, it is awful 

 and fublime. Yet neither fuch grand nor 

 fuch beautiful profpecls as thofe which I 

 have juft defcribed, nor yet many others of 

 intermediate ftyles and degrees, are in ge^ 

 neral proper fubjecls for pictures. This I 

 imagine to arife, not from the height whence 

 they are viewed, but from another caufe 

 which equally operates on all views ; namely, 

 the want of any objects of importance either 

 in the fore-ground, or the middle diftance. 

 Apply this to any view, even to fuch as are 

 taken from a low ftation, and where the ex- 

 tent is limited : If it want thofe nearer objects, 

 it will feldom fuit the painter in point of 

 compofition ; though, from the refources of 

 k his 



