41 



alone I should reckon as no little gain ; 

 for who would not prefer an absurd, but 

 laughable farce, to a flat insipid piece of 

 five acts ? There is, however, another very 

 essential difference. In a made river there 

 is such an incorrigible dulness, that unless 

 the banks themselves be totally altered, the 

 most judicious planting will not entirely 

 get the better of it: but let the most whim- 

 sical improver make banks with roots, 

 stones, rocks, grottos, caverns, of every odd 

 and fantastic form; even these, by means 

 of trees, bushes, trailing plants, and of ve- 

 getation in general, may in a short time 

 have their absurdities in a great degree 

 disguised, and still under that disguise, be 

 the cause of many varied and striking ef- 

 fects : how much more so, if the same ma- 

 terials were disposed by a skilful artist! 

 There are, indeed, such advantages arising 

 from the moisture and vegetation which 

 generally attend the near banks of water, 

 that even quarry stones simply placed 

 against a bank, however crude their first 

 appearance, soon become picturesque; 



