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that such forms produce a kind of stimulus 

 from sympathy, not unlike that which 

 broken lights excite in the organ, yet the 

 most constant and manifest stimulus which 

 rough and abrupt objects produce in pic- 

 turesque scenery, is that of curiosity. 

 This will clearly appear, if we consider in 

 how much greater a degree all that most 

 excites and nourishes curiosity abounds in 

 scenes where the lines and forms are 

 broken and abrupt, than in those where 

 they are smooth and flowing. 



If, by way of example, we take any 

 smooth object, the lines of which are 

 flowing, such as a down of the finest 

 turf, with gentle swelling knolls and hil- 

 locks of every soft and undulating form- 

 though the eye may repose on this with 

 pleasure, yet the whole is seen at once, 

 and no further curiosity is excited. 

 But let those swelling knolls (without 

 altering the scale) be broken into abrupt 

 rocky projections, with deep hollows and 

 coves beneath the overhanging stones; 

 instead of the smooth turf, let there be 

 furze, heath, or fern, with open patches 



