247 



an avenue you see the same objects from 

 beginning to end, and in the belt a new 

 set every twenty yards, yet each successive 

 part of this insipid circle is so like the 

 preceding, that though really different, th$ 

 difference is scarcely felt; and there is 

 nothing that so dulls, and at the same time 

 so irritates the mind,, as perpetual change 

 without variety. 



The avenue has a most striking effect, 

 from the very circumstance of its being 

 strait ; no other figure can give that image 

 of a grand gothic aisle with its natural 

 columns and vaulted roof, the general mass 

 of which fills the eye, while the particular 

 parts insensibly steal from it in a long 

 gradation of perspective*. The broad so» 

 Jemn shade adds a twilight calm to the 



* By long gradation, I do not mean a great length of 

 avenue ; I perfectly agree with Mr. Burke, " that colo- 

 ■ades and avenues of trees, of a moderate length, are 

 without comparison far grander, than when they are 

 suffered to run to immense distances." — Sublime and 

 Beautiful, sect. x. p. 136. 



R 4 



