265 



the effect is in one respect much worse ; 

 we are disposed to admire the bulk of a 

 single tree, the ipse nemus, though its 

 form should be heavy ; but there is a mean- 

 ness, as well as a heaviness, in the ap- 

 pearance of a lumpy mass, produced by a 

 multitude of little stems. 



What are the qualities that painters do 

 admire in single trees, groups, and woods, 

 may easily be concluded from what they 

 do not ; the detail would be infinite, for 

 luckily where art does not interfere, the 

 absolute exclusions are few. If their taste 

 be preferable to that of gardeners, it is 

 clear that there is something radically bad 

 in the usual method of making and ma- 

 naging plantations ; it otherwise would 

 never happen, that the woods and arrange- 

 ments of trees which they are least dis- 

 posed to admire, should be those made for 

 the express purpose of ornament. Under 

 that idea, the spontaneous trees of the 

 country are often excluded as too common, 

 or admitted in small proportions ; whilst 

 others of peculiar form and colour, take 



