322 



trees in his plantations bear no mark of his 

 attention : indeed, his clumps strongly prove 

 his love of compactness. There is another 

 circumstance in his plantations, which de- 

 serves to be remarked : a favourite mixture 

 of his was that of beech and Scotch firs, 

 in nearly equal proportion : but where 

 unity and simplicity of character are given 

 up, it should, be for the sake of a variety 

 that will harmonize : which two trees, so 

 equal in size and quantity, and so strongly 

 contrasted in form and colour, can never 

 do * 



I have given what I thought the just 



* This puts me in mind of an anecdote I heard of a 

 person, very much used to look at objects with a painter's 

 eye: — He had three cows; when his wife, with a very 

 proper oeconomy, observed, that two were quite sufficient 

 for their family, and desired him to part with one of them. 

 " Lord, my dear," said he, " two cows you know cart 

 never group." 



A third tree (like a third cow) might have connected and 

 blended the discordant forms and colours of the beech and 

 Scotch fir; but every thing I have seen of Mr. Brown's 

 works, have convinced me that he had, in a figurative 



