392 



P. 256. 1. 10. I have mentioned in the text the wretch- 

 ed effect of taking away the outside trees 

 from groups where they had long grown to- 

 gether; it is to the full as bad when they are 

 incautiously removed from the front of an ex- 

 tended wood, for it can hardly ever be done 

 without making a manifest gap, in itself very 

 unpleasant, and at the same time letting in 

 the view towards a number of naked stems 

 behind. It appears, however, that the founder 

 of the modern school did it upon system. 

 t( Where the plumage of an ancient wood ex- 

 tended wide its undulating canopy and stood 

 venerable in darkness, Kent," says Mr. Wal- 

 pole, " thinned its foremost ranks." One 

 should really be led to conclude from every 

 expression in this description, that the writer 

 intended to give us a horror for the practice, 

 which yet, from the place where it is men- 

 tioned, we must suppose him to have approved. 

 The bad consequence of this system of separating 

 trees which had long grown together, is no 

 where more apparent, than when an old avenue 

 is broken into clumps • yet it may very well 

 happen that a landscape-painter, however 

 strongly he may condemn the alteration as it 

 affected the general views and the character 

 of the place, might find some particular advan- 

 tages from it with respect to his own art : for 

 us he is not obliged to make an exact por- 



