366 PICTURESQUE IMPROVEMENT. BOOK I. 



form can seldom be effected, except on small spots under the 

 eye, as on ground intended for a parterre, or in that immedi- 

 ately adjoining the mansion; but in respect to quality of sur- 

 face, it may frequently be changed : thus heaths and rough 

 commons are often made fertile fields. Sometimes the charac- 

 ter both of the surface and form may be changed ; as when a 

 level surface of moss is cleared from a varied surface of soil, as 

 in agricultural improvement sometimes happens with such 

 grounds in Wales and Scotland. 



Connexion is essentially requisite to the formation of charac- 

 ter; and nothing in ground is so disagreeable as its interruption. 

 The most beautiful mound formally placed upon a level or the 

 most elegant sweep, amid abruptnesses and irregularities, will 

 ever be discordant. In undulating and simple surfaces, the 

 parts ought to co-operate with each other in producing every 

 variation of form ; and in picturesque surfaces, the union of 

 abruptnesses and broken ground should neither be forced, re- 

 gular, nor unmeaning. A level surface broken into holes, or 

 covered with heaps, is totally different from a picturesque sur- 

 face : even an irregular surface uniformly abrupt or broken is 

 but another variation of the same deformity. In picturesque 

 ground, the surface, must either be rising, falling, or irregular: 

 in the rising surface, the breaks and abrupt ascents must suc- 

 ceed each other, or be interposed so as, standing below and 



