370 PICTURESQUE IMPROVEMENT. BOOK I. 



an excellent effect on the sides of hills, mountains, steeps, and 

 banks of rivers or lakes; and in this last case would frequently 

 be assisted in connexion with the removal of water, which can 

 frequently be effected with ease: as for example, when a lake 

 has an outlet, or when the channel of a river has considerable 

 declivity. In every case where rocks are to be shewn, it is pre- 

 ferable to shew perpendicular, projecting, or at least nearly up- 

 right surfaces — any other kind never occurs in nature, except 

 under the surface of water or in barren deserts; for though they 

 may have been left altogether naked at the deluge, or immedi- 

 ately after convulsions or earthquakes, yet the weather, time, 

 and vegetation, continually operate upon the upper surface of 

 mineral bodies until they are clothed with earth and vegetables. 

 The rocks in Plate XXXI. are supposed to be shewn entirely 

 by the removal of wood. Rocks may be concealed either 

 partially or completely, and by either or all of the materials 

 which may shew them. Partial concealment is best effected 

 by wood; and if the form of the part or parts which appear, be 

 in the grand style, and the concealment judiciously effected, 

 the imagination, ever ready to magnify the extent or powers of 

 indistinct objects, will conceive the rest to be much more no- 

 ble than if they had been of forms capable of being advan- 

 tageously disclosed. Partial concealment may sometimes be 

 effected by earth or water, and even by buildings: in all, the 

 general principles are the same. 



