372 PICTURESQUE IMPROVEMENT. BOOK I. 



attend to their characters: these may be either grand, terri- 

 fic, fanciful, or romantic and picturesque. Grandeur consists 

 commonly in the breadth of light and shade and height of the 

 masses; and may be heightened by increasing these, either by 

 removing small parts of the rock itself, or clearing away ap- 

 pendages which tend to conceal or injure the principal masses. 

 Romantic or terrific rocks may sometimes be improved by con- 

 cealment or disclosure, but seldom by increasing their cha- 

 racter. Rocks of picturesque beauty may be frequently ope- 

 rated upon with success; either by giving more breadth, vari- 

 ety, or intricacy to the rock itself, or by covering it with 

 vegetation, or planting trees before it, to effect variety or 

 harmony; or bushes and creepers above it, to hang over and 

 produce shade and intricacy, ^n excess of intricacy, however, 

 is dangerous, and tends more than any other quality to make 

 a rock trifling. Crags are frequently trifling on this account; 

 many of the admired rocks at Plympton, from the intricacy of 

 their broken surface, and the fragile nature of the stone, are 

 little better than large coal cinders. The management of rocks 

 is very little, if at all, understood. In many parts of England 

 I have seen them shewn, but in such a way as that they ap- 

 peared little better than upright masses of red earth. This 

 may be observed at some seats in Cumberland and Shropshire; 

 but without referring to these, which is always a painful 

 task when the artist or designer is alive, I may just hint 



