PART VII. PICTURESQUE IMPROVEMENT. 385 



attending the formation or management of artificial pieces of 

 water. 



1. The situation. — In treating this subject, collections of 

 water may be divided into two kinds : those intended to be 

 seen in a general view, and in connection with the adjacent 

 scenery ; and those only to be seen when near. Of the former 

 class are lakes, rivers, ponds, &c. ; and of the latter springs*, 

 rills, rivulets, cascades, &c. There is scarcely any situation 

 in which springs, rivulets, &c. may not be placed. We find 

 rills, in nature, deep sunk in dells, as in cases where they run 

 down the sides of hills, or pass through a sandy soil. Should 

 they pass through a fertile or level meadow or vale, their course 

 is commonly very irregular ; and when they are found in hol- 

 lows, it is nearly straight, &c. The situation of rivers, lakes, and 

 ponds, is invariably in the lowest parts of the surface. It is, in- 

 deed, impossible that it could be otherwise. Water, whenever 

 it occurs, is always a striking feature, and thus has always its 

 peculiar situation : when that situation is changed, every other 

 feature is perverted — truth, nature, and harmony are set at de- 

 fiance, and the most glaring discord substituted in their room. 

 Striking instances of this gross error occur at Donnington, 

 Wentworth Castle, and Hawkstone *. An instance may also 



* Mr. Rep ton, who seems never at a loss for argument, observes, that he has 

 u frequently advised that pools so unnaturally placed should be retained," not only 



S D 



/ 



