PART VII. PICTURESQUE IMPROVEMENT. 41? 



applied in many other instances. Almost every thing depends 

 upon their application to the variations of ground, and their 

 concealment by trees and bushes: when this is judiciously 

 done, either of these kinds may be made sufficiently invisible ; 

 though it must be observed, that this is very seldom the case. 

 The sunk fence, which abounds most in ornamental scenery, is 

 only unseen when approached at nearly right angles from one 

 side. If there are any curvatures in its direction, or inequali- 

 ties in the surface of the ground, the upright wall always meets 

 the eye, and occasions a disagreeable surprize. What is a great 

 additional defect of this fence, and indeed of all those which 

 have been mentioned, is their confinement of the human spe- 

 cies. Grounds where they occur always appear on a con- 

 tracted scale, and a disagreeable restraint is necessarily imposed 

 on the spectator wherever he goes. Should he leave the walk 

 and saunter over the lawn, or take a direct road to any object 

 in the park, he is either suddenly intercepted by this invincible 

 barrier, or perpetually pained by the idea of meeting with it ; 

 and wherever it obtrudes itself, he must return and walk in the 

 gravelled path, where, if he has any curiosity at all, he must, to 

 use a cant phrase, be " ill at ease." From experiencing this, it 

 naturally occurred to me* that an iron rail, such as is used for 



* I should not again repeat that this fence, and also the next described, were 

 solely invented by me, were it not that some persons have suspected the contrary. 



3 H 



