424 PICTURESQUE IMPROVEMENT. BOOK I. 



volume of grey, vary a uniform bank or a monotonous outline. 

 In the distant scenery especially, they may often be introduced 

 with this effect, where perhaps, from the nature of the country, 

 or the interference of other property, no other improvement 

 could be adopted. This is no where better illustrated than at 

 Hop ton Court, where a bleak monotonous outline in the mid- 

 dle distance, and about a mile from the mansion, is not only 

 improved, but even rendered interesting, by the smoke ascend- 

 ing from groups of cottages introduced in proper places. An 

 attentive observer will see similar effects every where. Even 

 the smoke of offices, farm buildings, hot-house fires, &c. may 

 often prove of great service in the fore-grounds of a residence, 

 by producing variety, increasing tranquillity in a moving scene, 

 or promoting the idea of comfort and population in a dreary 

 one. Witness the village of Dunkeld, the hot-houses at Havod, 

 or the cottages at Foxley and the Holme. 



The changes in the elements which constitute the seasons of the 

 year, or the different periods of the day, are productive of in- 

 finite beauty in landscape; and often a scene, which has no- 

 thing intrinsic to recommend it, may, by the influence of a ri- 

 sing or setting sun, a dark cloud, a fog, or numberless other 

 circumstances, be rendered so interesting as to engage the 

 pencil of the painter. Every variety of storm, whether of rain, 

 hail, snow, frost, or thunder, is highly interesting. The enliven- 



