436 PICTURESQUE IMPROVEMENT. BOOK I. 



as an approach to some other part of the residence. The dif- 

 ficulty of executing either of these will be great to those who 

 think of nothing but undulating sweeps, shaven lawns, and ser- 

 pentine gravel walks ; but by those accustomed to admire this 

 kind of scenery, the operation will easily be accomplished *. 



Many dells of the most exquisite kind occur in Scotland and 

 Wales. At Valleyfield, one of the finest sort, and in the 

 grandest style, was treated lately in a manner which will hardly 

 be credited by those who have not seen it. The occasion of 

 this barbarous treatment was, that the approach to the house 

 should be conducted through it: which might have been done 

 by forming a good gravel road, and leaving every thing else in 

 its natural state? but, in place of a natural or irregular margined 

 road, the most formal, high-finished narrow gravel walk that can 

 be imagined was carried stiffly along its banks, while all the 

 wood was thinned — all the undergrowth, creepers, ferns, &e. 

 were cut down, and every broken or abrupt part of the surface 

 was taken away. Even some noble perpendicular rocks, over- 

 hung with large trees, with their edges varied by roots, bushes, 

 and other intricate concealments, were totally bared, and the 

 line of separation everywhere defined by a cut edge of turf- 

 work, upon their tops and sides, exactly similar to that of the 



* The walks at Piercefield, Havod, Birchhill, Dunglass, &c. afford examples 

 in proof of this. 



