PART VIII. PICTURESQUE PLANTING. 443 



varied in surface, and presenting few masses of wood, trees, 

 though scattered with a sparing hand, and with no regard to 

 beauty, have an excellent effect. Whatever formality or same- 

 ness there may be in the distance, the foreground trees disguise 

 it, and form between their stems and spreading branches num- 

 berless combinations, or pictures, which meet the eye succes- 

 sively in passing along. This powerful effect, which every one 

 must have observed, and to which few can be insensible, is of- 

 ten produced unintentionally, by the simplest means; merety 

 by hedge-row trees. 



Trees indeed, wherever they are introduced, seldom or never 

 displease. There is no other material of landscape so powerful 

 in producing variety and intricacy, those " nourishers of curio- 

 sity" which attract the attention, and by which we are inte- 

 rested long after the first impressions are effaced. They group 

 with rocks, ruins, buildings, animals, and whatever they are 

 near; and, by partially concealing them, produce the most in- 

 teresting combination: these are continually varying, as the 

 spectator changes his place; and every variation has the charm 

 of novelty and beauty. 



Leaving the study of trees in combination with other objects, 

 if we attend to the different species individually, a new source 

 of beauty and character presents itself, which is no less interest- 



