520 



ON" USEFUL AND 



BOOK I. 



hedges. Viewed from rising grounds in autumn, they should 

 present broad flat shades of rich yellows, interspersed with farm 

 houses, and relieved by roads, canals, or rivers. The Carse of 

 Gowrie, a fertile and beautiful valley watered by the Tay, and 

 bounded on each side by ranges of hills and mountains, affords 

 an excellent example in illustration of this remark. There, in 

 sailing from Dundee towards Perth the general foreground on 

 each side is a level country covered with corn; the middle dis- 

 tance rising grounds and hills chiefly under pasturage varied by 

 wood, enlivened by castles, mansions, and villages. Behind these 

 arise a chain of stupendous mountains, the craggy summits of 

 which are covered with snow, or lost in white clouds, or some- 

 times obscured by the distant thunder-storm.. 



There is nothing of so great importance as the situation of 

 wood, whether we look to the general appearance of a country 

 and the improvement of its climate, or to the beauty and value 

 •of individual estates. All other operations that can be effected 

 about a mansion are, comparatively, of little importance. It is 

 the wood, like the shades in a picture, that gives the effect; and 

 as it is by the situation and relative connexion of these shades, 

 that an expressive or unmeaning picture is produced by the 

 painter; so, by the site and connexion of plantations, a place 

 is either deformed or beautified by the planter. Even small 

 groups and detached trees, like the last touches in a picture., 



