536' ON USEFUL AND BOOK I. 



pear ' irregularly great/ Plantations made on hills ought al- 

 ways to assume the character of grandeur. Those introduced 

 among cultivated fields, and bounded by straight lines, may 

 have a very grand effect, if due regard be had to vary their out- 

 line, by attending to the angular insertions of hedgerows or 

 belts ; though, in this case, it is impossible to avoid a degree of 

 formality which is always connected with cultivation, and 

 which, being essential to it, cannot be considered as a defor- 

 mity. When a plantation is to be made of a size which does 

 not assume the character of grandeur, the outline should be 

 composed of such a mixture of straight and curved lines as will 

 relieve each other, produce variety and intricacy, and corre- 

 spond with the surface of the ground. Nothing can be more un- 

 natural or insipid, than a x serpentine line, or one wholly com- 

 posed of curves, as the boundary of a plantation: it is totally 

 void of variety and intricacy, and destitute of force and spirit, 

 which .are some of the great objects obtained by planting, and 

 which it is the peculiar property of irregular or picturesque 

 forms to confer. The outline, where ornament is a principal 

 consideration, should be broken by single trees and groups, so 

 dispersed, as to increase its irregularity, and take away from 

 that formality and sameness which lines of every kind have, 

 when viewed alone. Those who attempt this, without under- 

 standing effect, clog up the bays and recesses, in place of mak- 

 ing them appear deeper and more intricate ; and thus they do 



