OF FOREST-TREES. 



303 



And what, in the mean time, can be more delightful than for noble cHAP. VII. 



persons to adorn their goodly mansions and demesnes with trees of vener- 

 able shade, and profitable timber ? by all the rules and methods imagi- 

 nable, to cut and dispose those ampler inclosures into lawns and ridings, 

 for exercise, health, and prospect, for which I should here presume 

 to furnish some farther directions, were it not already done to my hand by 

 the often-cited Mr. Cooke, in that useful work of his ; where, in the 

 thirty-eighth chapter, he has laid down all that I conceive necessary, by 

 measures exactly taken from the middle line of any front, following the 

 centre-stake, if it be for a walk : he there determines the wideness of 

 the walk, according to its length, as forty feet to one-half of a mile ; 

 if more, fifty or sixty ; and if you withal desire shade, that then you 

 should make three walks, the two collaterals twenty feet broad, to 

 a middle one of forty, twenty-five to fifty, so that the middle be as wide 

 as both the other : he likewise shews how proper it is that v»^alks should 

 not terminate abruptly, but rather in some capacious or pretty figure, 

 be it circle, oval, semi-circle, triangle, or square, especially in parks, or 

 where they do not lead into other walks ; and even in that case, that 

 they may gracefully be a circle to receive them : there he shews how to 

 pierce a walk through the thickest wood, either by stakes set up where 

 they may be seen to direct, or by candle and lantern in a calm night : 

 he also gives the distances of the trees in relation to each other, ac- 

 cording to the species, and shews how necessary it is to plant them 

 nearer in those ovals, circles, and squares, for the better distinction of the 

 figures, suppose to half the distance of that of the walks, and proportion- 

 able to the amplitude or smallness thereof. As for lawns, he advises that 

 they should, if possible, be contrived to the south or east side of the seat 

 or mansion, for avoiding the impetuousness of western winds ; and that 

 your best rooms may front those lawns and openings, and to skreen from 

 the occidental and afternoon's sun, which also hinders the prospect : 

 a lawn on the north exposes the house to that piercing quarter, and 

 therefore it should be well defended with the tallest trees : for the 

 figure, he commends the square, with three avenues breaking out at the 

 three angles, or one at the angle opposite to the house ; and these lawns 

 may be bounded with walks, or a single row of Lime-trees, at a compe- 

 tent distance : to which I add, the circle, with a star of walks radiating 

 from it, likewise exceedingly pleasant ; such as the right hon. the earl of 

 Winchelsea has cut out at his noble seat in Kent; and since, far exceed- 



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