LAYING OUT GROUNDS. 25 



nothing can be more annoying than the prospect of a straight line, 

 over which one is to travel after having previously surveyed it; 

 and it is rendered more objectionable when the object approached 

 is immediately before the eye : — an example of this is in the 

 approach to an extensive mansion in the North of England, where 

 a straight road through the park, two miles in length, leads up 

 to the house, which is ever in view ; first in semblance of a cot- 

 tage, then as a respectable house, and finally as a magnificent and 

 elegant mansion, which is its true character. 



Where there is no diversity in the line of the road, nor change 

 of object, the mind becomes wearied of the sameness, and the 

 grandeur of the mansion is lost, which should burst upon the view 

 in all its impressive magnificence ; but when the road is conducted 

 in a winding direction, the object now hidden, now viewed to ad- 

 vantage, the imagination is excited by the variety ; and although 

 the route may be more circuitous, this is fully compensated by 

 the beauty and interest of the scenery. It is desirable that distant 

 parts of the road should be seen from the house; the colour, as 

 well as the objects occasionally moving on it, enliven the uniformly 

 green hue of the park. It is equally worthy of consideration, 

 that the road should not command a view of the pleasure-ground, 

 nor approach the front of the house. An occasional view of the 

 house through trees has a good effect; and from some part of the 

 road a burst of view, and as good a prospect of the mansion as possible, 



E 



