INTRODUCTION. 5 



adjusted by the Landscape Gardener, in forming or improving plea- 

 sure-grounds. Park and landscape scenery are frequently viewed 

 as unadorned or natural productions ; but the general effect may, 

 notwithstanding, be improved and heightened by the assistance of 

 art, especially by the formation or adaptation of inequalities of sur- 

 face, by pieces of water, by statuary, and by ornamental buildings. 



The investigation of the various sources of pleasing ideas con- 

 nected with the delight attendant upon the exhibition of beauty, 

 either in nature or in art, cannot here be inquired into ; but it 

 will be necessary to ascertain the distinction between such objects 

 as may be considered beautiful, and such as may be considered 

 picturesque, with reference to Landscape Gardening. Those objects 

 which possess a degree of elegance in their construction, and give 

 pleasure by smoothness and neatness in their appearance, partake 

 of that quality denominated beauty ; while such objects as appear 

 of an opposite character, are denominated picturesque : but, as this 

 may seem to apply to the surface only, it must be observed, that 

 a subject truly picturesque cannot partake in any great degree of 

 regularity ; its essential is, that it be diversified and rugged in its 

 appearance. A decorated lawn, or flower-garden, neatly trimmed 

 and preserved in order, presents the constituents of beauty; while 

 the rough and broken precipice, the sinuous and irregular banks 

 of a river, display the picturesque. 



