THE BEECH. 



323 



sive in proportions— every reality of Nature, in 

 short, which might present itself to him in its 

 perfect state. It does not occur to him to con- 

 sider what combinations of the Beech with other 

 objects would make a beautiful picture, or how 

 the painter would manage the lines formed by the 

 branches in transferring them to his canvass. He 

 discovers no awkwardness" in the intertwining 

 of the limbs, and feels no disgust" a.t the light- 

 ness of the spray : the former is to him the na- 

 tural characteristic of the tree ; and he is well 

 pleased to look up and admire the delicate twigs 

 with their scattered leaves painted on the curtain 

 of the heavens. He sees things as they exist 

 in nature, and is not for the time aware that 

 to the artist they have another, independent ex- 

 istence : he is, as a naturalist, unconscious that 

 w^hat is beautiful in nature is not of necessity 

 picturesque in art. Gilpin, however, though he 

 might, if he chose, divest himself of the feehngs 

 of the painter, and then admire all that seemed 

 admirable to the other, cannot do so without an 

 effort. Carried away by the same feelings, he 

 pronounces also a very harsh judgment on the 

 Havv thorn. 



Sir T. D. Lauder, remarking on Gilpin's stric- 

 tures on the Beech, says, with great propriety, 

 ^^It must be observed here, that this is one of the 

 instances in which the author's love for the art 

 of representing the objects of Nature with the 

 pencil, and his associations with the pleasures of 

 that art, have very much led him away. We 

 are disposed to go along with him in a great 

 measure, so far as we, like him, draw our associa- 

 ^ See page 199, 



