138 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



" size, the clumps also must be smaller and 

 u fewer. 



" With regard to the general form of the 

 " larger clump, we observed, that in a single 

 " tree we expected elegance in the parts. In 

 " the smaller clumps this idea was relinquished, 

 " and in its room we expected a general con- 

 " trast in trunks, branches, and foliage. But 

 " as the clump becomes larger, and recedes 

 " in the landscape, all these pleasing contrasts 

 " are lost, and we are satisfied with a general 

 " form. No regular form is pleasing. A clump 

 " on the side of a hill, or in any situation 

 " where the eye can more easily investigate 

 " its shape, must be circumscribed by an irre- 

 " gular line, in which it is required that the 

 " undulations both at the base and summit of 

 " the clump should be strongly marked ; as 

 " the eye, probably, has a distinct view of 

 " both." * 



Sir Uvedale Price, with his usual accurate 

 discrimination, says — " It is only by a habit 



of observation, added to natural sensibility, 

 " that we learn to distinguish what is really 

 " beautiful from what is merely smooth and 



* Gilpin's Forest Scenery, vol. i. p. 1 77. 



