14 



INTRODUCTION. 



mere surface, being the Remarks on Forest Scenery^ by Gilpin ; 

 and Kennion's Essay on Trees in Landscape. The perusal of the 

 Arbm-etum et Fruticetum Britannicum, and the comparison of the 

 botanical specimens with the touch to which they give rise in 

 the portraits, will enable artists to investigate from our figures, 

 and afterwards from nature, those differences in the points of the 

 shoots, in the clustering and form of the foliage, and between 

 the appearance of the foliage of spring and that of autumn, 

 which give rise to. the difference of touch necessary to characte- 

 rise a species, and to mark the season of the year. Most artists 

 who have studied trees from nature can give the touch of the 

 oak with characteristic expression; and, by the study of the 

 details of other trees, they may attain a touch which shall cha- 

 racterise them with equal force and accuracy. There is no 

 work extant, however, from which an artist can study, correctly 

 and scientifically, the touch of more species of trees than the 

 oak, the ash, the weeping willow, and one or two others. In 

 proof of this we may refer to the plates in Kennion's work 

 above referred to, as one of the latest and best, where the engra- 

 vings, in the greater number of instances, have not the slightest 

 resemblance to the trees the names of which are written be- 

 neath them. How, under these circumstances, is it possible 

 for an artist, who is not a botanist, and who does not reside in 

 the country, to study the touch of trees ? By the Arioretum 

 et Fruticetum Britannicum he may acquire as much botanical 

 knowledge as will enable him to distinguish with certainty all 

 the different species of trees to be found in this country ; and 

 he will see, in the engravings of the botanical specimens as 

 they appear in autumn, the foundations laid in nature for the 

 different descriptions of touch. The London artist, in addi- 

 tion to the botanical knowledge which he may acquire from 

 our work, may have recourse to the specimen trees (all near 

 London) from which our portraits were taken. Artists gene- 

 rally, by becoming botanically acquainted with the trees, will 

 be able to recognise them in their walks, or professional excur- 

 sions; to study them under various circumstances, and, when 

 they introduce them in their landscapes, to give their characters 

 with fidelity. 



Hitherto there has not been a sufficient demand for this kind 

 of skill on the part of the artist; but, as foreign trees become 

 better known by the public generally, it will be necessary for 

 artists to keep their art on a level with the state of knowledge 

 of the times in which they live. As the foreign trees which are 

 every year being introduced into the country advance in size, the 

 truth of this remark will become more and more obvious. 



Having now given a general outline of the plan of our Work, 

 and of the manner in which we propose to carry that plan into 

 execution, we shall next proceed with Part I. 



