310 
LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 
way, be not already determined past alteration, it should be 
so chosen, as to afford a sufficient drive through the grounds 
before arriving at the house, to give the stranger some idea 
of the extent of the whole property : to allow an agreeable 
diversity of surface over which to lead it : and lastly in 
such a manner as not to interfere with the convenience of 
ready access to and from the mansion. 
This point being decided, and the other being the mansion 
and adjacent buildings, it remains to lay out the road in such 
gradual curves as will appear easy and graceful, without 
verging into rapid turns, or formal stiffness. Since the mod- 
ern style has become partially known and adopted here, some 
persons appear to have supposed that nature <c has a horror 
of straight lines,” and consequently, believing that they could 
not possibly err, they immediately ran into the other extreme, 
filling their grounds with zig-zag and regularly serpentine 
roads, still more horrible : which can only be compared to 
the contortions of a wounded snake dragging its way slowly 
over the earth. 
There are two guiding principles which have been laid 
down for the formation of Approach roads. The first, that 
the curves should never be so great, or lead over surfaces so 
unequal, as to make it disagreeable to drive upon them ; and 
the second, that the road should never curve without some 
reason , either real or apparent. 
The most natural method of forming a winding Approach 
where the ground is gently undulating, is to follow, in some 
degree, the depressions of surface, and to curve round the 
eminences. This is an excellent method, so long as it does 
not lead us in too circuitous a direction, nor, as we before 
hinted, make the road itself too uneven. When either of 
these happen, the easy, gradual flow of the curve in the 
