TREATMENT OF GROUND. FORMATION OF WALKS. 315 
shaded dell or rugged eminence, where an extensive prospect 
can be enjoyed. Indeed, the genius of the place must sug- 
gest the direction, length, and number of the walks to be laid 
out, as no fixed rules can be imposed in a subject so ever- 
changing and different. It should however, never be forgot- 
ten, that the walk ought always to correspond to the scene 
it traverses, being rough where the latter is wild and pictu- 
resque, sometimes scarcely differing from a common footpath, 
and more polished, as the surrounding objects show evidences 
of culture and high keeping. In direction , like the ap- 
proach, it should take easy flowing curves, though it may 
often turn more abruptly at the interposition of an obstacle. 
The chief beauty of curved and bending lines in walks, lies 
in the new scenes, which by means of them are opened to the 
eye. In the straight walk of half a mile the whole is seen 
at a glance, and there is too often but little to excite the spec- 
tator to pursue the search ; but in the modern style, at every 
few rods, a new turn in the walk opens a new prospect to the 
beholder, and “ leads the eye, as Hogarth graphically ex- 
pressed it, “a kind of wanton chase,” continually affording 
new refreshment and variety. 
Fences are often among the most unsightly and offensive 
objects in our country seats. Some persons appear to have 
a passion for subdividing their grounds into a great number 
of fields ; a process which is scarcely ever advisable even in 
common farms, but for which there can be no apology in 
elegant residences. The close proximity of fences to the 
house gives the whole place a confined and mean character. 
“ The mind,” says Repton, u feels a certain disgust under a 
sense of confinement in any situation however beautiful.” A 
wide-spread lawn, on the contrary, where no boundaries are 
conspicuous, conveys an impression of ample extent and space 
