LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 
139 
mast of a sailing vessel, may be admitted into ornamental scenery to 
mark the existence of water which cannot be seen ; but bridges oil dry 
land, and masts and sails without hulls, are tricks which no person of 
taste should have recourse to. 
Viaducts across a dry ravine are allowable, as an easy passage from 
bank to bank, as the one already described over the entrance into the 
court-yard (there erroneously called a bridge), but they are both in 
appearance, and for their use, very different from abridge. 
The lake is peopled with a family of swans, as well as several sorts 
of wild fowl, particularly in winter. Several sorts of foreign ducks 
have been tried, but the tyranny of the male swan soon drives them 
away. The swans breed every year. A bundle of straw is laid on one 
of the little islets, which the hen puts in order, and lays, sits, and hatches 
two or three pairs of cygnets in the season. Twelve months afterwards 
the parents drive away their young ; and it is a good plan to remove 
them quite, as the male bird is a most relentless persecutor, especially 
to those of his own sex. The fish, besides those already mentioned, 
are eels, roach, perch, dace, and miller’s-thumbs, which afford a rich 
feast for the herons frequenting the spot. 
Below the lake are very rich meadows on each side of the brook, 
extending to the outside of the park; and the higher ground on 
each side is finely wooded. The right hand brow, which is most 
distant from the house, is covered with an extensive plantation of 
evergreen trees, chiefly firs, relieved in front by evergreen oak, larch, 
and a few deciduous trees, planted lower down on the hill, and which 
have a most striking effect as seen from the house in the leafing 
season. 
The whole of the higher ground beyond the lake, as seen from the 
house, is also finely enriched by masses and groups of trees, from and 
beyond the summit down in some places to nearly the edge of the lake; 
and all the way from the plantation of firs just mentioned, to other 
plantations of the same kind and character, surrounding the game¬ 
keeper’s cottage at the back entrance gate. This last portion of the 
park is, however, quite out of sight from the house, by reason of the 
intervening woods. 
Our next tour shall be round the green rides, which are quite ex¬ 
tensive enough for a morning ride, either on horseback, or in the pony- 
chaise, which is kept for the purpose, and often used by the ladies of 
the family. Your’s truly, A. B. 
