290 
LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 
In following so closely the style of the ancient painters, and intro¬ 
ducing several of the objects which frequently appear in their works,, 
many very silly things have been executed. Irregularity has been 
^regularised; smooth sloping banks of turf, instead of being varied 
by planting shrubs, have been cut into deep scars, in order to expose 
the different strata of the naked soil: trees have been advised to be 
planted in the middle of a leading walk, for the purpose of making 
the walk trend elegmitly on both sides ! The advisers or performers 
of such notable exploits seem to forget that, however pleasing such 
circumstances may be as the result of accident, they become ridiculous 
when imitated by art. 
But, to return from this long digression, how far are those arbiters of 
fine taste in the right, when they advise the ground-improver to copy 
from the accidental associations of herbs, shrubs, and trees, so con¬ 
stantly seen in forests, or such woodlands as we were then traversing? 
It is perfectly true that we saw in those woods the most beautiful play 
of turf, studded with many various and dissimilar groups of trees, all 
very naturally associated ; and we admired them not only because 
every group appeared to be connected, and placed with special refer¬ 
ence to others around, but also because the whole presented an interest¬ 
ing display of light and shade ; some trees being boldly prominent, with 
deep and shady recesses between, and all being the effects of mere acci¬ 
dent, enhanced the value of those wild, though pleasing, associations. 
That a wood of great extent, dismembered as it were by grassy 
glades, and based in underwood, is much more interesting than an 
open grove of stately trees standing on naked turf, is a truth allowed 
by every one. This seems to have been the opinion of the old painters, 
who very seldom represented single trees, or trees unaccompanied with 
shrubs or other undergrowth ; and it justifies the opinion of those who 
advise the improvers of park-scenery to repair to forests to take lessons. 
But can the same style of disposing ornamental trees, shrubs, and herbs, 
be applicable in higher-dressed or pleasure grounds ? The best judges 
who have written on the subject answer, (( Yes;” and it is an idea 
which has been very generally acted upon, as most of the pleasure- 
grounds in Britain are embellished by mixed groups of trees, shrubs, 
and herbs: even flower-gardens have been laid out in a similar style, 
composed of an aggregation of clumps and groups, of various forms 
and size, upon a base of smooth turf. 
This is called imitating Nature in her most pleasing forms; but 
these virgin forms of nature are pleasing chiefly because they are un¬ 
accompanied by every mark of art. And it is objected to our present 
style of flower-gardens, that if nature be impaired by any interference of 
