370 
LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 
beautiful. Of water it has been observed that a calm, clear lake, with 
the reflections of all that surround it, seen under the influence of a 
setting sun, is, perhaps, of all scenes the most congenial to our ideas of 
beauty in its strictest and most general sense. 
Among trees, the young ash and beech, the weeping willow, and the , 
deciduous cypress, are truly beautiful, owing to their light and airy 
shapes, the delicacy of their foliage, and their graceful positions. 
If we look for beauty among domestic or wild animals, we should 
prefer the sleek and pampered charger, the silky-coated spaniel and 
greyhound, or the sprightly gazelle. Among birds, too, how many 
striking instances of extreme beauty are exemplified in their plumage: 
instance the cream-coloured dove, the windhover hawk, and even in the 
encaged canary-finch ; not to mention scores of others belonging to 
the feathered race, as well as among fishes, insects, and flowers. 
Among the human race examples of the most perfect beauty are 
everywhere met with, and not only in Circassia, but over the greater 
part of the world, and which will bear comparison with the finest 
forms of the sculptor, or the most finished Madonnas or Magdalens of 
a Guido. 
These are a few of what are esteemed beautiful objects in nature, 
and their counterparts are what is called picturesque, viz.:— 
All buildings in ruins, whatever may have been their style of archi¬ 
tecture. A Grecian palace, however beautiful at first, is changed into 
a picturesque object by the mouldering hand of Time; “first, by means 
of weather-stains, partial incrustations, mosses, &c.; it at the same 
time takes off from the uniformity of its surface and of its colour—that 
is, gives it a degree of roughness and variety of tint. Next, the various 
accidents of weather loosen the stones themselves; they tumble in irre¬ 
gular masses upon what was perhaps smooth turf or pavement; these 
are soon overgrown with wild plants and creepers, that crawl over and 
shoot among the fallen ruins ; sedurns, and other plants which bear 
drought, find nourishment in the decayed cement from which the stones 
have been detached ; birds convey their food into the chinks ; and yew, 
elder, and other berried plants project from the sides, while the ivy 
mantles over other parts, and crowns the top.” 
Gothic architecture is generally considered as more picturesque than 
Grecian, upon the same principle that a ruin is more so than a new 
edifice. The first thing that strikes the eve on approaching any build- 
. ing is the general outline against the sky, (or whatever it may be 
opposed to,) and the effects of the openings. In Grecian buildings, 
the general lines of the roof are straight ; and even when varied, and 
adorned by a dome or a pediment, the whole has a character of sym- 
