H ints on Landscape Gardening 
such value extensive plantations would be 
an unpardonable want of economy. No 
general plan of embellishment can, perhaps, 
be devised which is more eligible than that 
so often adopted by Mr. Brown, viz., to 
surround a paddock with a fence enclosing a 
shrubbery and gravel walk around the prem- 
'G"r?.\V> a iaLX'* 
Fig. 5. Rivenhall Place, in its gloomy and sequestered state 
Fig. 6. Rivenhall Place rendered picturesque and cheerful by the removal of th 
tall trees and bushes which encumber the house, as shown in Fig. 5 • and 
by continuing the water along the valley, and altering the color 
ot the house from a brick-red to a stone color 
ises. This idea was happily executed by him 
at Mr. Drummond’s delightful place near 
Stanmore; but as an attempt has been made 
to follow the same plan at Brandsbury, with¬ 
out considering the difference of the two 
situations, I shall beg leave to explain myself 
by the following remarks. 
Where the natural shape of the ground is 
concave , as that at Stanmore (see Fig. i), 
nothing can be more desirable than to enrich 
the horizon by plantations on the highest 
ground, and to food the lowest by a lake or 
river. In such a situation the most pleasing 
scenes will be within the pale, looking on the 
opposite rising bank fringed with trees, or 
occasionally catching distant views over or 
beyond the fence. 
On the contrary, if the natural shape be 
convex (see Fig. 2), any fence crossing the 
declivity must intercept those distant views 
which an eminence should command, and 
which at Brandsbury are so rich and varied 
that nothing can justify their total exclusion. 
A walk round a paddock in such a situation, 
enclosed by a lofty fence, would be 
a continual source of mortification, 
as every step would excite a wish 
either to peep through, or look 
over, the pale of confinement (see 
Fig- 3)- 
Where all the surrounding 
country presents the most beautiful 
pasture ground, instead of excluding 
the vast herds of cattle which en¬ 
liven the scene, I recommend that 
only a sufficient quantity of land 
around the house be inclosed, to 
shelter and screen the barns, stables, 
kitchen garden, offices and other 
useful but unpleasing objects ; and 
within this inclosure, though not 
containing more than ten or twelve 
acres, I propose to conduct walks 
lljj through shrubberies, plantations, and 
” small sequestered lawns, sometimes 
winding into rich internal scenery, 
and sometimes breaking out upon 
the most pleasing points for com¬ 
manding distant prospects. At such 
places the pale may be sunk and 
concealed, while in others it will be 
so hid by plantation, that the twelve 
acres thus enclosed will appear con¬ 
siderably larger than the sixty acres originally 
intended to be surrounded by a park pale 
(see Fig. 4). 
The present character of Rivenhall Place 
is evidently gloomy and sequestered, with the 
appearance of being low and damp (see 
Fig. 5). The interference of art, in former 
days, has, indeed, rendered the improvement 
and restoration of its natural beauties a work 
of some labor; yet, by availing ourselves of 
those natural beauties, and displacing some 
of the encumbrances of art, the character 
of the place may be made picturesque and 
cheerful, and the situation, which is not 
really damp, may be so managed as to lose 
that appearance. The first object is to re¬ 
move the stables, and all the trees and 
26 
