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LANDSCAPE GARDENING.
CHAP. I.
CONCERNING DIFFERENT CHARACTERS AND SITUATIONS.
ALL rational improvement of grounds is, necessarily, founded on, a due attention
to the CHARACTER
and SITUATION of the place to be improved: theformer teaches what is advisable,
the latter what is
possible, to be done; while the extent of the premises has less influence
than is generally imagined;
as, however large or small it may be, one of the fundamental principles of
Landscape Gardening is
to disguise the real boundary.
In deciding on the character of any place, some attention must be given to
its situation with re-.
spect to other places; to the natural shape of the ground on which the house
is, or may be, built; to
the size and style of the house, and even to the rank of its possessor; together
with the use which he
intends to make of it, whether as a mansion or constant residence, a sporting
seat, or a villa; which
particular objects require distinct and opposite treatment. To give some
idea of the variety that
abounds in the characters and situations of different places, it will be
proper to insert a few specimens
from different subjects: I shall begin this work, therefore, by a remarkable
instance of situation, only
two miles distant from the capital.