it

place of oak and beech. But of whatever trees the established woods of the country are composed, the same, I think, should prevail in the new plantations, or those two grand principles, harmony, and unity of character, will be destroyed. It is very usual, however, when there happens to be a vacant space between two woods, to fill up with firs, larches, &c.; if this be done with the idea of connecting those woods, which should be the object, nothing can be more opposite than the effect: even plantations of the same species, require time to make them accord with the old growths; but such harsh and sudden contrasts of form and colour, make these insertions for ever appear like so many awkward pieces of patch-work; and surely if a man were reduced to the necessity of having his coat pieced, he would wish to have the joinings concealed, and the colour matched, and not to be made a harlequin*.

It is not enough that trees should be naturalized to the climate, they must also be naturalized to the landscape,

Trees of a dark colour, or a spire-like form, though when planted in patches they have such a motley appearance, may be so grouped with the prevailing trees of the country, as to produce infinite richness and variety, and yet seem part of the original design; but it appears to be an established rule, that plantations made for ornament, should, both in form and substance, be as distinct as possible from the woods of the country; so that no one may doubt an instant, what are the parts which have been improved. Instead, therefore, of giving to

and mixed and incorporated with the natives. A patch of foreign trees planted by themselves in the out-skirts of a wood, or in some open corner of it, mix with the natives, much like a group of young Englishmen at an Italian conversazione. But when some plant of foreign growth appears to spring up by accident, and shoots out its beautiful, but less familiar foliage among our natural trees, it has the same pleasing effect, as when a beautiful and amiable foreigner has acquired our language and manners so as to converse with the freedom of a native, yet retains enough of original accent and character, to give a peculiar grace and zest to all her words and actions.

*

nature that "rich, ample, and flowing robe which she should wear on her throned eminence," instead of "hill united to hill with sweeping train of forest, with prodigality of shade," she is curtailed of her fair proportions, pinched and squeezed into shape; and the prim squat clump is perked up exactly on the top of every eminence. Sometimes, however, where the extent is so great, that common sized clumps would make no figure, it has been very ingeniously contrived to consolidate (and I am sure the word is not improperly used) several of them in one larger lump, and these condensed, unwieldly masses, are at random stuck about the grounds,

In many such plantations the trees

* Mr. Mason's Poem on Modern Gardening, is so well known to all who have any taste for the subject, or for poetry in general, that it is hardly necessary to say, that the words between the inverted commas are chiefly taken from it. In the part from which I have taken these two passages, he has pointed out the noblest style of planting, in a style of poetry no less noble and elevated.

which principally shew themselves are larches, and they produce the most compleat monotony of outline. The summits of round-headed trees, especially the oak, vary in each tree; but there can only be one form in those of pointed trees*: on that account, wherever ornament is the aim, great care ought to be taken that the general outline be round and full, and only partially broken and varied by pointed trees, and that too many of those should not rise above the others, so as principally to catch the eye. Now wherever larches are mixed, even in a small proportion, over the whole of a plantation, the quickness of their growth, their pointed tops, and the peculiarity of their colour, make them so conspicuous, that the whole wood seems to consist of nothing else.

I have seen two places on a very large scale laid out by a professed improver of high reputation †, where all the defects

* Linea recta velut sola est, & mille recurvæ. + Some persons have imagined, that by a professor of

I have mentioned were most strikingly exemplified. Whatever might be the other trees of which the separate clumps consisted, nothing was seen above but larches; from the multitude of their sharp points, the whole country appeared en herisson, and had much the same degree of resemblance to natural scenery, as one of the old military plans with scattered platoons of spearmen, has to a print after Claude or Poussin. With all my admiration of trees, I had rather be without them, than have them so disposed: indeed, I have often seen hills, where the outline, the swellings, and the deep hollows were so striking, and where the surface was so varied by the mixture of smooth closebitten turf, with the rich, though short cloathing of fern, heath, or furze, and by the different openings and sheep tracks

high reputation I must have meant Mr. Repton; but these two places, which were laid out before he took to the profession, clearly prove that it did not then require his talents to gain a high reputation: I hope in future it will be less easily acquired.