I rifque in the undertaking) to exprefs a certain combination of natural objects, which, as nearly as the cafe will allow, may answer to my idea of unmixed beauty; and likewife to point out the difference between that, and a scene merely picturefque, as alfo the difference between both of them, and a fcene of Mr. Brown's.

It must be remembered, however, that many of the moft ftrictly beautiful objects in nature, have a mixture of roughness in fome parts, which of course cannot be feparated from them, and which mixture, as I remarked in my Effay,* fhould serve as a leffon to improvers, not to aim at such a separation in their general fyftem. I must therefore premise, that the fimply beautiful scene I fhall attempt to defcribe, is by no means intended to recommend an affected felection of fuch objects as have most of the

*Effay on the Picturesque, page 125 and 128.

separate

feparate qualities of beauty; but to fhew, that even with fuch an affected selection, and with as ftudied an exclufion of whatever has any of the feparate qualities of the picturefque,* a scene might be formed, to which, I truft, the painter would not have the fame objection as to one of Mr. Brown's; though he might not call it picturefque, or chuse it for the fubject of a landscape.

I eafily conceive, that a person who is very much struck with a scene that exhibits the varied, and strongly marked effects of broken ground; of fudden projections, and deep hollows; of old twisted trees, with furrowed bark; of water tumbling in a deep-worn channel over rocks and rude ftones, and half loft among shaggy roots, decaying stumps, and withered fern; and who views the whole in fome favourable moment of light and fhadow,—may very naturally call that whole beautiful; for he gives to what so much Effay on the Picturefque, page 61.

pleases

1

pleases him, the epithet which conveys the highest commendation.

But fuppofe that, at the extremity of fuch a scene, he were to enter a glade, or a small valley of the foftest turf and finest verdure; the ground on each fide fwelling gently into knolls, with other glades and receffes stealing in between them; the whole adorned with trees of the fmootheft and tendereft bark, and most elegant forms, mixed with tufts of various evergreens and flowering shrubs: all thefe growing as luxuriantly as in garden mould, yet difpofed in as loofe and artless. groups as thofe in forefts; whilst a natural pathway led the eye amidst these intricacies, and towards the other glades and receffes. Suppose a clear and gentle ftream to flow through this retirement, on a bed of the pureft gravel or pebbles; its bank fometimes finooth and level, fometimes indented and varied in height and form, and in parts even

abrupt,

abrupt, and the foil appearing; but all rudenefs concealed by tufts of flowers, trailing plants, and others of low growth, hanging over the clear water; the broken tints of the foil feen only through their boughs as through a veil, and juft giving a warmth and variety to the reflexions. Imagine that foon after, this brook (according to that beautiful image in Milton)

fpread

Into a liquid plain, then stood unmor'd,
Pure as the expanse of heaven:

that over this lake, in fome parts, trees of the most pleasing form and foliage extended their branches, while the vine, the honeyfuckle, and other climbers, hung from them in loose feftoons, almost into the water: that in other parts the trees retired farther back, and the turf came quite to the brink, and almost level with its furface: that further on, the bank fwelled more fuddenly, and

was

was partially fringed and crowned with fuch

plants as are most admired for beauty of leaves and flowers; and that amidst them, smooth stones of different forms and fizes, but their furface fometimes varied and foftened by the rich velvet of moffes, mixed their mellow and brilliant tints with thofe of the flowers, and the general hue of vegetation; while the whole was rendered more foft and enchanting by the clear mirror that reflected them.

After having viewed such a scene, let him return at once to the former one; would he then give it the fame epithet he did before? I think he would fenfibly feel, that the character of each was as diftinct as their causes, and that a fcene composed almost entirely of objects, rough, rugged, abrupt,

and angular, with various marks of

3

age and decay, and without one fresh and tender colour, could never be claffed with another

fcene,