try require, that in the most dreffed parts they should be of uniform breadths, and consequently between two regular borders, On that account, however ufeful and even ornamental, they cannot have the playful variety of a path; which, in my idea, is owing, not merely to the variety of its curves, but to the lines of thofe curves being foftened into the untrodden grafs, and the tranfitions infenfibly made: for thence proceed, what Hogarth calls the waving lines that lead the eye a kind of wanton chace, and to which distinctness puts an immediate end. Were a gardener, for inftance, to copy, as nearly as poffible, all the waving lines of a path, and to make them as diftinct as those of a gravel walk, nothing could be more abfurd and unnatural.

The whole of this principle is admirably exemplified in the remark of Annibal Caracci, on the different ftyles of painting (not drawing)

drawing) of Raphael and Correggio. He was fo ftruck with thefe infenfible tranfitions in the works of Correggio, that, in a letter to his coufin Ludovico, he faid, "That St. Paul of Raphael, which I formerly looked upon as " a miracle, now feems to me a thing of "wood; fo hard it is, and fo cutting." It must be remembered also, that this was the judgment, not of a mere colourift, but of one whose style of drawing was remarkable for its firmness and precifion. If, therefore, fuch a painter may be supposed to have just ideas on the fubject, a pathway (for no object is trifling which clearly fhews the principle) has more of the requifites of beauty, than any walk with diftinct edges. Still, however, the gravel walk, from its fymmetry, its neatness, and its dreffed appearance, accords much more with what is foft and beautiful, than with what is rude and picturefque. For example, were the fimply beautiful scene which I have just

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juft defcribed, close to a gentleman's houfe, he would very naturally make a regular gravel walk through it, and he would do very right; for convenience, neatness, and a dressed appearance, are in fuch cafes among the firft confiderations. But then, according to the doctrine I have endeavoured to establish, fuch a walk would not improve the beauty of the scene, though it would give it, what, on another principle, is highly pleasing: On the contrary, however well it might be managed, however artfully carried among the trees and shrubs, and partially concealed and broken by them, ftill the lines of it would ftiffly cut across every thing, and never, like thofe of the pathway, play as it were into the other objects, and infenfibly steal among them. It was on that account I obferved, that near the house picturesque beauty (for in that early part of my Essay I had madę no objection to the term) must often be facrificed

facrificed to neatness; but that it was a facrifice, and one which should not wantonly be made.* Now, I believe, there are a number of perfons who, were they rich enough, would have regular gravel walks in every

part of their whole place; and should they make them in fuch a fcene as I have been mentioning, at a distance from the house, I should think it a wanton facrifice; for a dry path without borders would answer every purpose of convenience, without taking off from the retired character of the place. In a rude scene, the facrifice would be much greater, for fymmetry and regularity are par¬ ticularly adverfe to the picturefque..

With regard to a natural path, either through a meadow, or across more intricate ground, it is, I believe, very generally popular; a bye-road, from an idea of ruts and

mire, very naturally much lefs fo; though the principal diftinction between both of them, and whatever has a regular border, is the fame. There are, however, bye-roads in dry foils, upon a level furface, and where there are few heavy carriages, that to me have a remarkably cheerful look; and fo far are they from giving an idea of any thing flovenly, that the manner in which the foil (whether fand or gravel) and the grass are preffed and blended together, has rather the appearance of an operation of great nicety and attention. I should think, therefore, that in all scenery at some distance from the house, (particularly of the wilder kind) fuch roads and paths would answer every purpose of comfort and convenience, without formality: they might be dug out, and stored just like any other gravel walk or road, only have no diftinct borders; and what would be a

great additional motive, they would give

an