SECTION THE FIFTH.

PRINCIPAL RESIDENCE.

HERE, the whole art centers. The artist has, here, full fcope for a display of taste and genius, He has an extent of country under his eye, and will endeavour to make the most of what nature and accident have spread before him,

ROUND a Principal Refidence, a gentleman may be fuppofed to have fome confiderable estate, and it is not a fhrubery and a ground only, which fall under the confideration of the artist: he ought to endeavour to difclofe to the view, either from the house or some other point, as much as he conveniently can of the adjacent estate. The love of poffeffion is deeply planted in every man's breaft; and places fhould bow to the gratification of their owners. To curtail the view by an artificial fide Screen, or any other unnatural machinery, fo as to deprive a man of the fatisfaction of overlooking his own eftate, is an abfurdity which no artist ought to be permitted to be guilty of. It is very different, however, where the property of another in

trudes

trudes upon the eye: Here, the view may, with fome colour of propriety, be bounded by a woody fcreen.

AFTER what has been said under the head GENERAL APPLICATION, little remains to be added, here. Indeed, it would be in vain to attempt to lay down particular rules: different places are marked by fets of features, as different from each other, as are thofe of men's faces, Much must be left to the fkill and taste of the artist; and let thofe be what they may, nothing but mature ftudy of the natural abilities of the particular place to be improved, can render him equal to the execution, so as to make the most of the materials that are placed before him.

SOME few general rules may, nevertheless, be laid down. The approach ought to be conducted in fuch a manner, that the ftriking features of the place shall burst upon the view at once: no trick, however, fhould be made ufe of: all should appear to fall in naturally. In leading towards the house, its direction fhould not be fully in front, nor exactly at an angle, but should pafs obliquely upon the house and its accompaniments; fo that their pofition with refpect to each other, as well as the perfpective appearance of the house itself, may vary at every step: and, having fhewn the front and the

principal wing, or other accompaniment, to advantage, the approach fhould wind to the back front, which, as has been already obferved, ought to lie open to the park or pastured grounds.

THE improvements, and the rooms from which they are to be feen, fhould be in unifon. Thus, the view from the drawing room fhould be highly embellished, to correfpond with the beauty and elegance within every thing, here, fhould be feminine -elegant-beautiful-fuch as attunes the mind to politeness and lively converfation. The breakfasting room should have more mafculine objects in view: wood, water, and an extended country for the eye to roam over; fuch as allures us, imperceptibly, to the ride or the chace. The eating and banqueting rooms need no exterior allure

ments.

THERE is a harmony in tafte as in mufic: variety, and even wildnefs upon fome occafions, may be admitted; but difcord cannot be allowed. If, therefore, a place be fo circumstanced as to confift of properties totally irreconcileable, the parts ought, if poffible, to be feparated in fuch a manner, that, like the air and the recitative, the adagio and the allegro, in mufic, they may fet off each other's charms by the contrast.

DIVISION

DIVISION THE FOURTH.

PRACTICAL REMARKS

ON

ORNAMENTED PLACES.

AVING attempted, in the foregoing pages, to lay down fome GENERAL PRINCIPLES Of the Rural Art, and having endeavoured to convey fome general ideas, concerning the APPLICATION of thefe principles, we now proceed to illuftrate them farther, by fuch practical remarks as have occurred to us, on examining the different places which have more particularly engaged our attention.

SECTION THE FIRST.

PERSFIELD,

FORMERLY the feat of Mr. MORRIS, near Chepstow, in Monmouthshire, - a place upon

which Nature has been peculiarly lavish of her favors, and which has been spoken of, by different writers, in the most flattering terms,-was our first place of study.

PERSFIELD is fituated upon the banks of the river Wye, which divides Gloucestershire and Monmouthshire, and which was formerly the boundary between England and Wales. The general tendency of the river is from North to South; but, about Persfield, it defcribes, by its winding courfe, the letter S, fomewhat compreffed, fo as to reduce it in length, and increase its width. The grounds of Persfield are lifted high above the bed of the river, fhelving (from the brink of a lofty and fteep precipice), towards the South Weft.

THE lower limb of the letter is filled with Perfe-wood, which makes a part of Persfield; but is, at present, an impenetrable thicket of coppicewood. This dips to the South Eaft, down to the water's edge; and, feen from the top of the oppofite rock, has a good effect.

THE upper limb receives the farms of Llancet; rich and highly cultivated: broken into inclofures, and scattered with groups and fingle trees: two well looking farm houfes, in the center, and a neat white chapel, on one fide: altogether, a lovely