The art of landscape gardening . years ago, the loftyobelisk seen from the portico appeared to be sur-rounded by shrubbery, but on a nearer approach Ifound that these apparent shrubs were really largetrees, and only depressed by the greater height of theobelisk. A similar instance occurs at Welbeck; thelarge grove of oaks, seen from the house acrossthe water, consists of trees most remarkable for theirstraight and lofty stems; yet, to a stranger, their Theory and Practice 73 magnitude is apparently lessened by an enormous largeand flourishing ash, which rises like a single tree outof a bank of
The art of landscape gardening . years ago, the loftyobelisk seen from the portico appeared to be sur-rounded by shrubbery, but on a nearer approach Ifound that these apparent shrubs were really largetrees, and only depressed by the greater height of theobelisk. A similar instance occurs at Welbeck; thelarge grove of oaks, seen from the house acrossthe water, consists of trees most remarkable for theirstraight and lofty stems; yet, to a stranger, their Theory and Practice 73 magnitude is apparently lessened by an enormous largeand flourishing ash, which rises like a single tree outof a bank of brushwood. When I was first consultedrespecting Wentworth House, the lawn behind it ap-peared circumscribed, and the large trees which sur-rounded that lawn appeared depressed by four tallobelisks : these have since been removed, the statelytrees have assumed their true magnitude, and the effectof confinement is done away. I have illustrated these observations by the exampleof an obelisk [Fig. 4], because its height being inde-. Fig. 4. Diagram to shew the use of the human figure as a scale fcr measuringobjects. terminate, it may mislead the eye as a scale; since,according to its size and situation, the very same designmay serve for a lamp-post, a milestone in the market-place of a city, an ornament to a public square, or itmay be raised on the summit of a hill, a monumentto a nations glory. 74 The Art of Landscape Gardening The necessity of observing scale or comparativeproportion may be further elucidated by a referenceto West Wycombe, a place generally known, from itsvicinity to the road to Oxford. Amongst the profusionof buildings and ornament which the false taste of thelast age lavished upon this spot, many were correct indesign, and, considered separately, in proportion ; buteven many of the designs, although perfect in them-selves, were rendered absurd from inattention either tothe scale or situation of the surrounding objects. Thesummit of a hill is covered by a large
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