OF FOREST-TREES.

30S

And what, in the mean time, can be more delightful than for noblepersons to adorn their goodly mansions and demesnes with trees of vener-able shade, and profitable timber ? By ail the rules and methods imagin-able, to cut and dispose those ampler -inclosures into lawns and ridingsfor exercise, health, and prospect, and for which I should here presumeto furnish some farther directions, were it not already done to my hand bythe often-cited Mr. Cooke, in. that'useful-work of his; where, in thethirty-eighth chapter, he has laid down all that I conceive necefsary, bymeasures exactly taken from the middle line of any front, following thecentre-stake, if it be for a walk : He there determines the widenefs ofthe walk, according to its length,, as forty feet to one of half a mile;if more, fifty or sixty and if you withal desire shade, that then youshould make three walks, the two collaterals twenty feet broad, toa middle one of forty,, twenty-five to .fifty, so that the middle be as wideas both the other: He likewise shows how proper it is that walks shouldnot terminate abruptly, but rather in some'capacious or pretty figure,be it circle, oval, semi-circle,, triangle,, or square, especially in parks, orwhere they do not lead into other walks ; and even in that case, thatthere may gracefully be a circle to receive them : There he shows how topierce a walk through the thickest wood, either by stakes set up wherethey may be seen to direct,, or by candle and lanthorn in a calm night:He also gives the distances of the trees in relation to each other, ac-cording to the species, and shows how necefsary it is- to plant themnearer in those ovals, circles, and squares, for the better distinction of thefigures, suppose to half the distance of that of the walks, and proportion-able to the amplitude or smallnefs thereof.. As for lawns, he advises thatthey should, if pofsible, be contrived on the south or east side of the seator mansion, for avoiding the impetuousnefs of western winds; and thatyour best rooms may front those lawns and openings, and to skreen fromthe occidental and afternoon’s sun, which also hinders the prospect:A lawn on the north exposes the house to that piercing quarter,and therefore it should be well defended with the tallest trees : For thefigure he commends the square, with three avenues breaking out at thethree angles, or one at the angle oppofite to the house; and these lawnsmay be bounded with walks, or a single row of Lime-trees at a compe-tent distance : To which I add, the circle, .with a star of walks radiatingfrom it, likewise exceedingly pleasant; such as the Right Hon. the Earl of"Winchelsea has cut out at his noble scat in Kent; and since, far exceed-

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