well planted; are every where luxuriant, and flourishing. The Planes and American Firs, which are scattered in groups and single trees, over the lawns, and especially over a slope shelving to the banks of the Tame, are superiorly elegant.

If we were to censure any part of the design, with respect to planting, it would be, in having, crouded the valley or dip, immediately behind the house, with forest trees; which, with the water, added to the natural flatness of the situation, will 'mutually contribute to render the house damp, and the air unwholesome. Yet, foreseeing the charming effect which lofty groves (such as the present plantations will probably become a century hence), embracing the house, will certainly have, we admit the propriety of the design: and a ju'dicious possessor will endeavour to will endeavour to prevent the bad, without destroying the good, effect.

INDEED, judicious as the interior arrangement and embellishment of the grounds of Fisherwick 'are in general, they have evidently been secondary considerations of the artist. His great aim has obviously been to throw the whole place, as seen from the approach, into one grand composition; and he has succeeded. For in this point of view, the general assemblage is not only striking, as a passage in ornamented nature; but puts on an air

of magnificence, which Fisherwick, taken in detail, cannot claim. The park, when crossed in the direction of the approach, appears extensive; a suite of meadows adjoining to it, and a further suite, on the opposite side of the Tame, encrease the apparent extent of the place. The grounds, too, as seen from the near approach, hanging on the swell, and every way endless to the eye, contribute to its magnitude and grandeur. But what adds most to this idea, and shows the talents of the artist in the most unequivocal light, is a vista, purposely left, between the groves which occupy the extremities of the embellished grounds, with an unseen fence, which lets in the summit of the swell, a rich meadow or pasture ground, with the heads of some large trees, which appear at different distances, beyond it; thus conveying the idea of an extent of rich park lands; or of embellished grounds, in continuation to those which are immediately under the eye. The House, too, stately and new, embosomed in aspiring groves, and backed by some fine old trees that rise above them,-contributes not a little to make up an and the mind ASSEMBLAGE, which gives the eye great satisfaction.. BUT THE WHOLE IS BROWN's. The grounds, the groves, the waters, and the house, are all his own.

THE LEÁSOWES fell next under view*. "This place was laid out by its owner, the celebrated poet, SHENSTONE; who lived and died here i

Ir is situated in a detached part of Shropshire, lying between the counties of Worcester and Stafford. The site is more strongly featured than either of the places last decribed. It occupies the broken slope of one of the rugged hills that form a considerable proportion of the surface of this 'county'; which abounds, for many miles round, with picturable scenery: a species of country frequently found, in the neighbourhoods of mountains, of whose style it partakes, in the general formation of its surface; but is on a smaller scale, and is less broken than mountain surfaces; being generally covered with productive soil; not exposing bare rocks, or broken precipices.

* In June 1785.

THE house is seated under the brow of a bold hang that overlooks the place; but upon a rising ground, which is formed by two narrow dells, that unite below it: thus occupying an elevated situation, near the center of the grounds; which it commands, without standing too high and staring.

THE approach is on the lower side of the grounds, below the house; but there being no inn or accommodation near it; and travelling, with a friend, on horseback, we left the public road from Birmingham, before we reached the foot of the hill; and quitting our horses, entered the grounds, in a more elevated part,-about the midway of the slope; thus gaining, at once, some general idea of the site.

C

WITH this first appearance of the place we were disappointed. The ground seemed less broken, and the character of the site less romantic, than we expected. Indeed, its character, in this line of approach, is beauty: four or five well turned Limes, and an elegant Ash, rising on a gentle swell, backed by a luxuriant grove of young forest trees, welcomed the eye with a modest, simple, beautiful view. I

FALLING in with.a made path, we were led down to the lower corner of a pasture ground;

where a bench marks a wider, and more strongly featured view: the ground uncommonly fine: a beautiful middle ground between two wooded skreens; backed by a bold steep, also hung with wood. A group of Scotch Firs, old and ragged, on the near ground, is a pimple on this fine face, -an honest front.

EVERY part of a view, as each article of the same dress, should be in character: these ragged illfavoured Firs, staring on a rugged point, in a rocky, ragged, picturesque scene, would be in place.

FOLLOWING the path, along the bottom of this interesting inclosure, we entered the larger dingle; a deep rugged gulley, worn by torrents from the hills; such as we see in every broken, hilly country: we have crossed twenty such, as this was by nature, in one morning's diversion, on the broken margin of the Vale of Pickering and should probably have crossed this, unnoticed, had it not been for a dirty little obelisque, bearing a Latin inscription, and a few seats, which are scattered, here and there, in what, if we recollect rightly, is named Virgil's Grove. This lettered retreat occupies the bank or brink of the dingle; across which a dam being thrown, a reservoir of water and a cascade are at once formed: not a flight of steps; but a