Avenues.-It seems to have been as much the fashion of the present century (originally written in 1794) to destroy avenues, as it was in the last to plant them; and while many people think they sufficiently justify their opinion, in either case, by saying, 'I like an avenue,' or 'I hate an avenue,' let us endeavour to analyze this approbation or disgust. The pleasure which the mind derives from the love of order, of unity, of antiquity, and of continuity, is, in a certain degree, gratified by the long perspective view of a stately avenue; even when it consists of trees in rows so far apart that their branches do not touch: but where they grow so near as to imitate the grandeur, the gloomy shade, and almost the shelter of a Gothic cathedral, we may add the comfort and convenience of such an avenue to all the other considerations of its beauty. A long avenue, terminated by a large old mansion, is a magnificent object, although it may not be a proper subject for a picture; but the view from such a mansion is, perhaps, among the greatest objections to an avenue, because it destroys all variety; since the same landscape would be seen from every house in the kingdom, if a view between rows of trees deserves the name of landscape.
