THE SITUATION. It may, perhaps, appear presumptuous in me to assert, that the natural beauties of the situation of Beaudesert are very little known, even to those who are best acquainted with the spot: yet I will venture to assert, that those beauties which are at present hidden, and almost totally lost, far exceed those which are obvious to every eye. The materials by which nature produces the chief beauties of landscape are four in number, viz. inequality of ground, rocks, water, and wood: yet, at Beaudesert, it is only the latter which abounds, and to which the other three have all been sacrificed. Inequality of ground is apt to be obliterated by trees, which grow taller in the valleys than on the hills; and, consequently, the surface of a wood, and the surface of the ground on which it grows, are often very different; but, at Beaudesert, this levelling principle of vegetable growth has actually almost effaced the ravines, where tall ashes in the bottom rise above the oaks on the steep acclivities [see fig. 177]. Wherever a natural glen, or ravine, exists, we shall generally find rock or water, or both, under the surface; and we know that they abound in the deep dell immediately in front of the house, although, at present, they are hardly visible, being buried under the surface.
