Preservation of natural character in landscape gardening

To pursue this method with success, it is necessary that he should refer constantly to the principle which we suggested in the commencement of our remarks: the preservation of the natural character of the scene, or, we may here add, the heightening of the character intended for the form of the surface. We have already remarked that scenes abounding in natural beauty were chiefly characterized by gentle undulations of surface, and smooth easy transitions from the level plain to the softly swelling hill or flowing hollow; and that, on the contrary, highly picturesque scenes exhibited a more irregular and broken surface, abounding with abrupt transitions, and more strongly marked elevations and depressions.