This is very well exemplified at Chevening near Sevenoaks, the seat of Earl Stanhope, where the foreground on the lawn front is an extensive flower-garden on an even surface, with a considerable piece of water bordered by lawn and trees in the middle distance; and where the background is scenery of the same description, without the appearance of hills, or any marked feature, natural or artificial. At Eastwell Park in Kent, the seat of the Earl of Winchelsea, where the whole of the surface seen from the lawn front is flat and uninteresting, an extensive flower-garden is very properly introduced; without which the views from the windows of that side of the house would have very little beauty. On the other hand, the lawn front at Linton Place in Kent, the seat of the Earl of Cornwallis, looking down on a steep descent, at the foot of which is a stream winding through a fertile valley, beyond which is an extensive and somewhat varied distance, flowers in the foreground would here escape notice; or, if extensively displayed, would interfere with the strongly marked natura character of the scene. These may be considered as rules generally applicable, because they are founded on the fundamental law of the necessity of unity of expression to complete enjoyment; and this fundamental principle has evidently influenced the decision of Mr. Wells at Redleaf; but, as taste should be free, allowance must be made for that of individuals who may prefer having a peculiar and conspicuous feature in a scene, to its picturesque beauty and unity of expression as a whole. In analysing the beauties or defects of every place, it is always instructive to be able to separate what is peculiar to the situation, or the taste of the individual, from what is general, or founded on universal principles. [Editor's note: Chevening House, is in the parish of Chevening, Kent, in the UK and is used (2005) as a country house for Britain's Foreign Secretary]
