It may perhaps be objected, that to introduce rock scenery in this place would be unnatural; but if this artifice be properly executed, no eye can discover the illusion; and it is only by such deceptions that art can imitate the most pleasing works of nature. By the help of such illusion we may see the interesting struggles of the babbling brook, which soon after ----------"spreads Into a liquid plain, then stands unmov'd, Pure as the expanse of heaven." This idea has been realized in the scenery at ADLESTROP, where a small pool, very near the house, was supplied by a copious spring of clear water. The cheerful glitter of this little mirror, although on the top of the hill, gave pleasure to those who had never considered how much it lessened the place, by attracting the eye and preventing its range over the lawn and falling ground beyond. This pool has now been removed; a lively stream of water has been led through a flower-garden, where its progress down the hill is occasionally obstructed by ledges of rocks, and after a variety of interesting circumstances it falls into a lake at a considerable distance, but in full view both of the mansion and the parsonage, to each of which it makes a delightful, because a natural, feature in the landscape.
[Adlestrop, Gloucestershire, belonged to J.H. Leigh]
