It may be necessary to rented the general reader that by a landscape, in the tense in which it is understood by artists, is meant a scene, verdant, architectural, or aquatic, which can be seen by the eye looking horizontally and directly in front, without moving the head; which consists of strongly marked parts, within a few feet or yards of the eye, forming what is called the foreground; which contains a number of parts in the horison, sufficiently distant to appear greatly diminished in size, which is called the distance; and which is completed by an intermediate portion of scenery, neither so indistinct as the distance, nor so large and bold, nor so much in detail, as the foreground, which is called the middle distance. Such landscapes admit of infinite yariety: 1. as to the extent of the space within which the three component parts of them, vis. the foreground, middle distance, and third distance, are contained; and, 2. as to the nature, number, and magnitude of the objects which form each of these component parts. One property, however, is common to every landscape that is satisfactory to the eye; viz. that it is composed of parts or distances, and that these are not km than three.

The principle on which this is founded is, that no landscape can please that does not form a whole; and that three are the smallest number of parts in any object by which a whole can be produced. In addition to constituting a whole, a landscape may be expressive of different other kinds of beauty: it may be gay or gloomy, simple or intricate, and so on; and though the landscape-gardener may not always have it in his power to confer much expression of this kind, yet he is always able to form a whole, and, if he does not do this, he is without excuse.

242. The distant scenery should always be considered in laying out a country villa. Having endeavoured to give the general reader a clear idea of what constitutes an artistical landscape, our next object is to impress on his mind the proposition, that in every well laid out place there will be a considerable number of views, consisting of at least three distances; all more or less striking or captivating, and all more or less forcing themselves on the attention of the spectator. These views are to be obtained from the windows of the principal rooms of the house, from the walks of the pleasure-grounds, or from seats placed in different parts of them. If, in moving along the walks, one part of the scenery bo found just as interesting as another, and none capable of attracting much attention, then the artist has failed in his attempt to create a series of landscapes. It does not follow from this that he has not created beauties of another kind; for there may be handsome beds of flowers, elegant sculpturesque objects, and fine specimens of trees and shrubs: but these beauties belong to floriculture, architectural decoration, and arboriculture, and not to landscape-gardening. Neither does it follow that every step in a pleasure-ground ought to produce a new and striking landscape, though this is practicable under very favourable circumstances; and we shall show, from a garden of less than an acre in extent, how upwards of a score of striking landscapes may be produced in almost immediate succession.

Nor is it necessary that every landscape should have its third distance beyond the limits of the area under the control of the landscape-gardener: on the con-trary, this distance may always be obtained within the grounds when it cannot be found beyond them; though the views, under such circumstances, will be confined rather than grand. It is principally to effect this sort of pleasing, gardenesque, or picturesque views, that sculptural and architectural objects are introduced into gardens.