fhould proceed a step farther - pull down the ruin, and build an elegant manfion, every thing would then be right, and in it's proper place. But in a ruin the reigning ideas are folitude, neglect, and defolation. The environs of a house fhould partake of the elegance or grandeur of the mansion they adorn, because harmony and propriety require it. If there is force in this reafon, it furely holds equally true, that a ruin fhould be left in a state of wildness, and negligence. Harmony and propriety require one, as much as the other.

Of what improvement then is the scenery of a ruin capable?

and the

Of fome no doubt. Tho we fhould not wish to adorn it with polished nature tho the fhorn lawn, the flowering fhrub, embellished walk, are alien ideas; things offenfive may be removed.

yet many

Some part

of the rubbish, or of the brushwood may be out of place, and hide what ought to be seen. The ground, in many parts, may be altered, but difcretely altered. A path may wind; but not fuch grand walks as are here introduced, rather for parade, than contemplation; and fuch certainly as the convent never knew,

even

even in it's highest state of prosperity. Trees alfo may be planted; and water may be introduced. But a fort of negligent air fhould run through the whole and if art should always be concealed; it should here be totally hid. The precept conveyed in those beautiful lines, cannot be too religiously applied to scenes like these.

If art

E'er dares to tread; 'tis with unfandal'd foot,
Printlefs, as if the place were holy ground.

No funk fence, or netted barrier, fhould reftrain the flock. Let them browze within the very precincts of the ruin. It is a habitation forfaken of men, and refumed by nature; and tho nature do not require a slovenly path to walk in; yet she always withes for one with fome degree of rudeness about it.

If the manfion-house ftand near the ruins you wish to adorn, the ruins themselves will then become only appendages.

part must be introduced.

Neatness in

Yet ftill, even in

this cafe, one should wish to have the ruins in a fequeftered place, and lefs adorned, than the environs of a mansion ought to be.

There is another fpecies of improvement, of which a ruin is fufceptible; but it is of

the

the most delicate kind. Few ruins are exactly what we could wish. We generally find a deficiency, or a redundancy, as far as compofition is concerned. The ruin we now confider, from the fquareness, and uniformity of its two parts, is heavy, uniform, and displeasing. The parts are elegant in themselves; but for want of contraft, they form a disagreeable whole. You can fee them to advantage only from particular stands, where one part is thrown behind another in perspective. By the small alteration therefore of making either part lower or higher, you might improve the composition : but the operation would be exceedingly nice. No picturefque hand durft take away. But an addition might be made without much hazard; because what you add, you may likewife remove. The beauty of the compofition, and the harmony of the architecture would be the two chief points to be attended to. The ruins of Roche-abbey might receive great beauty from the fragment of a tower. this or any other prominent addition could happily be made, it would certainly have a good effect: but it would require great knowledge both of the ruin, and it's deficient appendages, to make it with propriety, and verifimilitude.

If

Of

Of the three vallies, which center in these ruins, I have mentioned one only, which Mr. Brown has yet improved. Both the others are beautiful: but one of them, which is a fort of rocky chafm, is in it's natural ftate so pleasing: that I fhould fear, every touch of art would be injurious.

I fhall conclude these remarks on the improvement of ruins, with a few beautiful images of defolation, which the prophet Isaiah hath introduced in fubjects of this kind. His ruins have their proper accompaniments. The paffages I quote are interspersed in different chapters, but I fhall bring them together in one view.

"It fhall never be inhabited: neither shall the Arabian pitch his tent there; nor the fhepherd make his fold. Thorns fhall come up in it's palaces; nettles, and brambles in the fortreffes thereof. The cormorant, and the bittern fhall poffefs it. The raven shall dwell there. It shall be an habitation for dragons; and a court for owls. There the wild beafts of the defert fhall meet. The fatyr fhall cry to his fellow. The fcreech-owl shall find herself a place of reft; and the vultures fhall be gathered together, every one with it's mate."

SECT.