A
NEW METHOD,
&c, &c, &c.
By way of introduction to the
following treatise, I venture to avail myself
of the just observation in the
commentary on the first book of that beautiful poem, "the English
Garden;" but at the same time, I take the liberty of altering
the words in favour of
composition of landscape by invention, that being, in
great measure, the subject of the
present work.
The powers of art
and invention, impart picturesque beauty, and strength of character to the
works of an artist in landscape painting; as a noble and graceful deportment
confers a winning aspect on the human frame. Composing
landscapes by invention, is not
the art of imitating individual nature; it is more; it is forming artificial
representations of landscape on the general principles of nature, founded in
unity of character, which is true simplicity; concentring in each individual
composition the beauties, which judicious imitation would select from those
which are dispersed in nature.
I am persuaded, that some
instantaneous method of bringing forth the conception of an ideal subject fully
to the view (though in the crudest manner) would promote original composition
in painting; and that the want of some such method has retarded the progress of
it more than impotence of execution.
Hence proceeds the similarity, as
well as weakness, of character, which may be seen in all compositions that are
bad, or indifferently good: they may be also owing more particularly to the
following causes;
1.
To the deficiency of a stock of ideas originally laid up in the mind,
from which might be selected such
as suit any particular occasion;
2.
To an incapacity of distinguishing and connecting ideas so treasured up ;
3.
To a want of facility, or quickness, in execution; so that the composition,
how perfect soever in conception,
grows faint and dies away before the hand of the artist can fix it upon the
paper, or canvas.
To
one or more of these causes may be imputed that want of nature and
originality, which is visible in
many productions.
How
far the incapacity of combining our ideas with readiness and propriety
in the works of art, may arise
from neglecting to exercise the invention, or from not duely cultivating the
taste and judgment, cannot perhaps be easily determined: but it cannot be doubted,
that too much time is spent in copying the works of others, which tends to
weaken the powers of invention; and I scruple not to affirm, that too much time
may be employed in copying the landscapes of nature herself.
I here find myself
tempted to communicate an accident that gave rise to the method now proposed of
assisting the imagination in landscape composition, which I have constantly
pursued, as well in my private studies as in the course of my teaching, ever
since; and which I now lay before the public, after a full proof of its
utility, from many years experience.
Reflecting one day
in company with a pupil of great natural capacity, on original composition of
landscape, in contradistinction to copying, I lamented the want of a mechanical
method sufficiently expeditious and extensive to draw forth the ideas of an
ingenious mind disposed to the art of designing. At this instant happening to
have a piece of soiled paper under my hand, and casting my eyes on it slightly,
I sketched something like a landscape on it, with a pencil, in order to catch
some hint which might be improved into a rule. The stains, though extremely
faint, appeared upon revisal to have influenced me, insensibly, in expressing
the general appearance of a landscape.
This circumstance
was sufficiently striking: I mixed a tint with ink and water, just strong
enough to mark the paper; and having hastily made some rude forms with it,
(which, when dry, seemed as if they would answer the same purpose to which I
had applied the accidental stains of the 'forementioned piece of paper) I laid
it, together with a few short hints of my intention, before the pupil, who
instantly improved the blot, as it may be called, into an intelligible sketch,
and from that time made such progress in composition, as fully answered my most
sanguine expectations from the experiment.
After a long time
making these hints for composition with light ink, the method was improved by
making them with black ink; and the sketches from these are produced by tracing
them on transparent paper.
In the course of
prosecuting this scheme, I was informed, that something of the same kind had
been mentioned by Leonardo da Vinci, in his Treatise on Painting. It may easily
be imagined how eagerly I consulted the book; and from a perusal of the
particular passage which tended to confirm my own opinion, I have now an
authority to urge in its favour; an authority, to which the ingenious will be
disposed to pay some regard. The passage is as follows.
³Among other things
I shall not scruple to deliver a new method of assisting the invention, which,
though trifling in appearance, may yet be of considerable service in opening
the mind, and putting it upon the scent of new thoughts; and it is this. If you
look upon an old wall covered with dirt, or the odd appearance of some streaked
stones, you may discover several things like landscapes, battles, clouds,
uncommon attitudes, humorous faces, draperies &c. Out of this confused mass
of objects, the mind will be furnished with abundance of designs and subjects
perfectly new.²
I presume to
think, that my method is an improvement upon the above hint of Leonardo da
Vinci, as the rude forms offered by this scheme are made at will; and should it
happen, that a blot is so rude or unfit, that no good composition can be made
from it, a remedy is always at hand, by substituting another. But, according to
Leonardo, the rude forms must be sought for in old walls, &c. which seldom
occur; consequently, the end of the composer may sometimes be defeated.
An artificial blot
is a production of chance, with a small degree of design; for in making it, the
attention of the performer must be employed on the whole, or the general form
of the composition, and upon this only; whilst the subordinate parts are left
to the casual motion of the hand and the brush.
But in making
blots it frequently happens, that the person blotting is inclined to direct his
thoughts to the objects, or particular parts, which constitute the scene or
subject, as well as to the general disposition of the whole. The consequence of
this is an universal appearance of design in his work, which is more than is
necessary to a true blot. But this superabundance of design is of no
disadvantage to the drawing that is to be made from it, provided it is done with
judgment and spirit; for if what is intended for a blot, proves to be a
spirited sketch, the artist has only the less to invent in his drawing, when he
is making it out.
A true blot is an
assemblage of dark shapes or masses made with ink upon a piece of paper, and
likewise of light ones produced by the paper being left blank. All the shapes
are rude and unmeaning, as they are formed with the
swiftest hand. But at the same
time there appears a general disposition of these masses, producing one
comprehensive form, which may be conceived and purposely intended before the
blot is begun. This general form will exhibit some kind of subject, and this is
all that should be done designedly.
It was thought
necessary to give this particular description of a true blot, in order to
compare it with one, in which too much attention has been paid to the
constituent parts.
The blot is not a
drawing, but an assemblage of accidental shapes, from which a drawing may be
made. It is a hint, or crude resemblance of the whole effect of a picture,
except the keeping and colouring; that is to say, it gives an idea of the
masses of light and shade, as well as of the forms, contained in a finished
composition. If a finished drawing be gradually removed from the eye, its
smaller parts will be less and less expressive; and when they are wholly
undistinguished, and the largest parts alone remain visible, the drawing will
then represent a blot, with the appearance of some degree of keeping. On the
contrary, if a blot be placed at such a distance that the harshness of the
parts should disappear, it would represent a finished drawing, but with the
appearance of uncommon spirit.
To sketch in the
common way, is to transfer ideas from the mind to the paper, or canvas, in
outlines, in the slightest manner. To blot, is to make varied spots and shapes
with ink on paper, producing accidental forms without lines, from which ideas
are presented to the mind. This is conformable to nature: for in nature, forms
are not distinguished by lines, but by shade and colour. To sketch, is to
delineate ideas; blotting suggests them.
In order to
illustrate farther the scheme of blotting, the opinion of a celebrated author
(the late Dr. Brown) may have some weight, who was so obliging as to give it me
in writing.
³A blot in
drawing,² says this ingenious Gentleman, ³is similar to the historical fact on
which a poet builds his drama; in this historical fact there is nothing but
light and dark masses, void of any thing that can be called ordonance or
design; upon this the poet works, producing, by the power of imagination,
regular light and shade, variety of corresponding objects, properly grouped and
contrasted, with all the characters requisite to form a finished poem, or
picture, and not less original than if the historical fact had never existed.²
He might have added ‹ and not less natural than if the poem or picture were
intirely historical.
The reader hath
already seen what a blot is; I shall now speak more particularly of its use and
extent, in the practice of our art.
In order to produce
the drawing, nothing more is required than to place a piece of paper, made
transparent, upon the blot; or if the practitioner chooses to make the sketch
upon paper not so transparent, he should procure a frame, made on purpose, with
a glass for small drawings, and strained gauze for larger, to stand on a table,
as is mentioned hereafter. The blot with the paper is to be put on it. The
first operation in composing from the blot, is to make out the sketch, by
giving meaning and coherence to the rude shapes, and aerial keeping to the
casual light and dark masses of the blot.
I conceive, that
this method of blotting may be found to be a considerable improvement to the
arts of design in general; for the idea or conception of any subject, in any
branch of the art, may be first formed into a blot. Even the historical, which
is the noblest branch of painting, may be assisted by it; because it is the
speediest and the surest means of fixing a rude whole of the most transient and
complicated image of any subject in the painter's mind.
There is a singular
advantage peculiar to this method; which is, that from the rudeness and
uncertainty of the shapes made in blotting, one artificial blot will suggest
different ideas to different persons; on which account it has the strongest
tendency to enlarge the powers of invention, being more effectual to that
purpose than the study of nature herself alone. For instance, suppose any
number of persons were to draw some particular view from a real spot; nature is
so precise, that they must produce nearly the same ideas in their drawings; but
if they were one after the other, to make out a drawing from one and the same
blot, the parts of it being extremely vague and indeterminate, they would each
of them, according to their different ideas, produce a different picture. One
and the same designer likewise may make a different drawing from the same blot;
as will appear from the three several landscapes taken from the same blot,
which are given in the four last plates or examples.
To the
practitioner in landscape it may be farther observed, that in finishing a
drawing from a blot, the following circumstance will occur, viz. in
compositions where there are a number of grounds or degrees of distance,
several of them will be expressed in the sketch by little more than tracing the
masses that are in the blot, the last ground of all perhaps requiring only an
outline: for the greatest precision of forms will be necessary in the first or
nearest ground; in the next ground the precision will be less, and so on.
There must
doubtless be left a power of rejecting any part of the blot which may appear
improper, or unnatural, while the sketch is making; for which no previous
directions can be given: in this case imagination leads, while the judgment
regulates.
However it is still
evident, that, notwithstanding the variety which chance may suggest, and this
discretionary power of rejecting any part of a blot, a very indifferent drawing
may yet be produced from other causes, such as want of capacity, inattention,
&c. the effects of which are not to be counteracted by any rules or
assistance whatever.
It
hath been already observed, that the want of variety and strength of character
may be owing either, first;
To
a scantiness of original ideas: or, secondly,
To
an incapacity of distinguishing and connecting such as are capable of being
properly united: or, thirdly,
To
a want of facility and quickness in execution.
But
to each of these defects, the art of blotting, here explained, affords, in some
degree, a remedy. For it increases the original stock of picturesque ideas;
It
soon enables the practitioner to distinguish those which are capable of
being connected, from those which
seem not naturally related; and
It
necessarily gives a quickness and freedom of hand in expressing the
parts of a composition, beyond
any other method whatever.
It
also is extremely conducive to the acquisition of a theory, which will
always conduct the artist in
copying nature with taste and propriety.
This theory is, in fact, the art
of seeing properly; it directs the artist in the choice of a scene, and to
avail himself of all those circumstances and incidents therein which may
embellish or consolidate his piece.
But there is a
farther, and a very material purpose that may be attained by it, which is, that
of taking views from nature. In doing which, as well as composing landscapes by
invention, the following principles are necessary, viz. A proper choice of the
subject, strength of character, taste, picturesqueness, proportion, keeping,
expression of parts or objects, harmony, contrast, light and shade, effect,
&c. All these may be acquired by the use of blotting; so that what remains
necessary, for drawing landscapes from nature, is only a habit in the draughtsman,
of imitating what he sees before him, which anyone may learn through practice,
assisted by some simple method.
In short, whoever
has been used to compose landscapes by blotting, can also draw from nature with
practice. But he cannot arrive at a power of composing by invention, by the
means of drawing views from nature, without a much greater degree of time and
practice.
In order to
encourage those who wish to design original compositions, it may be remarked,
that there is to be discerned, in all whole compositions in nature, a gradation
of parts, which may be divided into several classes; for instance, the class of
the smaller parts, the class of those of larger dimensions, and so on to the
largest. The curious spectator of landscape insensibly acquires a habit of
taking notice, or observing all the parts of nature, which is strengthened by
exercise. It may be perceived, that the application of this notice in youth is
directed to the smaller parts (which are also the most strongly retained in
idea), from which it is gradually transferred to the larger as we approach to
age, at which time we generally take notice of whole compositions. By the means
of this propensity we lay up a store of ideas in the memory, from whence the
imagination selects those which are best adapted to the nature of her
operations. All the particular parts of each object may not be preserved in the
memory, yet general ideas of the whole may be thrown as it were into the
repository, and there retained.
Every one knows,
that the youthful and the ignorant, as well as the mature and the refined,
express their approbation (frequently from their own feelings) of performances
that are worthy of praise. What can this proceed from? --- There must be an
inward criterion by which they are led to judge and approve. This criterion is
the store of ideas before-mentioned, which are in the possession of all who
have been used to the proper subjects. Some of these ideas are drawn forth by
the merits of such performances as are presented, and so become the scale or
rule of judgment and taste, by which the operations of criticism are carried
on.
Ideas may also be
revived by recollection, whether casual or intended. To these may be added, the
method of blotting now offered, which has a direct tendency to recal landscape
ideas.
On the foregoing
principles, very few can have reason to suspect in themselves a want of
capacity sufficient to apply the use of blotting to the practice of drawing,
nor can they be totally ignorant of the parts of composition in nature, for as
they are previously prepared with ideas of parts, as before proved, so this art
affords an opportunity of calling them forth, and likewise presents an ocular
demonstration of the principles of composition. Previous ideas, however
acquired (of which every person is possessed more or less) will assist the
imagination in the use of blotting, and on the other hand, the exercise of
blotting will strengthen and improve the ideas which are impaired for want of
application.
I beg to consider
this matter in a further light. It is probable, that all persons retain ideas
of what they have seen, but that there are many who have no aptitude for
imitating what they do see, in order to make a copy of it. So that in regard to
composing landscapes by invention, there is only required a method (as
blotting) to bring out those ideas visibly on paper, &c. But no method can
give an aptness, or an eye, for copying to a person who is not possessed of it
from nature, which may be compared to a want of ear in music.
If it be said, that
a person must have genius in order to be able to make out designs from blots;
the truth of this assertion may be examined by enquiring what genius is, and to
what principal purpose genius is indispensably necessary; and on the other
hand, what are the requisites necessary to make designs from blots.
A definition of
genius may be attempted as follows. Strength of ideas; power of invention; and
ready execution. -- So that a man of true genius conceives strongly, invents
with originality, and executes readily.
It is to be
suspected, that the world entertains but confused notions concerning genius.
This probably arises from mistaking certain qualities for genius, which are
totally distinct from it; as perception, judgement, imagination, partiality for
an art, experience, memory, taste, perseverance, industry, attention,
knowledge, &c. Any one of these, or any number, or even all of them
together, cannot produce such transcendent beauties as are the fruits of
genius, when furnished with proper materials. Yet much is, and may be done by
the force of those qualities alone, without any proof of the existence of real
and original genius.
When a person shews
a very great inclination to any profession, employment, or art, &c. and
pursues it with unremitting perseverance, and even enthusiasm; this is not
really a proof of genius, but merely of a strong attachment.
When a person, by
being inured to the perception of beauty, has acquired taste, suppose it in the
greatest degree, so as to be a consummate judge of the highest style of beauty;
this also is not a proof of genius.
But when a person
frequently and readily performs works which are novel, and these with precision
of meaning; this is a proof of genius; which, as beforementioned, consists of
strength of ideas, with power of invention, and ready execution.
Lastly, when a
person endued with genius has, from some incidental cause, directed his
attention steadily to any pursuit, and feels a strong attachment to it; and has
acquired taste, by inuring himself to the sight and perception of beauty; then
enthusiasm and taste thus combined with genius, invest him with triple power,
to create and execute works transcending in beauty and perfection.
The principal purpose to which
genius is indispensably necessary is, the production of whole compositions new
to the performer.
As to the
requisites necessary for making out designs from blots, they may be seen in
this treatise, where they are particularly set forth in many places. There it
may be clearly understood, that it is in the power of most capacities to make
designs from blots, to a considerable degree of perfection, and that genius is
not indispensably necessary for that purpose. But it must be confessed, that if
a person possesses genius, according to the definition, he will avail himself
more of those accidental forms, &c. which the blot presents to him, and
consequently will compose with greater facility and meaning from them, than one
who has no genius. From this it may be presumed, that the use of blotting may
be a help even to genius; and where there is latent genius, it helps to bring
it forth.
Having thus far
given to the reader an account of the art of blotting, and urged some arguments
in its favour; the next matter is, to lay before him such rules and examples as
will be useful or necessary in the practice of it.
N.B. The author is
apprehensive, that the following rules, in many places, are not so clear and
intelligible as could be wished, arising from the difficulty of
expressing methods that are new:
therefore he is afraid that some explanations are necessary, which he is not
able to give in writing.
RULE I.
To make Drawing Ink
Procure the following Articles.
Lamp-black, in a
small barrel, from the oil-shop.
Two or three ounces of finely powdered gum arabic, from the apothecary; keep this very dry.
Writing ink.
Half pint tin pot.
A middling sized
bristle brush, to be had at the colour shop.
Put
a little of the gum into the tin pot; add writing ink, as much as will
make
it a paste; mix it very well with the brush. Add lamp-black upon the point of a
knife, or shake it out of the barrel a little at a time, till it becomes as
thick as it can be managed when mixed. Add a little more writing ink, and mix
it well.
RULE II.
To
make Transparent Paper.
Procure
the following articles.
Two or four ounces, or a pint of strong turpentine varnish, in a bladder or bottle, or mastic varnish (having less scent) from the colour shop.
Half a pint or
pint of spirit of turpentine.
A large bristle
brush.
A tin cup, as a
measure, about half the size of a small tea cup.
A quart bottle.
A pint mug.
Pour into the quart bottle a little more than the measure, of the turpentine varnish; pour into the same bottle, three times the above quantity of spirit of turpentine; shake it.
When
you are going to make the transparent paper, pour some of the mixture into the
mug. Lay what quantity you please of sheets or pieces of the proper paper on a
large sheet of dark brown paper or pasteboard: pass over the upper piece on
both sides evenly with the brush and mixture; dry it by the fire till the
spirit of turpentine is intirely evaporated. If the paper proves not
transparent enough when it is dry, then pass over the same pieces a second time
on one side only, drying it again as before. Thus proceed till it is as
transparent as you please.
The proper paper
for a small size is the thin post in folio.
For a large size
--- English single elephant printing, or printing royal.
A copy of the fore-going rule may be given to a stationer or printseller, that he may make the transparent paper as directed.
RULE III.
To form a BLOT.
Prepare
the paper and materials. The proper paper for the blots is
the double
demy printing.
1.
Possess your mind strongly with a subject[1].
2.
Take a camel's hair brush, as large as can be conveniently used, dip it in a
mixture of drawing ink and water, which must be of such a degree of lightness
or darkness as will best suit your purpose, and with the swiftest hand make all
possible variety of shapes and strokes upon your paper, confining the
disposition of the whole to the general subject in your mind. In doing this,
care must be taken to avoid giving the blot the appearance of what the painters
call Effect.
3d. Make not only one or two blots on purpose for
a present drawing, but provide a quantity of paper, of the size you please, and
make a number at a time. In doing this at separate times, by way of amusement,
your blots will increase to such a number as will afford the greatest and best
choice, whenever you are disposed to make a composition of landscape from
anyone of them. From a frequent use of blotting in this manner, the designer
will acquire freedom of hand, a knowledge of proportion, and a facility of
execution.
These blots may be
of two kinds; light, or dark ones.
The first done with a faint degree of colour; the drawings to be made out on the blots themselves, without the intervention of any other paper.
The
second sort of blots to be made with the darkest degree of ink, from
which the drawings
must be made out upon transparent paper; or on paper not made transparent,
placed on a frame with a transparent glass, prepared on purpose for small
drawings, and strained gauze for larger ones, to stand on a table, between the
designer and the light.
For the surest means of producing
a great variety of the smaller accidental shapes, the paper on which you are
going to make the blot, may be crumpled up in the hand, and then stretched out
again.
Blots may be made more or less
intelligible or correct, to any degree; but they are given in this work not in
a great degree of rudeness, that they may be the better accommodated to the
capacity of beginners.
RULE IV.
To
make a SKETCH[2]
from a Blot with a Hair Pencil, as a Preparation for a finished Drawing.
1. The artist should first be acquainted with the
following useful observation. Every landscape which is of some extent, is
capable of being divided, more or less, into several parts horizontally, which
are supposed to be situated at different distances from the eye; these may be
called Grounds: that part or division which is apparently nearest to the eye,
may be termed the
first ground; that which is next in distance, the second ground; and so on, to the farthest. After
having chosen the blot from the general collection, and fixed the proper paper
upon it, with black-lead pencil draw the outlines of the figures or animals
that are intended to be introduced.
2. Mix a degree of drawing ink, almost black, in a cup.
When the blot is taken in hand to be made out, consider which way the general
light should come on the scene most properly, whether from the right hand, the
left hand, on the front of the landscape, or from the back.
3. Take the tint before-mentioned, and with it make out
and improve the light and dark masses that appear in the first or fore ground
of the blot, studying every individual form with attention till you produce
some proper meaning, such as the blot suggests. When this is dry, retouch any
part (especially the trees and shrubs, &c.) with the same colour, but with
a fuller brush. With a colour a little lighter make out the masses of the next
ground. Thus, with tints lighter and lighter, make out the masses of the rest
of the divisions or grounds in the drawing.
4. In the whole proceeding preserve the spirit of the
blot as much as possible, by taking care not to add any thing that is not
suggested by it, and to leave out what appears to be unnatural.
5. The practice of observing and of drawing single parts
or objects, such as trees, thickets, water, rocks, &c. from drawing or
prints, and especially from nature, is very much to be recommended to
beginners, in order to acquire the knowledge of parts. While the sketch is
making out, place good prints, drawings, or paintings, something similar to the
same kind of subject of your sketch. For the same purpose of acquiring a
knowledge of parts, it would be very useful to make blots of parts or bits
only, from prints, each in the middle of a piece of white paper, and from these
to make out sketches on transparent paper, looking at the same time on the
prints from which the blots were made.
RULE V.
To finish with a Camel's-Hair Brush, a SKETCH that is made out from a Blot.
1. Adapt a sky proper to the landscape, from the
collection of skies. Draw the disposition and forms of the clouds with
blacklead very faintly, placing the greatest quantity of clouds on that side of
the picture where the landscape part is lowest, in order to preserve the
ballance of the composition. Mix, in a cup, a very light degree of drawing ink
and water, wash the whole sky, except those parts which are intended to receive
a very bright light, and let it remain to dry. With the same colour pass over
those parts again which require to be darker. Make the colour a little darker,
and retouch whereever it is thought proper. Thus proceed until the sky is
finished.
2. With a tint a little darker than the sky-colour
wash the whole landscape, except those parts which are intended to be in the
first degree of light: repeat this colour as often as you think proper, on the same
shades, leaving some parts every time, these will produce lights of the second
degree. Make the ink a little darker, and wash the whole landscape again,
except the first and second degrees of light: repeat this as before, leaving
some parts, which will produce some new lights. If there be any water in the
composition, it may be expressed in gradation darker and darker in the proper
parts, with the colours that are at the same time used for the landscape.
3. When the last tint can be used
no longer effectually, then make the colour that is in the cup darker, and use
it in the same manner as far as it will go. At the same time other lights will
be formed. Thus proceed till all the proper degrees of light are left, and
consequently all the degrees of shade are performed. In the present sense, it
may be said, that all the lights, except the brightest, are degrees of shade;
and all the shades, except the darkest, are degrees of light.
The progress, from No.2 inclusive to this place,
conduces to what is called Keeping, that is to say, subordination of lights;
for this reason, the tints or colours that are made use of for this purpose,
may be called the Keeping Colours.
4. Through the whole progress observe the
following necessary rule. Whatever colour or degree of shade is in use, retain
it as long as you can; that is to say, shade as much of the drawing with it as
possible before you make the tint that is in the cup darker.
The use of shading is to destroy flatness to a proper degree, or to distinguish objects or parts from each other, viz. the clouds from the azure of the sky, the parts of the clouds, and also the parts of the azure from each other, the great parts of the landscape, the objects that are included in them, and lastly, the parts of the objects from each other. Let the practitioner add shades to whatever he means to relieve or bring out, or what is too obscure or confused in the drawing, till all the proper distinctions are made: but at the same time it is necessary he should endeavour to account for the appearances of those shades, by considering them, either as
Particular dark
sides:
Or general shades
occasioned by the intervention of clouds, or some
terrestrial
objects:
Or the gradation
of aerial keeping:
Or the colour of
an object; that is, either as a dark object compared to a
light one, or a
light object compared to a dark one:
Or, lastly, that kind of keeping or subordination of clearness or
brightness, and obscurity throughout the whole, which is the immediate cause of
the general effect.
Descriptions of the various Kinds of Composition of
LANDSCAPE.
Those Rules which
are discover'd, not devis'd,
Are Nature still,
but Nature methodiz'd:
Nature, like
Monarchy, is but restrain'd
By the same Laws
which first herself ordain'd.
POPE.
1. Part of the edge or top of a hill or mountain, seen horizontally,
the horizon below the bottom of the view. The horizon is the utmost bounds of
the land of a flat country, or the sea, in an uninterrupted view of it to the
sky.
2. The tops of hills or mountains, the horizon
below the bottom of the view.
3. Groups of objects on
one hand, and a flat on the other, of an irregular form next to the groups, at
a moderate distance from the eye.
4. A
flat of a circular form, bounded by groups of objects, at a moderate
distance
from the eye.
5. A
narrow flat, almost parallel and next to the eye, bounded by a narrow
range of groups of
objects.
6. A
single or principal object, opposed to the sky; as a tree, a ruin, a rock,
&c. or a group of objects.
7. A
high fore-ground, that is to say, a large kind of object, or more than
one. Near the eye.
8. A
water-fall.
9.
Two hills, mountains, or rocks, near each other. At a moderate distance
from the bottom of
the view.
10. A
track, proceeding forward from the eye, bounded by groups of
objects.
11.
Objects, or groups of objects, placed alternately on both hands, and
gradually retiring from the eye. The horizon above the bottom of the
view.
12. A
flat bounded on all sides by groups of objects.
13. A hollow or
bottom.
14. A close or
confined scene, with little or no sky.
15. A
landscape of a moderate extent between the right and left hand, the
objects or groups
placed irregularly, and no one predominant. The horizon above the bottom of the
view.
16.
An extensive country, with no predominant part or object. The horizon above the
bottom of the view.
END.