" But, allowing all this, the legitimate glory of the
perfect avenue is ours still, as will appear by a little consideration
of the elements which constitute its beauty.
[Footnote 26: Or a city. Any one who remembers entering Carlsruhe from
the north by the two miles of poplar avenue, remembers entering the most
soulless of all cities, by the most lifeless of all entrances.]
152. The original idea was given by the opening of the tangled glades in
our most ancient forests. It is rather a curious circumstance that, in
those woods whose decay has been most instrumental in forming the bog
districts of Ireland, the trees have, in general, been planted in
symmetrical rows, at distances of about twenty feet apart. If the
arrangement of our later woods be not quite so formal, they at least
present frequent openings, carpeted with green sward, and edged with
various foliage, which the architect (for so may the designer of the
avenue be entitled) should do little more than reduce to symmetry and
place in position, preserving, as much as possible, the manner and the
proportions of nature. The avenue, therefore, must not be too long. It
is quite a mistake to suppose that there is sublimity in a monotonous
length of line, unless indeed it be carried to an extent generally
impossible, as in the case of the long walk at Windsor.
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