Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/25

 ENCYCLOPAEDIA OP COTTAGE, FARM, AND VILLA ARCHITECTURE. INTRODUCTION. THE main object of this Encyclopaedia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture, is to improve the dwellings of the great mass of society, in the temperate regions of both hemispheres : a secondary object is to create and diffuse among mankind, generally, a taste for architectural comforts and beauties. The means by which we propose to accomplish these objects are the following : — By submitting a series of Designs for human dwellings, embracing every appropriate comfort and the greatest variety of beauty ; and by accompanying these Designs with analytical and critical remarks, pointing out ia what this comfort and beauty consist, and on what principles both are founded. By submitting a series of Designs for the finishing, fittings up, fixtures, and furniture Buitable to the different descriptions of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Buildings ; and by ac- companying these with remarks on their fitness for the end in view, such as lighting, heating, ventilating, &c., as well as with analytical and critical remarks on their style or beauty ; thus showing the necessity of Architects including the study of furniture in that of their pro- fession, so as to be able to give Designs for furnishing a house, as well as for building one. By accompanying many of the Designs with gardens, as well small kitchen and flower gardens for the cottager, as pleasure ground and park scenery for the occupant of the villa ; and by explaining the connexion of Villa Architecture with Landscape Gardening, and pointing out the necessity which exists for Villa Architects possessing a considerable know- ledge of the art of laying out grounds. By avoiding, when it is not absolutely necessary, the use of terms peculiar to Architec- ture ; by explaining all such as are used, where they first occur ; and by adopting such a style, as will render the work easily understood by the uninitiated reader, as well as sub- servient to the purpose of educating young persons in Architecture as an art of taste, especially those of the female sex. To attain the end proposed, we commence our work with Designs, as rendering it more attractive to a general reader, as v.ell as of more immediate practical utility to persons intending to build or furnish, than it would be if commenced with abstract principles; and because, in the analytical and critical remarks, with which we mean to accompany these Designs, we intend to develope, as it were, incidentally, and by little and liltle, all the principles of Architecture, and also those of Landscape Gardening as connected with Buildings. We consider this mode of instruction best calculated for those practical men who have not had a sufficient education, or have not pursued such a course of reading in early youth, as to enable them to enter at once on the perusal of discussions, which must necessarily be, to a considerable extent, metaphysical. We also consider this mode by far the best adapted for initiating the general reader in the principles of architectural taste; and for enabling young persons, especially ladies, to educate themselves in Architecture as an elegant art. The improvement of the dwellings of the great mass of society throughout the world, appears to us an object of such vast importance, as to be well worth attempting, even though