Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/794

 770 COTTAGE, FARM, AND VILLA AIlCIllTECTUUE. easily travelled over; and from this principle are derived the following rules; viz., that, on a flat surface, this road should never deviate so far from the straight line as to be obviously very circuitous ;-that, on an irregular surface, it should never be turned aside by surmountable inequalities, so as to produce the same effect ; and that, if not turned aside by inequalities, it should never pass over them in such a manner as to interfere with facility of communication. An expression of art, therefore, requires to be given, not only to the direction of the road, but to its inclination in the direction of its length. For this reason, on irregular surfaces, it will frequently be required to cut into or lower eminences, and to fill up or raise the surface of hollows or declivities. In effecting this, the greatest degree of skill is required, to maintain the ease and grace of a work of art, and to avoid the mere straightforward character of an improved turnpike road. Ila|)- pily for the artist, trees can at all times be called in to liis assistance ; and the effect of these, in hiding defects and eliciting beauties, is all-powerful. Along the sides of a road passing over an irregular surface, trees may be placed so as to conceal bends in its direction, which would, if seen all at the same time, be considered too numerous ; and on a flat surface they may be arranged so as to create an artificial cause for bends which could not otherwise be made without forfeiting all pretensions to good taste. 1648. The Pleasure- Grounds. In order to make the most of a villa residence, it is found desirable to have the grounds around the house laid out in two distinct characters. The surface on the entrance front should be so disposed as to be in a less refined style of design and ornament than that on the other fronts ; or, at least, on that generally designated the lawn front, or that on the drawing-room side of the house. This side should, in all cases, look towards the best views which the situation affords ; and the fore- ground to these views should be in the highest style of design, order, and keeping which it is intended that the villa should display. It is always desirable that this high style of art should embrace two sides of the house, a third side being the entrance front, and the fourth connected with the offices. We are here assuming the general outline of the ground plan of the house and kitchen-court to be a square or a parallelogram, merely to simplify discussion ; but what we shall advance will apply alike to every form of ground plan. As the style of the grounds on the entrance front is decidedly inferior in degree to that on the drawing-room front, and as the former are generally depastured by sheep, deer, or cattle, it becomes necessary to form such aline of demarcation between them as will serve also as a fence. To conceal this fence, or so to manage it as to render it a work of art, or an architectural appendage to the house, is one of the nicest points of management in disposing of the connecting links between the house and the grounds of a villa residence. The most common resource is an iron fence ; sometimes avowedly displayed, and at others studiously concealed, or formed so slightly as to be considered invisible ; but in all cases a meagre and paltry contrivance, utterly unworthy of a higli style of art. The sunk fence is another resource, which has been employed for separating the grounds of the entrance front from the lawn ; but this also is unarchitectural, and, like the iron and wire fences, only to be adopted at such a distance from the house as never to be supposed to form any of the appendages which connect it with the grounds. The iron fence and the sunk fence being rejected, to what, then, arc we to have recourse? Most decidedly, to a bold and avowed line of demarcation, of an architectural character, and in a style of design which shall harmonise with that of the house. Even a plain wall, broken in its lines by trees and shrubs, is superior to any fence not avowedly dis- played as such, and not decidedly architectural. Here, then, is a medium of connecting the house with the grounds on one side of the entrance front, while the kitchen-court and stable offices afford a more conspicuous means of effecting the same object on the other. Here, also, the Architect will have an opportunity of displaying, in the wall, his inventive powers, in its line of direction, its height, its projections and recesses, the orna- ments with which it is decorated, and in its partial concealment, and connection with the scenery, by occasional groups of trees and shrubs. To fit a Villa Architect for this purpose, he should stuby, above all other works, the writings of Uvedale Price, the work of Gilbert Laing Meason on the landscape-architecture of the great painters of Italy, and the essay on uniting the house with the grounds, by the late Thomas Hope. " In recommending to Architects to study the picturesque effects of buildings, the site adapted for them, and the accompaniments of terrace walls, architectural gardens, and other decorations, to set off their designs for villas," Meason observes, " we are influenced by a desire to raise and extend the theory and the practice of Architecture, to aU that we consider belongs to the art. This was the case in Italy when the fine arts were in per- fection, and great villas were laid out by artists who often combined the practice of paint- ing with that of Architecture ; and, until it be adopted in Britain, the .designs of the Architect will never have justice done to them in the execution." 1649. The Separation of the Lawn from the Scenery beyond it may be considered as a continuation of the same subject ; for here, also, the sunk wall or the iron fence has