Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/796

 m COTTAGE, FARM, AND VILLA ARCHITECTURE. to, or surrounding, a building. Many, in these times, have cliosen to misinterpret the original intention for which terraces were formed ; and because some of the remains of them, and, no doubt, therefore, the finest and most agreeable, enjoy distant and extensive prospects, have imagined that, without that, no terrace could strictly so be called : whereas, I conceive, the main object of a terrace to have been for the purpose of ob- taining in most, but particularly in bad, seasons, a dry and healthy promenade ; and, no doubt, if from this promenade an extensive view were commanded, the enjoyment of the exercise taken thereon would be greatly enlianced. If we define a terrace merely as a long and spacious straight walk, no one will object to the introduction of it ; and I think I may affirm, that all who possess one will agree with me in confirming the enjoyment they have derived thereon. Of those houses built in the reigns of Charles II., James II., William and Mary, and Anne, some exception to my original position may be judiciously made ; for, to follow strictly the trim style of gardening which was originally adopted by their possessors, and considered then as appropriate, would be, in truth, to return to a style which was introduced in bad taste, and which ought, therefore, to be dis- carded. Where such houses remain, it will be well, perhaps, to keep up their gardens partially, introducing with them, or engrafting upon them, the better style of Palladian gardening, that, too, which iminediately succeeded ; by which we can only subject ourselves to the same species of reproach, if reproach it can be called, as that given to our munificent ancestors, when they completed the Saxon and Norman cathedral with the then newer style of Gothic." 1651. The Italian Architectural Garden. " It is a mistaken notion to suppose, that, because wc do not enjoy the climate of Italy, we cannot, therefore, appropriate to this country the Italian style of garden. It is also a mistaken notion to suppose the Italian style of gardening peculiarly adapted to the Italian climate. Those who have visited Rome in the winter season will agree with me in enthusiastic admiration of the Roman gardens, at that period of the year. By an Englishman the gardens of the Villa Borghese and Doria Pamfili can never be forgotten. But, then, he must have visited them in winter ; he must have seen and enjoyed them at that season, for the amelioration of the rigours of which they have been constructed ; for even at Rome a winter hits its rigours. Let him visit these gardens in summer, and he will find them a very Pande- monium. If his eyesight recover from the glare of their blazing ornaments, he will not so easily forget the intolerable heats he has found collected in them, and their almost total want of shade ; for the shade of evergreens, even though they should be the beautiful /lex or spreading stone pine, is not true shade to an Englishman, accustomed as he is to the delicate and umbrageous foliage of our deciduous natives, the oak, &c. By as much, therefore, as our climate throughout the year ajiproaches to the climate of an Italian winter, by so much should we do wisely in adopting the Italian style of gardening. It is true, we have not marble in the same abundance ; and, if we had, we have neitlicr artists to execute figures and vases in that material at a moderate price ; nor would these, when executed, bear the frost or damj) of this country ; and so far the Italian style is not fitted for this climate : but we have stone, and that in abundance, and of the most beautiful description, such as the Portland, the Bath, and the Ancaster, which will stand all weathers ; and the two latter of which are so easy to cut, and so dur- able when cut, that the place of marble ornaments may be supplied by them at a very moderate expense. A plot of ground, of one acre only, attached to the mansion, laid out in the Italian manner, with its terrace, steps, balustrades, vases, fountain, and rectangular gravel walks, will add more to the chcerfidness of both the exterior and interior of that mansion, throughout the greater portion of the year, than five times the quantity of land laid out according to our present English style of gardening. What flower-beds, and those formal ones, corresponding in lines parallel to the gravel walks, may be introduced, will be made gaudy and rich for the summer season by annuals, of which, in colour, there is a great variety ; and roses, care being taken to put but one kind of plant into each flower-bed ; bulbous roots, such as snowdrops, crocuses, tulips, hyacinths, &c., will afford a spring crop of many colours ; China asters, chrysanthemunts, georginas, pelar- goniums, &c., will decorate the autumn; and but a few winter months will remain for the architectural ornaments to display fidly and solely those powers which, with the conjunction of the flowers, they have through the spring, summer, and autumn main- tained. A garden of this sort is * an extension of the splendour of the residence into a certain limited portion of the demesne ; it is a sort of chapel of ease to the apartments within doors.' If it cannot justly be called a part of the mansion, it is at least a link of connection between that and the other gardens ; and, for such other gardens, our own English style is as good as. and perhaps better than, the style of any other nation. In these gardens this rule shoidd be observed, that, as they approach the park or forest, the wilder and more in character with that adjunct they become, till, by an apparently natural and easy step, the one amalgamates wifli the other. However strong contrasts, and