16 THE VILLA GABDEXER. 



keep them in repaii', than square, or parallelogram, houses ; the quantity of 

 decoration on both being equal. 



20. Laying out and planting. — However paradoxical it may seem, it is 

 nevertheless true, that the difficulties of building, planting, and gardening, 

 on a small scale, so as completely to attain the objects in view, are greater 

 than on a large one. This will be found acknowledged by the late eminent 

 landscape-gardener, Mr. Repton, in various parts of his works ; and it is 

 also well-known to every architect, and to every gentleman's gardener who 

 has been accustomed to lay out grounds. There is scarcely an architect who 

 does not find it much easier to satisfy himself in devising a design for a 

 mansion, than one for a cottage residence ; or a landscape-gardener, who 

 would not have more confidence of success in laying out and planting a park 

 of a thousand acres, than a ground plot of half an acre. The difficulty, in 

 the case of small places, arises from the deep consideration required to pro- 

 duce the greatest possible result from very limited means. In building or 

 planting on a large scale, the means are generally ample ; and, if not 

 unlimited, they are, at least, frequently indefinite : the results obtained are, 

 therefore, generally considerable, and such as to afibrd ample enjoyment to 

 the possessor. Should they fail of this, however, his wealth and his resources 

 Avill enable him to alter, amend, and improve, till he has succeeded to his 

 wishes ; or, should he ultimately not succeed, will prevent him from being 

 ruined by the attempt. The planner of a small place, on the contrary, 

 whether it is for his own occupation, or for that of another, undertakes a task 

 of great moral responsibility ; since the result may either be inadequate to 

 the means employed, and thus time and money which can ill be spared may 

 be thrown away ; or tlie expense may be greater than was desired, or could 

 be afforded by the party, and might thus blight his fortune, and, conse- 

 quently, mar his prospects of happiness. In short, when an artist under- 

 takes to arrange a country residence on the smallest scale, he may be 

 considered as intrusted with the whole of what his employer can afford to 

 expend in that manner ; while, on a large scale, he is only intrusted with a 

 part. Hence the serious consequence of failure in the former case, as com- 

 pared with the latter ; and, hence, the deep considei-ation required in design- 

 ing, and the great anxiety felt in executing, a cottage residence, as compared 

 with a mansion or a palace. Those who have had most experience in matters 

 of this kind will be the most deeply impressed with the truth of what is here 

 stated. 



21. In the earlier stages of civilised society, the comforts and the ele- 

 gances of life were necessarily few ; but, as civilisation and refinement 

 proceeded, both must naturally have increased. The first house was, doubt- 

 less, a mere hovel ; and the first garden a piece of dug ground, surrounded 

 by a rude enclosure ; and as mankind advanced in knowledge and taste, the 

 hovel and the enclosure were gradually improved, till they became what they 

 are at present. It is the privilege of every existing generation to take 

 advantage of all that is considered excellent in the practices of those which 

 have preceded it. The first architects could have only one manner of archi- 

 tecture to study, and the first gardeners only one mode of laying out their 

 gardens ; but the architects of the present day can have recourse to all the 

 different styles of design, and manners of building, which have been prac- 



