COUNTRY VILLAS. 157 



remind the general reader that by a landscape, in the sense in which it is under- 

 stood hy artists, is meant a scene, verdant, architectural, or aquatic, wliich 

 can be seen by the eye looking horizontally and directly in front, withoiit 

 moving the head ; which consists of strongly marked parts, within a few feet 

 or yards of the eye, forming what is called the foreground ; which contains a 

 number of parts in the horizon, sufficiently distant to appear greatly dimi- 

 nished in size, which is called the distance ; and which is completed by an 

 intermediate portion of scenery, neither so indistinct as the distance, nor so 

 large and bold, nor so much in detail, as the foreground, which is called the 

 middle distance. Such landscapes admit of infinite variety : 1 . as to the 

 extent of the space within which the three component parts of them, viz. the 

 foreground, middle distance, and third distance, are contained ; and, 2. as to 

 the nature, number, and magnitude of the objects which form each of these 

 component parts. One |)roperty, however, is common to every landscape that 

 is satisfactory to the eye; viz. that it is composed of parts or distances, and 

 that these are not less than three. The principle on which this is founded is, 

 that no landscape can please that does not form a whole ; and that three are 

 the smallest number of parts in any object by which a whole can be produced. 

 In addition to constituting a whole, a landscape may be expressive of different 

 other kinds of beauty: it may be gay or gloomy, simple or intricate, and so 

 on ; and though the landscape-gardener may not always have it in his power 

 to confer much expression of this kind, yet he is always able to form a whole, 

 and, if he does not do this, he is without excuse. 



242. The distant scenery should always be considered in laying out a country 

 villa. Having endeavoured to give the general reader a clear idea of what 

 constitutes an artistical landscape, our next object is to impress on his mind 

 the proposition, that in every well laid out place there will be a considerable 

 number of views, consisting of at least three distances ; all more or less strik- 

 ing or captivating, and all more or less forcing themselves on the attention of 

 the spectator. These views are to be obtained from the windows of the prin- 

 cipal rooms of the house, from the walks of the pleasure-grounds, or from 

 seats placed in different parts of them. If, in moving along the walks, one 

 part of the scenery be found just as interesting as another, and none capable 

 of attracting much attention, then the artist has failed in his attempt to create 

 a series of landscapes. It does not follow from this that he has not created 

 beauties of another kind ; for there may be handsome beds of flowers, elegant 

 sculpturesque objects; and fine specimens of trees and shrubs : but these 

 beauties belong to floriculture, architectural decoration, and arboriculture, 

 and not to landscape-gardening. Neither does it follow that every step in a 

 pleasure-ground ought to produce a new and striking landscape, though this 

 is practicable under very favourable circumstances ; and we shall show, from 

 a garden of less than an acre in extent, how upwards of a score of striking 

 landscapes may be produced in almost immediate succession. Nor is it 

 necessary that every landscape should have its third distance beyond the 

 limits of the area under the control of the landscape-gardener : on the con- 

 trary, this distance may always be obtained within the groiuuls when it cannot 

 be found beyond them ; though the views, under such circumstances, will be 

 confined rather than grand. It is principally to effect this sort of pleasing, 

 gardeaesque, or picturesque views, that sculptural and architectural objects 

 are introduced into gardens. 



