196 THE VILLA GARDENER. 



Our object has been to give the reader materials for thinking on the different 

 subjects connected with the formation of a residence where there are a few 

 acres of ground, in order that he may endeavour to find a reason for every 

 thing that we may in future propose; and, in short, that he may feel a greater 

 interest in this work than if it were merely a series of arbitrary directions. 

 In pursuance of the same object, we shall next consider the residence as a 

 whole. After all the different parts which enter into the composition of a 

 country residence have been duly weighed and considered by the proprietor 

 and his landscape-gardener, and the proportionate extent of each agreed on, 

 the next step is for the latter to put them together. It is chiefly in doing 

 this that the artist has an opportunity of showing to what extent he is entitled 

 to be considered as a man of genius and taste. It is easy to conceive that 

 all the different component parts of a piece of music, a picture, or a piece of 

 architecture, may be correctly executed ; and yet that the want of due pro- 

 portion between these parts may be so great, and the whole may be put toge- 

 ther with so little connexion and harmony, as to form an object wholly 

 without sentiment or expression, — a body unanimated by a soul. It is this 

 expression, formed by the due proportion, connexion, and cooperation of all 

 the parts, that constitutes the main difference between a work of art and one 

 of mere mechanical skill. Two grand qualities in the artist, with reference 

 to creating expression, are, the power of viewing every part of the scene 

 ■which he is to create, with reference to the effect of the whole ; and the power 

 of foreseeing future effects. It is only by the union of these two qualities in 

 the mind of the landscape-gardener, that the grounds of a residence can be 

 formed into a composition, as pei-fect as a piece of architecture ; every 

 moulding of which, as well as every column and larger member, has refer- 

 ence to the elevation of the different sides of the building, forms a sort of 

 index to it, and could not be removed without injury to its effect. Perhaps 

 these remarks may be better understood by noticing a few of the mot common 

 defects, or causes of defects, in country residences, than by describing a com- 

 paratively perfect model. 



290. The entrance lodge is generally the first fault of a place that meets the 

 eye of a stranger. Here the building and gates are very frequently either too 

 mean, or too much ornamented; too large and substantial, or too small, for 

 the mansion and its accompaniments. What the happy medium is, it may be 

 difficult to say, unless a particular case were before us : but, in every age, 

 there is a sort of conventional agreement among men of taste, as to what is 

 proper, and what exceeds the bounds of propriety. If every part of a place 

 should give the spectator some idea of the style of art employed in every other 

 part, then it is clear that the lodge and gate should be in the same architec- 

 tural style as that of the mansion ; and, hence, where the latter is Grecian or 

 Italian, the former should neither be Gothic, nor in the ornamented English 

 cottage style. The boundary fence connected with the lodge should be 

 modern, where the art employed is modern; but, in the case of Gothic, or 

 Elizabethan, lodges, walls only are admissible; hedges, as boundary fences, 

 not being chronologically correct when connected with buildings in either of 

 these styles. Where the lodge and gates have patches of plantation con- 

 necting them with the boundary fences, hut no scattered trees or groups to 

 unite them to the mansion and the scenery in the interior, the principle of 

 connexion is grossly violated, and one of the finest sources of variety in the 



