COUNTRY VILLAS. 



199 



105 



••-I \ 



party who, in his want of knowledge, has rashly ventured to judge for 

 himself, was too modest to let it be known to his friends that he intended 

 to purchase land; or, perhaps, by keeping the matter quiet, he expected to 

 get it somewhat cheaper; or, perhaps, one object was to prevent his friend 

 and neighbour, Mr. A. B., from getting what he considered one of the most 

 advantageous of the allotments. At all events, he has chosen these fields 

 entirely on his own judgment, and, in one point of view, judiciously, because 

 they lie very compactly in a ring fence. It is proper to mention, however, 

 that there are situations, where, when the object is to form a country resi- 

 dence, compactness of outline possesses fewer advantages, and is in fact 

 much less desirable, than an outline of great irregularity. This depends on 

 the natural inequalities of the surface, and on the distant prospect : for 

 example, in the plan before us, had there been a natural ridge proceeding 

 from/ to ff, and thence by k to /, terminating in a considerable hill at ?«, 

 then we should have preferred these five fields to the five which lie so com- 

 pactly ; notwithstanding the great extent of boundary line which in the 

 latter case there would have been to keep up, and the circumstance of the 

 fields h, i, j, n, and o lying, as it were, in the midst of the property. This, 

 however, would be no disadvantage in an ornamental point of view ; because 

 we are supposing the ridge /, g, k, I, m to be far higher than the adjoining 

 fields, and to overlook them entirely. The proprietor of such a ridge might 

 build his house on the hill {m) ; have a going approach along one side of the 

 ridge, and a returning approach along the other ; the trees along both 



