Village of Harlaxton. 34 1 



as m larger dwellings ; and, fortunately, vases of the most elegant 

 forms are so cheap, that no cottage parapet, seat, or bee-house, 

 need be without them. What is most offensive to taste, both in 

 the gardens of the wealthy and of the poor, is the misplacing of 

 sculptural monuments. In Harlaxton village there are sundials 

 and vases, of different forms and kinds, most judiciously placed ; 

 for example, as terminations to piers to gates, or along parapets 

 on piers or other preparations, on the piers at the ends of stone 

 seats, &c. In how many instances, not only in cottage garden? 

 and on cottages, but in the gardens and on the buildings of the 

 wealthy classes, do we not see vases set down where they have no 

 legitimate right to be placed whatever ; in places from which 

 they might be removed without ever being missed, or withoui 

 any derangement to the scene in which they were put, but oi 

 which, in an artistical sense, they formed no part. Some of the 

 situations proper for vases are : where the vase forms a ter- 

 mination to an object, as to a pillar of a gate, a pier or pilaster 

 in a wall, or a detached column, &c. ; where lines of walks or 

 of walls join, meet, or intersect, as in the centre of a system of 

 beds for flowers, or at the angles made by the junction of walks 

 in a pleasure-ground ; where niches in buildings, or gravelled or 

 other recesses along walks, are prepared for them, &c. In all 

 cases where a vase is put down in a garden, it ought not only to 

 have a base formed of one or more plinths, but a pedestal to 

 raise the vase nearer the eye, and above the surrounding vegeta- 

 tion, as well as to give it dignity of character. No ornament 

 whatever, whether in a garden or on a building, ought ever to 

 be placed in an inconspicuous situation, or in the less noble parts 

 of the grounds or edifice ; and no ornament ought to be made 

 use of which is formed of a material of less value and durability 

 than the material or object on or against which it is to be placed. 

 Hence the bad effect of rootwork and rusticwork in many situa- 

 tions in gardens and in verandas, and other additions or ac- 

 companiments to brick or stone houses. 



5. To indicate the occupation of the inhabitant^ ^aohere it can he 

 done. For example, the smithy, or blacksmith's forge, when 

 properly introduced, can never be mistaken, nor the carpenter's 

 shop. These two village tradesmen require houses, yards, and 

 gardens, peculiarly arranged, and afford fine sources of variety. 

 The shoemaker may have his stall as a projecting appendage, 

 and the tailor his workshop. Some of the cottagers will possess 

 cows, others pigs or rabbits.; some pigeons, and all more or less 

 poultry. The provision required to be made for these kinds of 

 live stock affords interesting sources of architectural and pic- 

 turesque effect ; though in small villages a common cow-shed, as 

 well as a common bakehouse, wash-house, and drying ground, 

 is frequently found preferable. The house of the schoolmaster 



