24 The Art of Landscape Gardening 



since in every different situation some one or more of 

 tiiese considerations must preponderate ; and the most 

 rational decision will result from a combined view of 

 all the separate advantages or disadvantages to be fore- 

 seen from each.^ 



It was the custom of former times, in the choice of 

 domestic situations, to let comfort and convenience 

 prevail over every other consideration : thus the ancient 

 baronial castles were built on the summit of hills, in 

 times when defence and security suggested the neces- 

 sity of placing them there, and difficulty of access was 

 a recommendation which, in our happier days, exists 

 no more. But when this necessity no longer operated 

 (as mankind are always apt to fly from one extreme to 

 the other), houses were universally erected in the low- 

 est situations, with a probable design to avoid those 

 inconveniences to which the lofty positions had been 

 subject; hence the frequent sites of many large man- 

 sions, and particularly abbeys and monasteries, the 

 residence of persons who were willing to sacrifice the 

 beauty of prospect for the more solid and permanent 

 advantages of habitable convenience : amongst which 

 shelter from wind and a supply of water were pre- 

 dominant considerations. Nor shall I withhold the fol- 

 lowing conjecture, which I hope will not be considered 

 as a mere suggestion of fancy. When such buildings 

 were surrounded by trees for the comfort of shade, 

 might not the occasional want of circulation in the air 

 have given the first idea of cutting long narrow glades 

 through the woods to admit a current of wind ? and is 

 it not possible that this was the origin of those avenues 

 which we frequently see pointing, from every direction, 

 towards the most respectable habitations of the two 

 last centuries ? 



