Book IV. 



OPERATING ON GROUND. 



1003 



filling up hollows, very seldom are attended by results sufficient to justify the expense 

 incurred ; but when art is employed to heighten distant eminences the success is greater : 

 in the last case art may be said to act positively, in the former negatively — to produce 

 or increase a beauty, instead of only removing or lessening a deformity. All operations 

 on ground may be included under, 1. Those which have for their object the beauty of 

 art or design ; and , 2. Those where natural beauty is intended to be produced. 



7197. Operations with a view to relative or artificial beauty. The forms in use for this 

 purpose are few and simple. They originate in, and are influenced by, those of the 

 house ; and are, for the greater part, bounded by right lines ; and the surfaces are levels 

 or slopes of different degrees of abruptness. The magnitude as well as form of each of 

 the figures in the ground immediately adjoining a house, or in a detached walled en- 

 closure, should be regulated chiefly by the magnitude of the mansion, or extent and 

 grandeur of the whole place, though they are often obliged to conform, in some degree, 

 to the natural surface. When the ground slopes from the house in all directions, narrow 

 parallelograms will be the prevailing forms both of the levels and slopes. The broadest 

 level, and greatest perpendicular depth of slope, will generally be placed next the house, 

 and the next broadest level, &c. in succession, till, after three or four levels, and as many 

 slopes are obtained, the artificial surface shall finally blend with the natural ; unless, as 

 is frequently the case in the geometric style, a kitchen-garden wall, or some similar 

 work of art, forms the termination. In this case, separation by some architectural or 

 other accompaniment, v/ill, by forming a break in the order of forms, admit of adopting, 

 in continuation of the artificial surface, such levels and slopes as the character of the scene 

 may require, or a due regard to economy dictate. Wlien the mansion, or scene of oper- 

 ations, is on a surface naturally flat, the levels will be of greater dimensions, the slopes 

 smaller, and both fewer in number. But though parallelograms are the common figures 

 employed, sections of polygons, trapeziums, circles, and curvilinear figures, are fre- 

 quently admitted. They are used in architectural elevations, and in fortifications, which 

 are the prototypes of this part of ancient gardening ; and, therefore, when apparent in the 

 mansion, should be reflected, as it were, by the grounds. [Jig. 684.) The forms to be 

 used, hoAvever, is a matter easy to deteirmine. The principal diflBculty is to aiTange 

 them together, so that they may con- 

 cur in producing a w!:ole, or a good 

 effect. In disposing, connecting, re- 

 lating, and contrasting them for this 

 purpose, the artist v/ill preserve regu- 

 larity and uniformity in the complex 

 view of the whole, varying and har- 

 monising the detail according to the ^ 

 degree of beauty and variety he intends 

 to produce. If he has duly prepared 

 his mind by theoretical studies, and 

 practised architectural and landscape drawing, his own feeling of their impression will 

 suggest when he has attained the desired effect ; for the models of artificial surfaces 

 which remain of ancient gardens are poor productions compared to what might be 

 created in this way, through the judicious application of the principles of relative beauty. 

 A good deal depends on adjusting the extent of geometrical or architectural surface to 

 the size of the house and surrounding grounds ; and in this matter much depends on the 

 regularity or irregularity of the ground plan of the former, and on the evenness or vari- 

 ation of the surface of the latter. - A square house on a level, or on a gentle swell, will 

 require least extent of architectural platform around it, and a straggling gothic castle on 

 an irregular declivity the greatest extent of terraces, angles, ramps, and slopes. 



7198. Natural beauty of ground. As the right lines and geometrical forms of the 

 architect, take the lead in grounds of artificial beauty, so the flowing and broken lines, 

 and undefined forms of the landscape-painter, take the lead in those of natural beauty. 

 To create them in ground, is generally impracticable and unadvisable ; but where they 

 exist concealed by accidental deformities, or incomplete in expression, through dulness 

 in their leading features, art may relieve from the impediments to beauty, even though 

 the situation is at some distance from the eye. In recluse scenes immediately under 

 view, art may aspire to create beaiity even from a tame flat, but especially from its op- 

 posite, a flat abounding with defonuities. In effecting all those purposes, the same 

 principles apply. The first thing to fix in the mind is the desired surface, or that style 

 of natural ground which is best to be imitated. The next thing is to examine on what 

 parts, forms, and lines, the natural beauty of this ground chiefly depends ; if undulating, 

 whether the concave or the convex prevails ; if broken ground, whether horizontal and 

 perpendicular, or curved and inclined lines prevail. These are then to be imitated in 

 the improvement, ever keeping in view the important principle of a whole as the end of 

 the connection, and harmony of the parts of which it is composed. 



