THE LAWN. 



773 



ing forms, planted with shrubs as little in keep- 

 ing with the house or surrounding objects as 

 the forms of the clumps themselves. Such may- 

 be considered as the lowest grade of lawn. The 

 natural disposition of the ground is seldom in 

 strict keeping with the building while unaided 

 by the hand of man, even should that building 

 be of the most unpretending description. Sir 

 Uvedale Price observes : " Where architecture, 

 even of the simplest kind, is employed in the 

 dwellings of man, art must be manifest ; and 

 all artificial objects may certainly admit, and in 

 many cases require, the accompaniments of art ; 

 for to go at once from art to unadorned nature 

 is too sudden a transition, and wants that sort 

 of gradation and congruity which, except in 

 particular cases, is so necessary in all that is to 

 please the eye and the mind." 



In anticipation, as it were, of the taste 

 which is now every day becoming more clearly 

 developed, Sir Thomas Dick Lauder remarks : 

 " It is pleasing to think, however, that those 

 more immediate accompaniments of a house, 

 the terrace, the balustrade, &c, are now every 

 day becoming more generally considered as 

 essential, and are attended to and studied by 

 the ablest architects ; so that we may hope soon 

 to see the custom of putting down a house in 

 the middle of a shaven grass lawn, like a tea- 

 box on a green carpet, altogether exploded." 

 Whatever objections there may be in the 

 minds of some against terraces, parapets, &c., 

 and symmetry and regularity in the grounds in 

 immediate connection with the house, the man 

 of refined taste will admit of these being essen- 

 tial, even when carried to the highest degree of 

 decoration, because he knows that they accord 

 with, and are intended to accompany, that which 

 is regular, symmetrical, decorative, and architec- 

 tural. Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, in allusion to 

 this, further remarks : " There is nothing of 

 which I am more convinced, than of the pro- 

 priety and necessity of allowing the art to be- 

 come more apparent in the gardening which 

 comes into immediate contiguity with the man- 

 sion. My rule would be, that the house, and 

 its subsidiary buildings, should be directly asso- 

 ciated with designs of a character which may 

 have much of architectural regularity, as well 

 as architectural features, about them. By this 

 means the house itself would not only become 

 a more pleasing object to look at from all points, 

 but the different views enjoyed from it become 

 much more interesting from the enrichment of 

 the foreground by minor architectural objects. 

 Straight-lined terraces, bowling-greens, balus- 

 trades, vases, sun-dials, architectural seats, 

 fountains, and statues, mingled with a profusion 

 of shrubs, plants, and creepers, are all appropri- 

 ate and useful decorations in such a place." A 

 lawn without these, be it ever so extensive, or 

 ever so well kept, will always have a tame, 

 naked, and unfurnished appearance. It is not, 

 however, the extent of space over which these 

 accompaniments are disposed — it is their arrange- 

 ment, so that they shall have a just connection 

 with each other ; for as they, one and all, form 

 accompaniments to the house or mansion, they 

 VOL. II. 



should never be removed to too great a distance 

 from it. Nowhere in Britain is this more beau- 

 tifully exemplified than at Osborne, the marine 

 residence of her Majesty, in the Isle of Wight. 

 There, on the principal front, is laid out a very 

 artistically - arranged terrace-garden, on two 

 levels, connected with spacious flights of steps, 

 with corresponding balustrading, the termina- 

 tions at both ends, which are on a level with 

 the upper terrace, projecting as far as the front 

 of the lower one, producing those breaks and 

 irregularities in the lines so necessary in the 

 style of architecture there adopted. Gravel or 

 grass, in close connection with architecture, has 

 always a meagre and insipid effect, as if the most 

 classic building were placed in a ploughed field, 

 or surrounded by a dug border. In the case to 

 which we have pointed, that too general error 

 has not been fallen into. The terraces are in 

 part covered with asphalt, so prepared as very 

 closely to resemble stone pavement, and a large 

 portion of them is paved with Minton's en- 

 caustic tiles, rendering them at all times dry 

 and fit to walk upon, and forming the proper 

 connection between them and the building. 

 The flower-beds, which are not crowded, are 

 geometrical figures, bordered round with pol- 

 ished stone margins. The balustrading, para- 

 pets, and coping, are all in strict accordance 

 with the style of the mansion, which is Italian. 

 Fountains, statuary, niches, and mural decora- 

 tions, are all correctly disposed, as is also the 

 Italian colonnade, over which roses and vines are 

 trained. Beyond this is the lawn, softened down 

 with great skill, and imperceptibly uniting with 

 the park beyond, which is pastured with sheep 

 up to the base of the external parapet-wall. 



Upon a much smaller scale the same thing 

 could be, and in many cases is, admirably ac- 

 complished. The smallest villa can have its 

 pavement terrace, its flower-plots surrounded 

 with stone or slate edging, its tiny fountain, its 

 parapet- wall, ornamented or plain, and its flights 

 of steps to the garden below. Such terraces 

 should have a relative proportion in breadth 

 to the height and magnitude of the building. 

 Grass terraces, in all cases except in flower-gar- 

 dens, and in those only when distant from the 

 mansion, have a tame and meagre appearance. 

 They have no just association with architecture, 

 more especially those nearest to the building. 

 The introduction of stone steps in them points 

 out the incongruity, and shows the total want of 

 connection between them ; and grass steps be- 

 tray a poverty of conception in the artist or taste 

 in the owner. Around the house, therefore, be 

 its style what it may, we would have no lawn 

 on what is called the garden fronts until the 

 terraces are first disposed of. The case is, 

 however, otherwise on the carriage-approach 

 fronts, where a reasonable extent of grass lawn 

 may be with propriety permitted. But here, in 

 the majority of cases, a serious difficulty pre- 

 sents itself ; for to have a lawn in front of the 

 house, nicely kept with scythe, roller, and 

 broom, it requires to be enclosed from the park 

 for the exclusion of cattle and sheep. This in- 

 volves the necessity for gates, which are trouble- 



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