FOUNTAINS. 



G31 



the Royal Botanic Garden, Regent's Park. 

 They are also employed for a similar pur- 

 pose in conservatories ; three of them in 

 the conservatory at Arundel Castle have 

 been much admired. Fig. 847 is one of 



Fig;. 847. 



elliptical form, 7 feet by 5 feet, the cost 

 of which was £30. They stand the 

 weather well, particularly if painted once 

 a-year with boiled linseed oil, which pre- 

 vents their absorbing moisture. Such 

 subjects should stand properly on gravel; 

 or, if on grass lawns, there should be a 

 gravel walk around them to cut off the 

 connection between them and the lawn. 



Marginal borders for the sides of walks 

 require a share of our attention. The 

 following examples may be useful — figs. 

 848, 849. These borders, being strictly 



Fig. 848. 



Fig. 849. 



architectural, should be done in gravel, 

 with box edgings ; or, if in a highly archi- 

 tectural garden, with stone, slate, or 

 earthenware verges, and even pavement 

 or tile walks. 



§ 2. — FOUNTAINS. 



The proper placing of artistic decora- 

 tions requires great taste and judgment, 

 and of these none more so than fountains 

 and statues, as being among the most 

 refined of all garden ornaments. " Their 

 effect (especially that of water in motion 

 mixed with sculpture) is of the most 

 brilliant kind ; yet, though fountains 

 make the principal ornaments of the 

 old Italian gardens, they are almost en- 

 tirely banished from ours. Fountains 

 have been objected to as unnatural, as 

 forcing water into an unnatural direction. 

 I must own," says Sir Uvedale Price, " I 

 do not feel the weight of this objection ; 

 for natural jets d'eau, though rare, do 

 exist, and are among the most surprising 

 exhibitions of nature. Such exhibitions, 

 when imitable, are surely proper objects 

 of imitation ; and as art cannot pretend 

 to vie with nature in greatness of style 

 and execution, she must try to compen- 

 sate her weakness by symmetry, variety, 

 and richness of design. Near a house on 

 a large scale, this mode of introducing 

 water in violent motion, so far from being- 

 improper, is of all others the mode in 

 which it may be done with the most exact 

 propriety." 



As fountains, for the most part, are to 

 be regarded as strictly artificial objects, it 

 follows that their presence is more in 

 accordance with gardens in the geo- 

 metric style than in the gardenesque, 

 and more particularly the pictur- 

 esque styles, in which latter their 

 place should be supplied by cascades, 

 rills, and dripping of rocks. In the 

 gardenesque style, they are, however, 

 perfectly admissible, more especially 

 in near connection with the man- 

 sion, conservatory, or plant-houses ; 

 but here their simplest forms should 

 be selected. In the geometric and 

 all its sub-varieties, fountains of 

 the most costly and elaborate work- 

 manship should be introduced — 

 choosing, however, those decidedly 

 architectural for gardens of that 

 character; while the more imagi- 

 native and fanciful — such as a Triton 

 throwing water from his trumpet, Dol- 

 phins and other sea animals spouting 

 water, nymphs wringing their hair or 

 garments, &c. — are more suitable for the 



