636 



GEOMETRICAL FLOWER-GARDENS. 



case, as in the last, is of circular form, and 

 rises 18 inches above the ground-level. 

 The principal or vase-shaped portion of 

 this fountain is 4 feet 4 inches above the 

 surface of the water in the basin, and the 

 tazza-shaped top is 2 feet 7 inches high, 

 from the centre of which the water is 

 forced to a considerably greater height. 

 The diameter of the basin is 7 feet 2 

 inches. Fig. 854 is the third of these 



Fig. 854. 



fountains. The plan of the basin, as 

 shown by the ground-plan, fig. 855, is a 

 Fig 855 square, with four 



semicircular projec- 

 tions, and the base 

 of the fountain is of 

 a similar form. The 

 fountain rises from 

 the centre of the ba- 

 sin, first as a square 

 block or pedestal in 

 two parts, on each 

 side of which is a head, exceedingly well 

 carved, discharging the water, which here is 

 not, as in many cases, a mere dripping, but 

 a powerful rush, falling into well-formed 

 shells, over whose sinuous margins it 

 falls gracefully into the basin below. The 

 vase and the two tazza parts which sur- 

 mount this square pedestal are well pro- 

 portioned, and the whole has a fine effect 



from the dining-room windows, opposite 

 which, on the east-front garden, it is 

 placed. The great beauty of the foun- 

 tains at Nuthill, apart from their artistic 

 merits, is the abundant flow of water by 

 which they are served. In a lower gar- 

 den, and opposite the private apartments, 

 but separated from the rest of the garden 

 by a retaining-wall, the superfluous water 

 is made to rush through a well-designed 

 head, falling first into a 

 shell, and from thence into 

 a semicircular basin. It is 

 then carried to the offices, 

 which are abundantly sup- 

 plied. Taps are placed 

 underground, which, in the 

 case of fire, have only to 

 be attached to flexible tubes 

 which reach to every part 

 of the mansion; and when 

 we consider the pressure 

 and quantity of water rush- 

 ing through pipes 4 inches 

 in diameter, and from an 

 altitude much higher than 

 any part of this elegant 

 mansion, we can readily 

 imagine the vast power 

 this element, if properly 

 directed, would have in case 

 of fire. The safety here 

 insured, apart from its ap- 

 plication to the fountains, 

 is a sufficient remunera- 

 tion for the outlay of bring- 

 ing the water from the fountain-head to 

 the house. 



The following are the heights to which 

 water is thrown by the principal foun- 

 tains in the world : The Emperor, at 

 Chatsworth, 267 feet; Wilhelm, the 

 fountain in Hesse-Cassel, 190 feet; foun- 

 tain at St Cloud, 160 ; Peterhoff, Russia, 

 120; the old fountain at Chatsworth, 94; 

 the fountain at Nymphenberg, Munich, 

 90 ; and the highest at Versailles, also 90 

 feet. The waterworks at Chatsworth 

 were begun in 1690, and executed by M. 

 Grillet, a French artist, when a pipe for 

 what was then called the Great Fountain 

 was laid down ; the height of 20 feet, to 

 which it threw water, being at that time 

 considered sufficiently wonderful to justify 

 the hyperbolical language of Cotton — 



" Should it break or fall, I doubt we should 

 Begin to reckon from the second flood ! " 



