VASES AND URNS, &c. 



637 



It was afterwards elevated to 50 feet, and 

 then to 94 • but it is now elevated to the 

 unique altitude of 267 feet. Such is the 

 velocity with which the water is ejected, 

 that it is calculated to escape at the rate of 

 a hundred miles per minute. It is sup- 

 plied from an immense artificial reservoir, 

 constructed on the hills above, and cover- 

 ing eight acres ; yet so great is the drain- 

 age when the fountain is playing, that a 

 diminution, over that space, of a foot 

 takes place every three hours. 



Walpole appears to have had no very 

 high taste for fountains in garden scenery. 

 He says, "Fountains have with great 

 reason been banished from our gardens 

 as unnatural ; but it surprises me that 

 they have not been allotted their proper 

 position in cities, towns, and courtyards, 

 as proper accompaniments to architecture, 

 and as works of beauty in themselves. 

 Their decoration admits of the utmost 

 invention ; and when the water is thrown 

 to different stages, and tumbles over 

 their borders, nothing has a more imposing 

 or a more refreshing sound." " The full 

 effects of fountains can only be displayed 

 on a large scale ; yet I believe," says Sir 

 Uvedale Price, "that in all highly dressed 

 parts, whatever be the scale, water may 

 be introduced with more propriety in the 

 style T of an upright fountain than perhaps 

 in any other way. It would, for instance, 

 be extremely difficult, in a flower-garden, 

 to give to a stream of water the appear- 

 ance of a natural rill, and yet to make it 

 accord with the artificial arrangements 

 and highly embellished appearance of 

 such a spot. Now, the upright fountain 

 seems precisely suited to it, as it is capable 

 of any degree of sculptural decoration 

 which the decoration of the place itself 

 may require ; and likewise as the forms 

 in which water falls, in its return to- 

 wards the ground, not only are of the 

 most beautiful kind, but have something 

 of regularity and symmetry — two qualities 

 which, nevertheless, are found in all 

 artificial scenes." 



No garden in the geometric style can 

 be complete without its fountain ; and 

 in gardens of large size they should be 

 introduced freely, as not only works of 

 art in themselves, but as, by the move- 

 ment they may be said to produce, giving 

 life and animation to the stillness of the 

 scene. 



§ 3. — VASES AND UENS, DIALS AND 

 MURAL DECORATIONS. 



The highest class of vases, like statues, &c, 

 are placed in gardens as appropriate orna- 

 ments, and as a display of rarity and value, 

 without any idea of placing plants in them. 



The beautiful vases in the Castle gar- 

 den at Windsor, at Chatsworth, at Clum- 

 ber, and at Trentham, are of this descrip- 

 tion, and give to those gardens that idea 

 of refinement and artistic decoration 

 which carving and gilding give the saloon 

 or drawing-room. 



Their introduction into such gardens 

 has also another effect, not less deserving 

 our regard and attention • namely, the 

 tendency to create and cultivate a taste 

 for natural beauty in the spectator. 

 " Setting before a person a beautiful vase," 

 Mr Loudon says, "is to familiarise him 

 with beautiful forms, which he cannot 

 help contrasting with ordinary shapes ; 

 and, according to his natural capacity, or 

 the suitableness of his organisation for 

 discernment in forms, he will find in the 

 vases a unity of tendency in the lines 

 which constitute their outlines, a sym- 

 metry in their general forms, and a rich- 

 ness, an intricacy, and a character of art 

 in their sculptured details, which will 

 induce him to search for those qualities 

 in other objects of art, and to observe 

 every tendency towards them in the 

 works of nature. To such an observer 

 the productions of architecture and sculp- 

 ture would assume a new interest, and he 

 would gradually, and almost impercep- 

 tibly, acquire a knowledge of, and taste 

 for, the beauty of forms and lines in 

 objects generally. He would thus learn 

 to distinguish symmetry, regularity, 

 unity, variety, and other abstract qualities, 

 in works of art, which he would pro- 

 bably never have discovered in the forms 

 of nature without such assistance." 



The above remarks have reference 

 more especially to vases of large size, and 

 of the most classic forms, into which 

 plants should never be introduced, as 

 they of themselves are sufficient decora- 

 tion, and in themselves supply the place, 

 in geometrical gardens, destined to them, 

 as forming a part of the entire design. 

 Of these, the Florence vase, the Borghese 

 vase, the Warwick vase, &c, are ex- 

 amples. Such vases should occupy the 



