TEMPLES AND ARBOURS. 



653 



expense, and associating with nothing 

 around them. If the scale of these ex- 

 amples be 



teemed in this country ; their disuse pro- 

 bably arising from th e expense of formation 



Fig. 894. 



en- 

 larged — and they 

 should be so if 

 placed in grounds 

 of large extent — a 

 spiral stair may 

 be placed with- 

 in them leading 

 to the balconies 

 or lantern tops 

 above, so that 

 they may become 

 useful as prospect 

 towers, or even 

 be converted into select museums for 

 specimens. of natural history. 



Fig. 897 represents an open temple on 

 three sides, with a niche opposite the 



Fig. 895. 



entrance in which 

 a statue, urn, or 

 other sculptural 

 subject, should be 

 placed. It is a fit- 

 ting object to be 

 placed at the ter- 

 mination of along 

 walk or vista. The 

 back part, if not 

 backed up with 

 buildings of some 

 sort, should be 

 densely screened 

 by shrubbery or 

 plantations ; the 

 open part only 

 of the structure 

 should be seen. 

 A retiring-room, 

 if completely hid- 

 den from without, 

 may be placed 

 behind, the en- 

 trance to which 

 would occupy 

 the place of the 

 niche, and of 

 course the sculp- 

 tural subject 

 would be dis- 

 pensed with. 



Fig. 898 exhi- 

 bits a specimen of 

 an Italian arbour, 

 which, although 

 now little used, were at one time much es- 











I 



Fig. 896. 













ni; 







Hi! 





and their liability to decay, as they were 

 usually made of wood, more than from 



any objection to them as architectural sub- 

 jects. The present increasing taste for geo- 

 metrical flower-gardens, and the facility 

 by which all such structures can now be 

 formed of iron, will, no doubt, reintroduce 

 them once more into garden scenery. On 

 the Continent they have continued to oc- 

 cupy a place in most of the best gardens, 

 particularly in those of France and Ger- 

 many. We regret, however, to see that in 

 the latter country they are destroying many 

 of the noble gardens of antiquity, and 

 laying them out in what they are pleased 

 to call the English or natural style ; and, 

 whether from not fully understanding 

 the principles abundantly laid down for 

 their composition in works on landscape 



