Chap. X. of Gardening. 205 



agreeably, by the Stilnefs and Echo that reigns in the 

 Woods. 



Fountains Ihouldnot be placed too near the Building, 

 becaufe, in the Summer, there rifes off the Water Vapours 

 fo corrupt as may communicate a Malignity to the Air we 

 breathe, which is very injurious to the Health , befides that 

 they ftrike a very great Dampnefs to the Walls of the Build- 

 ings enough to fpoil the Paintings and Moveables within, and 

 incommode you in the Night with the Croaking of Frogs 

 and Toads, ^c. Thefe are the Reafons why Country- 

 houfes are not environed now-a-days with Motes of Wa- 

 ter, as they were heretofore, and that the Ditches of feveral 

 Caftles are now laid dry. 



For the Form and Figure of your Bafons, you fhould 

 follow thofe that are marked upon the Plan : There are Ba- 

 fons that are round, oftangular, oblong, oval, fquare, ^c. 

 but commonly they are circular* When thefe Bafons ex- 

 ceed a certain Size, they are called Pieces of Water, Canals, 

 Mirrours, Fifh-Ponds, Pools, and Refervers* 



For the Size of Bafons, I fliall fay in general, that you 

 can hardly err in the Bignefs the larger they are, the bet- ' 

 ter ^ but you may eafily go wrong in making them too 

 little, which is very ugly : Thefe are two Extremes which 

 Ihould be avoided in their Proportion, as the making of a 

 little Bafon in a great deal of room, or devouring the beft 

 Part of a Spot of Ground with a great Water-Work. The 

 juft Proportion of this fhould be left to the Difcretion of the. 

 Archite<5l, or of him that is to give the Defign of the Garden-. 



A GREAT many pretend, that the Size of a Bafon fhould 

 be proportioned to the Height of the Jet d' Eau^ to the 

 end, fay they, that the Water thrown up into the Air, tho' 

 toifed by the Wind, may not go beyond the Edge of the 

 Bafon, but all fall down again without wetting the Walk 

 about it. In this they are miftaken 3 for let the Spout rife 

 never fo little height, tho' it be in a large Bafon, the Wind 

 iliall always blow the Water away, and carry it a great Di- 

 fiance off : 'Tis an Experiment I have often made, and 'tis jsthev 

 indifputable. I agree with them, that it is as difagrecable spoutoflhl^ 

 to fee a fmall ilender Stream in a srcat Bafon, as to fee a ^l^^^^H^nat 



Dj - ^ ^>^^ Palais 



^ \ very Roiau 



