INTRODUCTION. 



191 



are very generally tlie abodes of intelligence and refine- 

 ment. As a whole, they are, perhaps as happy homes 

 as Britain can boast of. Hence their construction and 

 decoration possess an interest, and invite a consideration, 

 which call for careful exposition and study. 



Taking the term Residence to denote not only the 

 house, but the locale occupied by the proprietor and 

 employed for his domestic purposes, the viUa may be de- 

 scribed as a small residence, embracing the whole of the 

 property laid out in gardens and dressed grounds, or, if 

 it include some pieces of pasture lands, such only as are 

 of a limited and subsidiary description. The name villa 

 is applied to places of considerable variety in dimen- 

 sions — from the house with a small plot of garden-ground 

 attached, to one surrounded by thirty or forty acres of 

 pleasure-ground and park. Some mansions belonging to 

 small or moderate-sized estates are, in their whole cha- 

 racter and arrangements, nothing else than viUas ; but it 

 is not usual so to designate them : they are rather said 

 to be laid out in the villa style, though the distinction is 

 perhaps more imaginary than real. In a suburban dis- 

 trict the villa is generally surrounded by a fence of suf- 

 ficient height to exclude, if not all the scenery at a 

 distance, at least most of it in the immediate neighbour- 

 hood. In the country, however, and particularly when 

 attached to a small estate, it wiU depend not more on 

 the ^dews connected with the estate itself, than on the 

 prospects presented by the surrounding scenery. Besides 

 its inferior size, the villa is distinguished by its superior 

 keeping. Its style may be more ornamental, and its 

 finish ought to be more elaborated and more carefully 

 maintained, than is commonly deemed necessary in more 

 extensive country residences. 



