170 
GARDENING IN CONNECTION WITH ARCHITECTURE. 
[Nature and Art, November 1, 18C6, 
gardens belonging to large buildings, fell compara- 
tively into disuse. 
In our own time we have seen an attempt at 
this revival of Art and Nature in combination, in 
such works as the gardens at Sydenham, and at 
South Kensington; and, although the former are 
immeasurably the best of the two, yet such a want 
of good taste, and a poor appreciation of Art, as 
suitable to Nature, is observable in each, that 
we have been induced to make some remarks on 
this most interesting subject, of which the above 
opening sketch of the rise and progress of the 
practice in Europe, will serve as a useful intro- 
duction. 
Among the various qualities required in an 
architect, as enumerated by the too exacting 
Vitruvius, we are not aware that a knowledge of 
landscape gardening forms one. And yet, most 
assuredly, if there is one subject in which the 
educated and accomplished architect should be 
skilled and trained, it is a taste for, and knowledge 
of, the capabilities of the country or ground on 
which his building is to be placed, and with which 
it will henceforth be inseparably connected, seen, 
and judged of. First of all, the site of his building- 
demands artistic consideration ; then its congruity 
with the surrounding scenery must also be thought 
of ; and, finally, the ordering of the garden, so as to 
be in harmony with the entire work, should clearly 
devolve upon the designer of the principal piece, to 
which it forms an adjunct of the most important 
character. For want of all this, what miserable 
failures have we seen in our own day, and among 
persons who pride themselves on their artistic ability 
as architects. To take one only example from 
amongst numbers, we have the most important 
building of modern times in London, the Houses 
of Parliament, not raised — for such an expi’ession 
would be inappropriate, — but sunk almost out of 
sight ; not springing from a broad and high platform 
by the river’s side, but squeezed up, and pressed down 
into its muddy ooze, so as to constitute to all time the 
most expensive possible example of how a bad site 
can entirely destroy the effect of a noble building. 
In this particular case we believe the architect was 
not to blame. As regards the next point, congruity 
of character between the neighbourhood and the 
building, there are certain associations of ideas which 
must not be neglected. The many-roofed castle, 
with its outline, jagged as the rocks on which it is 
perched, will not harmonize with gentle streams or 
green sweeps of fat pasture land, the home of plenty 
and of peace. There is such a thing as being too 
picturesque, and that is the rage at the present 
day, when villas which wilfully set all uniformity at 
defiance, and painfully seek eccentric irregularity, 
appear suited neither for domestic comfort nor for 
the soft, calm beauty of the woods and fields in 
which they are placed. On the third point, that 
in which Nature and Art are principally inter- 
woven, we think it advisable to consider each 
separately, and will take as our well-beloved guide 
Francis Bacon, *) who, in his two delightful essays 
“ On Building ” and “ On Gardens,” has laid down 
rules, and made suggestions which every lover of 
Nature and of Art should hold dear. It is not our 
purpose to enter into the description of a country- 
house. We merely premise that we fully endorse 
Lord Bacon’s dictum that on the upper story should 
be “an open gallery upon pillars, to take the prospect 
and freshness of the garden.” This we find in several 
of our old Elizabethan mansions, which with their 
large and deep bay windows, open galleries, spacious 
courts, clear fountains, and broad terraces, are 
models of English country-houses. With respect to 
the immediate neighbourhood of the building, he 
adds, — “You must have, before you come to the 
front, three courts ; a green court plain, with a 
wall about it ; a second court of the same, but 
more garnished with little turrets, or rather em- 
bellishments upon the Avail ; and a third court to 
make a square with the front, but not to be built, 
nor yet inclosed with a naked wall, but inclosed 
with terraces leaded aloft, and fairly garnished on 
the three sides ; and cloistered with pillars, and 
not with arches beloAV.” We need hardly say that 
this applies only to palatial buildings. The principle, 
however, remains good and ought to be practised, 
namely, that the main building should be gradually 
united by architectural features with the grounds 
and surrounding country. As for the ordering of 
the garden, in which, as he beautifully says, the 
breath of flowers “ comes and goes like the warbling 
of sweet music,” he advises that a large plot of some 
thirty acres (which in his time was considered 
about the quantity of land required for a palatial 
mansion), should be divided into three parts, ac- 
cording to the fashion of the period. “ A green in 
the entrance ; a heath or desert in the going forth, 
and the main garden in the midst, besides alleys on 
both sides ; and I like well, that four acres of 
ground be assigned to the green, six to the heath, 
and twelve to the main garden.” It is an injustice 
to the author to give meagre extracts from his 
delightful description of the manner in which these 
three plots of ground should be planted and ar- 
ranged : whoso loves a fine garden, should read 
and study the essay for himself. 
We will proceed to consider the various parts 
and features of a garden, to which architectural or 
ornamental art can be best applied. And first of 
all for terraces. We hold it as a reasonable and 
good principle that every house should be raised, 
where possible, upon a platform ; for, to make it 
stand flat on the ground, as though it had been 
shoved up bodily through the earth, or placed 
down haphazard upon it, like the santa casa of 
Loreto, is opposed to that Art which should connect 
itself agreeably with Nature. It is extraordinary 
what value a raised platform, however small, gives 
to a building. Descending from this by a few steps 
Ave come to the terrace itself, which Ave hold should 
be broad, and furnished with wide Avalks, large 
velvety grass-plots, and beds of the sweetest flowers, 
near enough at least to scent the air and be wafted 
on the breezes into the house itself. This terrace 
should not be too straight, or it becomes monoto- 
nous and tame, however grandly carried out, as at 
