Hints on Landscape Gardening 
very romantic situations, all the rooms on 
the principal floor ought to range them¬ 
selves on the same level, and that there 
must be a platform, or certain space of 
ground, with a gentle descent from the 
house in every direction. If the ground 
be naturally convex, or what is generally 
called a knoll, the size of the house must be 
adapted to the size of the knoll. This is 
shown by the small building A, supposed to 
he only one hundred feet in front, which 
may be placed upon such a hillock, with a 
sufficient platform round it ; but if a build¬ 
ing of three hundred feet long, as BB, 
should be required, it is evident that the 
crown of the hill must be taken off, and 
then the shape of the ground becomes very 
different from its original form. For although 
the small house would have a sufficient plat¬ 
form, the large one will be on the brink of 
a very steep bank at C ; and this difficulty 
would be increased by raising the ground to 
the dotted line D, to set the large house on 
the same level with the smaller one. It 
therefore follows that, if the house must 
stand on a natural hillock, the building 
should not be larger than its situation will 
admit ; and where such hillocks do not ex¬ 
ist in places proper for a house in every 
other respect, it is sometimes possible for 
art to supply what nature seems to have de¬ 
nied, but it is not possible in all cases ; a 
circumstance which proves the absurdity of 
those architects who design and plan a house, 
without anv previous knowledge of the sit¬ 
uation or shape of the ground on which it 
is to be built. Such errors 1 have had too 
frequent occasion to observe. 
When the shape is naturally either con¬ 
cave or perfectly flat, the house would not 
be habitable unless the ground sloped suffi¬ 
ciently to throw the water from it; and this 
is often effected, in a slight degree, merely 
by the earth that is dug from the cellars and 
foundations. But if, instead of sinking the 
cellars, they were to be built upon the level 
of the ground, they may afterwards be so 
covered with earth as to give all the appear¬ 
ance of a natural knoll, the ground falling 
from the house to any distance where it may 
best unite with the natural shape, as shown 
at E, F, and G ; or, as it frequently happens 
that there may be small hillocks, H and I, 
near the house, one of them may be re¬ 
moved to effect this purpose. This expedi¬ 
ent can also be used in an inclined plane, 
falling towards the house, where the inclina¬ 
tion is not very great, as shown at L ; but it 
may be observed of the inclined plane, that 
the size of the house must be governed in 
some measure by the fall of the ground, since 
it is evident that although a house of a hun¬ 
dred feet deep might stand at K, yet it would 
require an artificial terrace on that side, be¬ 
cause neither of the dotted lines shown there 
would connect with the natural shape ; and 
where the ground cannot be made to look 
natural, it is better at all times to avow the 
interference of art than to attempt an inef¬ 
fectual concealment of it. Such situations 
are peculiarly applicable to the Gothic style, 
in which horizontal lines are unnecessary. 
These sections can only describe the shape 
of the ground as it cuts across in any one di¬ 
rection ; but another shape is also to be con¬ 
sidered: thus it generally happens that a knoll 
is longer one way than the other, or it may 
even extend to a natural ridge of sufficient 
length for a long and narrow house; but such 
a house must be fitted to the ground, for it 
would be absurd in the architect to place it 
either diagonally or directly across such a 
ridge. The same holds good of the inclined 
plane, which is, in fact, always the side of a 
valley, whose general inclination must be 
consulted in the position of the building. 
A square house would appear awry unless 
its fronts were made to correspond with the 
shape of the adjacent ground. 
I shall conclude by observing that, on a 
dead flat or plain, the principal apartments 
ought to be elevated, as the only means of 
showing the landscape to advantage. Where 
there is no inequality, it will be very difficult 
to unite any artificial ground with the natural 
shape. It will, in this case, be advisable either 
to raise it a very few feet or to set the house 
on a basement storey. But wherever a park 
abounds in natural inequalities, even though 
the ground near the house should be flat, we 
may boldly venture to create an artificial 
knoll, as it has been executed at Welbeck. 
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