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diff --git a/17774-h/17774-h.htm b/17774-h/17774-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e7661c9 --- /dev/null +++ b/17774-h/17774-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6386 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Poetry of Architecture, by John Ruskin. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%;} + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + + .greek {cursor: help;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold; text-align: center;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right; clear:left;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i12 {display: block; margin-left: 12em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Poetry of Architecture, by John Ruskin + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Poetry of Architecture + +Author: John Ruskin + +Release Date: February 16, 2006 [EBook #17774] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE POETRY OF ARCHITECTURE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Suzanne Lybarger, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + + +<h3>THE COMPLETE WORKS</h3> + +<h4>OF</h4> + +<h2>JOHN RUSKIN</h2> + +<hr style="width: 5%;" /> + +<h3>VOLUME I</h3> + + +<h4>POETRY OF ARCHITECTURE</h4> + +<h4>SEVEN LAMPS OF ARCHITECTURE</h4> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p class="figcenter"><img src="./images/portrait.jpg" +alt="J. Ruskin" title="J. Ruskin" /></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h5>Library Edition</h5> + +<h2>THE COMPLETE WORKS</h2> + +<h3>OF</h3> + +<h1>JOHN RUSKIN</h1> + + +<h4>POETRY OF ARCHITECTURE<br /> +SEVEN LAMPS<br /> +MODERN PAINTERS</h4> + +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Volume I</span></p> + + +<h5>NATIONAL LIBRARY ASSOCIATION<br /> +NEW YORK, CHICAGO</h5> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h1>THE POETRY OF ARCHITECTURE;</h1> + +<h3>OR,</h3> + +<h3>THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE NATIONS OF EUROPE +CONSIDERED IN ITS ASSOCIATION WITH NATURAL SCENERY +AND NATIONAL CHARACTER.</h3> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS.</h2> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" id="Contents" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td align='right' colspan="3">PAGE</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align='left'><a href="#INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION</a></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align='left'><a href="#PART_I"><i>PART I.</i>—THE COTTAGE.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>I.</td><td align='left'>THE LOWLAND COTTAGE—ENGLAND AND FRANCE</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_7">7</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>II.</td><td align='left'>THE LOWLAND COTTAGE—ITALY</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_15">15</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>III.</td><td align='left'>THE MOUNTAIN COTTAGE—SWITZERLAND</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_25">25</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>IV.</td><td align='left'>THE MOUNTAIN COTTAGE—WESTMORELAND</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_35">35</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>V.</td><td align='left'>A CHAPTER ON CHIMNEYS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_45">45</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>VI.</td><td align='left'>THE COTTAGE—CONCLUDING REMARKS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_57">57</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align='left'><a href="#PART_II"><i>PART II.</i>—THE VILLA.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>I.</td><td align='left'>THE MOUNTAIN VILLA—LAGO DI COMO</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_67">67</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>II.</td><td align='left'>THE MOUNTAIN VILLA—LAGO DI COMO (CONTINUED)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_80">80</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>III.</td><td align='left'>THE ITALIAN VILLA (CONCLUDED)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_94">94</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>IV.</td><td align='left'>THE LOWLAND VILLA—ENGLAND</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_104">104</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>V.</td><td align='left'>THE ENGLISH VILLA—PRINCIPLES OF COMPOSITION</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_113">113</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right' valign='top'>VI.</td><td align='left'>THE BRITISH VILLA.—PRINCIPLES OF COMPOSITION.<br /> +(THE CULTIVATED, OR BLUE COUNTRY, AND THE WOODED, OR GREEN COUNTRY)</td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_126">126</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right' valign='top'>VII.</td><td align='left'>THE BRITISH VILLA.—PRINCIPLES OF COMPOSITION. <br />(THE HILL, OR BROWN COUNTRY)</td><td align='right' valign='bottom'><a href="#Page_145">145</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="LIST_OF_PLATES" id="LIST_OF_PLATES"></a>LIST OF PLATES.</h2> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" id="Plates" summary="Plates"> +<tr><td align='right' colspan="3">Facing Page</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center'>Fig.</td><td align='left'><a href="#fig01">1.</a> Old Windows; from an early sketch by the Author</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_13">13</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center'> "</td><td align='left'><a href="#fig02">2.</a> Italian Cottage Gallery, 1846</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_20">20</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center'></td><td align='left'>Cottage near la Cité, Val d'Aosta, 1838</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center'> "</td><td align='left'><a href="#fig03">3.</a> Swiss Cottage, 1837. (Reproduced from the Architectural Magazine)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_28">28</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center'> "</td><td align='left'><a href="#fig04">4.</a> Cottage near Altorf, 1835</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_29">29</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center'> "</td><td align='left'><a href="#fig05">5.</a> Swiss Châlet Balcony, 1842</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_32">32</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center'> "</td><td align='left'><a href="#fig06">6.</a> The Highest House in England, at Malham</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center'> "</td><td align='left'><a href="#fig07">7.</a> Chimneys. (Eighteen sketches redrawn from the Architectural Magazine)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_48">48</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center'> "</td><td align='left'><a href="#fig08">8.</a> Coniston Hall, from the Lake near Brantwood, 1837. (Reproduced from the Architectural Magazine)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_50">50</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center'> "</td><td align='left'><a href="#fig02">9.</a> Chimney at Neuchatel; Dent du Midi and Mont Blanc in the distance</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_20">20</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center'> "</td><td align='left'><a href="#fig10">10.</a> Petrarch's Villa, Arquà, 1837. (Redrawn from the Architectural Magazine)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_98">98</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center'> "</td><td align='left'><a href="#fig11">11.</a> Broken Curves. (Three diagrams, redrawn from the Architectural Magazine)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_101">101</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center'> "</td><td align='left'><a href="#fig12">12.</a> Old English Mansion, 1837. (Reproduced from the Architectural Magazine)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_116">116</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center'> "</td><td align='left'><a href="#fig13">13.</a> Windows. (Three designs, reproduced from the Architectural Magazine)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_122">122</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center'> "</td><td align='left'><a href="#fig14">14.</a> Leading Lines of Villa-Composition. (Diagram redrawn from the Architectural Magazine)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_164">164</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p> +<h2>PREFATORY NOTES.</h2> + + +<p>Of this work Mr. <span class="smcap">Ruskin</span> says in his Autobiography:—"The idea +had come into my head in the summer of '37, and, I imagine, rose +immediately out of my sense of the contrast between the cottages of +Westmoreland and those of Italy. Anyhow, the November number of Loudon's +<i>Architectural Magazine</i> for 1837 opens with 'Introduction to the Poetry +of Architecture; or the Architecture of the Nations of Europe considered +in its Association with Natural Scenery and National Character,' by Kata +Phusin. I could not have put in fewer, or more inclusive words, the +definition of what half my future life was to be spent in discoursing +of; while the <i>nom-de-plume</i> I chose, '<span class="smcap">According to Nature</span>,' +was equally expressive of the temper in which I was to discourse alike +on that, and every other subject. The adoption of a <i>nom-de-plume</i> at +all implied (as also the concealment of name on the first publication of +'Modern Painters') a sense of a power of judgment in myself, which it +would not have been becoming in a youth of eighteen to claim...."</p> + +<p>"As it is, these youthful essays, though deformed by assumption, and +shallow in contents, are curiously right up to the points they reach; +and already distinguished above most of the literature of the time, for +the skill of language, which the public at once felt for a pleasant gift +in me." (<i>Præterita</i>, vol. I. chap. 12.)</p> + +<p>In a paper on "My First Editor," written in 1878, Mr. Ruskin says of +these essays that they "contain sentences nearly as well put together as +any I have done since."</p> + +<p>The Conductor of the <i>Architectural Magazine</i> in reviewing the year's +work said (December, 1838):—"One series of papers, commenced in the +last volume and concluded in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span> the present one, we consider to be of +particular value to the young architect. We allude to the 'Essays on the +Poetry of Architecture,' by Kata Phusin. These essays will afford little +pleasure to the mere builder, or to the architect who has no principle +of guidance but precedent; but for such readers they were never +intended. They are addressed to the young and unprejudiced artist; and +their great object is to induce him to think and to exercise his +reason.... There are some, we trust, of the rising generation, who are +able to free themselves from the trammels and architectural bigotry of +Vitruvius and his followers; and it is to such alone that we look +forward for any real improvement in architecture as an art of design and +taste."</p> + +<p>The essays are in two parts: the first describing the cottages of +England, France, Switzerland, and Italy, and giving hints and directions +for picturesque cottage-building. The second part treats of the villas +of Italy and England—with special reference to Como and Windermere; and +concludes with a discussion of the laws of artistic composition, and +practical suggestions of interest to the builders of country-houses.</p> + +<p>It was the Author's original intention to have proceeded from the +cottage and the villa to the higher forms of Architecture; but the +Magazine to which he contributed was brought to a close shortly after +the completion of his chapters on the villa, and his promise of farther +studies was not redeemed until ten years later, by the publication of +<i>The Seven Lamps of Architecture</i>, and still more completely in <i>The +Stones of Venice</i>.</p> + +<p>Other papers contributed by Mr. Ruskin to the same Magazine, on +Perspective, and on the proposed monument to Sir Walter Scott at +Edinburgh, are not included in this volume, as they do not form any part +of the series on the Poetry of Architecture.</p> + +<p>The text is carefully reprinted from the <i>Architectural Magazine</i>. A few +additional notes are distinguished by square brackets.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span></p> + +<p>A few of the old cuts, necessary to the text, are reproduced, and some +are replaced by engravings from sketches by the Author. Possessors of +the <i>Architectural Magazine</i>, vol. V., will be interested in comparing +the wood-cut of the cottage in Val d'Aosta (p. 104 of that volume) with +the photogravure from the original pencil drawing, which faces p. <a href="#Page_21">21</a> of +this work. It is much to be regretted that the original of the Coniston +Hall (<a href="#fig08">fig. 8</a>; p. <a href="#Page_50">50</a> of this work) has disappeared, and that the Author's +youthful record of a scene so familiar to him in later years should be +represented only by the harsh lines of Mr. Loudon's engraver.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right">THE EDITOR.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION"></a>INTRODUCTION.</h2> + + +<p>1. The Science of Architecture, followed out to its full extent, is one +of the noblest of those which have reference only to the creations of +human minds. It is not merely a science of the rule and compass, it does +not consist only in the observation of just rule, or of fair proportion: +it is, or ought to be, a science of feeling more than of rule, a +ministry to the mind, more than to the eye. If we consider how much less +the beauty and majesty of a building depend upon its pleasing certain +prejudices of the eye, than upon its rousing certain trains of +meditation in the mind, it will show in a moment how many intricate +questions of feeling are involved in the raising of an edifice; it will +convince us of the truth of a proposition, which might at first have +appeared startling, that no man can be an architect, who is not a +metaphysician.</p> + +<p>2. To the illustration of the department of this noble science which may +be designated the Poetry of Architecture, this and some future articles +will be dedicated. It is this peculiarity of the art which constitutes +its nationality; and it will be found as interesting as it is useful, to +trace in the distinctive characters of the architecture of nations, not +only its adaptation to the situation and climate in which it has arisen, +but its strong similarity to, and connection with, the prevailing turn +of mind by which the nation who first employed it is distinguished.</p> + +<p>3. I consider the task I have imposed upon myself the more necessary, +because this department of the science, perhaps regarded by some who +have no ideas beyond stone and mortar as chimerical, and by others who +think nothing necessary but truth and proportion as useless, is at a +miser<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>ably low ebb in England. And what is the consequence? We have +Corinthian columns placed beside pilasters of no order at all, +surmounted by monstrosified pepper-boxes, Gothic in form and Grecian in +detail, in a building nominally and peculiarly "National"; we have Swiss +cottages, falsely and calumniously so entitled, dropped in the +brick-fields round the metropolis; and we have staring square-windowed, +flat-roofed gentlemen's seats, of the lath and plaster, +mock-magnificent, Regent's Park description, rising on the woody +promontories of Derwentwater.</p> + +<p>4. How deeply is it to be regretted, how much is it to be wondered at, +that, in a country whose school of painting, though degraded by its +system of meretricious coloring, and disgraced by hosts of would-be +imitators of inimitable individuals, is yet raised by the distinguished +talent of those individuals to a place of well-deserved honor; and the +studios of whose sculptors are filled with designs of the most pure +simplicity, and most perfect animation; the school of architecture +should be so miserably debased!</p> + +<p>5. There are, however, many reasons for a fact so lamentable. In the +first place, the patrons of architecture (I am speaking of all classes +of buildings, from the lowest to the highest), are a more numerous and +less capable class than those of painting. The general public, and I say +it with sorrow, because I know it from observation, have little to do +with the encouragement of the school of painting, beyond the power which +they unquestionably possess, and unmercifully use, of compelling our +artists to substitute glare for beauty. Observe the direction of public +taste at any of our exhibitions. We see visitors at that of the Society +of Painters in Water Colors, passing Tayler with anathemas and Lewis +with indifference, to remain in reverence and admiration before certain +amiable white lambs and water-lilies, whose artists shall be nameless. +We see them, in the Royal Academy, passing by Wilkie, Turner and +Callcott, with shrugs of doubt or of scorn, to fix in gazing and +enthusiastic crowds upon kettles-full of witches, and His<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> Majesty's +ships so and so lying to in a gale, etc., etc. But these pictures attain +no celebrity because the public admire them, for it is not to the public +that the judgment is intrusted. It is by the chosen few, by our nobility +and men of taste and talent, that the decision is made, the fame +bestowed, and the artist encouraged.</p> + +<p>6. Not so in architecture. There, the power is generally diffused. Every +citizen may box himself up in as barbarous a tenement as suits his taste +or inclination; the architect is his vassal, and must permit him not +only to criticise, but to perpetrate. The palace or the nobleman's seat +may be raised in good taste, and become the admiration of a nation; but +the influence of their owner is terminated by the boundary of his +estate: he has no command over the adjacent scenery, and the possessor +of every thirty acres around him has him at his mercy. The streets of +our cities are examples of the effects of this clashing of different +tastes; and they are either remarkable for the utter absence of all +attempt at embellishment, or disgraced by every variety of abomination.</p> + +<p>7. Again, in a climate like ours, those few who have knowledge and +feeling to distinguish what is beautiful, are frequently prevented by +various circumstances from erecting it. John Bull's comfort perpetually +interferes with his good taste, and I should be the first to lament his +losing so much of his nationality, as to permit the latter to prevail. +He cannot put his windows into a recess, without darkening his rooms; he +cannot raise a narrow gable above his walls, without knocking his head +against the rafters; and, worst of all, he cannot do either, without +being stigmatized by the awful, inevitable epithet, of "a very odd man." +But, though much of the degradation of our present school of +architecture is owing to the want or the unfitness of patrons, surely it +is yet more attributable to a lamentable deficiency of taste and talent +among our architects themselves. It is true, that in a country affording +so little encouragement, and presenting so many causes for its absence, +it cannot be expected that we should have any Michael Angelo +Buonarottis. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> energy of our architects is expended in raising "neat" +poor-houses, and "pretty" charity schools; and, if they ever enter upon +a work of higher rank, economy is the order of the day: plaster and +stucco are substituted for granite and marble; rods of splashed iron for +columns of verd-antique; and in the wild struggle after novelty, the +fantastic is mistaken for the graceful, the complicated for the +imposing, superfluity of ornament for beauty, and its total absence for +simplicity.</p> + +<p>8. But all these disadvantages might in some degree be counteracted, all +these abuses in some degree prevented, were it not for the slight +attention paid by our architects to that branch of the art which I have +above designated as the Poetry of Architecture. All unity of feeling +(which is the first principle of good taste) is neglected; we see +nothing but incongruous combination: we have pinnacles without height, +windows without light, columns with nothing to sustain, and buttresses +with nothing to support. We have parish paupers smoking their pipes and +drinking their beer under Gothic arches and sculptured niches; and quiet +old English gentlemen reclining on crocodile stools, and peeping out of +the windows of Swiss châlets.</p> + +<p>9. I shall attempt, therefore, to endeavor to illustrate the principle +from the neglect of which these abuses have arisen; that of unity of +feeling, the basis of all grace, the essence of all beauty. We shall +consider the architecture of nations as it is influenced by their +feelings and manners, as it is connected with the scenery in which it is +found, and with the skies under which it was erected; we shall be led as +much to the street and the cottage as to the temple and the tower; and +shall be more interested in buildings raised by feeling, than in those +corrected by rule. We shall commence with the lower class of edifices, +proceeding from the roadside to the village, and from the village to the +city; and, if we succeed in directing the attention of a single +individual more directly to this most interesting department of the +science of architecture, we shall not have written in vain.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="PART_I" id="PART_I"></a><i>PART I.</i></h2> + +<h2>The Cottage.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>THE LOWLAND COTTAGE:—ENGLAND, FRANCE, ITALY:</p> + +<p>THE MOUNTAIN COTTAGE:—SWITZERLAND AND WESTMORELAND:</p> + +<p>A CHAPTER ON CHIMNEYS:</p> + +<p>AND CONCLUDING REMARKS ON COTTAGE-BUILDING.</p> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p> +<h1>THE POETRY OF ARCHITECTURE.</h1> + +<hr style="width: 5%;" /> + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<h2>THE LOWLAND COTTAGE—ENGLAND AND FRANCE.</h2> + + +<p>10. Of all embellishments by which the efforts of man can enhance the +beauty of natural scenery, those are the most effective which can give +animation to the scene, while the spirit which they bestow is in unison +with its general character. It is generally desirable to indicate the +presence of animated existence in a scene of natural beauty; but only of +such existence as shall be imbued with the spirit, and shall partake of +the essence, of the beauty, which, without it, would be dead. If our +object, therefore, is to embellish a scene the character of which is +peaceful and unpretending, we must not erect a building fit for the +abode of wealth or pride. However beautiful or imposing in itself, such +an object immediately indicates the presence of a kind of existence +unsuited to the scenery which it inhabits; and of a mind which, when it +sought retirement, was unacquainted with its own ruling feelings, and +which consequently excites no sympathy in ours: but, if we erect a +dwelling which may appear adapted to the wants, and sufficient for the +comfort, of a gentle heart and lowly mind, we have instantly attained +our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> object: we have bestowed animation, but we have not disturbed +repose.</p> + +<p>11. It is for this reason that the cottage is one of the embellishments +of natural scenery which deserve attentive consideration. It is +beautiful always, and everywhere. Whether looking out of the woody +dingle with its eye-like window, and sending up the motion of azure +smoke between the silver trunks of aged trees; or grouped among the +bright cornfields of the fruitful plain; or forming gray clusters along +the slope of the mountain side, the cottage always gives the idea of a +thing to be beloved: a quiet life-giving voice, that is as peaceful as +silence itself.</p> + +<p>12. With these feelings, we shall devote some time to the consideration +of the prevailing character, and national peculiarities, of European +cottages. The principal thing worthy of observation in the lowland +cottage of England is its finished neatness. The thatch is firmly pegged +down, and mathematically leveled at the edges; and, though the martin is +permitted to attach his humble domicile, in undisturbed security, to the +eaves, he may be considered as enhancing the effect of the cottage, by +increasing its usefulness, and making it contribute to the comfort of +more beings than one. The whitewash is stainless, and its rough surface +catches a side light as brightly as a front one: the luxuriant rose is +trained gracefully over the window; and the gleaming lattice, divided +not into heavy squares, but into small pointed diamonds, is thrown half +open, as is just discovered by its glance among the green leaves of the +sweetbrier, to admit the breeze, that, as it passes over the flowers, +becomes full of their fragrance. The light wooden porch breaks the flat +of the cottage face by its projection; and a branch or two of wandering +honeysuckle spread over the low hatch. A few square feet of garden and a +latched wicket, persuading the weary and dusty pedestrian, with +expressive eloquence, to lean upon it for an instant and request a drink +of water or milk, complete a picture, which, if it be far enough from +London to be unspoiled by town sophistications, is a very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> perfect thing +in its way.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> The ideas it awakens are agreeable, and the architecture +is all that we want in such a situation. It is pretty and appropriate; +and if it boasted of any other perfection, it would be at the expense of +its propriety.</p> + +<p>13. Let us now cross the Channel, and endeavor to find a country cottage +on the other side, if we can; for it is a difficult matter. There are +many villages; but such a thing as an isolated cottage is extremely +rare. Let us try one or two of the green valleys among the chalk +eminences which sweep from Abbeville to Rouen. Here is a cottage at +last, and a picturesque one, which is more than we could say for the +English domicile. What then is the difference? There is a general air of +<i>nonchalance</i> about the French peasant's habitation, which is aided by a +perfect want of everything like neatness; and rendered more conspicuous +by some points about the building which have a look of neglected beauty, +and obliterated ornament. Half of the whitewash is worn off, and the +other half colored by various mosses and wandering lichens, which have +been permitted to vegetate upon it, and which, though beautiful, +constitute a kind of beauty from which the ideas of age and decay are +inseparable. The tall roof of the garret window stands fantastically +out; and underneath it, where, in England, we had a plain double +lattice, is a deep recess, flatly arched at the top, built of solid +masses of gray stone, fluted on the edge; while the brightness of the +glass within (if there be any) is lost in shade, causing the recess to +appear to the observer like a dark eye. The door has the same character: +it is also of stone, which is so much broken and disguised as to prevent +it from giving any idea of strength or stability. The entrance is always +open; no roses, or anything else, are wreathed about it; several +outhouses, built in the same style, give the building extent; and the +group (in all probability, the dependency of some large old château in +the distance) does not peep out of copse, or thicket, or a group of tall +and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> beautiful trees, but stands comfortlessly between two individuals +of the columns of long-trunked facsimile elms, which keep guard along +the length of the public road.</p> + +<p>14. Now, let it be observed how perfectly, how singularly, the +distinctive characters of these two cottages agree with those of the +countries in which they are built; and of the people for whose use they +are constructed. England is a country whose every scene is in +miniature.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> Its green valleys are not wide; its dewy hills are not +high; its forests are of no extent, or, rather, it has nothing that can +pretend to a more sounding title than that of "wood." Its champaigns are +minutely checkered into fields; we can never see far at a time; and +there is a sense of something inexpressible, except by the truly English +word "snug," in every quiet nook and sheltered lane. The English +cottage, therefore, is equally small, equally sheltered, equally +invisible at a distance.</p> + +<p>15. But France is a country on a large scale. Low, but long, hills sweep +away for miles into vast uninterrupted champaigns; immense forests +shadow the country for hundreds of square miles, without once letting +through the light of day; its pastures and arable land are divided on +the same scale; there are no fences; we can hardly place ourselves in +any spot where we shall not see for leagues around; and there is a kind +of comfortless sublimity in the size of every scene. The French cottage, +therefore, is on the same scale, equally large and desolate looking; +but we shall see, presently, that it can arouse feelings which, though +they cannot be said to give it sublimity, yet are of a higher order than +any which can be awakened at the sight of the English cottage.</p> + +<p>16. Again, every bit of cultivated ground in England has a finished +neatness; the fields are all divided by hedges or fences; the fruit +trees are neatly pruned; the roads beautifully made, etc. Everything is +the reverse in France: the fields are distinguished by the nature of the +crops they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> bear; the fruit trees are overgrown with moss and mistletoe; +and the roads immeasurably wide, and miserably made.</p> + +<p><a name="fig01"></a></p> +<div class="figright" style="width: 207px;"> +<p><img src="./images/fig01.jpg" +alt="Fig. 1. Old Windows" title="Fig. 1. Old Windows" /></p> +<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 1. Old Windows: from an early sketch by the Author.</p> +</div> + +<p>17. So much for the character of the two cottages, as they assimilate +with the countries in which they are found. Let us now see how they +assimilate with the character of the people by whom they are built. +England is a country of perpetually increasing prosperity and active +enterprise; but, for that very reason, nothing is allowed to remain till +it gets old. Large old trees are cut down for timber; old houses are +pulled down for the materials; and old furniture is laughed at and +neglected. Everything is perpetually altered and renewed by the activity +of invention and improvement. The cottage, consequently, has no +dilapidated look about it; it is never suffered to get old; it is used +as long as it is comfortable, and then taken down and rebuilt; for it +was originally raised in a style incapable of resisting the ravages of +time. But, in France, there prevail two opposite feelings, both in the +extreme; that of the old pedigreed population, which preserves +unlimitedly; and that of the modern revolutionists, which destroys +unmercifully. Every object has partly the appearance of having been +preserved with infinite care from an indefinite age, and partly exhibits +the evidence of recent ill-treatment and disfiguration. Primeval forests +rear their vast trunks over those of many younger generations growing up +beside them; the château or the palace, showing, by its style of +architecture, its venerable age, bears the marks of the cannon-ball, +and, from neglect, is withering into desolation. Little is renewed: +there is little spirit of improvement; and the customs which prevailed +centuries ago are still taught by the patriarchs of the families to +their grandchildren. The French cottage, therefore, is just such as we +should have expected from the disposition of its inhabitants; its +massive windows, its broken ornaments, its whole air and appearance, all +tell the same tale of venerable age, respected and preserved, till at +last its dilapidation wears an appearance of neglect.</p> + +<p>18. Again, the Englishman will sacrifice everything to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> comfort, and +will not only take great pains to secure it, but he has generally also +the power of doing so: for the English peasant is, on the average, +wealthier than the French. The French peasant has no idea of comfort, +and therefore makes no effort to secure it. The difference in the +character of their inhabitants is, as we have seen, written on the +fronts of their respective cottages. The Englishman is, also, fond of +display; but the ornaments, exterior and interior, with which he adorns +his dwelling, however small it may be, are either to show the extent of +his possessions, or to contribute to some personal profit or +gratification: they never seem designed for the sake of ornament alone. +Thus, his wife's love of display is shown by the rows of useless +crockery in her cupboard; and his own by the rose tree at the front +door, from which he may obtain an early bud to stick in the buttonhole +of his best blue coat on Sundays: the honeysuckle is cultivated for its +smell, the garden for its cabbages. Not so in France. There, the meanest +peasant, with an equal or greater love of display, embellishes his +dwelling as much as lies in his power, solely for the gratification of +his feeling of what is agreeable to the eye. The gable of his roof is +prettily shaped; the niche at its corner is richly carved; the wooden +beams, if there be any, are fashioned into grotesque figures; and even +the "air négligé" and general dilapidation of the building tell a +thousand times more agreeably to an eye accustomed to the picturesque, +than the spruce preservation of the English cottage.</p> + +<p>19. No building which we feel to excite a sentiment of mere complacency +can be said to be in good taste. On the contrary, when the building is +of such a class, that it can neither astonish by its beauty, nor impress +by its sublimity, and when it is likewise placed in a situation so +uninteresting as to render something more than mere fitness or propriety +necessary, and to compel the eye to expect something from the building +itself, a gentle contrast of feeling in that building is exceedingly +desirable; and if possible, a sense that something has passed away, the +presence of which would have bestowed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> a deeper interest on the whole +scene. The fancy will immediately try to recover this, and, in the +endeavor, will obtain the desired effect from an indefinite cause.</p> + +<p>20. Now, the French cottage cannot please by its propriety, for it can +only be adapted to the ugliness around; and, as it ought to be, and +cannot but be, adapted to this, it is still less able to please by its +beauty. How, then, can it please? There is no pretense to gayety in its +appearance, no green flower-pots in ornamental lattices; but the +substantial style of any ornaments it may possess, the recessed windows, +the stone carvings, and the general size of the whole, unite to produce +an impression of the building having once been fit for the residence of +prouder inhabitants; of its having once possessed strength, which is now +withered, and beauty, which is now faded. This sense of something lost, +something which has been, and is not, is precisely what is wanted. The +imagination is set actively to work in an instant; and we are made aware +of the presence of a beauty, the more pleasing because visionary; and, +while the eye is pitying the actual humility of the present building,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> +the mind is admiring the imagined pride of the past. Every mark of +dilapidation increases this feeling; while these very marks (the +fractures of the stone, the lichens of the moldering walls, and the +graceful lines of the sinking roof) are all delightful in themselves.</p> + +<p>21. Thus, we have shown that, while the English cottage is pretty from +its propriety, the French cottage, having the same connection with its +climate, country, and people, produces such a contrast of feeling as +bestows on it a beauty addressing itself to the mind, and is therefore +in perfectly good taste. If we are asked why, in this instance, good +taste produces only what every traveler feels to be not in the least +striking, we reply that, where the surrounding circumstances are +unfavorable, the very adaptation to them which we have declared to be +necessary renders the building uninteresting; and that, in the next +paper, we shall see a very different result from the operations of +equally good taste in adapting a cottage to its situation, in one of the +noblest districts of Europe. Our subject will be, the Lowland Cottage of +North Italy.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Oxford</span>, <i>Sept., 1837.</i></p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Compare <i>Lectures on Architecture and Painting</i>, I. § 16.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Compare with this chapter, <i>Modern Painters</i>, vol. iv. +chap. 1.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p> +<h3>II.</h3> + +<h2>THE LOWLAND COTTAGE—ITALY.</h2> + +<h4>"Most musical, most melancholy."</h4> + + +<p>22. Let it not be thought that we are unnecessarily detaining our +readers from the proposed subject, if we premise a few remarks on the +character of the landscape of the country we have now entered. It will +always be necessary to obtain some definite knowledge of the distinctive +features of a country, before we can form a just estimate of the +beauties or the errors of its architecture. We wish our readers to imbue +themselves as far as may be with the spirit of the clime which we are +now entering; to cast away all general ideas; to look only for unison of +feeling, and to pronounce everything wrong which is contrary to the +<i>humors</i> of nature. We must make them feel where they are; we must throw +a peculiar light and color over their imaginations; then we will bring +their judgment into play, for then it will be capable of just operation.</p> + +<p>23. We have passed, it must be observed (in leaving England and France +for Italy), from comfort to desolation; from excitement, to sadness: we +have left one country prosperous in its prime, and another frivolous in +its age, for one glorious in its death.</p> + +<p>Now, we have prefixed the hackneyed line of Il Penseroso to our paper, +because it is a definition of the essence of the beautiful. What is most +musical, will always be found most melancholy; and no real beauty can be +obtained without a touch of sadness. Whenever the beautiful loses its +melancholy, it degenerates into prettiness. We appeal to the memories of +all our observing readers, whether they have treasured<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> up any scene, +pretending to be more than pretty, which has not about it either a tinge +of melancholy or a sense of danger; the one constitutes the beautiful, +the other the sublime.</p> + +<p>24. This postulate being granted, as we are sure it will by most (and we +beg to assure those who are refractory or argumentative, that, were this +a treatise on the sublime and beautiful, we could convince and quell +their incredulity to their entire satisfaction by innumerable +instances), we proceed to remark here, once for all, that the principal +glory of the Italian landscape is its extreme melancholy. It is fitting +that it should be so: the dead are the nations of Italy; her name and +her strength are dwelling with the pale nations underneath the earth; +the chief and chosen boast of her utmost pride is the <i>hic jacet</i>; she +is but one wide sepulcher, and all her present life is like a shadow or +a memory. And therefore, or, rather, by a most beautiful coincidence, +her national tree is the cypress; and whoever has marked the peculiar +character which these noble shadowy spires can give to her landscape, +lifting their majestic troops of waving darkness from beside the fallen +column, or out of the midst of the silence of the shadowed temple and +worshipless shrine, seen far and wide over the blue of the faint plain, +without loving the dark trees for their sympathy with the sadness of +Italy's sweet cemetery shore, is one who profanes her soil with his +footsteps.</p> + +<p>25. Every part of the landscape is in unison; the same glory of mourning +is thrown over the whole; the deep blue of the heavens is mingled with +that of the everlasting hills, or melted away into the silence of the +sapphire sea; the pale cities, temple and tower, lie gleaming along the +champaign; but how calmly! no hum of men; no motion of multitude in the +midst of them: they are voiceless as the city of ashes. The transparent +air is gentle among the blossoms of the orange and the dim leaves of the +olive; and the small fountains, which, in any other land, would spring +merrily along, sparkling and singing among tinkling pebbles, here flow +calmly and silently into some pale font of marble, all beautiful with +life; worked by some unknown hand, long ago nerveless,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> and fall and +pass on among wan flowers, and scented copse, through cool leaf-lighted +caves or gray Egerian grottoes, to join the Tiber or Eridanus, to swell +the waves of Nemi, or the Larian Lake. The most minute objects (leaf, +flower, and stone), while they add to the beauty, seem to share in the +sadness, of the whole.</p> + +<p>26. But, if one principal character of Italian landscape is melancholy, +another is elevation. We have no simple rusticity of scene, no cowslip +and buttercup humility of seclusion. Tall mulberry trees, with festoons +of the luxuriant vine, purple with ponderous clusters, trailed and +trellised between and over them, shade the wide fields of stately Indian +corn; luxuriance of lofty vegetation (catalpa, and aloe, and olive), +ranging itself in lines of massy light along the wan champaign, guides +the eye away to the unfailing wall of mountain, Alp or Apennine; no cold +long range of shivery gray, but dazzling light of snow, or undulating +breadth of blue, fainter and darker, in infinite variety; peak, +precipice, and promontory passing away into the wooded hills, each with +its tower or white village sloping into the plain; castellated +battlements cresting their undulations; some wide majestic river gliding +along the champaign, the bridge on its breast, and the city on its +shore; the whole canopied with cloudless azure, basking in mistless +sunshine, breathing the silence of odoriferous air.</p> + +<p>27. Now comes the question. In a country of this pomp of natural glory, +tempered with melancholy memory of departed pride, what are we to wish +for, what are we naturally to expect in the character of her most humble +edifices; those which are most connected with present life—least with +the past? what are we to consider fitting or beautiful in her cottage?</p> + +<p>We do not expect it to be comfortable, when everything around it +betokens decay and desolation in the works of man. We do not wish it to +be neat, where nature is most beautiful, because neglected. But we +naturally look for an elevation of character, a richness of design or +form, which,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> while the building is kept a cottage, may yet give it a +peculiar air of cottage aristocracy; a beauty (no matter how +dilapidated) which may appear to have been once fitted for the +surrounding splendor of scene and climate. Now, let us fancy an Italian +cottage before us. The reader who has traveled in Italy will find little +difficulty in recalling one to his memory, with its broad lines of light +and shadow, and its strange, but not unpleasing mixture of grandeur and +desolation. Let us examine its details, enumerate its architectural +peculiarities, and see how far it agrees with our preconceived idea of +what the cottage ought to be?</p> + +<p>28. The first remarkable point of the building is the roof. It generally +consists of tiles of very deep curvature, which rib it into distinct +vertical lines, giving it a far more agreeable surface than that of our +flatter tiling. The <i>form</i> of the roof, however, is always excessively +flat, so as never to let it intrude upon the eye; and the consequence +is, that, while an English village, seen at a distance, appears all red +roof, the Italian is all white wall; and therefore, though always +bright, is never gaudy. We have in these roofs an excellent example of +what should always be kept in mind, that everything will be found +beautiful, which climate or situation render useful. The strong and +constant heat of the Italian sun would be intolerable if admitted at the +windows; and, therefore, the edges of the roof project far over the +walls, and throw long shadows downwards, so as to keep the upper windows +constantly cool. These long oblique shadows on the white surface are +always delightful, and are alone sufficient to give the building +character. They are peculiar to the buildings of Spain and Italy; for +owing to the general darker color of those of more northerly climates, +the shadows of their roofs, however far thrown, do not tell distinctly, +and render them, not varied, but gloomy. Another ornamental use of these +shadows is, that they break the line of junction of the wall with the +roof: a point always desirable, and in every kind of building, whether +we have to do with lead, slate, tile, or thatch, one of extreme +difficulty. This object is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> farther forwarded in the Italian cottage, by +putting two or three windows up under the very eaves themselves, which +is also done for coolness, so that their tops are formed by the roof; +and the wall has the appearance of having been terminated by large +battlements and roofed over. And, finally, the eaves are seldom kept +long on the same level: double or treble rows of tiling are introduced; +long sticks and irregular wood-work are occasionally attached to them, +to assist the festoons of the vine; and the graceful irregularity and +marked character of the whole must be dwelt on with equal delight by the +eye of the poet, the artist, or the unprejudiced architect. All, +however, is exceedingly humble; we have not yet met with the elevation +of character we expected. We shall find it however as we proceed.</p> + +<p>29. The next point of interest is the window. The modern Italian is +completely owl-like in his habits. All the daytime he lies idle and +inert; but during the night he is all activity, but it is mere activity +of inoccupation. Idleness, partly induced by the temperature of the +climate, and partly consequent on the decaying prosperity of the nation, +leaves indications of its influence on all his undertakings. He prefers +patching up a ruin to building a house; he raises shops and hovels, the +abodes of inactive, vegetating, brutish poverty, under the protection of +aged and ruined, yet stalwart, arches of the Roman amphitheater; and the +habitations of the lower orders frequently present traces of ornament +and stability of material evidently belonging to the remains of a +prouder edifice. This is the case sometimes to such a degree as, in +another country, would be disagreeable from its impropriety; but, in +Italy, it corresponds with the general prominence of the features of a +past age, and is always beautiful. Thus, the eye rests with delight on +the broken moldings of the windows, and the sculptured capitals of the +corner columns, contrasted, as they are, the one with the glassless +blackness within, the other with the ragged and dirty confusion of +drapery around. The Italian window, in general, is a mere hole in the +thick<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> wall, always well proportioned; occasionally arched at the top, +sometimes with the addition of a little rich ornament: seldom, if ever, +having any casement or glass, but filled up with any bit of striped or +colored cloth, which may have the slightest chance of deceiving the +distant observer into the belief that it is a legitimate blind. This +keeps off the sun, and allows a free circulation of air, which is the +great object. When it is absent, the window becomes a mere black hole, +having much the same relation to a glazed window that the hollow of a +skull has to a bright eye; not unexpressive, but frowning and ghastly, +and giving a disagreeable impression of utter emptiness and desolation +within. Yet there is character in them: the black dots tell agreeably on +the walls at a distance, and have no disagreeable sparkle to disturb the +repose of surrounding scenery. Besides, the temperature renders +everything agreeable to the eye, which gives it an idea of ventilation. +A few roughly constructed balconies, projecting from detached windows, +usually break the uniformity of the wall. In some Italian cottages there +are wooden galleries, resembling those so frequently seen in +Switzerland; but this is not a very general character, except in the +mountain valleys of North Italy, although sometimes a passage is +effected from one projecting portion of a house to another by means of +an exterior gallery. These are very delightful objects; and when shaded +by luxuriant vines, which is frequently the case, impart a gracefulness +to the building otherwise unattainable.</p> + +<p>30. The next striking point is the arcade at the base of the building. +This is general in cities; and, although frequently wanting to the +cottage, is present often enough to render it an important feature. In +fact, the Italian cottage is usually found in groups. Isolated buildings +are rare; and the arcade affords an agreeable, if not necessary, shade, +in passing from one building to another. It is a still more unfailing +feature of the Swiss city, where it is useful in deep snow. But the +supports of the arches in Switzerland are generally square masses of +wall, varying in size, separating the arches by irregular intervals, and +sustained by broad and massy buttresses; while in Italy, the arches +generally rest on legitimate columns, varying in height from one and a +half to four diameters, with huge capitals, not unfrequently rich in +detail. These give great gracefulness to the buildings in groups: they +will be spoken of more at large when we are treating of arrangement and +situation.</p> + +<div class='center'><p><a name="fig02"></a></p> +<table border="0" id="Cottages" summary="Cottages"> +<tr><td><img src="./images/fig02aa.jpg" +alt="Italian Cottage Gallery, 1846." title="Italian Cottage Gallery, 1846." /></td> +<td><img src="./images/fig02b.jpg" +alt="Chimney at Neuchatel; Dent du Midi and Mont Blanc in the distance." title="Chimney at Neuchatel; Dent du Midi and Mont Blanc in the distance." /></td> +</tr> +<tr><td><b>Italian Cottage Gallery, 1846.</b></td> +<td><b>Chimney at Neuchatel; Dent du Midi and Mont Blanc in the distance.</b></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p><a name="fig02a"></a></p> +<p class="figcenter"><img src="./images/fig02a.jpg" +alt="Cottage near la Cité, Val d'Aosta, 1838." title="Cottage near la Cité, Val d'Aosta, 1838." /></p> +<p class="figcenter caption">Cottage near la Cité, Val d'Aosta, 1838.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p> + +<p>31. The square tower, rising over the roof of the farther cottage, will +not escape observation. It has been allowed to remain, not because such +elevated buildings ever belong to mere cottages, but, first, that the +truth of the scene might not be destroyed;<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> and, secondly, because it +is impossible, or nearly so, to obtain a group of buildings of any sort, +in Italy, without one or more such objects rising behind them, +beautifully contributing to destroy the monotony, and contrast with the +horizontal lines of the flat roofs and square walls. We think it right, +therefore, to give the cottage the relief and contrast which, in +reality, it possessed, even though we are at present speaking of it in +the abstract.</p> + +<p>32. Having now reviewed the distinctive parts of the Italian cottage in +detail, we shall proceed to direct our attention to points of general +character. I. Simplicity of form. The roof, being flat, allows of no +projecting garret windows, no fantastic gable ends: the walls themselves +are equally flat; no bow-windows or sculptured oriels, such as we meet +with perpetually in Germany, France, or the Netherlands, vary their +white fronts. Now, this simplicity is, perhaps, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> principal attribute +by which the Italian cottage attains the elevation of character we +desired and expected. All that is fantastic in form, or frivolous in +detail, annihilates the aristocratic air of a building: it at once +destroys its sublimity and size, besides awakening, as is almost always +the case, associations of a mean and low character. The moment we see a +gable roof, we think of cock-lofts; the instant we observe a projecting +window, of attics and tent-bedsteads. Now, the Italian cottage assumes, +with the simplicity, <i>l'air noble</i> of buildings of a higher order; and, +though it avoids all ridiculous miniature mimicry of the palace, it +discards the humbler attributes of the cottage. The ornament it assumes +is dignified; no grinning faces, or unmeaning notched planks, but +well-proportioned arches, or tastefully sculptured columns. While there +is nothing about it unsuited to the humility of its inhabitant, there is +a general dignity in its air, which harmonizes beautifully with the +nobility of the neighboring edifices, or the glory of the surrounding +scenery.</p> + +<p>33. II. Brightness of effect. There are no weather stains on the walls: +there is no dampness in air or earth, by which they could be induced; +the heat of the sun scorches away all lichens, and mosses and moldy +vegetation. No thatch or stone crop on the roof unites the building with +surrounding vegetation; all is clear, and warm, and sharp on the eye; +the more distant the building, the more generally bright it becomes, +till the distant village sparkles out of the orange copse, or the +cypress grove, with so much distinctness as might be thought in some +degree objectionable. But it must be remembered that the prevailing +color of the Italian landscape is blue; sky, hills, water, are equally +azure: the olive, which forms a great proportion of the vegetation, is +not green, but gray; the cypress and its varieties, dark and neutral, +and the laurel and myrtle far from bright. Now, white, which is +intolerable with green, is agreeably contrasted with blue; and to this +cause it must be ascribed that the white of the Italian building is not +found startling and disagreeable in the landscape. That it is not, we +believe, will be generally allowed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p> + +<p>34. III. Elegance of feeling. We never can prevent ourselves from +imagining that we perceive in the graceful negligence of the Italian +cottage, the evidence of a taste among the lower orders refined by the +glory of their land, and the beauty of its remains. We have always had +strong faith in the influence of climate on the mind, and feel strongly +tempted to discuss the subject at length; but our paper has already +exceeded its proposed limits, and we must content ourselves with +remarking what will not, we think, be disputed, that the eye, by +constantly resting either on natural scenery of noble tone and +character, or on the architectural remains of classical beauty, must +contract a habit of feeling correctly and tastefully; the influence of +which, we think, is seen in the style of edifices the most modern and +the most humble.</p> + +<p>35. Lastly, Dilapidation. We have just used the term "graceful +negligence": whether it be graceful, or not, is a matter of taste; but +the uncomfortable and ruinous disorder and dilapidation of the Italian +cottage is one of observation. The splendor of the climate requires +nothing more than shade from the sun, and occasionally shelter from a +violent storm: the outer arcade affords them both; it becomes the +nightly lounge and daily dormitory of its inhabitant, and the interior +is abandoned to filth and decay. Indolence watches the tooth of Time +with careless eye and nerveless hand. Religion, or its abuse, reduces +every individual of the population to utter inactivity three days out of +the seven; and the habits formed in the three regulate the four. Abject +poverty takes away the power, while brutish sloth weakens the will; and +the filthy habits of the Italian prevent him from suffering from the +state to which he is reduced. The shattered roofs, the dark, confused, +ragged windows, the obscure chambers, the tattered and dirty draperies, +altogether present a picture which, seen too near, is sometimes +revolting to the eye, always melancholy to the mind. Yet even this many +would not wish to be otherwise. The prosperity of nations, as of +individuals, is cold and hard-hearted, and forgetful. The dead die, +indeed, trampled down by the crowd of the living; the place<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> thereof +shall know them no more, for that place is not in the hearts of the +survivors for whose interests they have made way. But adversity and ruin +point to the sepulcher, and it is not trodden on; to the chronicle, and +it doth not decay. Who would substitute the rush of a new nation, the +struggle of an awakening power, for the dreamy sleep of Italy's +desolation, for her sweet silence of melancholy thought, her twilight +time of everlasting memories?</p> + +<p>36. Such, we think, are the principal distinctive attributes of the +Italian cottage. Let it not be thought that we are wasting time in the +contemplation of its beauties; even though they are of a kind which the +architect can never imitate, because he has no command over time, and no +choice of situation; and which he ought not to imitate, if he could, +because they are only locally desirable or admirable. Our object, let it +always be remembered, is not the attainment of architectural data, but +the formation of taste.</p> + +<p><i>Oct. 12, 1837</i></p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> The annexed illustration will, perhaps, make the remarks +advanced more intelligible. The building, which is close to the city of +Aosta, unites in itself all the peculiarities for which the Italian +cottage is remarkable: the dark arcade, the sculptured capital, the +vine-covered gallery, the flat and confused roof; and clearly exhibits +the points to which we wish particularly to direct attention; namely, +brightness of effect, simplicity of form, and elevation of character. +Let it not be supposed, however, that such a combination of attributes +is rare; on the contrary, it is common to the greater part of the +cottages of Italy. This building has not been selected as a rare +example, but it is given as a good one. [These remarks refer to a cut in +the magazine text, represented in the illustrated edition by a +photogravure from the original sketch.]</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p> +<h3>III.</h3> + +<h2>THE MOUNTAIN COTTAGE—SWITZERLAND.</h2> + + +<p>37. In the three instances of the lowland cottage which have been +already considered, are included the chief peculiarities of style which +are interesting or important. I have not, it is true, spoken of the +carved oaken gable and shadowy roof of the Norman village; of the black +crossed rafters and fantastic proportions which delight the eyes of the +German; nor of the Moorish arches and confused galleries which mingle so +magnificently with the inimitable fretwork of the gray temples of the +Spaniard. But these are not peculiarities solely belonging to the +cottage: they are found in buildings of a higher order, and seldom, +unless where they are combined with other features. They are therefore +rather to be considered, in future, as elements of street effect, than, +now, as the peculiarities of independent buildings. My remarks on the +Italian cottage might, indeed, be applied, were it not for the constant +presence of Moorish feeling, to that of Spain. The architecture of the +two nations is intimately connected: modified, in Italy, by the taste of +the Roman; and, in Spain, by the fanciful creations of the Moor. When I +am considering the fortress and the palace,<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> I shall be compelled to +devote a very large share of my attention to Spain; but for +characteristic examples of the cottage, I turn rather to Switzerland and +England. Preparatory, therefore, to a few general remarks on modern +ornamental cottages, it will be instructive to observe the peculiarities +of two varieties of the mountain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> cottage, diametrically opposite to +each other in most of their features; one always beautiful, and the +other frequently so.</p> + +<p>38. First, for Helvetia. Well do I remember the thrilling and exquisite +moment when first, first in my life (which had not been over long), I +encountered, in a calm and shadowy dingle, darkened with the thick +spreading of tall pines, and voiceful with the singing of a +rock-encumbered stream, and passing up towards the flank of a smooth +green mountain, whose swarded summit shone in the summer snow like an +emerald set in silver; when, I say, I first encountered in this calm +defile of the Jura, the unobtrusive, yet beautiful, front of the Swiss +cottage. I thought it the loveliest piece of architecture I had ever had +the felicity of contemplating; yet it was nothing in itself, nothing but +a few mossy fir trunks, loosely nailed together, with one or two gray +stones on the roof: but its power was the power of association; its +beauty, that of fitness and humility.</p> + +<p>39. How different is this from what modern architects erect, when they +attempt to produce what is, by courtesy, called a Swiss cottage. The +modern building known in Britain by that name has very long chimneys, +covered with various exceedingly ingenious devices for the convenient +reception and hospitable entertainment of soot, supposed by the innocent +and deluded proprietor to be "meant for ornament." Its gable roof slopes +at an acute angle, and terminates in an interesting and romantic manner, +at each extremity, in a tooth-pick. Its walls are very precisely and +prettily plastered; and it is rendered quite complete by the addition of +two neat little bow windows, supported on neat little mahogany brackets, +full of neat little squares of red and yellow glass. Its door is +approached under a neat little veranda, "uncommon green," and is flanked +on each side by a neat little round table, with all its legs of +different lengths, and by a variety of neat little wooden chairs, all +very peculiarly uncomfortable, and amazingly full of earwigs: the whole +being surrounded by a garden full of flints, burnt bricks and cinders, +with some water in the middle, and a fountain in the middle of it, +which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> won't play; accompanied by some goldfish, which won't swim; and +by two or three ducks, which will splash. Now, I am excessively sorry to +inform the members of any respectable English family, who are making +themselves uncomfortable in one of these ingenious conceptions, under +the idea that they are living in a Swiss cottage, that they labor under +a melancholy deception; and shall now proceed to investigate the +peculiarities of the real building.</p> + +<p>40. The life of a Swiss peasant is divided into two periods; that in +which he is watching his cattle at their summer pasture on the high +Alps,<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> and that in which he seeks shelter from the violence of the +winter storms in the most retired parts of the low valleys. During the +first period, he requires only occasional shelter from storms of +excessive violence; during the latter, a sufficient protection from +continued inclement weather. The Alpine or summer cottage, therefore, is +a rude log hut, formed of unsquared pine trunks, notched into each other +at the corners. The roof being excessively flat, so as to offer no +surface to the wind, is covered with fragments of any stone that will +split easily, held on by crossing logs; which are in their turn kept +down by masses of stone; the whole being generally sheltered behind some +protecting rock, or resting against the slope of the mountain, so that, +from one side, you may step upon the roof. That is the <i>châlet</i>. When +well grouped, running along a slope of mountain side, these huts produce +a very pleasing effect, being never obtrusive (owing to the prevailing +grayness of their tone), uniting well with surrounding objects, and +bestowing at once animation and character.</p> + +<p>41. But the winter residence, the Swiss cottage, properly so-called is a +much more elaborate piece of workmanship. The principal requisite is, of +course, strength: and this is always observable in the large size of the +timbers, and the ingenious manner in which they are joined, so as to +support and relieve each other, when any of them are severely tried.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> +The roof is always very flat, generally meeting at an angle of 155°, and +projecting from 5 ft. to 7 ft. over the cottage side, in order to +prevent the windows from being thoroughly clogged up with snow. That +this projection may not be crushed down by the enormous weight of snow +which it must sometimes sustain, it is assisted by strong wooden +supports (seen in Fig. 3), which sometimes extend half down the walls +for the sake of strength, divide the side into regular compartments, and +are rendered ornamental by grotesque<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> carving. Every canton has its own +window. That of Uri, with its diamond wood-work at the bottom, is, +perhaps, one of the richest. (See Fig. 4.) The galleries are generally +rendered ornamental by a great deal of labor bestowed upon their +wood-work. This is best executed in the canton of Berne. The door is +always six or seven feet from the ground, and occasionally much more, +that it may be accessible in snow; and is reached by an oblique gallery, +leading up to a horizontal one, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. The base of +the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> cottage is formed of stone, generally whitewashed. The chimneys +must have a chapter to themselves; they are splendid examples of utility +combined with ornament.</p> + +<p><a name="fig03"></a></p> +<p class="figcenter"><img src="./images/fig03.jpg" +alt="Fig. 3. Swiss Cottage. 1837." title="Fig. 3. Swiss Cottage. 1837." /></p> +<p class="figcenter caption"><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 3. Swiss Cottage. 1837.</p> + +<p><a name="fig04"></a></p> +<p class="figcenter"><img src="./images/fig04.jpg" +alt="Fig. 4. Cottage near Altorf. 1835." title="Fig. 4. Cottage near Altorf. 1835." /></p> +<p class="figcenter caption"><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 4. Cottage near Altorf. 1835.</p> + + +<p>Such are the chief characteristics of the Swiss cottage, separately +considered. I must now take notice of its effect in scenery.</p> + +<p>42. When one has been wandering for a whole morning through a valley of +perfect silence, where everything around, which is motionless, is +colossal, and everything which has motion, resistless; where the +strength and the glory of nature are principally developed in the very +forces which feed upon her majesty; and where, in the midst of +mightiness which seems imperishable, all that is indeed eternal is the +influence of desolation; one is apt to be surprised, and by no means +agreeably, to find, crouched behind some projecting rock, a piece of +architecture which is neat in the extreme, though in the midst of +wildness, weak in the midst of strength, contemptible in the midst of +immensity. There is something offensive in its neatness: for the wood is +almost always perfectly clean, and looks as if it had just been cut; it +is consequently raw in its color, and destitute of all variety of tone. +This is especially disagreeable, when the eye has been previously +accustomed to, and finds, everywhere around, the exquisite mingling of +color, and confused, though perpetually graceful, forms, by which the +details of mountain scenery are peculiarly distinguished. Every fragment +of rock is finished in its effect, tinted with thousands of pale lichens +and fresh mosses; every pine tree is warm with the life of various +vegetation; every grassy bank glowing with mellowed color, and waving +with delicate leafage. How, then, can the contrast be otherwise than +painful, between this perfect loveliness, and the dead, raw, lifeless +surface of the deal boards of the cottage. Its weakness is pitiable; +for, though there is always evidence of considerable strength on close +examination, there is no <i>effect</i> of strength: the real thickness of the +logs is concealed by the cutting and carving of their exposed surfaces; +and even what is seen is felt to be so utterly contemptible,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> when +opposed to the destructive forces which are in operation around, that +the feelings are irritated at the imagined audacity of the inanimate +object, with the self-conceit of its impotence; and, finally, the eye is +offended at its want of size. It does not, as might be at first +supposed, enhance the sublimity of surrounding scenery by its +littleness, for it provokes no comparison; and there must be proportion +between objects, or they cannot be compared. If the Parthenon, or the +Pyramid of Cheops, or St. Peter's, were placed in the same situation, +the mind would first form a just estimate of the magnificence of the +building, and then be trebly impressed with the size of the masses which +overwhelmed it. The architecture would not lose, and the crags would +gain, by the juxtaposition; but the cottage, which must be felt to be a +thing which the weakest stream of the Alps could toss down before it +like a foam-globe, is offensively contemptible: it is like a child's toy +let fall accidentally on the hillside; it does not unite with the scene; +it is not content to sink into a quiet corner, and personify humility +and peace; but it draws attention upon itself by its pretension to +decoration, while its decorations themselves cannot bear examination, +because they are useless, unmeaning and incongruous.</p> + +<p><a name="fig05"></a></p> +<div class="figright" style="width: 300px;"> +<p><img src="./images/fig05.jpg" +alt="Swiss Châlet Balcony, 1842." title="Swiss Châlet Balcony, 1842." /></p> +<p class="caption">Swiss Châlet Balcony, 1842.</p> +</div> + +<p>43. So much for its faults; and I have had no mercy upon them, the +rather, because I am always afraid of being biased in its favor by my +excessive love for its sweet nationality. Now for its beauties. Wherever +it is found, it always suggests ideas of a gentle, pure, and pastoral +life.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> One feels that the peasants whose hands carved the planks so +neatly, and adorned their cottage so industriously, and still preserve +it so perfectly, and so neatly, can be no dull, drunken, lazy boors; one +feels, also, that it requires both firm resolution, and determined +industry, to maintain so successful a struggle against "the crush of +thunder, and the warring winds." Sweet ideas float over the imagination +of such passages of peasant life as the gentle Walton so loved; of the +full milk-pail, and the mantling cream-bowl; of the evening dance and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> +the matin song; of the herdsmen on the Alps, of the maidens by the +fountain; of all that is peculiarly and indisputably Swiss. For the +cottage is beautifully national; there is nothing to be found the least +like it in any other country. The moment a glimpse is caught of its +projecting galleries, one knows that it is the land of Tell and +Winkelried; and the traveler feels, that, were he indeed Swiss-born and +Alp-bred, a bit of that carved plank, meeting his eye in a foreign land, +would be as effectual as a note of the <i>Ranz des Vaches</i> upon the ear.</p> + +<p>44. Again, when a number of these cottages are grouped together, they +break upon each other's formality, and form a mass of fantastic +proportion, of carved window and overhanging roof, full of character and +picturesque in the extreme. An excellent example of this is the Bernese +village of Unterseen. Again, when the ornament is not very elaborate, +yet enough to preserve the character, and the cottage is old, and not +very well kept (suppose in a Catholic canton), and a little rotten, the +effect is beautiful: the timber becomes weather-stained, and of a fine +warm brown, harmonizing delightfully with the gray stones on the roof, +and the dark green of surrounding pines. If it be fortunate enough to be +situated in some quiet glen, out of sight of the gigantic features of +the scene, and surrounded with cliffs to which it bears some proportion; +and if it be partially concealed, not intruding on the eye, but well +united with everything around, it becomes altogether perfect; humble, +beautiful, and interesting. Perhaps no cottage can then be found to +equal it; and none can be more finished in effect, graceful in detail, +and characteristic as a whole.</p> + +<p>45. The ornaments employed in the decoration of the Swiss cottage do not +demand much attention; they are usually formed in a most simple manner, +by thin laths, which are carved into any fanciful form, or in which rows +of holes are cut, generally diamond shaped; and they are then nailed one +above another to give the carving depth. Pinnacles are never raised on +the roof, though carved spikes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> are occasionally suspended from it at +the angles. No ornamental work is ever employed to disguise the beams of +the projecting part of the roof, nor does any run along its edges. The +galleries, in the canton of Uri, are occasionally supported on arched +beams, as shown in Fig. 4, which have a very pleasing effect.</p> + +<p>46. Of the adaptation of the building to climate and character, little +can be said. When I called it "national," I meant only that it was quite +<i>sui generis</i>, and, therefore, being only found in Switzerland, might be +considered as a national building; though it has none of the mysterious +connection with the mind of its inhabitants which is evident in all +really fine edifices. But there is a reason for this; Switzerland has no +climate, properly speaking, but an assemblage of every climate, from +Italy to the Pole; the vine wild in its valleys, the ice eternal on its +crags. The Swiss themselves are what we might have expected in persons +dwelling in such a climate; they have no character. The sluggish nature +of the air of the valleys has a malignant operation on the mind; and +even the mountaineers, though generally shrewd and intellectual, have no +perceptible nationality: they have no language, except a mixture of +Italian and bad German; they have no peculiar turn of mind; they might +be taken as easily for Germans as for Swiss. No correspondence, +consequently, can exist between national architecture and national +character, where the latter is not distinguishable. Generally speaking, +then, the Swiss cottage cannot be said to be built in good taste; but it +is occasionally picturesque, frequently pleasing, and, under a favorable +concurrence of circumstances, beautiful. It is not, however, a thing to +be imitated; it is always, when out of its own country, incongruous; it +never harmonizes with anything around it, and can therefore be employed +only in mimicry of what does not exist, not in improvement of what does. +I mean, that any one who has on his estate a dingle shaded with larches +or pines, with a rapid stream, may manufacture a bit of Switzerland as a +toy; but such imitations are always<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> contemptible, and he cannot use the +Swiss cottage in any other way. A modified form of it, however, as will +be hereafter shown, may be employed with advantage. I hope, in my next +paper, to derive more satisfaction from the contemplation of the +mountain cottage of Westmoreland, than I have been able to obtain from +that of the Swiss.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> That part, however, was not written, as the "Architectural +Magazine" stopped running soon after the conclusion of Part II. "The +Villa."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> I use the word Alp here, and in future, in its proper +sense, of a high mountain pasture; not in its secondary sense, of a +snowy peak.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Compare <i>Modern Painters</i>, vol. iv. chap. xi, and vol. v. +chap. ix.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p> +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<h2>THE MOUNTAIN COTTAGE—WESTMORELAND.</h2> + + +<p>47. When I devoted so much time to the consideration of the +peculiarities of the Swiss cottage, I did not previously endeavor to +ascertain what the mind, influenced by the feelings excited by the +nature of its situation, would be induced to expect, or disposed to +admire. I thus deviated from the general rule which I hope to be able to +follow out; but I did so only because the subject for consideration was +incapable of fulfilling the expectation when excited, or corresponding +with the conception when formed. But now, in order to appreciate the +beauty of the Westmoreland cottage, it will be necessary to fix upon a +standard of excellence, with which it may be compared.</p> + +<p>One of the principal charms of mountain scenery is its solitude. Now, +just as silence is never perfect or deep without motion, solitude is +never perfect without some vestige of life. Even desolation is not felt +to be utter, unless in some slight degree interrupted: unless the +cricket is chirping on the lonely hearth, or the vulture soaring over +the field of corpses, or the one mourner lamenting over the red ruins of +the devastated village, that devastation is not felt to be complete. The +anathema of the prophet does not wholly leave the curse of loneliness +upon the mighty city, until he tells us that "the satyr shall dance +there." And, if desolation, which is the destruction of life, cannot +leave its impression perfect without some interruption, much less can +solitude, which is only the absence of life, be felt without some +contrast. Accordingly, it is, perhaps, never so perfect as when a +populous and highly cultivated plain,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> immediately beneath, is visible +through the rugged ravines, or over the cloudy summits of some tall, +vast, and voiceless mountain.</p> + +<p>48. When such a prospect is not attainable, one of the chief uses of the +mountain cottage, paradoxical as the idea may appear, is to increase +this sense of solitude. Now, as it will only do so when it is seen at a +considerable distance, it is necessary that it should be visible, or, at +least, that its presence should be indicated, over a considerable +portion of surrounding space. It must not, therefore, be too much shaded +by trees, or it will be useless; but if, on the contrary, it be too +conspicuous on the open hillside, it will be liable to most of the +objections which were advanced against the Swiss cottage, and to +another, which was not then noticed. Anything which, to the eye, is +split into parts, appears less as a whole than what is undivided. Now, a +considerable mass, of whatever tone or color it may consist, is as +easily divisible by dots as by lines; that is, a conspicuous point, on +any part of its surface, will divide it into two portions, each of which +will be individually measured by the eye, but which will never make the +impression which they would have made, had their unity not been +interrupted. A conspicuous cottage on a distant mountain side has this +effect in a fatal degree, and is, therefore, always intolerable.</p> + +<p>49. It should accordingly, in order to reconcile the attainment of the +good, with the avoidance of the evil, be barely visible: it should not +tell as a cottage on the eye, though it should on the mind; for be it +observed that, if it is only by the closest investigation that we can +ascertain it to be a human habitation, it will answer the purpose of +increasing the solitude quite as well as if it were evidently so; +because this impression is produced by its appeal to the thoughts, not +by its effect on the eye. Its color, therefore, should be as nearly as +possible that of the hill on which, or the crag beneath which, it is +placed; its form, one that will incorporate well with the ground, and +approach that of a large stone more than of anything else. The color +will conse<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>quently, if this rule be followed, be subdued and grayish, +but rather warm; and the form simple, graceful, and unpretending. The +building should retain the same general character on a closer +examination. Everything about it should be natural, and should appear as +if the influences and forces which were in operation around it had been +too strong to be resisted, and had rendered all efforts of art to check +their power, or conceal the evidence of their action, entirely +unavailing. It cannot but be an alien child of the mountains; but it +must show that it has been adopted and cherished by them. This effect is +only attainable by great ease of outline and variety of color; +peculiarities which, as will be presently seen, the Westmoreland cottage +possesses in a supereminent degree.</p> + +<p>50. Another feeling, with which one is impressed during a mountain +ramble, is humility. I found fault with the insignificance of the Swiss +cottage, because "it was not content to sink into a quiet corner, and +personify humility." Now, had it not been seen to be pretending, it +would not have been felt to be insignificant; for the feelings would +have been gratified with its submission to, and retirement from, the +majesty of the destructive influences which it rather seemed to rise up +against in mockery. Such pretension is especially to be avoided in the +mountain cottage: it can never lie too humbly in the pastures of the +valley, nor shrink too submissively into the hollows of the hills; it +should seem to be asking the storm for mercy, and the mountain for +protection: and should appear to owe to its weakness, rather than to its +strength, that it is neither overwhelmed by the one, nor crushed by the +other.</p> + +<p>51. Such are the chief attributes, without which a mountain cottage +cannot be said to be beautiful. It may possess others, which are +desirable or objectionable, according to their situation, or other +accidental circumstances. The nature of these will be best understood by +examining an individual building. The material is, of course, what is +most easily attainable and available without much labor. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> Cumberland +and Westmoreland hills are, in general, composed of clay-slate and +gray-wacke, with occasional masses of chert<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> (like that which forms +the summit of Scawfell), porphyritic greenstone, and syenite. The chert +decomposes deeply, and assumes a rough brown granular surface, deeply +worn and furrowed. The clay-slate or gray-wacke, as it is shattered by +frost, and carried down by torrents, of course forms itself into +irregular flattish masses. The splintery edges of these are in some +degree worn off by the action of water; and, slight decomposition taking +place on the surface of the clay-slate, furnishes an aluminous soil, +which is immediately taken advantage of by innumerable lichens, which +change the dark gray of the original substance into an infinite variety +of pale and warm colors. These stones, thus shaped to his hand, are the +most convenient building materials the peasant can obtain.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> He lays +his foundation and strengthens his angles with large masses, filling up +the intervals with pieces of a more moderate size; and using here and +there a little cement to bind the whole together, and to keep the wind +from getting through the interstices; but never enough to fill them +altogether up, or to render the face of the wall smooth. At intervals of +from 4 ft. to 6 ft. a horizontal line of flat and broad fragments is +introduced projecting about a foot from the wall. Whether this is +supposed to give strength, I know not; but as it is invariably covered +by luxuriant stonecrop, it is always a delightful object.</p> + +<p>52. The door is flanked and roofed by three large oblong sheets of gray +rock, whose form seems not to be considered of the slightest +consequence. Those which form the cheeks of the windows are generally +selected with more care from the débris of some rock, which is naturally +smooth and polished, after being subjected to the weather, such as +granite or syenite. The window itself is narrow and deep set; in the +better sort of cottages, latticed, but with no affecta<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>tion of +sweetbrier or eglantine about it. It may be observed of the whole of the +cottage, that, though all is beautiful, nothing is pretty. The roof is +rather flat, and covered with heavy fragments of the stone of which the +walls are built, originally very loose; but generally cemented by +accumulated soil, and bound together by houseleek, moss, and stonecrop: +brilliant in color, and singular in abundance. The form of the larger +cottages, being frequently that of a cross, would hurt the eye by the +sharp angles of the roof, were it not for the cushion-like vegetation +with which they are rounded and concealed. Varieties of the fern +sometimes relieve the massy forms of the stonecrop, with their light and +delicate leafage. Windows in the roof are seldom met with. Of the +chimney I shall speak hereafter.</p> + +<p>53. Such are the prevailing peculiarities of the Westmoreland cottage. +"Is this all?" some one will exclaim: "a hovel, built of what first +comes to hand, and in the most simple and convenient form; not one +thought of architectural beauty ever coming into the builder's head!" +Even so; to this illustration of an excellent rule, I wished +particularly to direct attention: that the material which Nature +furnishes, in any given country, and the form which she suggests, will +always render the building the most beautiful, because the most +appropriate. Observe how perfectly this cottage fulfills the conditions +which were before ascertained to be necessary to perfection. Its color +is that of the ground on which it stands, always subdued and gray, but +exquisitely rich, the color being disposed crumblingly, in groups of +shadowy spots; a deep red brown, passing into black, being finely +contrasted with the pale yellow of the <i>Lichen geographicus</i>, and the +subdued white of another lichen, whose name I do not know; all mingling +with each other as on a native rock, and with the same beautiful effect: +the mass, consequently, at a distance, tells only as a large stone +would, the simplicity of its form contributing still farther to render +it inconspicuous. When placed on a mountain-side such a cottage will +become a point of interest, which will relieve its monotony, but will<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> +never cut the hill in two, or take away from its size. In the valley, +the color of these cottages agrees with everything: the green light, +which trembles through the leafage of the taller trees, falls with +exquisite effect on the rich gray of the ancient roofs: the deep pool of +clear water is not startled from its peace by their reflection; the ivy, +or the creepers to which the superior wealth of the peasant of the +valley does now and then pretend, in opposition to the general custom, +cling gracefully and easily to its innumerable crevices; and rock, lake, +and meadow seem to hail it with a brotherly affection, as if Nature had +taken as much pains with it as she has with them.</p> + +<p>54. Again, observe its ease of outline. There is not a single straight +line to be met with from foundation to roof; all is bending or broken. +The form of every stone in its walls is a study; for, owing to the +infinite delicacy of structure in all minerals, a piece of stone 3 in. +in diameter, irregularly fractured, and a little worn by the weather, +has precisely the same character of outline which we should find and +admire in a mountain of the same material 6000 ft. high;<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> and, +therefore, the eye, though not feeling the cause, rests on every cranny, +and crack, and fissure with delight. It is true that we have no idea +that every small projection, if of chert, has such an outline as +Scawfell's; if of gray-wacke, as Skiddaw's; or if of slate, as +Helvellyn's; but their combinations of form are, nevertheless, felt to +be exquisite, and we dwell upon every bend of the rough roof and every +hollow of the loose wall, feeling it to be a design which no architect +on earth could ever equal, sculptured by a chisel of unimaginable +delicacy, and finished to a degree of perfection, which is unnoticed +only because it is everywhere.</p> + +<p>55. This ease and irregularity is peculiarly delightful where +gracefulness and freedom of outline and detail are, as they always are +in mountain countries, the chief characteristics of every scene. It is +well that, where every plant is wild and every torrent free, every field +irregular in its form, every knoll various in its outline, one is not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> +startled by well built walls, or unyielding roofs, but is permitted to +trace in the stones of the peasant's dwelling, as in the crags of the +mountain side, no evidence of the line or the mallet, but the operation +of eternal influences, the presence of an Almighty hand. Another +perfection connected with its ease of outline is, its severity of +character: there is no foppery about it; not the slightest effort at any +kind of ornament, but what nature chooses to bestow; it wears all its +decorations wildly, covering its nakedness, not with what the peasant +may plant, but with what the winds may bring. There is no gay color or +neatness about it; no green shutters or other abomination: all is calm +and quiet, and severe, as the mind of a philosopher, and, withal, a +little somber. It is evidently old, and has stood many trials in its +day; and the snow, and the tempest, and the torrent have all spared it, +and left it in its peace, with its gray head unbowed, and its early +strength unbroken, even though the spirit of decay seems creeping, like +the moss and the lichen, through the darkness of its crannies. This +venerable and slightly melancholy character is the very soul of all its +beauty.</p> + +<p>56. There remains only one point to be noticed, its humility. This was +before stated to be desirable, and it will here be found in perfection. +The building draws as little attention upon itself as possible; since, +with all the praise I have bestowed upon it, it possesses not one point +of beauty in which it is not equaled or excelled by every stone at the +side of the road. It is small in size, simple in form, subdued in tone, +easily concealed or overshadowed; often actually so; and one is always +delighted and surprised to find that what courts attention so little is +capable of sustaining it so well. Yet it has no appearance of weakness: +it is stoutly, though rudely, built; and one ceases to fear for its sake +the violence of surrounding agencies, which, it may be seen, will be +partly deprecated by its humility.</p> + +<p>57. Such is the mountain cottage of Westmoreland; and such, with +occasional varieties, are many of the mountain cottages of England and +Wales. It is true that my memory<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> rests with peculiar pleasure in a +certain quiet valley near Kirkstone, little known to the general +tourist, distant from any public track, and, therefore, free from all +the horrors of improvement:<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> in which it seemed to me that the +architecture of the cottage had attained a peculiar degree of +perfection. But I think that this impression was rather produced by a +few seemingly insignificant accompanying circumstances, than by any +distinguished beauty of design in the cottages themselves. Their +inhabitants were evidently poor, and apparently had not repaired their +dwellings since their first erection; and, certainly, had never torn one +tuft of moss or fern from roofs or walls, which were green with the rich +vegetation of years. The valley was narrow, and quiet, and deep, and +shaded by reverend trees, among whose trunks the gray cottages looked +out, with a perfection of effect which I never remember to have seen +equaled, though I believe that, in many of the mountain districts of +Britain, the peasant's domicile is erected with equal good taste.</p> + +<p>58. I have always rejoiced in the thought, that our native highland +scenery, though, perhaps, wanting in sublimity, is distinguished by a +delicate finish in its details, and by a unanimity and propriety of +feeling in the works of its inhabitants, which are elsewhere looked for +in vain; and the reason of this is evident. The mind of the inhabitant +of the continent, in general, is capable of deeper and finer sensations +than that of the islander. It is higher in its aspirations, purer in its +passions, wilder in its dreams, and fiercer in its anger; but it is +wanting in gentleness, and in its simplicity; naturally desirous of +excitement, and incapable of experiencing, in equal degree, the calmer +flow of human felicity, the stillness of domestic peace, and the +pleasures of the humble hearth, consisting in everyday duties performed, +and everyday mercies received; consequently, in the higher walks of +architecture, where the mind is to be impressed or elevated, we never +have equaled, and we never shall equal, them. It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> will be seen +hereafter, when we leave the lowly valley for the torn ravine, and the +grassy knoll for the ribbed precipice, that, if the continental +architects cannot adorn the pasture with the humble roof, they can crest +the crag with eternal battlements;<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> if they cannot minister to a +landscape's peace, they can add to its terror; and it has been already +seen, that, in the lowland cottages of France and Italy, where high and +refined feelings were to be induced, where melancholy was to be excited, +or majesty bestowed, the architect was successful, and his labor was +perfect: but, now, nothing is required but humility and gentleness; and +this, which he does not feel, he cannot give: it is contrary to the +whole force of his character, nay, even to the spirit of his religion. +It is unfelt even at the time when the soul is most chastened and +subdued; for the epitaph on the grave is affected in its sentiment, and +the tombstone gaudily gilded, or wreathed with vain flowers.</p> + +<p><a name="fig06"></a></p> +<p class="figcenter"><img src="./images/fig06.jpg" +alt="Fig. 6. The Highest House in England." title="Fig. 6. The Highest House in England." /></p> +<p class="figcenter caption"><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 6. The Highest House in England.</p> + +<p>59. We cannot, then, be surprised at the effort at ornament and other +fancied architectural beauties, which injure the effect of the more +peaceful mountain scenery abroad; but still less should we be surprised +at the perfect propriety which prevails in the same kind of scenery at +home; for the error which is there induced by one mental deficiency, is +here prevented by another. The uncultivated mountaineer of Cumberland +has no taste, and no idea of what architecture means; he never thinks of +what is right, or what is beautiful, but he builds what is most adapted +to his purposes, and most easily erected: by suiting the building to the +uses of his own life, he gives it humility; and, by raising it with the +nearest material, adapts it to its situation. This is all that is +required, and he has no credit in fulfilling the requirement, since the +moment he begins to think of effect, he commits a barbarism by +whitewashing the whole. The cottages of Cumberland would suffer much by +this piece of improvement, were it not for the salutary operation of +mountain rains and mountain winds.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span></p> + +<p>60. So much for the hill dwellings of our own country. I think the +examination of the five examples of the cottage which I have given have +furnished all the general principles which are important or worthy of +consideration; and I shall therefore devote no more time to the +contemplation of individual buildings. But, before I leave the cottage +altogether, it will be necessary to notice a part of the building which +I have in the separate instances purposely avoided mentioning, that I +might have the advantage of immediate comparison; a part exceedingly +important, and which seems to have been essential to the palace as well +as to the cottage, ever since the time when Perdiccas received his +significant gift of the sun from his Macedonian master, <span class="greek" title="perigrapsas ton hêlion, hos ên kata tên kapnodokên es ton oikon esechôn">περιγραψας +τον ἡλιον, ὁς ην κατα την καπνοδοκην ες τον οικον εσεχων. +</span><a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> And then I shall conclude the subject by a few general +remarks on modern ornamental cottages, illustrative of the principle so +admirably developed in the beauty of the Westmoreland building; to +which, it must be remembered, the palm was assigned, in preference to +the Switzer's; not because it was more labored, but because it was more +natural.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Oxford</span>, <i>Jan., 1838.</i></p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> That is to say, a <i>flinty</i> volcanic ash.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Compare the treatment of a similar theme in <i>Modern +Painters</i>, vol. iv., chaps. viii.-x.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Compare <i>Modern Painters</i>, vol. iv. chap. 18, § 7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Troutbeck, sixty years since?</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> This too refers to the unwritten sequel.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Herodotus viii, 137, freely quoted from memory. The story +was that three brothers took service with a kinglet in Macedonia. The +queen, who cooked their food herself, for it was in the good old times, +noticed that the portion of Perdiccas, the youngest, always "rose" three +times as large as any other. The king judged this to be an omen of the +lad's coming to fortune; and dismissed them. They demanded their wages. +"When the king heard talk about wages—you must know <i>the sun was +shining into the house, down the chimney</i>—he said (for God had hardened +his heart) 'There's your wage; all you deserve and all you'll get:' and +pointed to the sunshine. The elder brothers were dumfoundered when they +heard that; but the lad, who happened to have his knife with him, said, +'We accept, King, the gift.' With his knife he <i>made a scratch around +the sunstreak</i> on the floor, took the shine of it three times into the +fold of his kirtle"—his pocket, we should say nowadays—"and went his +way." Eventually he became king of Macedonia, and ancestor of Alexander +the Great.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p> +<h3>V.</h3> + +<h2>A CHAPTER ON CHIMNEYS.</h2> + + +<p>61. It appears from the passage in Herodotus, which we alluded to in the +last paper, that there has been a time, even in the most civilized +countries, when the king's palace was entirely unfurnished with anything +having the slightest pretension to the dignity of chimney tops; and the +savory vapors which were wont to rise from the hospitable hearth, at +which the queen or princess prepared the feast with the whitest of +hands, escaped with indecorous facility through a simple hole in the +flat roof. The dignity of smoke, however, is now better understood, and +it is dismissed through Gothic pinnacles, and (as at Burleigh House) +through Tuscan columns, with a most praiseworthy regard to its comfort +and convenience. Let us consider if it is worth the trouble.</p> + +<p>62. We advanced a position in the last paper, that silence is never +perfect without motion. That is, unless something which might possibly +produce sound is evident to the eye, the absence of sound is not +surprising to the ear, and, therefore, not impressive. Let it be +observed, for instance, how much the stillness of a summer's evening is +enhanced by the perception of the gliding and majestic motion of some +calm river, strong but still; or of the high and purple clouds; or of +the voiceless leaves, among the opening branches. To produce this +impression, however, the motion must be uniform, though not necessarily +slow. One of the chief peculiarities of the ocean thoroughfares of +Venice, is the remarkable silence which rests upon them, enhanced as it +is by the swift, but beautifully uniform motion of the gondola. Now, +there is no motion more uniform, silent or beautiful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> than that of +smoke; and, therefore, when we wish the peace or stillness of a scene to +be impressive, it is highly useful to draw the attention to it.</p> + +<p>63. In the cottage, therefore, a building peculiarly adapted for scenes +of peace, the chimney, as conducting the eye to what is agreeable, may +be considered as important, and, if well managed, a beautiful +accompaniment. But in buildings of a higher class, smoke ceases to be +interesting. Owing to their general greater elevation, it is relieved +against the sky, instead of against a dark background, thereby losing +the fine silvery blue,—which among trees, or rising out of a distant +country, is so exquisitely beautiful,—and assuming a dingy yellowish +black: its motion becomes useless; for the idea of stillness is no +longer desirable, or, at least, no longer attainable, being interrupted +by the nature of the building itself: and, finally, the associations it +arouses are not dignified; we may think of a comfortable fireside, +perhaps, but are quite as likely to dream of kitchens, and spits, and +shoulders of mutton. None of these imaginations are in their place, if +the character of the building be elevated; they are barely tolerable in +the dwelling house and the street. Now, when smoke is objectionable, it +is certainly improper to direct attention to the chimney; and, +therefore, for two weighty reasons, <i>decorated</i> chimneys, of any sort or +size whatsoever, are inexcusable barbarisms; first, because, where smoke +is beautiful, decoration is unsuited to the building; and secondly, +because, where smoke is ugly, decoration directs attention <i>to its +ugliness</i>.</p> + +<p>64. It is unfortunately a prevailing idea with some of our architects, +that what is a disagreeable object in itself may be relieved or +concealed by lavish ornament; and there never was a greater mistake. It +should be a general principle, that what is intrinsically ugly should be +utterly destitute of ornament, that the eye may not be drawn to it. The +pretended skulls of the three Magi at Cologne are set in gold, and have +a diamond in each eye; and are a thousand times more ghastly than if +their brown bones had been left in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> peace. Such an error as this ought +never to be committed in architecture. If any part of the building has +disagreeable associations connected with it, let it alone: do not +ornament it. Keep it subdued, and simply adapted to its use; and the eye +will not go to it, nor quarrel with it. It would have been well if this +principle had been kept in view in the renewal of some of the public +buildings in Oxford. In All Souls College, for instance, the architect +has carried his chimneys half as high as all the rest of the building, +and fretted them with Gothic. The eye is instantly caught by the plated +candlestick-like columns, and runs with some complacency up the groining +and fret-work, and alights finally and fatally on a red chimney-top. He +might as well have built a Gothic aisle at an entrance to a coal wharf. +We have no scruple in saying that the man who could desecrate the Gothic +trefoil into an ornament for a chimney has not the slightest feeling, +and never will have any, of its beauty or its use; he was never born to +be an architect, and never will be one.</p> + +<p>65. Now, if chimneys are not to be decorated (since their existence is +necessary), it becomes an object of some importance to know what is to +be done with them: and we enter into the inquiry before leaving the +cottage, as in its most proper place; because, in the cottage, and only +in the cottage, it is desirable to direct attention to smoke.</p> + +<p>Speculation, however, on the <i>beau idéal</i> of a chimney can never be +unshackled; because, though we may imagine what it ought to be, we can +never tell, until the house is built, what it <i>must</i> be; we may require +it to be short, and find that it will smoke, unless it is long; or, we +may desire it to be covered, and find it will not go unless it is open. +We can fix, therefore, on no one model; but by looking over the chimneys +of a few nations, we may deduce some general principles from their +varieties, which may always be brought into play, by whatever +circumstances our own imaginations may be confined.</p> + +<p>66. Looking first to the mind of the people, we cannot<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> expect to find +good examples of the chimney, as we go to the south. The Italian or the +Spaniard does not know the use of a chimney, properly speaking; they +<i>have</i> such things, and they light a fire, five days in the year, +chiefly of wood, which does not give smoke enough to teach the chimney +its business; but they have not the slightest idea of the meaning or the +beauty of such things as hobs, and hearths, and Christmas blazes; and we +should, therefore, expect, <i>à priori</i>, that there would be no soul in +their chimneys; that they would have no practiced substantial air about +them; that they would, in short, be as awkward and as much in the way, +as individuals of the human race are, when they don't know what to do +with themselves, or what they were created for. But in England, sweet +carbonaceous England, we flatter ourselves we <i>do</i> know something about +fire, and smoke too, or our eyes have strangely deceived us; and, from +the whole comfortable character and fireside disposition of the nation, +we should conjecture that the architecture of the chimney would be +understood, both as a matter of taste and as a matter of comfort, to the +<i>ne plus ultra</i> of perfection. Let us see how far our expectations are +realized.</p> + +<p>67. Fig. 7, <i>a</i>, <i>b</i> and <i>c</i> are English chimneys. They are +distinguishable, we think, at a glance, from all the rest, by a +downright serviceableness of appearance, a substantial, unaffected, +decent, and chimney-like deportment, in the contemplation of which we +experience infinite pleasure and edification, particularly as it seems +to us to be strongly contrasted with an appearance, in all the other +chimneys, of an indefinable something, only to be expressed by the +interesting word "humbug." Fig. <i>7 a</i> is a chimney of Cumberland, and +the north of Lancashire. It is, as may be seen at a glance, only +applicable at the extremity of the roof, and requires a bent flue. It is +built of unhewn stones, in the same manner as the Westmoreland cottages; +the flue itself being not one-third the width of the chimney, as is seen +at the top, where four flat stones placed on their edges<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> form the +termination of the flue itself, and give lightness of appearance to the +whole. Cover this with a piece of paper, and observe how heavy and +square the rest becomes. A few projecting stones continue the line of +the roof across the center of the chimney, and two large masses support +the projection of the whole, and unite it agreeably with the wall. This +is exclusively a cottage chimney; it cannot, and must not, be built of +civilized materials; it must be rough, and mossy, and broken; but it is +decidedly the best chimney of the whole set. It is simple and +substantial, without being cumbrous; it gives great variety to the wall +from which it projects, terminates the roof agreeably, and dismisses its +smoke with infinite propriety.</p> + +<p><a name="fig07"></a></p> +<p class="figcenter"><img src="./images/fig07.jpg" +alt="Fig. 7. Chimneys." title="Fig. 7. Chimneys." /></p> +<p class="figcenter caption"><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 7. Chimneys.</p> + +<p>68. Fig. <i>b</i> is a chimney common over the whole of the north of England; +being, as I think, one that will go well in almost any wind, and is +applicable at any part of the roof. It is also roughly built, consisting +of a roof of loose stones, sometimes one large flat slab, supported +above the flue by four large supports, each of a single stone. It is +rather light in its appearance, and breaks the ridge of a roof very +agreeably. Separately considered, it is badly proportioned; but, as it +just equals the height to which a long chimney at the extremity of the +building would rise above the roof (as in a), it is quite right <i>in +situ</i>, and would be ungainly if it were higher. The upper part is always +dark, owing to the smoke, and tells agreeably against any background +seen through the hollow.</p> + +<p>69. Fig. <i>c</i> is the chimney of the Westmoreland cottage which formed the +subject of the last paper. The good taste which prevailed in the rest of +the building is not so conspicuous here, because the architect has begun +to consider effect instead of utility, and has put a diamond-shaped +piece of ornament on the front (usually containing the date of the +building), which was not necessary, and looks out of place. He has +endeavored to build neatly too, and has bestowed a good deal of plaster +on the outside, by all which circumstances the work is infinitely +deteriorated. We<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> have always disliked cylindrical chimneys, probably +because they put us in mind of glasshouses and manufactories, for we are +aware of no more definite reason; yet this example is endurable, and has +a character about it which it would be a pity to lose. Sometimes when +the square part is carried down the whole front of the cottage, it looks +like the remains of some gray tower, and is not felt to be a chimney at +all. Such deceptions are always very dangerous, though in this case +sometimes attended with good effect, as in the old building called +Coniston Hall, on the shores of Coniston Water, whose distant outline +(Fig. 8) is rendered light and picturesque, by the size and shape of its +chimneys, which are the same in character as Fig. <i>c</i>.</p> + +<p><a name="fig08"></a></p> +<p class="figcenter"><img src="./images/fig08.jpg" +alt="Fig. 8. Coniston Hall, from the Lake near Brantwood (1837)." +title="Fig. 8. Coniston Hall, from the Lake near Brantwood (1837)." /></p> +<p class="figcenter caption"><span class="smcap">Fig.</span> 8. Coniston Hall, from the Lake near +Brantwood (1837).</p> + +<p>70. Of English chimneys adapted for buildings of a more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> elevated +character, we can adduce no good examples. The old red brick mass, which +we see in some of our venerable manor-houses, has a great deal of +English character about it, and is always agreeable, when the rest of +the building is of brick. Fig. <i>p</i> is a chimney of this kind: there is +nothing remarkable in it; it is to be met with all over England; but we +have placed it beside its neighbor <i>q</i> to show how the same form and +idea are modified by the mind of the nations who employ it. The design +is the same in both, the proportions also; but the one is a chimney, the +other a paltry model of a paltrier edifice. Fig. <i>q</i> is Swiss, and is +liable to all the objections advanced against the Swiss cottages; it is +a despicable mimicry of a large building, like the tower in the +engraving of the Italian cottage (§ 31), carved in stone, it is true, +but not the less to be reprobated. Fig. <i>p</i>, on the contrary, is adapted +to its use, and has no affectation about it. It would be spoiled, +however, if built in stone; because the marked bricks tell us the size +of the whole at once, and prevent the eye from suspecting any intention +to deceive it with a mockery of arches and columns, the imitation of +which would be too perfect in stone; and therefore, even in this case, +we have failed in discovering a chimney adapted to the higher class of +edifices.</p> + +<p>71. Fig. <i>d</i> is a Netherland chimney, <i>e</i> and <i>f</i> German. Fig. <i>d</i> +belongs to an old Gothic building in Malines, and is a good example of +the application of the same lines to the chimney which occur in other +parts of the edifice, without bestowing any false elevation of +character. It is roughly carved in stone, projecting at its base +grotesquely from the roof, and covered at the top. The pointed arch, by +which its character is given, prevents it from breaking in upon the +lines of the rest of the building, and, therefore, in reality renders it +less conspicuous than it would otherwise have been. We should never have +noticed its existence, had we not been looking out for chimneys.</p> + +<p>72. Fig. <i>e</i> is also carved in stone, and where there is much variety of +architecture, or where the buildings are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> grotesque, would be a good +chimney, for the very simple reason, that it resembles nothing but a +chimney, and its lines are graceful. Fig. <i>f</i>, though ugly in the +abstract, might be used with effect in situations where perfect +simplicity would be too conspicuous; but both <i>e</i> and <i>f</i> are evidently +the awkward efforts of a tasteless nation, to produce something +original: they have lost the chastity which we admired in <i>a</i>, without +obtaining the grace and spirit of <i>l</i> and <i>o</i>. In fact, they are +essentially German.</p> + +<p>73. Figs. <i>h</i> to <i>m</i>, inclusive, are Spanish, and have a peculiar +character, which would render it quite impossible to employ them out of +their own country. Yet they are not decorated chimneys. There is not one +fragment of ornament on any of them. All is done by variety of form; and +with such variety no fault can be found, because it is necessary to give +them the character of the buildings, out of which they rise. For we may +observe here, once for all, that character may be given either by form +or by decoration, and that where the latter is improper, variety of form +is allowable, because the humble associations which render ornament +objectionable, also render simplicity of form unnecessary.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> We need +not then find fault with <i>fantastic</i> chimneys, provided they are kept in +unison with the rest of the building, and do not draw too much +attention.</p> + +<p>74. Fig. <i>h</i>, according to this rule, is a very good chimney. It is +graceful without pretending, and its grotesqueness will suit the +buildings round it—we wish we could give them: they are at Cordova.</p> + +<p>Figs. <i>k</i> and <i>l</i> ought to be seen, as they would be in reality, rising +brightly up against the deep blue heaven of the south, the azure +gleaming through their hollows; unless perchance a slight breath of +refined, pure, pale vapor finds its way from time to time out of them +into the light air; their tiled caps casting deep shadows on their +white<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> surfaces, and their <i>tout ensemble</i> causing no interruption to +the feelings excited by the Moresco arches and grotesque dwelling houses +with which they would be surrounded; they are sadly spoiled by being cut +off at their bases.</p> + +<p>75. Figs. <i>g</i>, <i>n</i>, <i>o</i> are Italian. Fig. <i>g</i> has only been given, +because it is constantly met with among the more modern buildings of +Italy. Figs. <i>n</i> and <i>o</i> are almost the only two varieties of chimneys +which are to be found on the old Venetian palaces (whose style is to be +traced partly to the Turk, and partly to the Moor). The curved lines of +<i>n</i> harmonize admirably with those of the roof itself, and its +diminutive size leaves the simplicity of form of the large building to +which it belongs entirely uninterrupted and uninjured. Fig. <i>o</i> is seen +perpetually carrying the whiteness of the Venetian marble up into the +sky; but it is too tall, and attracts by far too much attention, being +conspicuous on the sides of all the canals.</p> + +<p>76. Figs. <i>q</i>, <i>r</i>, <i>s</i> are Swiss. Fig. <i>r</i> is one specimen of an +extensive class of decorated chimneys, met with in the northeastern +cantons. It is never large, and consequently having no false elevation +of character, and being always seen with eyes which have been prepared +for it, by resting on the details of the Swiss cottage, is less +disagreeable than might be imagined, but ought never to be imitated. The +pyramidal form is generally preserved, but the design is the same in no +two examples.</p> + +<p>Fig. <i>s</i> is a chimney very common in the eastern cantons, the principle +of which we never understood. The oblique part moves on a hinge, so as +to be capable of covering the chimney like a hat; and the whole is +covered with wooden scales, like those of a fish. This chimney sometimes +comes in very well among the confused rafters of the mountain cottage, +though it is rather too remarkable to be in good taste.</p> + +<p>77. It seems then, that out of the eighteen chimneys, which we have +noticed, though several possess character, and one or two elegance, only +two are to be found fit for imitation; and, of these, one is exclusively +a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span><i>cottage</i> chimney. This is somewhat remarkable and may serve as a +proof:—</p> + +<p>First, of what we at first asserted, that chimneys which in any way +attract notice (and if these had not, we should not have sketched them) +were seldom to be imitated; that there are few buildings which require +them to be singular, and none which can tolerate them if decorated; and +that the architect should always remember that the size and height being +by necessity fixed, the form which draws least attention is the best.</p> + +<p>78. Secondly, that this inconspicuousness is to be obtained, not by +adhering to any model of simplicity, but by taking especial care that +the lines of the chimney are no interruption, and its color no contrast, +to those of the building to which it belongs. Thus Figs. <i>h</i> to <i>m</i> +would be far more actually remarkable in their natural situation, if +they were more simple in their form; for they would interrupt the +character of the rich architecture by which they are surrounded. Fig. +<i>d</i>, rising as it does above an old Gothic window, would have attracted +instant attention, had it not been for the occurrence of the same lines +in it which prevail beneath it. The form of <i>n</i> only assimilates it more +closely with the roof on which it stands. But we must not <i>imitate</i> +chimneys of this kind, for their excellence consists only in their +agreement with other details, separated from which they would be +objectionable; we can only follow the principle of the design, which +appears, from all that we have advanced, to be this: we require, in a +good chimney, <i>the character of the building to which it belongs +divested of all its elevation, and its prevailing lines, deprived of all +their ornament</i>.</p> + +<p>79. This it is, no doubt, excessively difficult to give; and, in +consequence, there are very few cities or edifices in which the chimneys +are not objectionable. We must not, therefore, omit to notice the +fulfillment of our expectations, founded on English character. The only +two chimneys fit for imitation, in the whole eighteen, are English; and +we would not infer anything from this, tending to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> invalidate the +position formerly advanced, that there was no taste in England; but we +would adduce it as a farther illustration of the rule, that what is most +adapted to its purpose is most beautiful. For that we have no taste, +even in chimneys, is sufficiently proved by the roof effects, even of +the most ancient, unaffected, and unplastered of our streets, in which +the chimneys, instead of assisting in the composition of the groups of +roofs, stand out in staring masses of scarlet and black, with foxes and +cocks whisking about, like so many little black devils, in the smoke on +the top of them, interrupting all repose, annihilating all dignity, and +awaking every possible conception which would be picturesque, and every +imagination which would be rapturous, to the mind of master-sweeps.</p> + +<p>80. On the other hand, though they have not on the Continent the same +knowledge of the use and beauty of chimneys in the abstract, they +display their usual good taste in grouping, or concealing them; and, +whether we find them mingling with the fantastic domiciles of the +German, with the rich imaginations of the Spaniard, with the classical +remains and creations of the Italian, they are never intrusive or +disagreeable; and either assist the grouping, and relieve the +horizontality of the lines of the roof, or remain entirely unnoticed and +insignificant, smoking their pipes in peace.</p> + +<p>81. It is utterly impossible to give rules for the attainment of these +effects, since they are the result of a feeling of the proportion and +relation of lines, which, if not natural to a person, cannot be +acquired, but by long practice and close observation; and it presupposes +a power rarely bestowed on an English architect, of setting regularity +at defiance, and sometimes comfort out of the question. We could give +some particular examples of this grouping; but, as this paper has +already swelled to an unusual length, we shall defer them until we come +to the consideration of street effects in general. Of the chimney in the +abstract, we are afraid we have only said enough to illustrate, without +removing, the difficulty of designing it; but we cannot but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> think that +the general principles which have been deduced, if carefully followed +out, would be found useful, if not for the attainment of excellence, at +least for the prevention of barbarism.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Oxford</span>, <i>Feb. 10, [1838].</i></p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Elevation of character, as was seen in the Italian +cottage, depends upon simplicity of form.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p> +<h3>VI.</h3> + +<h2>THE COTTAGE—CONCLUDING REMARKS.</h2> + +<h4>"Nunquam aliud Natura, aliud Sapientia, dicit."—<i>Juvenal</i> xiv. 321.</h4> + + +<p>82. It now only remains for us to conclude the subject of the cottage, +by a few general remarks on the just application of modern buildings to +adorn or vivify natural scenery.</p> + +<p>There are, we think, only three cases in which the cottage is considered +as an element of architectural, or any other kind of beauty, since it is +ordinarily raised by the peasant where he likes, and how he likes; and, +therefore, as we have seen, frequently in good taste.</p> + +<p>83. I. When a nobleman, or man of fortune, amuses himself with +superintending the erection of the domiciles of his domestics. II. When +ornamental summer-houses, or mimicries of wigwams, are to be erected as +ornamental adjuncts to a prospect which the owner has done all he can to +spoil, that it may be worthy of the honor of having him to look at it. +III. When the landlord exercises a certain degree of influence over the +cottages of his tenants, or the improvements of the neighboring village, +so as to induce such a tone of feeling in the new erections as he may +think suitable to the situation.</p> + +<p>84. In the first of these cases, there is little to be said; for the +habitation of the domestic is generally a dependent feature of his +master's, and, therefore, to be considered as a part of it. Porters' +lodges are also dependent upon, and to be regulated by, the style of the +architecture to which they are attached; and they are generally well +managed in England, properly united with the gate, and adding to the +effect of the entrance.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span></p> + +<p>In the second case, as the act is in itself a barbarism, it would be +useless to consider what would be the best mode of perpetrating it.</p> + +<p>In the third case, we think it will be useful to apply a few general +principles, deduced from positions formerly advanced.</p> + +<p>85. All buildings are, of course, to be considered in connection with +the country in which they are to be raised. Now, all landscape must +possess one out of four distinct characters.</p> + +<p>It must be either woody, the green country; cultivated, the blue +country; wild, the gray country; or hilly, the brown country.</p> + +<p>I. The Woody, or green, Country. By this is to be understood the mixture +of park, pasture, and variegated forest, which is only to be seen in +temperate climates, and in those parts of a kingdom which have not often +changed proprietors, but have remained in unproductive beauty (or at +least, furnishing timber only), the garden of the wealthier population. +It is to be seen in no other country, perhaps, so well as in England. In +other districts, we find extensive masses of black forest, but not the +mixture of sunny glade, and various foliage, and dewy sward, which we +meet with in the richer park districts of England. This kind of country +is always surgy, oceanic, and massy, in its outline: it never affords +blue distances, unless seen from a height; and, even then, the nearer +groups are large, and draw away the attention from the background. The +under soil is kept cool by the shade, and its vegetation rich; so that +the prevailing color, except for a few days at the fall of the leaf, is +a fresh green. A good example of this kind of country is the view from +Richmond Hill.</p> + +<p>86. Now, first, let us consider what sort of feeling this green country +excites; and, in order to do so, be it observed, that anything which is +apparently enduring and unchangeable gives us an impression rather of +future, than of past, duration of existence; but anything which being +perishable, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> from its nature subject to change, has yet existed to a +great age, gives us an impression of antiquity, though, of course, none +of stability. A mountain, for instance (not geologically speaking, for +then the furrows on its brow give it age as visible as was ever wrinkled +on human forehead, but considering it as it appears to ordinary eyes), +appears to be beyond the influence of change: it does not put us in mind +of its past existence, by showing us any of the effect of time upon +itself; we do not feel that it is old, because it is not approaching any +kind of death; it is a mass of unsentient undecaying matter, which, if +we think about it, we discover must have existed for some time, but +which does not tell this fact to our feelings, or, rather, which tells +us of no time at which it came into existence; and therefore, gives us +no standard by which to measure its age, which, unless measured, cannot +be distinctly felt. But a very old forest tree is a thing subject to the +same laws of nature as ourselves: it is an energetic being, liable to an +approaching death; its age is written on every spray; and, because we +see it is susceptible of life and annihilation, like our own, we imagine +it must be capable of the same feelings, and possess the same faculties, +and, above all others, memory: it is always telling us about the past, +never pointing to the future; we appeal to it, as to a thing which has +seen and felt during a life similar to our own, though of ten times its +duration, and therefore receive from it a perpetual impression of +antiquity. So again a ruined town gives us an impression of antiquity; +the stones of which it is built, none; for their age is not written upon +them.</p> + +<p>87. This being the case, it is evident that the chief feeling induced by +woody country is one of reverence for its antiquity. There is a quiet +melancholy about the decay of the patriarchal trunks, which is enhanced +by the green and elastic vigor of the young saplings; the noble form of +the forest aisles, and the subdued light which penetrates their +entangled boughs, combine to add to the impression; and the whole +character of the scene is calculated to excite<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> conservative feeling. +The man who could remain a radical in a wood country is a disgrace to +his species.</p> + +<p>88. Now, this feeling of mixed melancholy and veneration is the one of +all others which the modern cottage must not be allowed to violate. It +may be fantastic or rich in detail; for the one character will make it +look old-fashioned, and the other will assimilate with the intertwining +of leaf and bough around it: but it must not be spruce, or natty, or +very bright in color; and the older it looks the better.</p> + +<p>A little grotesqueness in form is the more allowable, because the +imagination is naturally active in the obscure and indefinite daylight +of wood scenery; conjures up innumerable beings, of every size and +shape, to people its alleys and smile through its thickets; and is by no +means displeased to find some of its inventions half-realized in a +decorated panel or grinning extremity of a rafter.</p> + +<p>89. These characters being kept in view, as objects to be attained, the +remaining considerations are technical.</p> + +<p>For the form. Select any well-grown group of the tree which prevails +most near the proposed site of the cottage. Its summit will be a rounded +mass. Take the three principal points of its curve: namely, its apex and +the two points where it unites itself with neighboring masses. Strike a +circle through these three points; and the angle contained in the +segment cut off by a line joining the two lower points is to be the +angle of the cottage roof. (Of course we are not thinking of interior +convenience: the architect must establish his mode of beauty first, and +then approach it as nearly as he can.) This angle will generally be very +obtuse; and this is one reason why the Swiss cottage is always beautiful +when it is set among walnut or chestnut trees. Its obtuse roof is just +about the true angle. With pines or larches, the angle should not be +regulated by the form of the tree, but by the slope of the branches. The +building itself should be low and long, so that, if possible, it may not +be seen all at once, but may be partially concealed by trunks or leafage +at various distances.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p> + +<p>90. For the color, that of wood is always beautiful. If the wood of the +near trees be used, so much the better; but the timbers should be +rough-hewn, and allowed to get weather-stained. Cold colors will not +suit with green; and, therefore, slated roofs are disagreeable, unless, +as in the Westmoreland cottage, the gray roof is warmed with lichenous +vegetation, when it will do well with anything; but thatch is better. If +the building be not of wood, the walls may be built of anything which +will give them a quiet and unobtruding warmth of tone. White, if in +shade, is sometimes allowable; but, if visible at any point more than +200 yards off, it will spoil the whole landscape. In general, as we saw +before, the building will bear some fantastic finishing, that is, if it +be entangled in forest; but, if among massive groups of trees, separated +by smooth sward, it must be kept simple.</p> + +<p>91. II. The Cultivated, or blue, Country. This is the rich champaign +land, in which large trees are more sparingly scattered, and which is +chiefly devoted to the purposes of agriculture. In this we are +perpetually getting blue distances from the slightest elevation, which +are rendered more decidedly so by their contrast with warm corn or +plowed fields in the foreground. Such is the greater part of England. +The view from the hills of Malvern is a good example. In districts of +this kind, all is change; one year's crop has no memory of its +predecessor; all is activity, prosperity, and usefulness: nothing is +left to the imagination; there is no obscurity, no poetry, no nonsense: +the colors of the landscape are bright and varied; it is thickly +populated, and glowing with animal life. Here, then, the character of +the cottage must be cheerfulness; its colors may be vivid: white is +always beautiful; even red tiles are allowable, and red bricks +endurable. Neatness will not spoil it: the angle of its roof may be +acute, its windows sparkling, and its roses red and abundant; but it +must not be ornamented nor fantastic, it must be evidently built for the +uses of common life, and have a matter-of-fact business-like air about +it. Its out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>houses and pigsties, and dunghills should therefore, be kept +in sight: the latter may be made very pretty objects, by twisting them +with the pitchfork, and plaiting them into braids, as the Swiss do.</p> + +<p>92. III. The Wild, or gray, Country. "Wild" is not exactly a correct +epithet; we mean wide, uninclosed, treeless undulations of land, whether +cultivated or not. The greater part of northern France, though well +brought under the plow, would come under the denomination of gray +country. Occasional masses of monotonous forest do not destroy this +character. Here, size is desirable, and massiness of form; but we must +have no brightness of color in the cottage, otherwise it would draw the +eye to it at three miles off, and the whole landscape would be covered +with conspicuous dots. White is agreeable, if sobered down; slate +allowable on the roof as well as thatch. For the rest, we need only +refer to the remarks made on the propriety of the French cottage.</p> + +<p>93. Lastly, Hill, or brown, Country. And here if we look to England +alone, as peculiarly a cottage country, the remarks formerly advanced, +in the consideration of the Westmoreland cottage, are sufficient; but if +we go into mountain districts of more varied character, we shall find a +difference existing between every range of hills, which will demand a +corresponding difference in the style of their cottages. The principles, +however, are the same in all situations, and it would be a hopeless task +to endeavor to give more than general principles. In hill country, +however, another question is introduced, whose investigation is +peculiarly necessary in cases in which the ground has inequality of +surface, that of position. And the difficulty here is, not so much to +ascertain where the building ought to be, as to put it there, without +suggesting any inquiry as to the mode in which it got there; to prevent +its just application from appearing artificial. But we cannot enter into +this inquiry, before laying down a number of principles of composition, +which are applicable, not only to cottages, but generally; and which we +cannot<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> deduce until we come to the consideration of buildings in +groups.</p> + +<p>94. Such are the great divisions under which country and rural buildings +may be comprehended; but there are intermediate conditions, in which +modified forms of the cottage are applicable; and it frequently happens +that country which, considered in the abstract, would fall under one of +these classes, possesses, owing to its peculiar climate or associations, +a very different character. Italy, for instance, is blue country; yet it +has not the least resemblance to English blue country. We have paid +particular attention to wood; first, because we had not, in any previous +paper, considered what was beautiful in a forest cottage; and secondly, +because in such districts there is generally much more influence +exercised by proprietors over their tenantry, than in populous and +cultivated districts; and our English park scenery, though exquisitely +beautiful, is sometimes, we think, a little monotonous, from the want of +this very feature.</p> + +<p>95. And now, farewell to the cottage, and, with it, to the humility of +natural scenery. We are sorry to leave it; not that we have any idea of +living in a cottage, as a comfortable thing; not that we prefer mud to +marble, or deal to mahogany; but that, with it, we leave much of what is +most beautiful of earth, the low and bee-inhabited scenery, which is +full of quiet and prideless emotion, of such calmness as we can imagine +prevailing over our earth when it was new in heaven. We are going into +higher walks of architecture, where we shall find a less close +connection established between the building and the soil on which it +stands, or the air with which it is surrounded, but a closer connection +with the character of its inhabitant. We shall have less to do with +natural feeling, and more with human passion; we are coming out of +stillness into turbulence, out of seclusion into the multitude, out of +the wilderness into the world.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="PART_II" id="PART_II"></a><i>PART II.</i></h2> + +<h2>The Villa.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>THE MOUNTAIN VILLA: LAGO DI COMO:</p> + +<p>THE LOWLAND VILLA:—ENGLAND:</p> + +<p>THE BRITISH VILLA: PRINCIPLES OF COMPOSITION.</p> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p> +<h3><a name="I" id="I"></a>I.</h3> + +<h2>THE MOUNTAIN VILLA—LAGO DI COMO.</h2> + + +<p>96. In all arts or sciences, before we can determine what is just or +beautiful in a group, we must ascertain what is desirable in the parts +which compose it, separately considered; and therefore it will be most +advantageous in the present case, to keep out of the village and the +city, until we have searched hill and dale for examples of isolated +buildings. This mode of considering the subject is also agreeable to the +feelings, as the transition from the higher orders of solitary edifices, +to groups of associated edifices, is not so sudden or startling, as that +from nature's most humble peace, to man's most turbulent pride.</p> + +<p>We have contemplated the rural dwelling of the peasant; let us next +consider the ruralized domicile of the gentleman: and here, as before, +we shall first determine what is theoretically beautiful, and then +observe how far our expectations are fulfilled in individual buildings. +But a few preliminary observations are necessary.</p> + +<p>97. Man, the peasant, is a being of more marked national character, than +man, the educated and refined. For nationality is founded, in a great +degree, on prejudices and feelings inculcated and aroused in youth, +which grow inveterate in the mind as long as its views are confined to +the place of its birth; its ideas molded by the customs of its country, +and its conversation limited to a circle composed of individuals of +habits and feelings like its own; but which are gradually softened down, +and eradicated, when the mind is led into general views of things, when +it is guided by reflection instead of habit, and has begun to lay aside +opinions contracted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> under the influence of association and +prepossession, substituting in their room philosophical deductions from +the calm contemplation of the various tempers, and thoughts, and +customs, of mankind. The love of its country will remain with +undiminished strength in the cultivated mind, but the national modes of +thinking will vanish from the disciplined intellect.</p> + +<p>98. Now as it is only by these mannerisms of thought that architecture +is affected, we shall find that, the more polished the mind of its +designer, the less national will be the building; for its architect will +be led away by a search after a model of ideal beauty, and will not be +involuntarily guided by deep-rooted feelings, governing irresistibly his +heart and hand. He will therefore be in perpetual danger of forgetting +the necessary unison of scene and climate, and, following up the chase +of the ideal, will neglect the beauty of the natural; an error which he +could not commit, were he less general in his views, for then the +prejudices to which he would be subject, would be as truly in unison +with the objects which created them, as answering notes with the chords +which awaken them. We must not, therefore, be surprised, if buildings +bearing impress of the exercise of fine thought and high talent in their +design, should yet offend us by perpetual discords with scene and +climate; and if, therefore, we sometimes derive less instruction, and +less pleasure from the columnar portico of the Palace, than from the +latched door of the Cottage.</p> + +<p>99. Again: man, in his hours of relaxation, when he is engaged in the +pursuit of mere pleasure, is less national than when he is under the +influence of any of the more violent feelings which agitate everyday +life. The reason of this may at first appear somewhat obscure, but it +will become evident, on a little reflection. Aristotle's definition of +pleasure, perhaps the best ever given, is "an agitation, and settling of +the spirit into its own proper nature;" similar, by the by, to the +giving of liberty of motion to the molecules of a mineral, followed by +their crystallization, into their own proper<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> form. Now this "proper +nature," <span class="greek" title="hyparchousan physin">ὑπαρχουσαν φυσιν</span>, is not the acquired national +habit, but the common and universal constitution of the human soul. This +constitution is kept under by the feelings which prompt to action, for +those feelings depend upon parts of character, or of prejudice, which +are peculiar to individuals or to nations; and the pleasure which all +men seek is a kind of partial casting away of these more active +feelings, to return to the calm and unchanging constitution of mind +which is the same in all.</p> + +<p>100. We shall, therefore, find that man, in the business of his life, in +religion, war, or ambition, is national, but in relaxation he manifests +a nature common to every individual of his race. A Turk, for instance, +and an English farmer, smoking their evening pipes, differ only in so +much as the one has a mouthpiece of amber, and the other one of sealing +wax; the one has a turban on his head, and the other a night-cap; they +are the same in feeling, and to all intents and purposes the same men. +But a Turkish janissary and an English grenadier differ widely in all +their modes of thinking, feeling, and acting; they are strictly +national. So again, a Tyrolese evening dance, though the costume, and +the step, and the music may be different, is the same in feeling as that +of the Parisian guinguette; but follow the Tyrolese into their temples, +and their deep devotion and beautiful though superstitious reverence +will be found very different from any feeling exhibited during a mass in +Notre-Dame. This being the case, it is a direct consequence, that we +shall find much nationality in the Church or the Fortress, or in any +building devoted to the purposes of active life, but very little in that +which is dedicated exclusively to relaxation, the Villa. We shall be +compelled to seek out nations of very strong feeling and imaginative +disposition, or we shall find no correspondence whatever between their +character, and that of their buildings devoted to pleasure.</p> + +<p>101. In our own country, for instance, there is not the slightest. +Beginning at the head of Windermere, and running down its border for +about six miles, there are six impor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>tant gentlemen's seats, villas they +may be called; the first of which is a square white mass, decorated with +pilasters of no order, set in a green avenue, sloping down to the water; +the second is an imitation, we suppose, of something possessing +theoretical existence in Switzerland, with sharp gable ends, and wooden +flourishes turning the corners, set on a little dumpy mound with a slate +wall running all round it, glittering with iron pyrites; the third is a +blue dark-looking box, squeezed up into a group of straggly larches, +with a bog in front of it; the fourth is a cream-colored domicile, in a +large park, rather quiet and unaffected, the best of the four, though +that is not saying much; the fifth is an old-fashioned thing, formal, +and narrow-windowed, yet gray in its tone, and quiet, and not to be +maligned; and the sixth is a nondescript, circular, putty-colored +habitation, with a leaden dome on the top of it.</p> + +<p>102. If, however, instead of taking Windermere, we trace the shore of +the Lago di Como, we shall find some expression and nationality; and +there, therefore, will we go, to return, however, to England, when we +have obtained some data by which to judge of her more fortunate +edifices. We notice the mountain villa first, for two reasons; because +effect is always more considered in its erection, than when it is to be +situated in a less interesting country, and because the effect desired +is very rarely given, there being far greater difficulties to contend +with. But one word more, before setting off for the south. Though, as we +saw before, the gentleman has less <i>national</i> character than the boor, +his <i>individual</i> character is more marked, especially in its finer +features, which are clearly and perfectly developed by education; +consequently, when the inhabitant of the villa has had anything to do +with its erection, we might expect to find indications of individual and +peculiar feelings, which it would be most interesting to follow out. But +this is no part of our present task; at some future period we hope to +give a series of essays on the habitations of the most distinguished men +of Europe, showing how the alterations which they directed, and the +expression which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> they bestowed, corresponded with the turn of their +emotions, and leading intellectual faculties: but at present we have to +deal only with generalities; we have to ascertain not what will be +pleasing to a single mind, but what will afford gratification to every +eye possessing a certain degree of experience, and every mind endowed +with a certain degree of taste.</p> + +<p>103. Without further preface, therefore, let us endeavor to ascertain +what would be theoretically beautiful, on the shore, or among the +scenery of the Larian Lake, preparatory to a sketch of the general +features of those villas which exist there, in too great a multitude to +admit, on our part, of much individual detail.</p> + +<p>For the general tone of the scenery, we may refer to the paper on the +Italian cottage; for the shores of the Lake of Como have generally the +character there described, with a little more cheerfulness, and a little +less elevation,<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> aided by great variety of form. They are not +quite so rich in vegetation as the plains: both because the soil is +scanty, there being, of course, no decomposition going on among the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> +rocks of black marble which form the greater part of the shore; and +because the mountains rise steeply from the water, leaving only a narrow +zone at their bases in the climate of Italy. In that zone, however, the +olive grows in great luxuriance, with the cypress, orange, aloe, myrtle, +and vine, the latter always trellised.</p> + +<p>104. Now, as to the situation of the cottage, we have already seen that +great humility was necessary, both in the building and its site, to +prevent it from offending us by an apparent struggle with forces, +compared with which its strength was dust: but we cannot have this +extreme humility in the villa, the dwelling of wealth and power, and yet +we must not, any more, suggest the idea of its resisting natural +influences under which the Pyramids could not abide. The only way of +solving the difficulty is, to select such sites as shall seem to have +been set aside by nature as places of rest, as points of calm and +enduring beauty, ordained to sit and smile in their glory of quietness, +while the avalanche brands the mountain top,<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> and the torrent +desolates the valley; yet so preserved, not by shelter amidst violence, +but by being placed wholly out of the influence of violence. For in this +they must differ from the site of the cottage, that the peasant may seek +for protection under some low rock or in some narrow dell, but the villa +must have a domain to itself, at once conspicuous, beautiful, and calm.</p> + +<p>105. As regards the form of the cottage, we have seen how<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> the +Westmoreland cottage harmonized with the ease of outline so conspicuous +in hill scenery, by the irregularity of its details; but, here, no such +irregularity is allowable or consistent, and is not even desirable. For +the cottage enhances the wildness of the surrounding scene, by +sympathizing with it; the villa must do the same thing, by contrasting +with it. The eye feels, in a far greater degree, the terror of the +distant and desolate peaks, when it passes down their ravined sides to +sloping and verdant hills, and is guided from these to the rich glow of +vegetable life in the low zones, and through this glow to the tall front +of some noble edifice, peaceful even in its pride. But this contrast +must not be sudden, or it will be startling and harsh; and therefore, as +we saw above, the villa must be placed where all the severe features of +the scene, though not concealed, are distant, and where there is a +graduation, so to speak, of impressions, from terror to loveliness, the +one softened by distance, the other elevated in its style: and the form +of the villa must not be fantastic or angular, but must be full of +variety, so tempered by simplicity as to obtain ease of outline united +with elevation of character; the first being necessary for reasons +before advanced, and the second, that the whole may harmonize with the +feelings induced by the lofty features of the accompanying scenery in +any hill country, and yet more, on the Larian Lake, by the deep memories +and everlasting associations which haunt the stillness of its shore. Of +the color required by Italian landscape we have spoken before, and we +shall see that, particularly in this case, white or pale tones are +agreeable.</p> + +<p>106. We shall now proceed to the situation and form of the villa. As +regards situation; the villas of the Lago di Como are built, <i>par +préférence</i>, either on jutting promontories of low crag covered with +olives, or on those parts of the shore where some mountain stream has +carried out a bank of alluvium into the lake. One object proposed in +this choice of situation is, to catch the breeze as it comes up the main +opening of the hills, and to avoid the reflection of the sun's rays from +the rocks of the actual shore; and another is, to ob<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>tain a prospect up +or down the lake, and of the hills on whose projection the villa is +built: but the effect of this choice when the building is considered the +object, is to carry it exactly into the place where it ought to be, far +from the steep precipice and dark mountain, to the border of the winding +bay and citron-scented cape, where it stands at once conspicuous and in +peace. For instance, in the view of Villa Serbelloni<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> from across the +lake, although the eye falls suddenly from the crags above to the +promontory below, yet all the sublime and severe features of the scene +are kept in the distance, and the villa itself is mingled with graceful +lines, and embosomed in rich vegetation. The promontory separates the +Lake of Lecco from that of Como, properly so-called, and is three miles +from the opposite shore, which gives room enough for aërial perspective.</p> + +<p>107. We shall now consider the form of the villa. It is generally the +apex of a series of artificial terraces, which conduct through its +gardens to the water. These are formal in their design, but extensive, +wide, and majestic in their slope, the steps being generally about 1/2 +ft. high and 4-1/2 ft. wide (sometimes however much deeper). They are +generally supported by white wall, strengthened by unfilled arches, the +angles being turned by sculptured pedestals, surmounted by statues, or +urns. Along the terraces are carried rows, sometimes of cypress, more +frequently of orange or lemon trees, with myrtles, sweet bay, and aloes, +intermingled, but always with dark and spiry cypresses occurring in +groups; and attached to these terraces, or to the villa itself, are +series of arched grottoes built (or sometimes cut in the rock) for +cool<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>ness, frequently overhanging the water, kept dark and fresh, and +altogether delicious to the feelings. A good instance of these united +peculiarities is seen in Villa Somma-Riva, Lago di Como.</p> + +<p>The effect of these approaches is disputable. It is displeasing to many, +from its formality; but we are persuaded that it is right, because it is +a national style, and therefore has in all probability due connection +with scene and character: and this connection we shall endeavor to +prove.</p> + +<p>108. The frequent occurrence of the arch is always delightful in distant +effect, partly on account of its graceful line, partly because the shade +it casts is varied in depth, becoming deeper and deeper as the grotto +retires, and partly because it gives great apparent elevation to the +walls which it supports. The grottoes themselves are agreeable objects +seen near, because they give an impression of coolness to the eye; and +they echo all sounds with great melody; small streams are often +conducted through them, occasioning slight breezes by their motion. Then +the statue and the urn are graceful in their outline, classical in their +meaning, and correct in their position, for where could they be more +appropriate than here; the one ministering to memory, and the other to +mourning. The terraces themselves are dignified in their character (a +necessary effect, as we saw above), and even the formal rows of trees +are right in this climate, for a peculiar reason. Effect is always to be +considered, in Italy, as if the sun were always to shine, for it does +nine days out of ten. Now the shadows of foliage regularly disposed, +fall with a grace which it is impossible to describe, running up and +down across the marble steps, and casting alternate statues into +darkness; and checkering the white walls with a "method in their +madness," altogether unattainable by loose grouping of trees; and +therefore, for the sake of this kind of shade, to which the eye, as well +as the feeling, is attracted, the long row of cypresses or orange trees +is allowable.</p> + +<p>109. But there is a still more important reason for it, of a directly +contrary nature to that which its formality would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> seem to require. In +all beautiful designs of exterior descent, a certain regularity is +necessary; the lines should be graceful, but they must balance each +other, slope answering to slope, statue to statue. Now this mathematical +regularity would hurt the eye excessively in the midst of scenes of +natural grace, were it executed in bare stone; but, if we make part of +the design itself foliage, and put in touches of regular shade, +alternating with the stone, whose distances and darkness are as +mathematically limited as the rest of the grouping, but whose nature is +changeful and varied in individual forms, we have obtained a link +between nature and art, a step of transition, leading the feelings +gradually from the beauty of regularity to that of freedom. And this +effect would not be obtained, as might at first appear, by intermingling +trees of different kinds, at irregular distances, or wherever they chose +to grow; for then the design and the foliage would be instantly +separated by the eye, the symmetry of the one would be interrupted, the +grace of the other lost; the nobility of the design would not be seen, +but its formality would be felt; and the wildness of the trees would be +injurious, because it would be felt to be out of place. On principles of +composition, therefore, the regular disposition of decorative foliage is +right, when such foliage is mixed with architecture; but it requires +great taste, and long study, to design this disposition properly. Trees +of dark leaf and little color should be invariably used, for they are to +be considered, it must be remembered, rather as free touches of shade +than as trees.</p> + +<p>110. Take, for instance, the most simple bit of design, such as a hollow +balustrade, and suppose that it is found to look cold or raw, when +executed, and to want depth. Then put small pots, with any dark shrub, +the darker the better, at fixed places behind them, at the same distance +as the balustrades, or between every two or three, and keep them cut +down to a certain height, and we have immediate depth and increased +ease, with undiminished symmetry. But the great difficulty is to keep +the thing within proper limits, since too<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> much of it will lead to +paltriness, as is the case in a slight degree in Isola Bella, on Lago +Maggiore; and not to let it run into small details: for, be it +remembered, that it is only in the majesty of art, in its large and +general effects, that this regularity is allowable; nothing but variety +should be studied in detail, and therefore there can be no barbarism +greater than the lozenge borders and beds of the French garden. The +scenery around must be naturally rich, that its variety of line may +relieve the slight stiffness of the architecture itself: and the climate +must always be considered; for, as we saw, the chief beauty of these +flights of steps depends upon the presence of the sun; and, if they are +to be in shade half the year, the dark trees will only make them gloomy, +the grass will grow between the stones of the steps, black weeds will +flicker from the pedestals, damp mosses discolor the statues and urns, +and the whole will become one incongruous ruin, one ridiculous decay. +Besides, the very dignity of its character, even could it be kept in +proper order, would be out of place in any country but Italy. Busts of +Virgil or Ariosto would look astonished in an English snowstorm; statues +of Apollo and Diana would be no more divine, where the laurels of the +one would be weak, and the crescent of the other would never gleam in +pure moonlight. The whole glory of the design consists in its unison +with the dignity of the landscape, and with the classical tone of the +country. Take it away from its concomitant circumstances, and, instead +of conducting the eye to it by a series of lofty and dreamy impressions, +bring it through green lanes, or over copse-covered crags, as would be +the case in England, and the whole system becomes utterly and absolutely +absurd, ugly in outline, worse than useless in application, unmeaning in +design, and incongruous in association.</p> + +<p>111. It seems, then, that in the approach to the Italian villa, we have +discovered great nationality and great beauty, which was more than we +could have expected, but a beauty utterly untransferable from its own +settled habitation. In our next paper we shall proceed to the building +itself, which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> will not detain us long, as it is generally simple in its +design, and take a general view of villa architecture over Italy.</p> + +<p>112. We have bestowed considerable attention on this style of Garden +Architecture, because it has been much abused by persons of high +authority, and general good taste, who forgot, in their love of grace +and ideal beauty, the connection with surrounding circumstances so +manifest even in its formality. Eustace, we think, is one of these; and, +although it is an error of a kind he is perpetually committing, he is so +far right, that this mannerism is frequently carried into excess even in +its own peculiar domain, then becoming disagreeable, and is always a +dangerous style in inexperienced hands. We think, however, paradoxical +as the opinion may appear, that every one who is a true lover of nature, +and has been bred in her wild school, will be an admirer of this +symmetrical designing, in its place; and will feel, as often as he +contemplates it, that the united effect of the wide and noble steps, +with the pure water dashing over them like heated crystal, the long +shadows of the cypress groves, the golden leaves and glorious light of +blossom of the glancing aloes, the pale statues gleaming along the +heights in their everlasting death in life, their motionless brows +looking down forever on the loveliness in which their beings once dwelt, +marble forms of more than mortal grace lightening along the green +arcades, amidst dark cool grottoes, full of the voice of dashing waters, +and of the breath of myrtle blossoms, with the blue of the deep lake and +the distant precipice mingling at every opening with the eternal snows +glowing in their noontide silence, is one not unworthy of Italy's most +noble remembrances.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> That Italian mountain scenery has less elevation of +character than the plains may appear singular; but there are many simple +reasons for a fact which, we doubt not, has been felt by every one +(capable of feeling anything), who ever left the Alps to pass into +Lombardy. The first is, that a mountain scene, as we saw in the last +paper, bears no traces of decay, since it never possessed any of life. +The desolation of the sterile peaks, never having been interrupted, is +altogether free from the melancholy which is consequent on the passing +away of interruption. They stood up in the time of Italy's glory, into +the voiceless air, while all the life and light which she remembers now +was working and moving at their feet, an animated cloud, which they did +not feel, and do not miss. That region of life never reached up their +flanks, and has left them no memorials of its being; they have no +associations, no monuments, no memories; we look on them as we would on +other hills; things of abstract and natural magnificence, which the +presence of man could not increase, nor his departure sadden. They are, +in consequence, destitute of all that renders the name of Ausonia +thrilling, or her champaigns beautiful, beyond the mere splendor of +climate; and even that splendor is unshared by the mountain; its cold +atmosphere being undistinguished by any of that rich, purple, ethereal +transparency which gives the air of the plains its <i>depth of +feeling</i>,—we can find no better expression. +</p><p> +Secondly. In all hill scenery, though there is increase of size, there +is want of distance. We are not speaking of views from summits, but of +the average aspect of valleys. Suppose the mountains be 10,000 feet +high, their summit will not be more than six miles distant in a direct +line: and there is a general sense of confinement, induced by their +wall-like boundaries, which is painful, contrasted with the wide +expatiation of spirit induced by a distant view over plains. In ordinary +countries, however, where the plain is an uninteresting mass of +cultivation, the sublimity of distance is not to be compared to that of +size: but, where every yard of the cultivated country has its tale to +tell; where it is perpetually intersected by rivers whose names are +meaning music, and glancing with cities and villages every one of which +has its own halo round its head; and where the eye is carried by the +clearness of the air over the blue of the farthest horizon, without +finding one wreath of mist, or one shadowy cloud, to check the +distinctness of the impression; the mental emotions excited are richer, +and deeper, and swifter than could be awakened by the noblest hills of +the earth, unconnected with the deeds of men. +</p><p> +Lastly. The plain country of Italy has not even to choose between the +glory of distance and of size, for it has both. I do not think there is +a spot, from Venice to Messina, where two ranges of mountain, at the +least, are not in sight at the same time. In Lombardy, the Alps are on +one side, the Apennines on the other; in the Venetian territory, the +Alps, Apennines and Euganean hills; going southward, the Apennines +always, their outworks running far towards the sea, and the coast itself +frequently mountainous. Now, the aspect of a noble range of hills, at a +considerable distance, is, in our opinion, far more imposing (considered +in the abstract) than they are, seen near: their height is better told, +their outlines softer and more melodious, their majesty more mysterious. +But, in Italy, they gain more by distance than majesty: they gain life. +They cease to be the cold forgetful things they were; they hold the +noble plains in their lap, and become venerable, as having looked down +upon them, and watched over them forever, unchanging; they become part +of the picture of associations: we endow them with memory, and then feel +them to be possessed of all that is glorious on earth. +</p><p> +For these three reasons, then, the plains of Italy possess far more +elevation of character than her hill scenery. To the northward, this +contrast is felt very strikingly, as the distinction is well marked, the +Alps rising sharply and suddenly. To the southward, the plain is more +mingled with low projecting promontories, and unites almost every kind +of beauty. However, even among her northern lakes, the richness of the +low climate, and the magnificence of form and color presented by the +distant Alps, raise the character of the scene immeasurably above that +of most hill landscapes, even were those natural features entirely +unassisted by associations which, though more sparingly scattered than +in the south, are sufficient to give light to every leaf, and voice to +every wave.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> There are two kinds of winter avalanches; the one, sheets +of frozen snow sliding on the surface of others. The swiftness of these, +as the clavendier of the Convent of St. Bernard told me, he could +compare to nothing but that of a cannon ball of equal size. The other is +a rolling mass of snow, accumulating in its descent. This, grazing the +bare hill-side, tears up its surface like dust, bringing away soil, +rock, and vegetation, as a grazing ball tears flesh; and leaving its +withered path distinct on the green hill-side, as if the mountain had +been branded with red-hot iron. They generally keep to the same paths; +but when the snow accumulates, and sends one down the wrong way, it has +been known to cut down a pine forest, as a scythe mows grass. The tale +of its work is well told by the seared and branded marks on the hill +summits and sides.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> [Villa Serbelloni, now the dépendence of the Hôtel Grande +Bretagne at Bellaggio, and Villa Somma-Riva, now called Villa Carlotta, +at Cadenabbia, and visited by every tourist for its collection of modern +statuary, are both too well known to need illustration by the very poor +wood-cuts which accompanied this chapter in the "Architectural +Magazine." The original drawings are lost; judging from that of the +cottage in Val d'Aosta we may safely believe that they were most +inadequately represented by the old cuts.]</p></div> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p> +<h3><a name="II" id="II"></a>II.</h3> + +<h2>THE MOUNTAIN VILLA—LAGO DI COMO (Continued).</h2> + + +<p>113. Having considered the propriety of the approach, it remains for us +to investigate the nature of the feelings excited by the villas of the +Lago di Como in particular, and of Italy in general.</p> + +<p>We mentioned that the bases of the mountains bordering the Lake of Como +were chiefly composed of black marble; black, at least, when polished, +and very dark gray in its general effect. This is very finely stratified +in beds varying in thickness from an inch to two or three feet; and +these beds, taken of a medium thickness, form flat slabs, easily broken +into rectangular fragments, which, being excessively compact in their +grain, are admirably adapted for a building material. There is a little +pale limestone<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> among the hills to the south; but this marble, or +primitive limestone (for it is not highly crystalline), is not only more +easy of access, but a more durable stone. Of this, consequently, almost +all the buildings on the lake shore are built; and, therefore, were +their material unconcealed, would be of a dark monotonous and melancholy +gray tint, equally uninteresting to the eye, and depressing to the mind. +To prevent this result, they are covered with dif<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>ferent compositions, +sometimes white, more frequently cream-colored, and of varying depth; +the moldings and pilasters being frequently of deeper tones than the +walls. The insides of the grottoes, however, when not cut in the rock +itself, are left uncovered, thus forming a strong contrast with the +whiteness outside; giving great depth, and permitting weeds and flowers +to root themselves on the roughnesses, and rock streams to distill +through the fissures of the dark stones; while all parts of the building +to which the eye is drawn, by their form or details (except the capitals +of the pilasters), such as the urns, the statues, the steps, or +balustrades, are executed in very fine white marble, generally from the +quarries of Carrara, which supply quantities of fragments of the finest +quality, which nevertheless, owing to their want of size, or to the +presence of conspicuous veins, are unavailable for the higher purposes +of sculpture.</p> + +<p>114. Now, the first question is, is this very pale color desirable? It +is to be hoped so, or else the whole of Italy must be pronounced full of +impropriety. The first circumstance in its favor is one which, though +connected only with lake scenery, we shall notice at length, as it is a +point of high importance in our own country. When a small piece of quiet +water reposes in a valley, or lies embosomed among crags, its chief +beauty is derived from our perception of crystalline depth, united with +excessive slumber. In its limited surface we cannot get the sublimity of +extent, but we may have the beauty of peace, and the majesty of depth. +The object must therefore be, to get the eye off its surface, and to +draw it down, to beguile it into that fairy land underneath, which is +more beautiful than what it repeats, because it is all full of dreams +unattainable, and illimitable. This can only be done by keeping its edge +out of sight, and guiding the eye off the land into the reflection, as +if it were passing into a mist, until it finds itself swimming into the +blue sky, with a thrill of unfathomable falling. (If there be not a +touch of sky at the bottom, the water will be disagreeably black, and +the clearer the more fearful.) Now, one touch of <i>white</i> reflection<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> of +an object at the edge will destroy the whole illusion, for it will come +like the flash of light on armor, and will show the surface, not the +depth: it will tell the eye whereabouts it is; will define the limit of +the edge; and will turn the dream of limitless depth into a small, +uninteresting, reposeless piece of water. In all small lakes or pools, +therefore, steep borders of dark crag, or of thick foliage, are to be +obtained, if possible; even a shingly shore will spoil them: and this +was one reason, it will be remembered for our admiration of the color of +the Westmoreland cottage, because it never broke the repose of water by +its reflection.</p> + +<p>115. But this principle applies only to small pieces of water, on which +we look down, as much as along the surface. As soon as we get a sheet, +even if only a mile across, we lose depth; first, because it is almost +impossible to get the surface without a breeze on some part of it; and, +again, because we look along it, and get a great deal of sky in the +reflection, which, when occupying too much space, tells as mere flat +light. But we may have the beauty of extent in a very high degree; and +it is therefore desirable to know how far the water goes, that we may +have a clear conception of its space. Now, its border, at a great +distance, is always lost, unless it be defined by a very distinct line; +and such a line is harsh, flat, and cutting on the eye. To avoid this, +the border itself should be dark, as in the other case, so that there +may be no continuous horizontal line of demarcation; but one or two +bright white objects should be set here and there along or near the +edge: their reflections will flash on the dark water, and will inform +the eye in a moment of the whole distance and transparency of the +surface it is traversing. When there is a slight swell on the water, +they will come down in long, beautiful, perpendicular lines, mingling +exquisitely with the streaky green of reflected foliage; when there is +none, they become a distant image of the object they repeat, endowed +with infinite repose.</p> + +<p>116. These remarks, true of small lakes whose edges are green, apply +with far greater force to sheets of water on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> which the eye passes over +ten or twenty miles in one long glance, and the prevailing color of +whose borders is, as we noticed when speaking of the Italian cottage, +blue. The white reflections are here excessively valuable, giving space, +brilliancy, and transparency; and furnish one very powerful apology, +even did other objections render an apology necessary, for the pale tone +of the color of the villas, whose reflections, owing to their size and +conspicuous situations, always take a considerable part in the scene, +and are therefore things to be attentively considered in the erection of +such buildings, particularly in a climate whose calmness renders its +lakes quiet for the greater part of the day. Nothing, in fact, can be +more beautiful than the intermingling of these bright lines with the +darkness of the reversed cypresses seen against the deep azure of the +distant hills in the crystalline waters of the lake, of which some one +aptly says, "Deep within its azure rest, white villages sleep +silently;"<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> or than their columnar perspective, as village after +village catches the light, and strikes the image to the very quietest +recess of the narrow water, and the very farthest hollow of the folded +hills.</p> + +<p>117. From all this, it appears that the effect of the white villa in +water is delightful. On land it is quite as important, but more +doubtful. The first objection, which strikes us instantly when we +<i>imagine</i> such a building, is the want of repose, the startling glare of +effect, induced by its unsubdued tint. But this objection does not +strike us when we <i>see</i> the building; a circumstance which was partly +accounted for before, in speaking of the cottage, and which we shall +presently see farther cause not to be surprised at. A more important +objection is, that such whiteness destroys a great deal of venerable +character, and harmonizes ill with the melancholy tones of surrounding +landscape: and this requires detailed consideration.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p> + +<p>118. Paleness of color destroys the majesty of a building; first, by +hinting at a disguised and humble material; and, secondly, by taking +away all appearance of age. We shall speak of the effect of the material +presently; but the deprivation of apparent antiquity is dependent in a +great degree on the color; and in Italy, where, as we saw before, +everything ought to point to the past, is serious injury, though, for +several reasons, not so fatal as might be imagined; for we do not +require, in a building raised as a light summer-house, wherein to while +away a few pleasure hours, the evidence of ancestral dignity, without +which the château or palace can possess hardly any beauty. We know that +it is originally built more as a plaything than as a monument; as the +delight of an individual, not the possession of a race; and that the +very lightness and carelessness of feeling with which such a domicile is +entered and inhabited by its first builder would demand, to sympathize +and keep in unison with them, not the kind of building adapted to excite +the veneration of ages, but that which can most gayly minister to the +amusement of hours. For all men desire to have memorials of their +actions, but none of their recreations; inasmuch as we only wish that to +be remembered which others will not, or cannot perform or experience; +and we know that all men can enjoy recreation as much as ourselves. We +wish succeeding generations to admire our energy, but not even to be +aware of our lassitude; to know when we moved, but not when we rested; +how we ruled, not how we condescended; and, therefore, in the case of +the triumphal arch, or the hereditary palace, if we are the builders, we +desire stability; if the beholders, we are offended with novelty: but in +the case of the villa, the builder desires only a correspondence with +his humor; the beholder, evidence of such correspondence; for he feels +that the villa is most beautiful when it ministers most to pleasure; +that it cannot minister to pleasure without perpetual change, so as to +suit the varying ideas, and humors, and imaginations of its inhabitant, +and that it cannot possess this light and variable habit with any +appearance of antiquity.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p> + +<p>119. And, for a yet more important reason, such appearance is not +desirable. Melancholy, when it is productive of pleasure, is accompanied +either by loveliness in the object exciting it, or by a feeling of pride +in the mind experiencing it. Without one of these, it becomes absolute +pain, which all men throw off as soon as they can, and suffer under as +long as their minds are too weak for the effort. Now, when it is +accompanied by loveliness in the object exciting it, it forms beauty; +when by a feeling of pride, it constitutes the pleasure we experience in +tragedy, when we have the pride of endurance, or in contemplating the +ruin, or the monument, by which we are informed or reminded of the pride +of the past. Hence, it appears that age is beautiful only when it is the +decay of glory or of power, and memory only delightful when it reposes +upon pride.<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> All remains therefore of what was merely devoted to +pleasure; all evidence of lost enjoyment; all memorials of the +recreation and rest of the departed; in a word, all desolation of +delight is productive of mere pain, for there is no feeling of +exultation connected with it. Thus, in any ancient habitation, we pass +with reverence and pleasurable emotion through the ordered armory, where +the lances lie, with none to wield; through the lofty hall, where the +crested scutcheons glow with the honor of the dead: but we turn sickly +away from the arbor which has no hand to tend it, and the boudoir which +has no life to lighten it, and the smooth sward which has no light feet +to dance on it. So it is in the villa: the more memory, the more sorrow; +and, therefore, the less adaptation to its present purpose. But, though +cheerful, it should be ethereal in its expression: "spiritual" is a good +word, giving ideas of the very highest order of delight that can be +obtained in the mere present.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p><p>120. It seems, then, that for all these reasons an appearance of age is +not desirable, far less necessary, in the villa; but its existing +character must be in unison with its country; and it must appear to be +inhabited by one brought up in that country, and imbued with its +national feelings. In Italy, especially, though we can even here +dispense with one component part of elevation of character,—age, we +must have all the others: we must have high feeling, beauty of form, and +depth of effect, or the thing will be a barbarism; the inhabitant must +be an Italian, full of imagination and emotion: a villa inhabited by an +Englishman, no matter how close its imitation of others, will always be +preposterous.</p> + +<p>We find, therefore, that white is not to be blamed in the villa for +destroying its antiquity; neither is it reprehensible, as harmonizing +ill with the surrounding landscape: on the contrary, it adds to its +brilliancy, without taking away from its depth of tone. We shall +consider it as an element of landscape, more particularly, when we come +to speak of grouping.</p> + +<p>121. There remains only one accusation to be answered; viz., that it +hints at a paltry and unsubstantial material: and this leads us to the +second question. Is this material allowable? If it were distinctly felt +by the eye to be stucco, there could be no question about the matter, it +would be decidedly disagreeable; but all the parts to which the eye is +attracted are executed in marble, and the stucco merely forms the dead +flat of the building, not a single wreath of ornament being formed of +it. Its surface is smooth and bright, and altogether avoids what a stone +building, when not built of large masses, and uncharged with ornament, +always forces upon the attention, the rectangular lines of the blocks, +which, however nicely fitted they may be, are "horrible! most horrible!" +There is also a great deal of ease and softness in the angular lines of +the stucco, which are never sharp or harsh, like those of stone; and it +receives shadows with great beauty, a point of infinite importance in +this climate; giving them lightness and transparency, without any +diminution of depth.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> It is also agreeable to the eye, to pass from the +sharp carving of the marble decorations to the ease and smoothness of +the stucco; while the utter want of interest in those parts which are +executed in it prevents the humility of the material from being +offensive: for this passage of the eye from the marble to the +composition is managed with the dexterity of the artist, who, that the +attention may be drawn to the single point of the picture which is his +subject, leaves the rest so obscured and slightly painted, that the mind +loses it altogether in its attention to the principal feature.</p> + +<p>122. With all, however, that can be alleged in extenuation of its +faults, it cannot be denied that the stucco <i>does</i> take away so much of +the dignity of the building, that, unless we find enough bestowed by its +form and details to counterbalance, and a great deal more than +counterbalance, the deterioration occasioned by tone and material, the +whole edifice must be condemned, as incongruous with the spirit of the +climate, and even with the character of its own gardens and approach. It +remains, therefore, to notice the details themselves. Its form is simple +to a degree; the roof generally quite flat, so as to leave the mass in +the form of a parallelopiped, in general without wings or adjuncts of +any sort. Villa Somma-Riva [Carlotta] is a good example of this general +form and proportion, though it has an arched passage on each side, which +takes away from its massiness. This excessive weight of effect would be +injurious, if the building were set by itself; but, as it always forms +the apex of a series of complicated terraces, it both relieves them and +gains great dignity by its own unbroken simplicity of size. This general +effect of form is not injured, when, as is often the case, an open +passage is left in the center of the building, under tall and +well-proportioned arches, supported by pilasters (never by columns). +Villa Porro, Lago di Como, is a good example of this method. The arches +hardly ever exceed three in number, and these are all of the same size, +so that the crowns of the arches continue the horizontal lines of the +rest of the building. Were the center one higher than the others, these<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> +lines would be interrupted, and a great deal of simplicity lost. The +covered space under these arches is a delightful, shaded, and breezy +retreat in the heat of the day; and the entrance doors usually open into +it, so that a current of cool air is obtainable by throwing them open.</p> + +<p>123. The building itself consists of three floors: we remember no +instance of a greater number, and only one or two of fewer. It is, in +general, crowned with a light balustrade, surmounted by statues at +intervals. The windows of the uppermost floor are usually square, often +without any architrave. Those of the principal floor are surrounded with +broad architraves, but are frequently destitute of frieze or cornice. +They have usually flat bands at the bottom, and their aperture is a +double square. Their recess is very deep, so as not to let the sun fall +far into the interior. The interval between them is very variable. In +some of the villas of highest pretensions, such as those on the banks of +the Brenta, that of Isola Bella, and others, which do not face the +south, it is not much more than the breadth of the two architraves, so +that the rooms within are filled with light. When this is the case, the +windows have friezes and cornices. But, when the building fronts the +south, the interval is often very great, as in the case of the Villa +Porro. The ground-floor windows are frequently set in tall arches, +supported on deeply engaged pilasters as in the Villa Somma-Riva. The +door is not large, and never entered by high steps, as it generally +opens on a terrace of considerable height, or on a wide landing-place at +the head of a flight of fifty or sixty steps descending through the +gardens.</p> + +<p>124. Now, it will be observed, that, in these general forms, though +there is no splendor, there is great dignity. The lines throughout are +simple to a degree, entirely uninterrupted by decorations of any kind, +so that the beauty of their proportions is left visible and evident. We +shall see hereafter that ornament in Grecian architecture, while, when +well managed, it always adds to its grace, invariably takes away from +its majesty; and that these two attributes never can exist to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>gether in +their highest degrees. By the utter absence of decoration, therefore, +the Italian villa, possessing, as it usually does, great beauty of +proportion, attains a degree of elevation of character, which impresses +the mind in a manner which it finds difficult to account for by any +consideration of its simple details or moderate size; while, at the same +time, it lays so little claim to the attention, and is so subdued in its +character, that it is enabled to occupy a conspicuous place in a +landscape, without any appearance of intrusion. The glance of the +beholder rises from the labyrinth of terrace and arbor beneath, almost +weariedly; it meets, as it ascends, with a gradual increase of bright +marble and simple light, and with a proportionate diminution of dark +foliage and complicated shadow, till it rests finally on a piece of +simple brilliancy, chaste and unpretending, yet singularly dignified; +and does not find its color too harsh, because its form is so simple: +for color of any kind is only injurious when the eye is too much +attracted to it; and, when there is so much quietness of detail as to +prevent this misfortune, the building will possess the cheerfulness, +without losing the tranquillity, and will seem to have been erected, and +to be inhabited, by a mind of that beautiful temperament wherein modesty +tempers majesty, and gentleness mingles with rejoicing, which, above all +others, is most suited to the essence, and most interwoven with the +spirit, of the natural beauty whose peculiar power is invariably repose.</p> + +<p>125. So much for its general character. Considered by principles of +composition, it will also be found beautiful. Its prevailing lines are +horizontal; and every artist knows that, where peaks of any kind are in +sight, the lines above which they rise ought to be flat. It has not one +acute angle in all its details, and very few intersections of verticals +with horizontals; while all that do intersect seem useful as supporting +the mass. The just application of the statues at the top is more +doubtful, and is considered reprehensible by several high authorities, +who, nevertheless, are inconsistent enough to let the balustrade pass +uncalumniated, though it is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> objectionable on exactly the same grounds; +for, if the statues suggest the inquiry of "What are they doing there?" +the balustrade compels its beholder to ask, "whom it keeps from tumbling +over?"</p> + +<p>126. The truth is, that the balustrade and statues derive their origin +from a period when there was easy access to the roof of either temple or +villa; (that there was such access is proved by a passage in the +<i>Iphigenia Taurica</i>, line 113, where Orestes speaks of getting up to the +triglyphs of a Doric temple as an easy matter;) and when the flat roofs +were used, not, perhaps, as an evening promenade, as in Palestine, but +as a place of observation, and occasionally of defense. They were +composed of large flat slabs of stone (<span class="greek" title="keramos">κεραμος</span>,<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a>) peculiarly +adapted for walking, one or two of which, when taken up, left an opening +of easy access into the house, as in Luke v. 19, and were perpetually +used in Greece as missile weapons, in the event of a hostile attack or +sedition in the city, by parties of old men, women, and children, who +used, as a matter of course, to retire to the roof as a place of +convenient defense. By such attacks from the roof with the <span class="greek" title="keramos">κεραμος</span> +the Thebans were thrown into confusion in Platæa (<i>Thucydides</i> +ii. 4.). So, also, we find the roof immediately resorted to in the case +of the starving of Pausanias in the Temple of Minerva of the Brazen +House, and in that of the massacre of the aristocratic party at Corcyra +(<i>Thucydides</i> iv. 48):—<span class="greek" title="Anabantes de epi to tegos tou oikêmatos, kai dielontes tên orophên, eballon tô keramô">Αναβαντες +δε επι το τεγος του οικηματος, και διελοντες την +οροφην, εβαλλον τω κεραμω</span>.</p> + +<p>127. Now, where the roof was thus a place of frequent resort, there +could be no more useful decoration than a balustrade; nor one more +appropriate or beautiful than occasional statues in attitudes of +watchfulness, expectation, or observa<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>tion: and even now, wherever the +roof is flat, we have an idea of convenience and facility of access, +which still renders the balustrade agreeable, and the statue beautiful, +if well designed. It must not be a figure of perfect peace or repose; +far less should it be in violent action: but it should be fixed in that +quick, startled stillness, which is the result of intent observation or +expectation, and which seems ready to start into motion every instant. +Its height should be slightly colossal, as it is always to be seen +against the sky; and its draperies should not be too heavy, as the eye +will always expect them to be caught by the wind. We shall enter into +this subject, however, more fully hereafter. We only wish at present to +vindicate from the charge of impropriety one of the chief features of +the Italian villa. Its white figures, always marble, remain entirely +unsullied by the weather, and stand out with great majesty against the +blue air behind them, taking away from the heaviness, without destroying +the simplicity, of the general form.</p> + +<p>128. It seems then that, by its form and details, the villa of the Lago +di Como attains so high a degree of elevation of character, as not only +brings it into harmony of its <i>locus</i>, without any assistance from +appearance of antiquity, but may, we think, permit it to dispense even +with solidity of material, and appear in light summer stucco, instead of +raising itself in imperishable marble. And this conclusion, which is +merely theoretical, is verified by fact: for we remember no instance, +except in cases where poverty had overpowered pretension, or decay had +turned rejoicing into silence, in which the lightness of the material +was offensive to the feelings; in all cases, it is agreeable to the eye. +Where it is allowed to get worn, and discolored, and broken, it induces +a wretched mockery of the dignified form which it preserves; but, as +long as it is renewed at proper periods, and watched over by the eye of +its inhabitant, it is an excellent and easily managed medium of effect.</p> + +<p>129. With all the praise, however, which we have bestowed upon it, we do +not say that the villa of the Larian Lake is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> perfection; indeed we +cannot say so, until we have compared it with a few other instances, +chiefly to be found in Italy, on whose soil we delay, as being the +native country of the villa, properly so-called, and as ever yet being +almost the only spot of Europe where any good specimens of it are to be +found; for we do not understand by the term "villa" a cubic erection, +with one window on each side of a verdant door, and three on the second +and uppermost story, such as the word suggests to the fertile +imagination of ruralizing cheesemongers; neither do we understand the +quiet and unpretending country house of a respectable gentleman; neither +do we understand such a magnificent mass of hereditary stone as +generally forms the autumn retreat of an English noble; but we +understand the light but elaborate summer habitation, raised however and +wherever it pleases his fancy, by some individual of great wealth and +influence, who can enrich it with every attribute of beauty; furnish it +with every appurtenance of pleasure; and repose in it with the dignity +of a mind trained to exertion or authority. Such a building could not +exist in Greece, where every district a mile and a quarter square was +quarreling with all its neighbors. It could exist, and did exist, in +Italy, where the Roman power secured tranquillity, and the Roman +constitution distributed its authority among a great number of +individuals, on whom, while it raised them to a position of great +influence, and, in its later times, of wealth, it did not bestow the +power of raising palaces or private fortresses. The villa was their +peculiar habitation, their only resource, and a most agreeable one; +because the multitudes of the kingdom being, for a long period, confined +to a narrow territory, though ruling the world, rendered the population +of the city so dense, as to drive out its higher ranks to the +neighboring hamlets of Tibur and Tusculum.</p> + +<p>130. In other districts of Europe the villa is not found, because in +very perfect monarchies, as in Austria, the power is thrown chiefly into +the hands of a few, who build themselves palaces, not villas; and in +perfect republics, as in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> Switzerland, the power is so split among the +multitude, that nobody can build himself anything. In general, in +kingdoms of great extent, the country house becomes the permanent and +hereditary habitation; and the villas are all crowded together, and form +gingerbread rows in the environs of the capital; and, in France and +Germany, the excessively disturbed state of affairs in the Middle Ages +compelled every baron or noble to defend himself, and retaliate on his +neighbors as he best could, till the villa was lost in the château and +the fortress; and men now continue to build as their forefathers built +(and long may they do so), surrounding the domicile of pleasure with a +moat and a glacis, and guarding its garret windows with turrets and +towers: while, in England, the nobles, comparatively few, and of great +power, inhabit palaces, not villas; and the rest of the population is +chiefly crowded into cities, in the activity of commerce, or dispersed +over estates in that of agriculture; leaving only one grade of gentry, +who have neither the taste to desire, nor the power to erect, the villa, +properly so-called.</p> + +<p>131. We must not, therefore, be surprised if, on leaving Italy, where +the crowd of poverty-stricken nobility can still repose their pride in +the true villa, we find no farther examples of it worthy of +consideration; though we hope to have far greater pleasure in +contemplating its substitutes, the château and the fortress. We must be +excused, therefore, for devoting one paper more to the state of villa +architecture in Italy; after which we shall endeavor to apply the +principles we shall have deduced to the correction of some abuses in the +erection of English country houses, in cases where scenery would demand +beauty of design and wealth permit finish of decoration.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Pale limestone, with dolomite. A coarse dolomite forms the +mass of mountains on the east of Lake Lecco, Monte Campione, etc., and +part of the other side, as well as the Monte del Novo, above Cadenabbia; +but the bases of the hills, along the <i>shore</i> of the Lake of Lecco, and +all the mountains on both sides of the lower limb of Como are black +limestone. The whole northern half of the lake is bordered by gneiss or +mica slate, with tertiary deposit where torrents enter it. So that the +dolomite is only obtainable by ascending the hills, and incurring +considerable expense of carriage; while the rocks of the shore split +into blocks of their own accord, and are otherwise an excellent +material.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> [A reminiscence of two lines from a poem on the "Lago di +Como" written by the author in 1833.]</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Observe, we are not speaking of emotions felt on +remembering what we ourselves have enjoyed, for then the imagination is +productive of pleasure by replacing us in enjoyment, but of the feelings +excited in the <i>indifferent</i> spectator, by the evident decay of power or +desolation of enjoyment, of which the first ennobles, the other only +harrows, the spirit.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> In the large buildings, that is: <span class="greek" title="keramos">κεραμος</span> also +signifies earthen tiling, and sometimes earthenware in general, as in +<i>Herodotus</i> iii. 6 [where it is used of earthen jars of wine.] It +appears that such tiling was frequently used in smaller edifices. The +Greeks may have derived their flat roofs from Egypt. Herodotus mentions +of the Labyrinth of the Twelve Kings, that <span class="greek" title="horophê de pantôn toutôn lithinê">ὁροφη +δε παντων τουτων λιθινη</span>, but not as if the circumstance were in the least +extraordinary [<i>Herodotus</i> ii. 148.]</p></div> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p> +<h3><a name="III" id="III"></a>III.</h3> + +<h2>THE ITALIAN VILLA (Concluded).</h2> + + +<p>132. We do not think there is any truth in the aphorism, now so +frequently advanced in England, that the adaptation of shelter to the +corporal comfort of the human race is the original and true end of the +art of architecture, properly so-called: for, were such the case, he +would be the most distinguished architect who was best acquainted with +the properties of cement, with the nature of stone, and the various +durability of wood. That such knowledge is necessary to the perfect +architect we do not deny; but it is no more the end and purpose of his +application, than a knowledge of the alphabet is the object of the +refined scholar, or of rhythm of the inspired poet.</p> + +<p>133. For, supposing that we were for a moment to consider that we built +a house <i>merely</i> to be lived in, and that the whole bent of our +invention, in raising the edifice, is to be directed to the provision of +comfort for the life to be spent therein; supposing that we build it +with the most perfect dryness and coolness of cellar, the most luxurious +appurtenances of pantry; that we build our walls with the most compacted +strength of material, the most studied economy of space; that we leave +not a chink in the floor for a breath of wind to pass through, not a +hinge in the door, which, by any possible exertion of its irritable +muscles, could creak; that we elevate our chambers into exquisite +coolness, furnish them with every attention to the maintenance of +general health, as well as the prevention of present inconvenience: to +do all this, we must be possessed of great knowledge and various skill; +let this knowledge and skill be applied with the greatest energy, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> +what have they done? Exactly as much as brute animals can do by mere +instinct; nothing more than bees and beavers, moles and magpies, ants +and earwigs, do every day of their lives, without the slightest effort +of reason; we have made ourselves superior as architects to the most +degraded animation of the universe, only insomuch as we have lavished +the highest efforts of intellect, to do what they have done with the +most limited sensations that can constitute life.</p> + +<p>134. The mere preparation of convenience, therefore, is not architecture +in which man can take pride, or ought to take delight;<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> but the high +and ennobling art of architecture is that of giving to buildings, whose +parts are determined by necessity, such forms and colors as shall +delight the mind, by preparing it for the operations to which it is to +be subjected in the building: and thus, as it is altogether to the mind +that the work of the architect is addressed, it is not as a part of his +art, but as a limitation of its extent, that he must be acquainted with +the minor principles of the economy of domestic erections. For this +reason, though we shall notice every class of edifice, it does not come +within our proposed plan, to enter into any detailed consideration of +the inferior buildings of each class, which afford no scope for the play +of the imagination by their nature or size; but we shall generally +select the most perfect and beautiful examples, as those in which alone +the architect has the power of fulfilling the high purposes of his art. +In the villa, however, some exception must be made, inasmuch as it will +be useful, and perhaps interesting, to arrive at some fixed conclusions +respecting the modern buildings, improperly called villas, raised by +moderate wealth, and of limited size, in which the architect is +compelled to produce his effect without extent or decoration. The +principles which we have hitherto arrived at, deduced as they are from +edifices of the noblest character, will be but of little use to a +country gentleman, about to insinuate himself and his habitation into a +quiet corner of our lovely country; and, therefore, we must glance at +the more humble homes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> of the Italian, preparatory to the consideration +of what will best suit our own less elevated scenery.</p> + +<p>135. First, then, we lose the terraced approach, or, at least, its size +and splendor, as these require great wealth to erect them, and perpetual +expense to preserve them. For the chain of terraces we find substituted +a simple garden, somewhat formally laid out; but redeemed from the +charge of meanness by the nobility and size attained by most of its +trees; the line of immense cypresses which generally surrounds it in +part, and the luxuriance of the vegetation of its flowering shrubs. It +has frequently a large entrance gate, well designed, but carelessly +executed; sometimes singularly adorned with fragments of ancient +sculpture, regularly introduced, which the spectator partly laments, as +preserved in a mode so incongruous with their ancient meaning, and +partly rejoices over, as preserved at all. The grottoes of the superior +garden are here replaced by light ranges of arched summerhouses, +designed in stucco, and occasionally adorned in their interior with +fresco paintings of considerable brightness and beauty.</p> + +<p>136. All this, however, has very little effect in introducing the eye to +the villa itself, owing to the general want of inequality of level in +the ground, so that the main building becomes an independent feature, +instead of forming the apex of a mass of various architecture. +Consequently, the weight of form which in the former case it might, and +even ought to, possess, would here be cumbrous, ugly, and improper; and +accordingly we find it got rid of. This is done, first by the addition +of the square tower, a feature which is not allowed to break in upon the +symmetry of buildings of high architectural pretensions; but is +immediately introduced, whenever less richness of detail, or variety of +approach, demands or admits of irregularity of form. It is a constant +and most important feature in Italian landscape; sometimes high and +apparently detached, as when it belongs to sacred edifices; sometimes +low and strong, united with the mass of the fortress, or varying the +form of the villa. It is always simple in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> its design, flat-roofed, its +corners being turned by very slightly projecting pilasters, which are +carried up the whole height of the tower, whatever it may be, without +any regard to proportion, terminating in two arches on each side, in the +villa most frequently filled up, though their curve is still +distinguished by darker tint and slight relief. Two black holes on each +side, near the top, are very often the only entrances by which light or +sun can penetrate. These are seldom actually large, always +proportionably small, and destitute of ornament or relief.</p> + +<p>137. The forms of the villas to which these towers are attached are +straggling, and varied by many crossing masses; but the great principle +of simplicity is always kept in view; everything is square, and +terminated by parallel lines; no tall chimneys, no conical roofs, no +fantastic ornaments are ever admitted: the arch alone is allowed to +relieve the stiffness of the general effect. This is introduced +frequently, but not in the windows, which are either squares or double +squares, at great distances from each other, set deeply into the walls +and only adorned with broad flat borders. Where more light is required +they are set moderately close, and protected by an outer line of arches, +deep enough to keep the noonday sun from entering the rooms. These lines +of arches cast soft shadows along the bright fronts, and are otherwise +of great value. Their effect is pretty well seen in fig. 10; a piece +which, while it has no distinguished beauty is yet pleasing by its +entire simplicity; and peculiarly so, when we know that simplicity to +have been chosen (some say, built) for its last and lonely habitation, +by a mind of softest passion as of purest thought; and to have sheltered +its silent old age among the blue and quiet hills, till it passed away +like a deep lost melody from the earth, leaving a light of peace about +the gray tomb at which the steps of those who pass by always falter, and +around this deserted, and decaying, and calm habitation of the thoughts +of the departed; Petrarch's, at Arquà. A more familiar instance of the +application of these arches is the Villa of Mecænas at Tivoli, though it +is improperly styled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> a villa, being pretty well known to have been +nothing but stables.</p> + +<p>138. The buttress is the only remaining point worthy of notice. It +prevails to a considerable extent among the villas of the south, being +always broad and tall, and occasionally so frequent as to give the +building, viewed laterally, a pyramidal and cumbrous effect. The most +usual form is that of a simple sloped mass, terminating in the wall, +without the slightest finishing, and rising at an angle of about 84°. +Sometimes it is perpendicular, sloped at the top into the wall; but it +never has steps of increasing projection as it goes down. By observing +the occurrence of these buttresses, an architect, who knew nothing of +geology, might accurately determine the points of most energetic +volcanic action in Italy; for their use is to protect the building from +the injuries of earthquakes, the Italian having far too much good taste +to use them, except in cases of extreme necessity. Thus, they are never +found in North Italy, even in the fortresses. They begin to occur among +the Apennines, south of Florence; they become more and more frequent and +massy towards Rome; in the neighborhood of Naples they are huge and +multitudinous, even the walls themselves being sometimes sloped; and the +same state of things continues as we go south, on the coast of Calabria +and Sicily.</p> + +<p>139. Now, these buttresses present one of the most extraordinary and +striking instances of the beauty of adaptation of style to locality and +peculiarity of circumstance, that can be met with in the whole range of +architectural investigation. Taken in the abstract, they are utterly +detestable, formal, clumsy, and apparently unnecessary. Their builder +thinks so himself: he hates them as things to be looked at, though he +erects them as things to be depended upon. He has no idea that there is +any propriety in their presence, though he knows perfectly well that +there is a great deal of necessity; and, therefore he builds them. +Where? On rocks whose sides are one mass of buttresses, of precisely the +same form; on rocks which are cut and cloven by basalt and lava dikes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> +of every size, and which, being themselves secondary, wear away +gradually by exposure to the atmosphere, leaving the intersecting dikes +standing out in solid and vertical walls, from the faces of their +precipices. The eye passes over heaps of scoriæ and sloping banks of +ashes, over the huge ruins of more ancient masses, till it trembles for +the fate of the crags still standing round; but it finds them ribbed +with basalt like bones, buttressed with a thousand lava walls, propped +upon pedestals and pyramids of iron, which the pant and the pulse of the +earthquake itself can scarcely move, for they are its own work; it +climbs up to their summits, and there it finds the work of man; but it +is no puny domicile, no eggshell imagination, it is in a continuation of +the mountain itself, inclined at the same slope, ribbed in the same +manner, protected by the same means against the same danger; not, +indeed, filling the eye with delight, but, which is of more importance, +freeing it from fear, and beautifully corresponding with the prevalent +lines around it, which a less massive form would have rendered, in some +cases, particularly about Etna, even ghastly. Even in the long and +luxuriant views from Capo di Monte, and the heights to the east of +Naples, the spectator looks over a series of volcanic eminences, +generally, indeed, covered with rich verdure, but starting out here and +there in gray and worn walls, fixed at a regular slope, and breaking +away into masses more and more rugged towards Vesuvius, till the eye +gets thoroughly habituated to their fortress-like outlines.</p> + +<p><a name="fig10"></a></p> +<div class="figright" style="width: 350px;"> +<p><img src="./images/fig10.jpg" +alt="Fig. 10. Petrarch's Villa; Arquà.—1837." title="Fig. 10. Petrarch's Villa; Arquà.—1837." /></p> +<p class="caption">Fig. 10. Petrarch's Villa; Arquà.—1837.</p> +</div> + +<p>140. Throughout the whole of this broken country, and, on the summits of +these volcanic cones, rise innumerable villas; but they do not offend +us, as we should have expected, by their attestation of cheerfulness of +life amidst the wrecks left by destructive operation, nor hurt the eye +by non-assimilation with the immediate features of the landscape: but +they seem to rise prepared and adapted for resistance to, and endurance +of, the circumstances of their position; to be inhabited by beings of +energy and force sufficient to decree and to carry on a steady struggle +with opposing elements, and of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> taste and feeling sufficient to +proportion the form of the walls of men to the clefts in the flanks of +the volcano, and to prevent the exultation and the lightness of +transitory life from startling, like a mockery, the eternal remains of +disguised desolation.</p> + +<p>141. We have always considered these circumstances as most remarkable +proofs of the perfect dependence of architecture on its situation, and +of the utter impossibility of judging of the beauty of any building in +the abstract: and we would also lay much stress upon them, as showing +with what boldness the designer may introduce into his building, +undisguised, such parts as local circumstances render desirable; for +there will invariably be something in the nature of that which causes +their necessity, which will endow them with beauty.</p> + +<p>142. These, then, are the principal features of the Italian villa, +modifications of which, of course more or less dignified in size, +material or decoration, in proportion to the power and possessions of +their proprietor, may be considered as composing every building of that +class in Italy. A few remarks on their general effect will enable us to +conclude the subject.</p> + +<p><a name="fig11"></a></p> +<div class="figright" style="width: 250px;"> +<p><img src="./images/fig11.jpg" +alt="Fig. 11. Broken Curves." title="Fig. 11. Broken Curves." /></p> +<p class="caption">Fig. 11. Broken Curves.</p> +</div> + +<p>143. We have been so long accustomed to see the horizontal lines and +simple forms which, as we have observed, still prevail among the +Ausonian villas, used with the greatest dexterity, and the noblest +effect, in the compositions of Claude, Salvator, and Poussin—and so +habituated to consider these compositions as perfect models of the +beautiful, as well as the pure in taste—that it is difficult to divest +ourselves of prejudice, in the contemplation of the sources from which +those masters received their education, their feelings, and their +subjects. We would hope, however, and we think it may be proved, that in +this case principle assists and encourages prejudice. First, referring +only to the gratification afforded to the eye, which we know to depend +upon fixed mathematical principles, though those principles are not +always developed, it is to be observed, that country is always most +beautiful when it is made up of curves, and that one of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> the chief +characters of Ausonian landscape is the perfection of its curvatures, +induced by the gradual undulation of promontories into the plains. In +suiting architecture to such a country, that building which least +interrupts the curve on which it is placed will be felt to be most +delightful to the eye.</p> + +<p>144. Let us take then the simple form <i>a b c d</i>, interrupting the curve +<i>c e</i> [fig. 11, A]. Now, the eye will always continue the principal +lines of such an object for itself, until they cut the main curve; that +is, it will carry on <i>a b</i> to <i>e</i>, and the total effect of the +interruption will be that of the form <i>c d e</i>. Had the line <i>b d</i> been +nearer to <i>a c</i>, the effect would have been just the same. Now, every +curve may be considered as composed of an infinite number of lines at +right angles to each other, as <i>m n</i> is made up of <i>o p, p q</i>, etc., +(fig. B), whose ratio to each other varies with the direction of the +curve. Then, if the right lines which form the curve at <i>c</i> (fig. A) be +increased, we have the figure <i>c d e</i>, that is, the apparent +interruption of the curve is an increased part of the curve itself. To +the mathematical reader we can explain our meaning more clearly, by +pointing out that, taking <i>c</i> for our origin, we have <i>a c</i>, <i>a e</i>, for +the co-ordinates of <i>e</i>, and that, therefore, their ratio is the +equation to the curve. Whence it appears, that, when any curve is broken +in upon by a building composed of simple vertical and horizontal lines, +the eye<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> is furnished, by the interruption, with the equation to that +part of the curve which is interrupted. If, instead of square forms, we +take obliquity, as <i>r s t</i> (fig. C), we have one line, <i>s t</i>, an +absolute break, and the other <i>r s</i>, in false proportion. If we take +another curve, we have an infinite number of lines, only two of which +are where they ought to be. And this is the true reason for the constant +introduction of features which appear to be somewhat formal, into the +most perfect imaginations of the old masters, and the true cause of the +extreme beauty of the groups formed by Italian villages in general.</p> + +<p>145. Thus much for the mere effect on the eye. Of correspondence with +national character, we have shown that we must not be disappointed, if +we find little in the villa. The unfrequency of windows in the body of +the building is partly attributed to the climate; but the total +exclusion of light from some parts, as the base of the central tower, +carries our thoughts back to the ancient system of Italian life, when +every man's home had its dark, secret places, the abodes of his worst +passions; whose shadows were alone intrusted with the motion of his +thoughts; whose walls became the whited sepulchers of crime; whose +echoes were never stirred except by such words as they dared not +repeat;<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> from which the rod of power, or the dagger of passion, came +forth invisible; before whose stillness princes grew pale, as their +fates were prophesied or fulfilled by the horoscope or the hemlock; and +nations, as the whisper of anarchy or of heresy was avenged by the +opening of the low doors, through which those who entered returned not.</p> + +<p>146. The mind of the Italian, sweet and smiling in its operations, deep +and silent in its emotions, was thus, in some degree, typified by those +abodes into which he was wont to retire from the tumult and wrath of +life, to cherish or to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> gratify the passions which its struggles had +excited; abodes which now gleam brightly and purely among the azure +mountains, and by the sapphire sea, but whose stones are dropped with +blood; whose vaults are black with the memory of guilt and grief +unpunished and unavenged, and by whose walls the traveler hastens +fearfully, when the sun has set, lest he should hear, awakening again +through the horror of their chambers, the faint wail of the children of +Ugolino,<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> the ominous alarm of Bonatti, or the long low cry of her +who perished at Coll' Alto.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Oxford</span>, <i>July, 1838.</i></p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> [Compare "The Seven Lamps of Architecture," chap. i. § +1.]</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> Shelley has caught the feeling finely:—"The house is +penetrated to its corners by the peeping insolence of the day. When the +time comes the crickets shall not see me."—<i>Cenci</i> [Act II. scene I, +quoted from memory.]</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Ugolino; Dante, <i>Inferno</i> xxxiii. Guido Bonatti, the +astrologer of Forli, <i>Inferno</i> xx., 118. The lady who perished at Coll' +Alto, <i>i.e.</i> the higher part of Colle de Val d'Elsa, between Siena and +Volterra—was Sapia; <i>Purgatorio</i>, xiii. 100-154.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p> +<h3><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV.</h3> + +<h2>THE LOWLAND VILLA—ENGLAND.</h2> + + +<p>147. Although, as we have frequently observed, our chief object in these +papers is, to discover the connection existing between national +architecture and character, and therefore is one leading us rather to +the investigation of what is, than of what ought to be, we yet consider +that the subject would be imperfectly treated, if we did not, at the +conclusion of the consideration of each particular rank of building, +endeavor to apply such principles as may have been demonstrated to the +architecture of our country, and to discover the <i>beau idéal</i> of English +character, which should be preserved through all the decorations which +the builder may desire, and through every variety which fancy may +suggest. There never was, and never can be, a universal <i>beau idéal</i> in +architecture, and the arrival at all local models of beauty would be the +task of ages; but we can always, in some degree, determine those of our +own lovely country. We cannot, however, in the present case, pass from +the contemplation of the villa of a totally different climate, to the +investigation of what is beautiful here, without the slightest reference +to styles now or formerly adopted for our own "villas," if such they are +to be called; and therefore it will be necessary to devote a short time +to the observance of the peculiarities of such styles, if we possess +them; or, if not, of the causes of their absence.</p> + +<p>148. We have therefore headed this paper "The Villa, England;" +awakening, without doubt, a different idea in the mind of every one who +reads the words. Some, accustomed to the appearance of metropolitan +villas, will think of brick buildings, with infinite appurtenances of +black nicked chim<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>ney-pots, and plastered fronts, agreeably varied with +graceful cracks, and undulatory shades of pink, brown, and green, +communicated to the cement by smoky showers. Others will imagine large, +square, many-windowed masses of white, set with careful choice of +situation exactly where they will spoil the landscape to such a +conspicuous degree, as to compel the gentlemen traveling on the outside +of the mail to inquire of the guard, with great eagerness, "whose place +that is;" and to enable the guard to reply with great distinctness, that +it belongs to Squire ——, to the infinite gratification of Squire ——, +and the still more infinite edification of the gentlemen on the outside +of the mail. Others will remember masses of very red brick, quoined with +stone; with columnar porticoes, about one-third of the height of the +building, and two niches, with remarkable looking heads and bag-wigs in +them, on each side; and two teapots, with a pocket-handkerchief hanging +over each (described to the astonished spectator as "Grecian urns") +located upon the roof, just under the chimneys. Others will go back to +the range of Elizabethan gables; but none will have any idea of a fixed +character, stamped on a class of national edifices. This is very +melancholy, and very discouraging; the more so, as it is not without +cause.</p> + +<p>149. In the first place, Britain unites in itself so many geological +formations, each giving a peculiar character to the country which it +composes, that there is hardly a district five miles broad, which +preserves the same features of landscape through its whole width.<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> +If, for example, six foreigners were to land severally at Glasgow, at +Aberystwith, at Falmouth, at Brighton, at Yarmouth, and at Newcastle, +and to confine their investigations to the country within twenty miles +of them, what different impressions would they receive of British +landscape! If, therefore, there be as many forms<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> of edifice as there +are peculiarities of situation, we can have no national style; and if we +abandon the idea of a correspondence with situation, we lose the only +criterion capable of forming a national style.<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p> + +<p>150. Another cause to be noticed is the peculiar independence of the +Englishman's disposition; a feeling which prompts him to suit his own +humor, rather than fall in with the prevailing cast of social sentiment, +or of natural beauty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> and expression; and which, therefore,—there being +much obstinate originality in his mind,—produces strange varieties of +dwelling, frequently rendered still more preposterous by his love of +display; a love universally felt in England, and often absurdly +indulged. Wealth is worshiped in France as the means of purchasing +pleasure; in Italy, as an instrument of power; in England, as the means +"of showing off." It would be a very great sacrifice indeed, in an +Englishman of the average stamp, to put his villa out of the way, where +nobody would ever see it, or think of <i>him</i>; it is his ambition to hear +every one exclaiming, "What a pretty place! whose can it be?" And he +cares very little about the peace which he has disturbed, or the repose +which he has interrupted; though, even while he thus pushes himself into +the way, he keeps an air of sulky retirement, of hedgehog independence, +about his house, which takes away any idea of sociability or good-humor, +which might otherwise have been suggested by his choice of situation.</p> + +<p>151. But, in spite of all these unfortunate circumstances, there are +some distinctive features in our English country houses, which are well +worth a little attention. First, in the approach, we have one component +part of effect, which may be called peculiarly our own, and which +requires much study before it can be managed well,—the avenue. It is +true that we meet with noble lines of timber trees cresting some of the +larger bastions of Continental fortified cities; we see interminable +regiments of mistletoed apple trees flanking the carriage road; and +occasionally we approach a turreted château<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> by a broad way, "edged +with poplar pale." But, allowing all this, the legitimate glory of the +perfect avenue is ours still, as will appear by a little consideration +of the elements which constitute its beauty.</p> + +<p>152. The original idea was given by the opening of the tangled glades in +our most ancient forests. It is rather a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> curious circumstance that, in +those woods whose decay has been most instrumental in forming the bog +districts of Ireland, the trees have, in general, been planted in +symmetrical rows, at distances of about twenty feet apart. If the +arrangement of our later woods be not quite so formal, they at least +present frequent openings, carpeted with green sward, and edged with +various foliage, which the architect (for so may the designer of the +avenue be entitled) should do little more than reduce to symmetry and +place in position, preserving, as much as possible, the manner and the +proportions of nature. The avenue, therefore, must not be too long. It +is quite a mistake to suppose that there is sublimity in a monotonous +length of line, unless indeed it be carried to an extent generally +impossible, as in the case of the long walk at Windsor. From three to +four hundred yards is a length which will display the elevation well, +and will not become tiresome from continued monotony. The kind of tree +must, of course, be regulated by circumstances; but the foliage must be +unequally disposed, so as to let in passages of light across the path, +and cause the motion of any object across it to change, like an +undulating melody, from darkness to light. It should meet at the top, so +as to cause twilight, but not obscurity; and the idea of a vaulted roof, +without rigidity. The ground should be green, so that the sunlight may +tell with force wherever it strikes. Now, this kind of rich and shadowy +vista is found in its perfection only in England: it is an attribute of +green country; it is associated with all our memories of forest freedom, +of our wood-rangers, and yeomen with the "doublets of the Lincoln +green;" with our pride of ancient archers, whose art was fostered in +such long and breezeless glades; with our thoughts of the merry chases +of our kingly companies, when the dewy antlers sparkled down the +intertwined paths of the windless woods, at the morning echo of the +hunter's horn; with all, in fact, that once contributed to give our land +its ancient name of "merry" England; a name which, in this age of steam +and iron, it will have some difficulty in keeping.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p> + +<p>153. This, then, is the first feature we would direct attention to, as +characteristic, in the English villa: and be it remembered, that we are +not speaking of the immense lines of foliage which guide the eye to some +of our English palaces, for those are rather the adjuncts of the park +than the approach to the building; but of the more laconic avenue, with +the two crested columns and the iron gate at its entrance, leading the +eye, in the space of a hundred yards or so, to the gables of its gray +mansion. A good instance of this approach may be found at Petersham, by +following the right side of the Thames for about half a mile from +Richmond Hill; though the house, which, in this case, is approached by a +noble avenue, is much to be reprehended, as a bad mixture of imitation +of the Italian with corrupt Elizabethan; though it is somewhat +instructive, as showing the ridiculous effect of statues out of doors in +a climate like ours.</p> + +<p>154. And now that we have pointed out the kind of approach most +peculiarly English, that approach will guide us to the only style of +villa architecture which can be called English,—the Elizabethan, and +its varieties,—a style fantastic in its details, and capable of being +subjected to no rule, but, as we think, well adapted for the scenery in +which it arose. We allude not only to the pure Elizabethan, but even to +the strange mixtures of classical ornaments with Gothic forms, which we +find prevailing in the sixteenth century. In the most simple form, we +have a building extending round three sides of a court, and, in the +larger halls, round several interior courts, terminating in sharply +gabled fronts, with broad oriels, divided into very narrow lights by +channeled mullions, without decoration of any kind; the roof relieved by +projecting dormer windows, whose lights are generally divided into +three, terminating in very flat arches without cusps, the intermediate +edge of the roof being battlemented. Then we find wreaths of ornament +introduced at the base of the oriels;<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> ranges of short columns, the +base of one upon the capital of another, running up beside them; the +bases<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> being very tall, sometimes decorated with knots of flower-work; +the columns usually fluted,—wreathed, in richer examples, with +ornament. The entrance is frequently formed by double ranges of those +short columns, with intermediate arches, with shell canopies, and rich +crests above.<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> This portico is carried up to some height above the +roof, which is charged with an infinite variety of decorated chimneys.</p> + +<p>155. Now, all this is utterly barbarous as architecture; but, with the +exception of the chimneys, it is not false in taste; for it was +originally intended for retired and quiet habitations in our forest +country, not for conspicuous palaces in the streets of the city; and we +have shown, in speaking of green country, that the eye is gratified<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> +with fantastic details; that it is prepared, by the mingled lights of +the natural scenery, for rich and entangled ornament, and would not only +endure, but demand, irregularity of system in the architecture of man, +to correspond with the infinite variety of form in the wood architecture +of nature. Few surprises can be imagined more delightful than the +breaking out of one of these rich gables, with its decorated entrance, +among the dark trunks and twinkling leaves of forest scenery. Such an +effect is rudely given in fig. 12. We would direct the attention chiefly +to the following points in the building:—</p> + +<p>156. First, it is a humorist, an odd, twisted, independent being, with a +great deal of mixed, obstinate, and occasionally absurd originality. It +has one or two graceful lines about it, and several harsh and cutting +ones; it is a whole, which would allow of no unison with any other +architecture; it is gathered in itself, and would look very ugly indeed, +if pieces in a purer style of building were added. All this corresponds +with points of English character, with its humors, its independency, and +its horror of being put out of its own way.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span></p> + +<p>157. Again, it is a thoroughly domestic building, homely and +cottage-like in its prevailing forms, awakening no elevated ideas, +assuming no nobility of form. It has none of the pride, or the grace of +beauty, none of the dignity of delight which we found in the villa of +Italy; but it is a habitation of everyday life, a protection from +momentary inconvenience, covered with stiff efforts at decoration, and +exactly typical of the mind of its inhabitant: not noble in its taste, +not haughty in its recreation, not pure in its perception of beauty; but +domestic in its pleasures, fond of matter-of-fact rather than of +imagination, yet sparkling occasionally with odd wit and grotesque +association. The Italian obtains his beauty, as his recreation, with +quietness, with few and noble lines, with great seriousness and depth of +thought, with very rare interruptions to the simple train of feeling. +But the Englishman's villa is full of effort: it is a business with him +to be playful, an infinite labor to be ornamental: he forces his +amusement with fits of contrasted thought, with mingling of minor +touches of humor, with a good deal of sulkiness, but with no melancholy; +and therefore, owing to this last adjunct,<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> the building, in its +original state, cannot be called beautiful, and we ought not to consider +the effect of its present antiquity, evidence of which is, as was before +proved, generally objectionable in a building devoted to pleasure,<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> +and is only agreeable here, because united with the memory of a departed +pride.</p> + +<p>158. Again, it is a lifelike building, sparkling in its casements, brisk +in its air, letting much light in at the walls and roof, low and +comfortable-looking in its door. The Italian's dwelling is much walled +in, letting out no secrets from the inside, dreary and drowsy in its +effect. Just such is the difference between the minds of the +inhabitants; the one passing away in deep and dark reverie, the other +quick and business-like, enjoying its everyday occupations, and active +in its ordinary engagements.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p> + +<p>159. Again, it is a regularly planned, mechanical, well-disciplined +building; each of its parts answering to its opposite, each of its +ornaments matched with similarity. The Italian (where it has no high +pretense to architectural beauty) is a rambling and irregular edifice, +varied with uncorresponding masses: and the mind of the Italian we find +similarly irregular, a thing of various and ungovernable impulse, +without fixed principle of action; the Englishman's, regular and uniform +in its emotions, steady in its habits, and firm even in its most trivial +determinations.</p> + +<p>160. Lastly, the size of the whole is diminutive, compared with the +villas of the south, in which the effect was always large and general. +Here the eye is drawn into the investigation of particular points, and +miniature details; just as, in comparing the English and Continental +cottages, we found the one characterized by a minute finish, and the +other by a massive effect, exactly correspondent with the scale of the +features and scenery of their respective localities.</p> + +<p>161. It appears, then, from a consideration of these several points, +that, in our antiquated style of villa architecture, some national +feeling may be discovered; but in any buildings now raised there is no +character whatever: all is ridiculous imitation, and despicable +affectation; and it is much to be lamented, that now, when a great deal +of public attention has been directed to architecture on the part of the +public, more efforts are not made to turn that attention from mimicking +Swiss <i>châlets</i>, to erecting English houses. We need not devote more +time to the investigation of <i>purely</i> domestic English architecture, +though we hope to derive much instruction and pleasure from the +contemplation of buildings partly adapted for defense, and partly for +residence. The introduction of the means of defense is, however, a +distinction which we do not wish at present to pass over; and therefore, +in our next paper, we hope to conclude the subject of the villa, by a +few remarks on the style now best adapted for English scenery.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> Length is another thing: we might divide England into +strips of country, running southwest and northeast, which would be +composed of the same rock, and therefore would present the same +character throughout the whole of their length. Almost all our great +roads cut these transversely, and therefore seldom remain for ten miles +together on the same beds.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> It is thus that we find the most perfect schools of +architecture have arisen in districts whose character is unchanging. +Looking to Egypt first, we find a climate inducing a perpetual state of +heavy feverish excitement, fostered by great magnificence of natural +phenomena, and increased by the general custom of exposing the head +continually to the sun (Herodotus, bk. III. chap. 12); so that, as in a +dreaming fever we imagine distorted creatures and countenances moving +and living in the quiet objects of the chamber, the Egyptian endowed all +existence with distorted animation; turned dogs into deities, and leeks +into lightning-darters; then gradually invested the blank granite with +sculptured mystery, designed in superstition, and adored in disease; and +then such masses of architecture arose as, in delirium, we feel crushing +down upon us with eternal weight, and see extending far into the +blackness above; huge and shapeless columns of colossal life; immense +and immeasurable avenues of mountain stone. This was a perfect—that is, +a marked, enduring, and decided school of architecture, induced by an +unchanging and peculiar character of climate. Then in the purer air, and +among the more refined energies of Greece, architecture rose into a more +studied beauty, equally perfect in its school, because fostered in a +district not 50 miles square, and in its dependent isles and colonies, +all of which were under the same air, and partook of the same features +of landscape. In Rome, it became less perfect, because more imitative +than indigenous, and corrupted by the traveling, and conquering, and +stealing ambition of the Roman; yet still a school of architecture, +because the whole of Italy presented the same peculiarities of scene. So +with the Spanish and Moresco schools, and many others; passing over the +Gothic, which, though we hope hereafter to show it to be no exception to +the rule, involves too many complicated questions to be now brought +forward as a proof of it. +</p><p> +[The comparison of Egyptian architecture with delirious visions seems to +be an allusion to De Quincey's passage in "The Pains of Opium"—the last +paper in "the Confessions of an Opium-Eater"—where, after describing +Piranesi's <i>Dreams</i>, he tells how he fancied he was "buried for a +thousand years, in stone coffins, with mummies and sphinxes, in narrow +chambers at the heart of eternal pyramids," etc.]</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> Or a city. Any one who remembers entering Carlsruhe from +the north by the two miles of poplar avenue, remembers entering the most +soulless of all cities, by the most lifeless of all entrances.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> As in a beautiful example in Brasenose College, Oxford.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> The portico of the [old] Schools and the inner courts of +Merton and St. John's Colleges, Oxford; an old house at Charlton, Kent; +and Burleigh House, will probably occur to the mind of the architect, as +good examples of the varieties of this mixed style.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> [<i>i.e.</i> when the spectator is surrounded by woodland +scenery. <i>Vide ante</i>, § 88.]</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> Namely the fact that there is no melancholy in the English +play-impulse; <i>v. ante</i>, § 23.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> See § 118 seq.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p> +<h3><a name="V" id="V"></a>V.</h3> + +<h2>THE ENGLISH VILLA.—PRINCIPLES OF COMPOSITION.</h2> + + +<p>162. It has lately become a custom, among the more enlightened and +refined of metropolitan shopkeepers, to advocate the cause of propriety +in architectural decoration, by ensconcing their shelves, counters, and +clerks in classical edifices, agreeably ornamented with ingenious +devices, typical of the class of articles to which the tradesman +particularly desires to direct the public attention. We find our grocers +enshrined in temples whose columns are of canisters, and whose pinnacles +are of sugar-loaves. Our shoemakers shape their soles under Gothic +portals, with pendants of shoes, and canopies of Wellingtons; and our +cheesemongers will, we doubt not, soon follow the excellent example, by +raising shops the varied diameters of whose jointed columns, in their +address to the eye, shall awaken memories of Staffa, Pæstum, and +Palmyra; and in their address to the tongue, shall arouse exquisite +associations of remembered flavor, Dutch, Stilton, and Strachino.</p> + +<p>163. Now, this fit of taste on the part of our tradesmen is only a +coarse form of a disposition inherent in the human mind. Those objects +to which the eye has been most frequently accustomed, and among which +the intellect has formed its habits of action, and the soul its modes of +emotion, become agreeable to the thoughts, from their correspondence +with their prevailing cast, especially when the business of life has had +any relation to those objects; for it is in the habitual and necessary +occupation that the most painless hours of existence are passed: +whatever be the nature of that occupation, the memories belonging to it +will always be agreeable, and,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> therefore, the objects awakening such +memories will invariably be found beautiful, whatever their character or +form.</p> + +<p>164. It is thus that taste is the child and the slave of memory; and +beauty is tested, not by any fixed standard, but by the chances of +association; so that in every domestic building evidence will be found +of the kind of life through which its owner has passed, in the operation +of the habits of mind which that life has induced. From the +superannuated coxswain, who plants his old ship's figure-head in his six +square feet of front garden at Bermondsey, to the retired noble, the +proud portal of whose mansion is surmounted by the broad shield and the +crested gryphon, we are all guided, in our purest conceptions, our most +ideal pursuit, of the beautiful, by remembrances of active occupation; +and by principles derived from industry regulate the fancies of our +repose.</p> + +<p>165. It would be excessively interesting to follow out the investigation +of this subject more fully, and to show how the most refined pleasures, +the most delicate perceptions, of the creature who has been appointed to +eat bread by the sweat of his brow, are dependent upon, and intimately +connected with, his hours of labor. This question, however, has no +relation to our immediate object, and we only allude to it, that we may +be able to distinguish between the two component parts of individual +character; the one being the consequence of continuous habits of life +acting upon natural temperament and disposition, the other being the +<i>humor</i> of character, consequent upon circumstances altogether +accidental, taking stern effect upon feelings previously determined by +the first part of the character; laying on, as it were, the finishing +touches, and occasioning the innumerable prejudices, fancies, and +eccentricities, which, modified in every individual to an infinite +extent, form the visible veil of the human heart.</p> + +<p>166. Now, we have defined the province of the architect to be, that of +selecting such forms and colors as shall delight the mind, by preparing +it for the operations to which it is to be subjected in the building. +Now, no forms, in domestic architecture, can thus prepare it more +distinctly than those which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> correspond closely with the first, that is, +the fixed and fundamental, part of character, which is always so uniform +in its action, as to induce great simplicity in whatever it designs. +Nothing, on the contrary, can be more injurious than the slightest +influence of the <i>humors</i> upon the edifice; for the influence of what is +fitful in its energy, and petty in its imagination, would destroy all +the harmony of parts, all the majesty of the whole; would substitute +singularity for beauty, amusement for delight, and surprise for +veneration. We could name several instances of buildings erected by men +of the highest talent, and the most perfect general taste, who yet, not +having paid much attention to the first principles of architecture, +permitted the humor of their disposition to prevail over the majesty of +their intellect, and, instead of building from a fixed design, gratified +freak after freak, and fancy after fancy, as they were caught by the +dream or the desire; mixed mimicries of incongruous reality with +incorporations of undisciplined ideal; awakened every variety of +contending feeling and unconnected memory; consummated confusion of form +by trickery of detail; and have left barbarism, where half the world +will look for loveliness.</p> + +<p>167. This is a species of error which it is very difficult for persons +paying superficial and temporary attention to architecture to avoid: +however just their taste may be in criticism, it will fail in creation. +It is only in moments of ease and amusement that they will think of +their villa: they make it a mere plaything, and regard it with a kind of +petty exultation, which, from its very nature, will give liberty to the +light fancy, rather than the deep feeling, of the mind. It is not +thought necessary to bestow labor of thought, and periods of +deliberation, on one of the toys of life; still less to undergo the +vexation of thwarting wishes, and leaving favorite imaginations, +relating to minor points, unfulfilled, for the sake of general effect.</p> + +<p>168. This feeling, then, is the first to which we would direct +attention, as the villa architect's chief enemy: he will find it +perpetually and provokingly in his way. He is requested,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> perhaps, by a +man of great wealth, nay, of established taste in some points, to make a +design for a villa in a lovely situation. The future proprietor carries +him upstairs to his study, to give him what he calls his "ideas and +materials," and, in all probability, begins somewhat thus:—"This, sir, +is a slight note: I made it on the spot: approach to Villa Reale, near +Pozzuoli. Dancing nymphs, you perceive; cypresses, shell fountain. I +think I should like something like this for the approach: classical, you +perceive, sir; elegant, graceful. Then, sir, this is a sketch, made by +an American friend of mine: Whee-whaw-Kantamaraw's wigwam, King of +the—Cannibal Islands, I think he said, sir. Log, you observe; scalps, +and boa-constrictor skins: curious. Something like this, sir, would look +neat, I think, for the front door; don't you? Then, the lower windows, +I've not quite decided upon; but what would you say to Egyptian, sir? I +think I should like my windows Egyptian, with hieroglyphics, sir; storks +and coffins, and appropriate moldings above: I brought some from +Fountains Abbey the other day. Look here, sir; angels' heads putting +their tongues out, rolled up in cabbage leaves, with a dragon on each +side riding on a broomstick, and the devil looking on from the mouth of +an alligator, sir.<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> Odd, I think; interesting. Then the corners may +be turned by octagonal towers, like the center one in Kenilworth Castle; +with Gothic doors, portcullis, and all, quite perfect; with cross slits +for arrows, battlements for musketry, machicolations for boiling lead, +and a room at the top for drying plums; and the conservatory at the +bottom, sir, with Virginian creepers up the towers; door supported by +sphinxes, holding scrapers in their fore paws, and having their tails +prolonged into warm-water pipes, to keep the plants safe in winter, +etc." The architect is, without doubt, a little astonished by these +ideas and combinations; yet he sits calmly down to draw his elevations; +as if he were a stone-mason, or his employer an architect; and the +fabric rises to electrify its beholders, and confer immortality on its +perpetrator.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p> + +<p><a name="fig12"></a></p> +<p class="figcenter"><img src="./images/fig12.jpg" +alt="Fig. 12. Old English Mansion. 1837." +title="Fig. 12. Old English Mansion. 1837." /></p> +<p class="figcenter caption"><span class="smcap">Fig.</span> 12. Old English Mansion. 1837.</p> + +<p>169. This is no exaggeration: we have not only listened to speculations +on the probable degree of the future majesty, but contemplated the +actual illustrious existence, of several such buildings, with sufficient +beauty in the management of some of their features to show that an +architect had superintended them, and sufficient taste in their interior +economy to prove that a refined intellect had projected them; and had +projected a Vandalism, only because fancy had been followed instead of +judgment; with as much <i>nonchalance</i> as is evinced by a perfect poet, +who is extemporizing doggerel for a baby; full of brilliant points, +which he cannot help, and jumbled into confusion, for which he does not +care.</p> + +<p>170. Such are the first difficulties to be encountered in villa designs. +They must always continue to occur in some degree, though they might be +met with ease by a determination on the part of professional men to give +no assistance whatever, beyond the mere superintendence of construction, +unless they be permitted to take the whole exterior design into their +own hands, merely receiving broad instructions respecting the style (and +not attending to them unless they like). They should not make out the +smallest detail, unless they were answerable for the whole. In this +case, gentlemen architects would be thrown so utterly on their own +resources, that, unless those resources were adequate, they would be +obliged to surrender the task into more practiced hands; and, if they +were adequate, if the amateur had paid so much attention to the art as +to be capable of giving the design perfectly, it is probable he would +not erect anything strikingly abominable.</p> + +<p>171. Such a system (supposing that it could be carried fully into +effect, and that there were no such animals as sentimental stone-masons +to give technical assistance) might, at first, seem rather an +encroachment on the liberty of the subject, inasmuch as it would prevent +people from indulging their edificatorial fancies, unless they knew +something about the matter, or, as the sufferers would probably +complain, from doing what they liked with their own. But the mistake +would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> evidently lie in their supposing, as people too frequently do, +that the outside of their house <i>is</i> their own, and that they have a +perfect right therein to make fools of themselves in any manner, and to +any extent, they may think proper. This is quite true in the case of +interiors; every one has an indisputable right to hold himself up as a +laughing-stock to the whole circle of his friends and acquaintances, and +to consult his own private asinine comfort by every piece of absurdity +which can in any degree contribute to the same; but no one has any right +to exhibit his imbecilities at other people's expense, or to claim the +public pity by inflicting public pain. In England, especially, where, as +we saw before, the rage for attracting observation is universal, the +outside of the villa is rendered, by the proprietor's own disposition, +the property of those who daily pass by, and whom it hourly affects with +pleasure or pain. For the pain which the eye feels from the violation of +a law to which it has been accustomed, or the mind from the occurrence +of anything jarring to its finest feelings, is as distinct as that +occasioned by the interruption of the physical economy, differing only +inasmuch as it is not permanent; and, therefore, an individual has as +little right to fulfill his own conceptions by disgusting thousands, as, +were his body as impenetrable to steel or poison, as his brain to the +effect of the beautiful or true, he would have to decorate his carriage +roads with caltrops, or to line his plantations with upas trees.</p> + +<p>172. The violation of general feelings would thus be unjust, even were +their consultation productive of continued vexation to the individual: +but it is not. To no one is the architecture of the exterior of a +dwelling-house of so little consequence as to its inhabitant. Its +material may affect his comfort, and its condition may touch his pride; +but, for its architecture, his eye gets accustomed to it in a week, and, +after that, Hellenic, Barbaric, or Yankee, are all the same to the +domestic feelings, are all lost in the one name of Home. Even the +conceit of living in a châlet, or a wigwam, or a pagoda, cannot retain +its influence for six months over the weak minds which alone can feel +it; and the monotony of existence<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> becomes to them exactly what it would +have been had they never inflicted a pang upon the unfortunate +spectators, whose unaccustomed eyes shrink daily from the impression to +which they have not been rendered callous by custom, or lenient by false +taste.</p> + +<p>173. If these considerations are just when they allude only to buildings +in the abstract, how much more when referring to them as materials of +composition, materials of infinite power, to adorn or destroy the +loveliness of the earth. The nobler scenery of that earth is the +inheritance of all her inhabitants: it is not merely for the few to whom +it temporarily belongs, to feed from like swine, or to stable upon like +horses, but it has been appointed to be the school of the minds which +are kingly among their fellows, to excite the highest energies of +humanity, to furnish strength to the lordliest intellect, and food for +the holiest emotions of the human soul. The presence of life is, indeed, +necessary to its beauty, but of life congenial with its character; and +that life is not congenial which thrusts presumptuously forward, amidst +the calmness of the universe, the confusion of its own petty interests +and groveling imaginations, and stands up with the insolence of a +moment, amid the majesty of all time, to build baby fortifications upon +the bones of the world, or to sweep the copse from the corrie, and the +shadow from the shore, that fools may risk, and gamblers gather, the +spoil of a thousand summers.</p> + +<p>174. It should therefore be remembered by every proprietor of land in +hill country, that his possessions are the means of a peculiar +education, otherwise unattainable, to the artists, and in some degree to +the literary men, of his country; that, even in this limited point of +view, they are a national possession, but much more so when it is +remembered how many thousands are perpetually receiving from them, not +merely a transitory pleasure, but such thrilling perpetuity of pure +emotion, such lofty subject for scientific speculation, and such deep +lessons of natural religion, as only the work of a Deity can impress, +and only the spirit of an immortal can feel:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> they should remember that +the slightest deformity, the most contemptible excrescence, can injure +the effect of the noblest natural scenery, as a note of discord can +annihilate the expression of the purest harmony; that thus it is in the +power of worms to conceal, to destroy, or to violate, what angels could +not restore, create or consecrate; and that the right, which every man +unquestionably possesses, to be an ass, is extended only, in public, to +those who are innocent in idiotism, not to the more malicious clowns, +who thrust their degraded motley conspicuously forth amidst the fair +colors of earth, and mix their incoherent cries with the melodies of +eternity, break with their inane laugh upon the silence which Creation +keeps where Omnipotence passes most visibly, and scrabble over with the +characters of idiocy the pages that have been written by the finger of +God.</p> + +<p>175. These feelings we would endeavor to impress upon all persons likely +to have anything to do with embellishing, as it is called, fine natural +scenery; as they might, in some degree, convince both the architect and +his employer of the danger of giving free play to the imagination in +cases involving intricate questions of feeling and composition, and +might persuade the designer of the necessity of looking, not to his own +acre of land, or to his own peculiar tastes, but to the whole mass of +forms and combination of impressions with which he is surrounded.</p> + +<p>176. Let us suppose, however, that the design is yielded entirely to the +architect's discretion. Being a piece of domestic architecture, the +chief object in its exterior design will be to arouse domestic feelings, +which, as we saw before, it will do most distinctly by corresponding +with the first part of character. Yet it is still more necessary that it +should correspond with its situation; and hence arises another +difficulty, the reconciliation of correspondence with contraries; for +such, it is deeply to be regretted, are too often the individual's mind, +and the dwelling-place it chooses. The polished courtier brings his +refinement and duplicity with him to ape the Arcadian rustic in +Devonshire; the romantic rhymer takes a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> plastered habitation, with one +back window looking into the Green Park; the soft votary of luxury +endeavors to rise at seven, in some Ultima Thule of frosts and storms; +and the rich stock-jobber calculates his percentages among the soft +dingles and woody shores of Westmoreland. When the architect finds this +to be the case, he must, of course, content himself with suiting his +design to such a mind as ought to be where the intruder's is; for the +feelings which are so much at variance with themselves in the choice of +situation, will not be found too critical of their domicile, however +little suited to their temper.</p> + +<p>177. If possible, however, he should aim at something more; he should +draw his employer into general conversation; observe the bent of his +disposition, and the habits of his mind; notice every manifestation of +fixed opinions, and then transfer to his architecture as much of the +feeling he has observed as is distinct in its operation. This he should +do, not because the general spectator will be aware of the aptness of +the building, which, knowing nothing of its inmate, he cannot be; nor to +please the individual himself, which it is a chance if any simple design +ever will, and who never will find out how well his character has been +fitted; but because a portrait is always more spirited than a composed +countenance; and because this study of human passions will bring a +degree of energy, unity, and originality into every one of his designs +(all of which will necessarily be different), so simple, so domestic, +and so lifelike, as to strike every spectator with an interest and a +sympathy, for which he will be utterly unable to account, and to impress +on him a perception of something more ethereal than stone or carving, +somewhat similar to that which some will remember having felt +disagreeably in their childhood, on looking at any old house +authentically haunted. The architect will forget in his study of life +the formalities of science, and, while his practiced eye will prevent +him from erring in technicalities, he will advance, with the ruling +feeling, which, in masses of mind, is nationality, to the conception of +something truly original, yet perfectly pure.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p> + +<p>178. He will also find his advantage in having obtained a guide in the +invention of decorations of which, as we shall show, we would have many +more in English villas than economy at present allows. Candidus<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> +complains, in his Note Book, that Elizabethan architecture is frequently +adopted, because it is easy, with a pair of scissors, to derive a zigzag +ornament from a doubled piece of paper. But we would fain hope that none +of our professional architects have so far lost sight of the meaning of +their art, as to believe that roughening stone mathematically is +bestowing decoration, though we are too sternly convinced that they +believe mankind to be more shortsighted by at least thirty yards than +they are; for they think of nothing but general effect in their +ornaments, and lay on their flower-work so carelessly, that a good +substantial captain's biscuit, with the small holes left by the +penetration of the baker's four fingers, encircling the large one which +testifies of the forcible passage of his thumb, would form quite as +elegant a rosette as hundreds now perpetuated in stone.</p> + +<p>179. Now, there is nothing which requires study so close, or experiment +so frequent, as the proper designing of ornament. For its use and +position some definite rules may be given; but, when the space and +position have been determined, the lines of curvature, the breadth, +depth, and sharpness of the shadows to be obtained, the junction of the +parts of a group, and the general expression, will present questions for +the solution of which the study of years will sometimes scarcely be +sufficient;<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> for they depend upon the feeling of the eye and hand, +and there is nothing like perfection in decoration, nothing which, in +all probability, might not, by farther consideration, be improved. Now, +in cases in which the outline and larger masses are determined by +situation, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> architect will frequently find it necessary to fall +back upon his decorations, as the only means of obtaining character; and +that which before was an unmeaning lump of jagged freestone, will become +a part of expression, an accessory of beautiful design, varied in its +form, and delicate in its effect. Then, instead of shrinking from his +bits of ornament, as from things which will give him trouble to invent, +and will answer no other purpose than that of occupying what would +otherwise have looked blank, the designer will view them as an efficient +<i>corps de reserve</i>, to be brought up when the eye comes to close +quarters with the edifice, to maintain and deepen the impression it has +previously received. Much more time will be spent in the conception, +much more labor in the execution, of such meaning ornaments, but both +will be well spent and well rewarded.</p> + +<p>180. Perhaps our meaning may be made more clear by Fig. 13 A, which is +that of a window found in a domestic building of mixed and corrupt +architecture, at Munich (which we give now, because we shall have +occasion to allude to it hereafter). Its absurd breadth of molding, so +disproportionate to its cornice, renders it excessively ugly, but +capable of great variety of effect. It forms one of a range of four, +turning an angle, whose moldings join each other, their double breadth +being the whole separation of the apertures, which are something more +than double squares. Now by alteration of the decoration, and depth of +shadow, we have B and C. These three windows differ entirely in their +feeling and manner, and are broad examples of such distinctions of style +as might be adopted severally in the habitations of the man of +imagination, the man of intellect and the man of feeling.<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> If our +alterations have been properly made, there will be no difficulty in +distinguishing between their expressions, which we shall therefore leave +to conjecture. The character of A depends upon the softness with which +the light is caught upon its ornaments, which should not have a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> single +hard line in them; and on the gradual, unequal, but intense, depth of +its shadows. B should have all its forms undefined, and passing into one +another, the touches of the chisel light, a grotesque face or feature +occurring in parts, the shadows pale, but broad<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a>; and the boldest +part of the carving kept in shadow rather than light. The third should +be hard in its lines, strong in its shades, and quiet in its ornament.</p> + + +<p><a name="fig13"></a></p> +<p class="figcenter"><img src="./images/fig13.jpg" +alt="Fig. 13. Windows." +title="Fig. 13. Windows." /></p> +<p class="figcenter caption">Fig. 13. Windows.</p> + + +<p>181. These hints will be sufficient to explain our meaning, and we have +not space to do more, as the object of these papers is rather to observe +than to advise. Besides, in questions of expression so intricate, it is +almost impossible to advance fixed principles; every mind will have +perceptions of its own, which will guide its speculations, every hand, +and eye, and peculiar feeling, varying even from year to year. We have +only started the subject of correspondence with individual character, +because we think that imaginative minds might take up the idea with some +success, as furnishing them with a guide in the variation of their +designs, more certain than mere experiment on unmeaning forms, or than +ringing indiscriminate changes on component parts of established beauty. +To the reverie, rather than the investigation, to the dream, rather than +the deliberation, of the architect, we recommend it, as a branch of art +in which instinct will do more than precept, and inspiration than +technicality. The correspondence of our villa architecture with our +natural scenery may be determined with far greater accuracy, and will +require careful investigation.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span></p> + +<p>We had hoped to have concluded the Villa in this paper; but the +importance of domestic architecture at the present day, when people want +houses more than fortresses, safes more than keeps, and sculleries more +than dungeons, is sufficient apology for delay.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Oxford</span>, <i>August, 1838.</i></p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> Actually carved on one of the groins of Roslin Chapel.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> [A contributor to the "Architectural Magazine."]</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> For example, we would allow one of the modern builders of +Gothic chapels a month of invention, and a botanic garden to work from, +with perfect certainty that he would not, at the expiration of the time, +be able to present us with one design of leafage equal in beauty to +hundreds we could point out in the capitals and niches of Melrose and +Roslin.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> [Though not in this order. C is the intellectual window; +B, the imaginative one.]</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> It is too much the custom to consider a design as composed +of a certain number of hard lines, instead of a certain number of +shadows of various depth and dimension. Though these shadows change +their position in the course of the day, they are relatively always the +same. They have most variety under a strong light without sun, most +expression with the sun. A little observation of the infinite variety of +shade which the sun is capable of casting, as it touches projections of +different curve and character, will enable the designer to be certain of +his effects. We shall have occasion to allude to this subject again. +[See <i>Seven Lamps of Architecture</i>, III. 13, 23.]</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p> +<h3><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI.</h3> + +<h2>THE BRITISH VILLA.—PRINCIPLES OF COMPOSITION.</h2> + +<h3><i>The Cultivated, or Blue Country and the Wooded, or Green Country.</i></h3> + + +<p>182. In the papers hitherto devoted to the investigation of villa +architecture, we have contemplated the beauties of what may be +considered as its model, in its original and natural territory; and we +have noticed the difficulties to be encountered in the just erection of +villas in England. It remains only to lay down the general principles of +composition, which in such difficulties may, in some degree, serve as a +guide. Into more than general principles it is not consistent with our +plan to enter. One obstacle, which was more particularly noticed, was, +as it may be remembered, the variety of the geological formations of the +country. This will compel us to use the divisions of landscape formerly +adopted in speaking of the cottage, and to investigate severally the +kind of domestic architecture required by each.</p> + +<p>183. First. Blue or cultivated country, which is to be considered as +including those suburban districts, in the neighborhood of populous +cities, which, though more frequently black than blue, possess the +activity, industry, and life, which we before noticed as one of the +characteristics of blue country. We shall not, however, allude to +suburban villas at present; first, because they are in country +possessing nothing which can be spoiled by anything; and, secondly, +because their close association renders them subject to laws which, +being altogether different from those by which we are to judge of the +beauty of solitary villas, we shall have to develop in the consideration +of street effects.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span></p> + +<p>184. Passing over the suburb, then, we have to distinguish between the +<i>simple</i> blue country, which is composed only of rich cultivated +champaign, relieved in parts by low undulations, monotonous and +uninteresting as a whole, though cheerful in its character, and +beautiful in details of lanes and meadow paths; and the <i>picturesque</i> +blue country, lying at the foot of high hill ranges, intersected by +their outworks, broken here and there into bits of crag and dingle +scenery; perpetually presenting prospects of exquisite distant beauty, +and possessing in its valley and river scenery, fine detached specimens +of the natural "green country." This distinction we did not make in +speaking of the cottage; the effect of which, owing to its size, can +extend only over a limited space; and this space, if in picturesque blue +country, must be either part of its monotonous cultivation, when it is +to be considered as belonging to the simple blue country, or part of its +dingle scenery, when it becomes green country; and it would not be just, +to suit a cottage, actually placed in one color, to the general effect +of another color, with which it could have nothing to do. But the effect +of the villa extends very often over a considerable space, and becomes +part of the large features of the district; so that the whole character +and expression of the visible landscape must be considered, and thus the +distinction between the two kinds of blue country becomes absolutely +necessary. Of the first, or simple, we have already adduced, as an +example, the greater part of the South of England. Of the second, or +picturesque, the cultivated parts of the North and East Ridings of +Yorkshire, generally Shropshire, and the north of Lancashire, and +Cumberland, beyond Caldbeck Fells, are good examples; perhaps better +than all, the country for twelve miles north, and thirty south, east, +and west, of Stirling.</p> + + +<h3><i>A. The Simple Blue Country.</i></h3> + +<p>185. Now, the matter-of-fact business-like activity of simple blue +country has been already alluded to. This attribute renders in it a +plain palpable brick dwelling-house<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> allowable; though a thing which, in +every country but the simple blue, compels every spectator of any +feeling to send up aspirations, that builders who, like those of Babel, +have brick for stone, may be put, like those of Babel, to confusion. +Here, however, it is not only allowable, but even agreeable, for the +following reasons:—</p> + +<p>186. Its cleanness and freshness of color, admitting of little dampness +or staining, firm in its consistence, not moldering like stone, and +therefore inducing no conviction of antiquity or decay, presents rather +the appearance of such comfort as is contrived for the enjoyment of +temporary wealth, than of such solidity as is raised for the inheritance +of unfluctuating power. It is thus admirably suited for that country +where all is change, and all activity; where the working and +money-making members of the community are perpetually succeeding and +overpowering each other; enjoying, each in his turn, the reward of his +industry; yielding up the field, the pasture, and the mine, to his +successor, and leaving no more memory behind him, no farther evidence of +his individual existence, than is left by a working bee, in the honey +for which we thank his class, forgetting the individual. The simple blue +country may, in fact, be considered the dining-table of the nation; from +which it provides for its immediate necessities, at which it feels only +its present existence, and in which it requires, not a piece of +furniture adapted only to remind it of past refection, but a polished, +clean, and convenient minister to its immediate wishes. No habitation, +therefore, in this country, should look old: it should give an +impression of present prosperity, of swift motion and high energy of +life; too rapid in its successive operation to attain greatness, or +allow of decay, in its works. This is the first cause which, in this +country, renders brick allowable.</p> + +<p>187. Again, wherever the soil breaks out in simple blue country, whether +in the river shore, or the broken roadside bank, or the plowed field, in +nine cases out of ten it is excessively warm in its color, being either +gravel or clay, the black vegetable soil never remaining free of +vegetation. The warm<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> tone of these beds of soil is an admirable relief +to the blue of the distances, which we have taken as the distinctive +feature of the country, tending to produce the perfect light without +which no landscape can be complete. Therefore the red of the brick is +prevented from glaring upon the eye, by its falling in with similar +colors in the ground, and contrasting finely with the general tone of +the distance. This is another instance of the material which nature most +readily furnishes being the right one. In almost all blue country, we +have only to turn out a few spadefuls of loose soil, and we come to the +bed of clay, which is the best material for the building; whereas we +should have to travel hundreds of miles, or to dig thousands of feet, to +get the stone which nature does not want, and therefore has not given.</p> + +<p>188. Another excellence in brick is its perfect air of English +respectability. It is utterly impossible for an edifice altogether of +brick to look affected or absurd: it may look rude, it may look vulgar, +it may look disgusting, in a wrong place; but it cannot look foolish, +for it is incapable of pretension. We may suppose its master a brute, or +an ignoramus, but we can never suppose him a coxcomb: a bear he may be, +a fop he cannot be; and, if we find him out of his place, we feel that +it is owing to error, not to impudence; to self-ignorance, not to +self-conceit; to the want, not the assumption of feeling. It is thus +that brick is peculiarly English in its effect: for we are brutes in +many things, and we are ignoramuses in many things, and we are destitute +of feeling in many things, but we are <i>not</i> coxcombs. It is only by the +utmost effort, that some of our most highly gifted junior gentlemen can +attain such distinction of title; and even then the honor sits ill upon +them: they are but awkward coxcombs. Affectation<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> never was, and +never will be, a part of English<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> character; we have too much national +pride, too much consciousness of our own dignity and power, too much +established self-satisfaction, to allow us to become ridiculous by +imitative efforts; and, as it is only by endeavoring to appear what he +is not, that a man ever can become so, properly speaking, our +true-witted Continental neighbors, who shrink from John Bull as a brute, +never laugh at him as a fool. "Il est bête, il n'est pas pourtant sot."</p> + +<p>189. The brick house admirably corresponds with this part of English +character; for, unable as it is to be beautiful, or graceful, or +dignified, it is equally unable to be absurd. There is a proud +independence about it, which seems conscious of its entire and perfect +applicability to those uses for which it was built, and full of a +good-natured intention to render every one who seeks shelter within its +walls excessively comfortable; it therefore feels awkward in no company; +and, wherever it intrudes its good-humored red face, stares plaster and +marble out of countenance with an insensible audacity, which we drive +out of such refined company, as we would a clown from a drawing-room, +but which we nevertheless seek in its own place, as we would seek the +conversation of the clown in his own turnip-field, if he were sensible +in the main.</p> + +<p>190. Lastly. Brick is admirably adapted for the climate of England, and +for the frequent manufacturing nuisances of English blue country: for +the smoke, which makes marble look like charcoal, and stucco like mud, +only renders brick less glaring in its color; and the inclement climate, +which makes the composition front look as if its architect had been +amusing himself by throwing buckets of green water down from the roof, +and before which the granite base of Stirling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> Castle is moldering into +sand as impotent as ever was ribbed by ripple, wreaks its rage in vain +upon the bits of baked clay, leaving them strong, and dry, and +stainless, warm and comfortable in their effect, even when neglect has +permitted the moss and wall-flower to creep into their crannies, and +mellow into something like beauty that which is always comfort. Damp, +which fills many stones as it would a sponge, is defied by the brick; +and the warmth of every gleam of sunshine is caught by it, and stored up +for future expenditure; so that, both actually and in its effect, it is +peculiarly suited for a climate whose changes are in general from bad to +worse, and from worse to bad.</p> + +<p>191. These then are the principal apologies which the brick +dwelling-house has to offer for its ugliness. They will, however, only +stand it in stead in the simple blue country; and, even there, only when +the following points are observed.</p> + +<p>First. The brick should neither be of the white, nor the very dark red, +kind. The white is worse than useless as a color: its cold, raw, sandy +neutral has neither warmth enough to relieve, nor gray enough to +harmonize with, any natural tones; it does not please the eye by warmth, +in shade; it hurts it, by dry heat in sun; it has none of the advantages +of effect which brick may have, to compensate for the vulgarity which it +must have, and is altogether to be abhorred. The very bright red, again, +is one of the ugliest warm colors that art ever stumbled upon: it is +never mellowed by damps or anything else, and spoils everything near it +by its intolerable and inevitable glare. The moderately dark brick, of a +neutral red, is to be chosen, and this, after a year or two, will be +farther softened in its color by atmospheric influence, and will possess +all the advantages we have enumerated. It is almost unnecessary to point +out its fitness for a damp situation, not only as the best material for +securing the comfort of the inhabitant, but because it will the sooner +contract a certain degree of softness of tone, occasioned by microscopic +vegetation, which will leave no more brick-red than is agreeable to the +feelings where the atmosphere is chill.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span></p> + +<p>192. Secondly. Even this kind of red is a very powerful color; and as, +in combination with the other primitive colors, very little of it will +complete the light, so, very little will answer every purpose in +landscape composition, and every addition, above that little, will be +disagreeable. Brick, therefore, never should be used in large groups of +buildings, where those groups are to form part of landscape scenery: two +or three houses, partly shaded with trees, are all that can be admitted +at once. There is no object more villainously destructive of natural +beauty, than a large town, of very red brick, with very scarlet tiling, +very tall chimneys, and very few trees; while there are few objects that +harmonize more agreeably with the feeling of English ordinary landscape, +than the large, old, solitary, brick manor house, with its group of dark +cedars on the lawn in front, and the tall wrought-iron gates opening +down the avenue of approach.</p> + +<p>193. Thirdly. No stone quoining, or presence of any contrasting color, +should be admitted. Quoins in general (though, by the by, they are +prettily managed in the old Tolbooth of Glasgow, and some other antique +buildings in Scotland), are only excusable as giving an appearance of +strength; while their zigzag monotony, when rendered conspicuous by +difference of color, is altogether detestable. White cornices, niches, +and the other superfluous introductions in stone and plaster, which some +architects seem to think ornamental, only mock what they cannot mend, +take away the whole expression of the edifice, render the brick-red +glaring and harsh, and become themselves ridiculous in isolation. +Besides, as a general principle, contrasts of extensive color are to be +avoided in all buildings, and especially in positive and unmanageable +tints. It is difficult to imagine whence the custom of putting stone +ornaments into brick buildings could have arisen; unless it be an +imitation of the Italian custom of mixing marble with stucco, which +affords it no sanction, as the marble is only distinguishable from the +general material by the sharpness of the carved edges. The Dutch seem to +have been the originators of the custom; and,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> by the by, if we remember +right, in one of the very finest pieces of coloring now extant, a +landscape by Rubens (in the gallery at Munich, we think), the artist +seems to have sanctioned the barbarism, by introducing a brick edifice, +with white stone quoining. But the truth is that he selected the +subject, partly under the influence of domestic feelings, the place +being, as it is thought, his own habitation, and partly as a piece of +practice, presenting such excessive difficulties of color, as he, the +lord of color, who alone could overcome them, would peculiarly delight +in overcoming; and the harmony with which he has combined tints of the +most daring force, and sharpest apparent contrast, in the edgy building, +and opposed them to an uninteresting distance of excessive azure (simple +blue country, observe), is one of the chief wonders of the painting: so +that this masterpiece can no more furnish an apology for the continuance +of a practice which, though it gives some liveliness of character to the +warehouses of Amsterdam, is fit only for a place whose foundations are +mud, and whose inhabitants are partially animated cheeses,—than +Caravaggio's custom of painting blackguards should introduce an ambition +among mankind in general of becoming fit subjects for his pencil. We +shall have occasion again to allude to this subject, in speaking of +Dutch street effects.</p> + +<p>194. Fourthly. It will generally be found to agree best with the +business-like air of the blue country, if the house be excessively +simple, and apparently altogether the minister of utility; but, where it +is to be extensive, or tall, a few decorations about the upper windows +are desirable. These should be quiet and severe in their lines, and cut +boldly in the brick itself. Some of the minor streets in the King of +Sardinia's capital are altogether of brick, very richly charged with +carving, with excellent effect, and furnish a very good model. Of course +no delicate ornament can be obtained, and no classical lines can be +allowed; for we should be horrified by seeing that in brick which we +have been accustomed to see in marble. The architect must be left to his +own taste for laying<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> on, sparingly and carefully, a few dispositions of +well proportioned line, which are all that can ever be required.</p> + +<p>195. These broad principles are all that need be attended to in simple +blue country: anything will look well in it which is not affected; and +the architect, who keeps comfort and utility steadily in view, and runs +off into no expatiations of fancy, need never be afraid here of falling +into error.</p> + + +<h3><i>B. The Picturesque Blue Country.</i></h3> + +<p>196. But the case is different with the picturesque blue country.<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> +Here, owing to the causes mentioned in the notes at p. 71, we have some +of the most elevated bits of landscape character, which the country, +whatever it may be, can afford. Its first and most distinctive +peculiarity is its grace; it is all undulation and variety of line, one +curve passing into another with the most exquisite softness, rolling +away into faint and far outlines of various depth and decision, yet none +hard or harsh; and in all probability, rounded off in the near ground +into massy forms of partially wooded hill, shaded downwards into winding +dingles or cliffy ravines, each form melting imperceptibly into the +next, without an edge or angle.</p> + +<p>197. Its next character is mystery. It is a country peculiarly +distinguished by its possessing features of great sublimity in the +distance, without giving any hint in the foreground of their actual +nature. A range of mountain, seen from a mountain peak, may have +sublimity, but not the mystery with which it is invested, when seen +rising over the farthest surge of misty blue, where everything near is +soft and smiling, totally separated in nature from the consolidated +clouds of the horizon. The picturesque blue country is sure, from the +nature of the ground, to present some distance of this kind, so as never +to be without a high and ethereal mystery.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p> + +<p>198. The third and last distinctive attribute is sensuality. This is a +startling word, and requires some explanation. In the first place, every +line is voluptuous, floating, and wavy in its form; deep, rich, and +exquisitely soft in its color; drowsy in its effect; like slow wild +music; letting the eye repose on it, as on a wreath of cloud, without +one feature of harshness to hurt, or of contrast to awaken. In the +second place, the cultivation, which, in the simple blue country, has +the forced formality of growth which evidently is to supply the +necessities of man, here seems to leap into the spontaneous luxuriance +of life, which is fitted to minister to his pleasures. The surface of +the earth exults with animation, especially tending to the gratification +of the senses; and, without the artificialness which reminds man of the +necessity of his own labor, without the opposing influences which call +for his resistance, without the vast energies that remind him of his +impotence, without the sublimity that can call his noblest thoughts into +action, yet, with every perfection that can tempt him to indolence of +enjoyment, and with such abundant bestowal of natural gifts, as might +seem to prevent that indolence from being its own punishment, the earth +appears to have become a garden of delight, wherein the sweep of the +bright hills, without chasm or crag, the flow of the bending rivers, +without rock or rapid, and the fruitfulness of the fair earth, without +care or labor on the part of its inhabitants, appeal to the most +pleasant passions of eye and sense, calling for no effort of body, and +impressing no fear on the mind. In hill country we have a struggle to +maintain with the elements; in simple blue, we have not the luxuriance +of delight: here, and here only, all nature combines to breathe over us +a lulling slumber, through which life degenerates into sensation.</p> + +<p>199. These considerations are sufficient to explain what we mean by the +epithet "sensuality." Now, taking these three distinctive attributes, +the mysterious, the graceful, and the voluptuous, what is the whole +character? Very nearly—the Greek: for these attributes, common to all +picturesque<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> blue country, are modified in the degree of their presence +by every climate. In England they are all low in their tone; but as we +go southward, the voluptuousness becomes deeper in feeling as the colors +of the earth and the heaven become purer and more passionate, and "the +purple of ocean deepest of dye;" the mystery becomes mightier, for the +greater and more universal energy of the beautiful permits its features +to come nearer, and to rise into the sublime, without causing fear. It +is thus that we get the essence of the Greek feeling, as it was embodied +in their finest imaginations, as it showed itself in the works of their +sculptors and their poets, in which sensation was made almost equal with +thought, and deified by its nobility of association; at once voluptuous, +refined, dreamily mysterious, infinitely beautiful. Hence, it appears +that the spirit of this blue country is essentially Greek; though, in +England and in other northern localities, that spirit is possessed by it +in a diminished and degraded degree. It is also the natural dominion of +the villa, possessing all the attributes which attracted the Romans, +when, in their hours of idleness, they lifted the light arches along the +echoing promontories of Tiber. It is especially suited to the expression +of the edifice of pleasure; and, therefore, is most capable of being +adorned by it.</p> + +<p>200. The attention of every one about to raise himself a villa of any +kind should, therefore, be directed to this kind of country; first, as +that in which he will not be felt to be an intruder; secondly, as that +which will, in all probability, afford him the greatest degree of +continuous pleasure, when his eye has become accustomed to the features +of the locality. To the human mind, as on the average constituted, the +features of hill scenery will, by repetition, become tiresome, and of +wood scenery, monotonous; while the simple blue can possess little +interest of any kind. Powerful intellect will generally take perpetual +delight in hill residence; but the general mind soon feels itself +oppressed with a peculiar melancholy and weariness, which it is ashamed +to own; and we hear our romantic gentlemen begin to call out about the +want<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> of society, while, if the animals were fit to live where they have +forced themselves, they would never want more society than that of a +gray stone, or of a clear pool of gushing water. On the other hand, +there are few minds so degraded as not to feel greater pleasure in the +picturesque blue than in any other country. Its distance has generally +grandeur enough to meet their moods of aspiration; its near aspect is +that of a more human interest than that of hill country, and harmonizes +more truly with the domestic feelings which are common to all mankind; +so that, on the whole, it will be found to maintain its freshness of +beauty to the habituated eye, in a greater degree than any other +scenery.</p> + +<p>201. As it thus persuades us to inhabit it, it becomes a point of honor +not to make the attractiveness of its beauty its destruction; especially +as, being the natural dominion of the villa, it affords great +opportunity for the architect to exhibit variety of design.</p> + +<p>Its spirit has been proved to be Greek; and therefore, though that +spirit is slightly manifested in Britain, and though every good +architect is shy of importation, villas on Greek and Roman models are +admissible here. Still, as in all blue country there is much activity of +life, the principle of utility should be kept in view, and the building +should have as much simplicity as can be united with perfect +gracefulness of line. It appears from the principles of composition +alluded to in speaking of the Italian villa, that in undulating country +the forms should be square and massy; and, where the segments of curves +are small, the buildings should be low and flat, while they may be +prevented from appearing cumbrous by some well-managed irregularity of +design, which will be agreeable to the inhabitant as well as to the +spectator; enabling him to change the aspect and size of his chamber, as +temperature or employment may render such change desirable, without +being foiled in his design, by finding the apartments of one wing +matched, foot to foot, by those of the other.</p> + +<p>202. For the color, it has been shown that white or pale<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> tints are +agreeable in all blue country: but there must be warmth in it, and a +great deal too,—gray being comfortless and useless with a cold +distance; but it must not be raw or glaring.<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> The roof and chimneys +should be kept out of sight as much as possible; and therefore the one +very flat, and the other very plain. We ought to revive the Greek custom +of roofing with thin slabs of coarse marble, cut into the form of tiles. +However, where the architect finds he has a very cool distance, and few +trees about the building, and where it stands so high as to preclude the +possibility of its being looked down upon, he will, if he be courageous, +use a very flat roof of the dark Italian tile. The eaves, which are all +that should be seen, will be peculiarly graceful; and the sharp contrast +of color (for this tiling can only be admitted with white walls) may be +altogether avoided, by letting them cast a strong shadow, and by running +the walls up into a range of low garret windows, to break the horizontal +line of the roof. He will thus obtain a bit of very strong color, which +will impart a general glow of cheerfulness to the building, and which, +if he manages it rightly, will not be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> glaring nor intrusive. It is to +be observed, however, that he can only do this with villas of the most +humble order, and that he will seldom find his employer possessed of so +much common sense as to put up with a tile roof. When this is the case, +the flat slabs of the upper limestone (ragstone) are usually better than +slate.</p> + +<p>203. For the rest, it is always to be kept in view, that the prevailing +character of the whole is to be that of graceful simplicity; +distinguished from the simplicity of the Italian edifice, by being that +of utility instead of that of pride.<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> Consequently the building must +<i>not</i> be Gothic or Elizabethan: it may be as commonplace as the +proprietor likes, provided its proportions be good; but nothing can ever +excuse one acute angle, or one decorated pinnacle,—both being direct +interruption of the repose with which the eye is indulged by the +undulations of the surrounding scenery. Tower and fortress outlines are +indeed agreeable, for their fine grouping and roundness; but we do not +allude to them, because nothing can be more absurd than the humor +prevailing at the present day among many of our peaceable old gentlemen, +who never smelt powder in their lives, to eat their morning muffin in a +savage-looking round tower, and admit quiet old ladies to a tea-party +under the range of twenty-six cannon, which—it is lucky for the +china—are all wooden ones,—as they are, in all probability, accurately +and awfully pointed into the drawing-room windows.</p> + +<p>So much then for our British blue country, to which it was necessary to +devote some time, as occupying a considerable portion of the island, and +being peculiarly well adapted for villa residences.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span></p> + + +<h3><i>C. The Woody or Green Country.</i></h3> + +<p>204. The woody, or green country, which is next in order, was spoken of +before, and was shown to be especially our own. The Elizabethan was +pointed out as the style peculiarly belonging to it; and farther +criticism of that style was deferred until we came to the consideration +of domestic buildings provided with the means of defense. We have +therefore at present only to offer a few remarks on the principles to be +observed in the erection of Elizabethan villas at the present day.</p> + +<p>205. First. The building must be either quite chaste, or excessively +rich in decoration. Every inch of ornament short of a certain quantity +will render the whole effect poor and ridiculous; while the pure +perpendicular lines of this architecture will always look well if left +entirely alone. The architect therefore, when limited as to expense, +should content himself with making his oriels project boldly, channeling +their mullions richly, and, in general, rendering his vertical lines +delicate and beautiful in their workmanship; but, if his estimate be +unlimited, he should lay on his ornament richly, taking care never to +confuse the eye.</p> + +<p>Those parts to which, of necessity, observation is especially directed, +must be finished so as to bear a close scrutiny, that the eye may rest +on them with satisfaction: but their finish must not be of a character +which would have attracted the eye by itself, without being placed in a +conspicuous situation; for, if it were, the united attraction of form +and detail would confine the contemplation altogether to the parts so +distinguished, and render it impossible for the mind to receive any +impression of general effect.</p> + +<p>Consequently, the parts that project, and are to bear a strong light, +must be chiseled with infinite delicacy; so that the ornament, though it +would have remained unobserved had the eye not been guided to it, when +observed, may be of distinguished beauty and power; but those parts +which are to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> flat and in shade should be marked with great sharpness +and boldness, that the impression may be equalized.</p> + +<p>When, for instance, we have to do with oriels, to which attention is +immediately attracted by their projection, we may run wreaths of the +finest flower-work up the mullions, charge the terminations with +shields, and quarter them richly; but we must join the window to the +wall, where its shadow falls, by means of more deep and decided +decoration.</p> + +<p>206. Secondly. In the choice and design of his ornaments, the architect +should endeavor to be grotesque rather than graceful (though little bits +of soft flower-work here and there will relieve the eye): but he must +not imagine he can be grotesque by carving faces with holes for eyes and +knobs for noses; on the contrary, whenever he mimics grotesque life, +there should be wit and humor in every feature, fun and frolic in every +attitude; every distortion should be anatomical, and every monster a +studied combination. This is a question, however, relating more nearly +to Gothic architecture and therefore we shall not enter into it at +present.<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a></p> + +<p>207. Thirdly. The gables must on no account be jagged into a succession +of right angles, as if people were to be perpetually engaged in trotting +up one side and down the other. This custom, though sanctioned by +authority, has very little apology to offer for itself, based on any +principle of composition. In street effect indeed it is occasionally +useful; and where the verticals below are unbroken by ornament, may be +used even in the detached Elizabethan, but not when decoration has been +permitted below. They should then be carried up in curved lines, +alternating with two angles, or three at the most, without pinnacles or +hipknobs. A hollow parapet is far better than a battlement, in the +intermediate spaces; the latter indeed is never allowable, except when +the building has some appearance of being intended for defense, and +therefore is generally barbarous in the villa; while the parapet admits +of great variety of effect.</p> + +<p>208. Lastly. Though the grotesque of Elizabethan archi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>tecture is +adapted for wood country, the grotesque of the clipped garden, which +frequently accompanies it, is not. The custom of clipping trees into +fantastic forms is always to be reprehended: first, because it never can +produce the true grotesque, for the material is not passive, and, +therefore, a perpetual sense of restraint is induced, while the great +principle of the grotesque is action; again, because we have a distinct +perception of two natures, the one neutralizing the other; for the +vegetable organization is too palpable to let the animal form suggest +its true idea; again, because the great beauty of all foliage is the +energy of life and action, of which it loses the appearance by formal +clipping; and again, because the hands of the gardener will never +produce anything really spirited or graceful. Much, however, need not be +said on this subject; for the taste of the public does not now prompt +them to such fettering of fair freedom, and we should be as sorry to see +the characteristic vestiges of it, which still remain in a few gardens, +lost altogether, as to see the thing again becoming common.</p> + +<p>209. The garden of the Elizabethan villa, then, should be laid out with +a few simple terraces near the house, so as to unite it well with the +ground; lines of balustrade along the edges, guided away into the +foliage of the taller trees of the garden, with the shadows falling at +intervals. The balusters should be square rather than round, with the +angles outward; and if the balustrade looks unfinished at the corners, +it may be surmounted by a grotesque bit of sculpture, of any kind; but +it must be very strong and deep in its carved lines, and must not be +large; and all graceful statues are to be avoided, for the reasons +mentioned in speaking of the Italian villa: neither is the terraced part +of the garden to extend to any distance from the house, nor to have deep +flights of steps, for they are sure to get mossy and slippery, if not +superintended with troublesome care; and the rest of the garden should +have more trees than flowers in it. A flower-garden is an ugly thing, +even when best managed: it is an assembly of unfortunate beings, +pampered and bloated above their nat<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>ural size, stewed and heated into +diseased growth; corrupted by evil communication into speckled and +inharmonious colors; torn from the soil which they loved, and of which +they were the spirit and the glory, to glare away their term of +tormented life among the mixed and incongruous essences of each other, +in earth that they know not, and in air that is poison to them.</p> + +<p>210. The florist may delight in this: the true lover of flowers never +will. He who has taken lessons from nature, who has observed the real +purpose and operation of flowers; how they flush forth from the +brightness of the earth's being, as the melody rises up from among the +moved strings of the instrument; how the wildness of their pale colors +passes over her, like the evidence of a various emotion; how the quick +fire of their life and their delight glows along the green banks, where +the dew falls the thickest, and the mists of incense pass slowly through +the twilight of the leaves, and the intertwined roots make the earth +tremble with strange joy at the feeling of their motion; he who has +watched this will never take away the beauty of their being to mix into +meretricious glare, or feed into an existence of disease. And the +flower-garden is as ugly in effect as it is unnatural in feeling: it +never will harmonize with anything, and if people will have it, should +be kept out of sight till they get into it.</p> + +<p>211. But, in laying out the garden which is to assist the effect of the +building, we must observe, and exclusively use, the natural combinations +of flowers.<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> Now, as far as we are aware, bluish purple is the only +flower color which Nature<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> ever uses in masses of distant effect; this, +however, she does in the case of most heathers, with the Rhododendron +ferrugineum, and, less extensively, with the colder color of the wood +hyacinth. Accordingly, the large rhododendron may be used to almost any +extent, in masses; the pale varieties of the rose more sparingly; and, +on the turf, the wild violet and pansy should be sown by chance, so that +they may grow in undulations of color, and should be relieved by a few +primroses. All dahlias, tulips, ranunculi, and, in general, what are +called florist's flowers, should be avoided like garlic.</p> + +<p>212. Perhaps we should apologize for introducing this in the +<i>Architectural Magazine</i>; but it is not out of place: the garden is +almost a necessary adjunct of the Elizabethan villa, and all garden +architecture is utterly useless unless it be assisted by the botanical +effect.</p> + +<p>These, then, are a few of the more important principles of architecture, +which are to be kept in view in the blue and in the green country. The +wild, or gray, country is never selected, in Britain, as the site of a +villa; and, therefore, it only remains for us to offer a few remarks on +a subject as difficult as it is interesting and important, the +architecture of the villa in British hill, or brown, country.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> The nation, indeed, possesses one or two interesting +individuals, whose affectation is, as we have seen, strikingly +manifested in their lake villas: but every rule has its exceptions; and, +even on these gifted personages, the affectation sits so very awkwardly, +so like a velvet bonnet on a plowman's carroty hair, that it is +evidently a late acquisition. Thus, one proprietor of land on +Windermere, who has built unto himself a castellated mansion with round +towers, and a Swiss cottage for a stable, has yet, with that admiration +of the "neat but not gaudy," which is commonly reported to have +influenced the devil when he painted his tail pea-green, painted the +rocks at the back of his house pink, that they may look clean. This is a +little outcrop of English feeling in the midst of the assumed romance.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> In leaving simple blue country, we hope it need hardly be +said that we leave bricks at once and forever. Nothing can excuse them +out of their proper territory.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> The epithet "raw," by the by, is vague, and needs +definition. Every tint is raw which is perfectly opaque, and has not all +the three primitive colors in its composition. Thus, black is always +raw, because it has no color; white never, because it has all colors. No +tint can be raw which is not opaque; and opacity may be taken away, +either by actual depth and transparency, as in the sky; by luster and +texture, as in the case of silk and velvet, or by variety of shade as in +forest verdure. Two instances will be sufficient to prove the truth of +this. Brick, when first fired, is always raw; but when it has been a +little weathered, it acquires a slight blue tint, assisted by the gray +of the mortar: incipient vegetation affords it the yellow. It thus +obtains an admixture of the three colors, and is raw no longer. An old +woman's red cloak, though glaring, is never raw; for it must of +necessity have folded shades: those shades are of a rich gray; no gray +can exist without yellow and blue. We have then three colors, and no +rawness. It must be observed however, that when any one of the colors is +given in so slight a degree that it can be overpowered by certain +effects of light, the united color, when opaque, will be raw. Thus many +flesh-colors are raw; because, though they must have a little blue in +their composition, it is too little to be efficiently visible in a +strong light.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> There must always be a difficulty in building in +picturesque blue country in England; for the English character is +opposed to that of the country: it is neither graceful, nor mysterious, +nor voluptuous; therefore, what we cede to the country, we take from the +nationality, and <i>vice versâ</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> [See <i>Stones of Venice</i>, vol. III. chap. iii.]</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> Every one who is about to lay out a limited extent of +garden, in which he wishes to introduce many flowers, should read and +attentively study, first Shelley, and next Shakspeare. The latter indeed +induces the most beautiful connections between thought and flower that +can be found in the whole range of European literature; but he very +often uses the symbolical effect of the flower, which it can only have +on the educated mind, instead of the natural and true effect of the +flower, which it must have, more or less, upon every mind. Thus, when +Ophelia, presenting her wild flowers, says, "There's rosemary, that's +for remembrance; pray you, love, remember: and there is pansies, that's +for thoughts:" the infinite "beauty of the passage depends entirely upon +the arbitrary meaning attached to the flowers. But, when Shelley speaks +of</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i12">"The lily of the vale,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Whom youth makes so fair, and passion so pale,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That the light of her tremulous bells is seen</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Through their pavilion of tender green,"</span><br /> +</div> +</div> + +<p>he is etherealizing an impression which the mind naturally receives from +the flower. Consequently, as it is only by their natural influence that +flowers can address the mind through the eye, we must read Shelley, to +learn how to use flowers, and Shakspeare, to learn to love them. In both +writers we find the wild flower possessing soul as well as life, and +mingling its influence most intimately, like an untaught melody, with +the deepest and most secret streams of human emotion.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></p> +<h3><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII.</h3> + +<h2>THE BRITISH VILLA.—PRINCIPLES OF COMPOSITION.</h2> + +<h3><i>D. Hill, or Brown Country.</i></h3> + +<h4>"Vivite contenti casulis et collibus istis."—Juvenal [xiv. 179.]</h4> + + +<p>213. In the Boulevard des Italiens, just at the turning into the Rue de +la Paix (in Paris), there stand a few dusky and withered trees, beside a +kind of dry ditch, paved at the bottom, into which a carriage can with +some difficulty descend, and which affords access (not in an unusual +manner) to the ground floor of a large and dreary-looking house, whose +passages are dark and confined, whose rooms are limited in size, and +whose windows command an interesting view of the dusky trees before +mentioned.</p> + +<p>This is the town residence of one of the Italian noblemen, whose country +house has already been figured as a beautiful example of the villas of +the Lago di Como. That villa, however, though in one of the loveliest +situations that hill, and wave, and heaven ever combined to adorn, and +though itself one of the most delicious habitations that luxury ever +projected or wealth procured, is very rarely honored by the presence of +its master; while attractions of a very different nature retain him, +winter after winter, in the dark chambers of the Boulevard des Italiens.</p> + +<p>214. This appears singular to the casual traveler, who darts down from +the dust and heat of the French capital to the light and glory of the +Italian lakes, and finds the tall marble chambers and orange groves, in +which he thinks, were he possessed of them, he could luxuriate forever, +left<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> desolate and neglected by their real owner; but, were he to try +such a residence for a single twelvemonth, we believe his wonder would +have greatly diminished at the end of the time. For the mind of the +nobleman in question does not differ from that of the average of men; +inasmuch as it is a well-known fact that a series of sublime +impressions, continued indefinitely, gradually pall upon the +imagination, deaden its fineness of feeling, and in the end induce a +gloomy and morbid state of mind, a reaction of a peculiarly melancholy +character, because consequent, not upon the absence of that which once +caused excitement, but upon the failure of its power.<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> This is not +the case with all men; but with those over whom the sublimity of an +unchanging scene can retain its power forever, we have nothing to do; +for they know better than any architect can, how to choose their scene, +and how to add to its effect; we have only to impress upon them the +propriety of thinking before they build, and of keeping their humors +under the control of their judgment.</p> + +<p>215. It is not of them, but of the man of average intellect, that we are +thinking throughout all these papers; and upon him it cannot be too +strongly impressed, that there are very few points in a hill country at +all adapted for a permanent residence. There is a kind of instinct, +indeed, by which men become aware of this, and shrink from the sterner +features of hill scenery into the parts possessing a human interest; and +thus we find the north side of the Lake Leman, from Vevay to Geneva, +which is about as monotonous a bit of vine-country as any in Europe, +studded with villas; while the south side, which is as exquisite a piece +of scenery as is to be found in all Switzerland, possesses, we think, +two. The instinct in this case is true; but we frequently find it in +error. Thus, the Lake of Como is the resort of half Italy, while the +Lago Maggiore possesses scarcely one villa of importance, besides those +on the Borromean Islands. Yet the Lago Maggiore is far better adapted +for producing and sustaining a pleasurable impression, than that of +Como.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span></p> + +<p>216. The first thing, then, which the architect has to do in hill +country is to bring his employer down from heroics to common sense; to +teach him that, although it might be very well for a man like Pliny,<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> +whose whole spirit and life was wrapt up in that of Nature, to set +himself down under the splash of a cascade 400 feet high, such escapades +are not becoming in English gentlemen; and that it is necessary, for his +own satisfaction, as well as that of others, that he should keep in the +most quiet and least pretending corners of the landscape which he has +chosen.</p> + +<p>217. Having got his employer well under control, he has two points to +consider. First, where he will spoil least; and, secondly, where he will +gain most.</p> + +<p>Now he may spoil a landscape in two ways: either by destroying an +association connected with it, or a beauty inherent in it. With the +first barbarism we have nothing to do; for it is one which would not be +permitted on a large scale; and even if it were, could not be +perpetrated by any man of the slightest education. No one, having any +pretensions to be called a human being, would build himself a house on +the meadow of the Rütli, or by the farm of La Haye Sainte, or on the +lonely isle on Loch Katrine. Of the injustice of the second barbarism we +have spoken already; and it is the object of this paper to show how it +may be avoided, as well as to develop the principles by which we may be +guided in the second question; that of ascertaining how much permanent +pleasure will be received from the contemplation of a given scene.</p> + +<p>218. It is very fortunate that the result of these several +investigations will generally be found the same. The residence which in +the end is found altogether delightful, will be found to have been +placed where it has committed no injury; and therefore the best way of +consulting our own convenience<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> in the end is, to consult the feelings +of the spectator in the beginning.<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> Now, the first grand rule for the +choice of situation is, never to build a villa where the ground is not +richly productive. It is not enough that it should be capable of +producing a crop of scanty oats or turnips in a fine season; it must be +rich and luxuriant, and glowing with vegetative power of one kind or +another.<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> For the very chiefest<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> part of the character of the +edifice of pleasure is, and must be, its perfect ease, its appearance of +felicitous repose. This it can never have where the nature and +expression of the land near it reminds us of the necessity of labor, and +where the earth is niggardly of all that constitutes its beauty and our +pleasure; this it can only have where the presence of man seems the +natural consequence of an ample provision for his enjoyment, not the +continuous struggle of suffering existence with a rude heaven and rugged +soil. There is nobility in such a struggle, but not when it is +maintained by the inhabitant of the villa, in whom it is unnatural, and +therefore injurious in its effect. The narrow cottage on the desolate +moor, or the stalwart hospice on the crest of the Alps, each leaves an +ennobling impression of energy and endurance; but the possessor of the +villa should call, not upon our admiration, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> upon our sympathy; and +his function is to deepen the impression of the beauty and the fullness +of creation, not to exhibit the majesty of man; to show, in the +intercourse of earth and her children, not how her severity may be +mocked by their heroism, but how her bounty may be honored in their +enjoyment.</p> + +<p>219. This position, being once granted, will save us a great deal of +trouble; for it will put out of our way, as totally unfit for villa +residence, nine-tenths of all mountain scenery; beginning with such +bleak and stormy bits of hillside as that which was metamorphosed into +something like a forest by the author of "Waverley;" laying an equal +veto on all the severe landscapes of such districts of minor mountains +as the Scotch Highlands and North Wales; and finishing by setting aside +all the higher sublimity of Alp and Apennine. What, then, has it left +us? The gentle slope of the lake shore, and the spreading parts of the +quiet valley in almost all scenery; and the shores of the Cumberland +lakes in our own, distinguished as they are by a richness of soil, +which, though generally manifested only in an exquisite softness of +pasture and roundness of undulation, is sufficiently evident to place +them out of the sweeping range of this veto.</p> + +<p>220. Now, as we have only to do with Britain at present, we shall direct +particular attention to the Cumberland lakes, as they are the only +mountain district which, taken generally, is adapted for the villa +residence, and as every piece of scenery, which in other districts is so +adapted, resembles them in character and tone.</p> + +<p>We noticed, in speaking of the Westmoreland cottage, the feeling of +humility with which we are impressed during a mountain ramble. Now, it +is nearly impossible for a villa of large size, however placed, not to +disturb and interrupt this necessary and beautiful impression, +particularly where the scenery is on a very small scale. This +disadvantage may be obviated in some degree, as we shall see, by +simplicity of architecture; but another, dependent on a question of +proportion, is inevitable.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span></p> + +<p>221. When an object, in which magnitude is a desirable attribute, leaves +an impression, on a practiced eye, of less magnitude than it really +possesses, we should place objects beside it, of whose magnitude we can +satisfy ourselves, of larger size than that which we are accustomed to; +for, by finding these large objects in precisely the proportion to the +grand object, to which we <i>are</i> accustomed, while we know their actual +size to be one to which we are <i>not</i> accustomed, we become aware of the +true magnitude of the principal feature. But where the object leaves a +true impression of its size on the practiced eye, we shall do harm by +rendering minor objects either larger or smaller than they usually are. +Where the object leaves an impression of greater magnitude than it +really possesses, we must render the minor objects smaller than they +usually are, to prevent our being undeceived.</p> + +<p>222. Now, a mountain of 15,000 feet high always looks lower than it +really is; therefore the larger the buildings near it are rendered, the +better. Thus, in speaking of the Swiss cottage, it was observed that a +building of the size of St. Peter's in its place, would exhibit the size +of the mountains more truly and strikingly. A mountain 7000 feet high +strikes its impression with great truth; we are deceived on neither +side; therefore the building near it should be of the average size; and +thus the villas of the Lago di Como, being among hills from 6000 to 8000 +feet high, are well proportioned, being neither colossal nor diminutive: +but a mountain 3000 feet high always looks higher than it really +is;<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> therefore the buildings near it should be smaller than the +average. And this is what is meant by the proportion of objects; namely, +rendering them of such relative size as shall produce the greatest +possible impression of those attributes which are most desirable in +both. It is not the true, but the desirable impression which is to be +conveyed; and it must not be in one, but in both: the building must not +be overwhelmed by the mass of the mountain, nor the precipice mocked by +the elevation of the cottage. (Proportion of color is a question of +quite a different nature, dependent merely on admixture and +combination).</p> + +<p>223. For these reasons, buildings of a very large size are decidedly +destructive of effect among the English lakes: first, because apparent +altitudes are much diminished by them; and, secondly, because, whatever +position they may be placed in, instead of combining with scenery, they +occupy and overwhelm it; for all scenery is divided into pieces, each of +which has a near bit of beauty, a promontory of lichened crag, or a +smooth swarded knoll, or something of the kind, to begin with. Wherever +the large villa comes, it takes up one of these beginnings of landscape +altogether; and the parts of crag or wood, which ought to combine with +it, become sub<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>servient to it, and lost in its general effect; that is, +ordinarily, in a general effect of ugliness. This should never be the +case: however intrinsically beautiful the edifice may be, it should +assist, but not supersede; join, but not eclipse; appear, but not +intrude.</p> + +<p>224. The general rule by which we are to determine the size is, to +select the largest mass which will not overwhelm any object of fine +form, within two hundred yards of it; and if it does not do this, we may +be quite sure it is not too large for the distant features: for it is +one of Nature's most beautiful adaptations, that she is never out of +proportion with herself; that is, the minor details of scenery of the +first class bear exactly the proportion to the same species of detail in +scenery of the second class, that the large features of the first bear +to the large features of the second. Every mineralogist knows that the +quartz of the St. Gothard is as much larger in its crystal than the +quartz of Snowdon, as the peak of the one mountain overtops the peak of +the other; and that the crystals of the Andes are larger than +either.<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> Every artist knows that the bowlders of an Alpine +foreground, and the leaps of an Alpine stream, are as much larger than +the bowlders, and as much bolder than the leaps, of a Cumberland +foreground and torrent, as the Jungfrau is higher than Skiddaw. +Therefore, if we take care of the near effect in any country, we need +never be afraid of the distant.</p> + +<p>225. For these reasons, the cottage villa, rather than the mansion, is +to be preferred among our hills: it has been preferred in many +instances, and in too many, with an unfortunate result; for the cottage +villa is precisely that which affords the greatest scope for practical +absurdity. Symmetry, proportion, and some degree of simplicity, are +usually kept in view in the large building; but, in the smaller, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> +architect considers himself licensed to try all sorts of experiments, +and jumbles together pieces of imitation, taken at random from his +note-book, as carelessly as a bad chemist mixing elements, from which he +may by accident obtain something new, though the chances are ten to one +that he obtains something useless. The chemist, however, is more +innocent than the architect; for the one throws his trash out of the +window, if the compound fail; while the other always thinks his conceit +too good to be lost. The great one cause of all the errors in this +branch of architecture is, the principle of imitation, at once the most +baneful and the most unintellectual, yet perhaps the most natural, that +the human mind can encourage or act upon.<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> Let it once be thoroughly +rooted out, and the cottage villa will become a beautiful and +interesting element of our landscape.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></p><p>226. So much for size. The question of position need not detain us long, +as the principles advanced in § 104 are true generally, with one +exception. Beautiful and calm the situation must always be, but—in +England—not conspicuous. In Italy, the dwelling of the descendants of +those whose former life has bestowed on every scene the greater part of +the majesty which it possesses, ought to have a dignity inherent in it, +which would be shamed by shrinking back from the sight<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> of men, and +majesty enough to prevent such non-retirement from becoming intrusive; +but the spirit of the English landscape is simple, and pastoral and +mild, devoid, also, of high associations (for in the Highlands and Wales +almost every spot which has the pride of memory is unfit for villa +residence); and, therefore, all conspicuous appearance of its more +wealthy inhabitants becomes ostentation, not dignity; impudence, not +condescension. Their dwellings ought to be just evident, and no more, as +forming part of the gentle animation and present prosperity which is the +beauty of cultivated ground. And this partial concealment may be +effected without any sacrifice of the prospect which the proprietor will +insist upon commanding from his windows, and with great accession to his +permanent enjoyment.</p> + +<p>227. For, first, the only prospect which is really desirable or +delightful, is that from the window of the breakfast-room. This is +rather a bold position, but it will appear evident on a little +consideration. It is pleasant enough to have a pretty little bit visible +from the bedrooms; but, after all, it only makes gentlemen cut +themselves in shaving, and ladies never think of anything beneath the +sun when they are dressing. Then, in the dining-room, windows are +absolutely useless, because dinner is always uncomfortable by daylight, +and the weight of furniture effect which adapts the room for the +gastronomic rites, renders it detestable as a sitting-room. In the +library, people should have something else to do, than looking out of +the windows; in the drawing-room, the uncomfortable stillness of the +quarter of an hour before dinner, may, indeed, be alleviated by having +something to converse about at the windows: but it is very shameful to +spoil a prospect of any kind, by looking at it when we are not ourselves +in a state of corporal comfort and mental good-humor, which nobody can +be after the labor of the day, and before he has been fed. But the +breakfast-room, where we meet the first light of the dewy day, the first +breath of the morning air, the first glance of gentle eyes; to which we +descend in the very spring and elasticity of mental renovation and +bodily<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> energy, in the gathering up of our spirit for the new day, in +the flush of our awakening from the darkness and the mystery of faint +and inactive dreaming, in the resurrection from our daily grave, in the +first tremulous sensation of the beauty of our being, in the most +glorious perception of the lightning of our life; there, indeed, our +expatiation of spirit, when it meets the pulse of outward sound and joy, +the voice of bird and breeze and billow, <i>does</i> demand some power of +liberty, some space for its going forth into the morning, some freedom +of intercourse with the lovely and limitless energy of creature and +creation.</p> + +<p>228. The breakfast-room must have a prospect, and an extensive one; the +hot roll and hyson are indiscussable except under such sweet +circumstances. But he must be an awkward architect who cannot afford an +opening to one window without throwing the whole mass of the building +open to public view; particularly as, in the second place, the essence +of a good window view is the breaking out of the distant features in +little well-composed <i>morceaux</i>, not the general glare of a mass of one +tone. Have we a line of lake? the silver water must glance out here and +there among the trunks of near trees, just enough to show where it +flows; then break into an open swell of water, just where it is widest, +or where the shore is prettiest. Have we mountains? their peaks must +appear over foliage or through it, the highest and boldest catching the +eye conspicuously, yet not seen from base to summit, as if we wanted to +measure them. Such a prospect as this is always compatible with as much +concealment as we choose. In all these pieces of management, the +architect's chief enemy is the vanity of his employer, who will always +want to see more than he ought to see, and than he will have pleasure in +seeing, without reflecting how the spectators pay for his peeping.</p> + +<p>229. So much, then, for position. We have now only to settle the +questions of form and color, and we shall then have closed the most +tiresome investigation which we shall be called upon to enter into; +inasmuch as the principles which we may arrive at in considering the +architecture of defense,<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> though<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> we hope they may be useful in the +abstract, will demand no application to native landscape, in which, +happily, no defense is now required; and those relating to sacred +edifices will, we also hope, be susceptible of more interest than can +possibly be excited by the most degraded branch of the whole art of +architecture, one hardly worthy of being included under the name—that, +namely, with which we have lately been occupied, whose ostensible object +is the mere provision of shelter and comfort for the despicable shell +within whose darkness and corruption that purity of perception to which +all high art is addressed is, during its immaturity, confined.</p> + +<p>230. There are two modes in which any mental or material effect may be +increased—by contrast, or by assimilation. Supposing that we have a +certain number of features or existences under a given influence; then, +by subjecting another feature to the same influence, we increase the +universality, and therefore the effect, of that influence; but by +introducing another feature, <i>not</i> under the same influence, we render +the subjection of the other features more palpable, and therefore more +effective. For example, let the influence be one of shade, to which a +certain number of objects are subjected. We add another feature, +subjected to the same influence, and we increase the <i>general +impression</i> of shade; we add the same feature, <i>not</i> subjected to this +influence, and we have deepened the <i>effect</i> of shade.</p> + +<p>Now, the principles by which we are to be guided in the selection of one +or other of these means are of great importance, and must be developed +before we can conclude the investigation of villa architecture.</p> + +<p>231. The impression produced by a given effect or influence depends upon +its degree and its duration. Degree always means the proportionate +energy exerted. Duration is either into time, or into space, or into +both. The duration of color is in space alone, forming what is commonly +called extent. The duration of sound is in space and time; the space +being in the size of the waves of air, which give depth to the tone. The +duration of mental emotion is in time<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> alone. Now in all influences, as +is the degree, so is the impression; as is the duration, so is the +effect of the impression; that is, its permanent operation upon the +feelings, or the violence with which it takes possession of our own +faculties and senses, as opposed to the abstract impression of its +existence, without such operation on our own essence.</p> + +<p>For example, the natural tendency of darkness or shade is to induce fear +or melancholy. Now, as the degree of the shade, so is the abstract +impression of the existence of shade; but as the duration of shade, so +is the fear or melancholy excited by it.</p> + +<p>Consequently, when we wish to increase the abstract impression of the +power of any influence over objects with which we have no connection, we +must increase degree; but, when we wish the impression to produce a +permanent effect upon ourselves, we must increase duration.</p> + +<p>Now, degree is always increased by contrast, and duration by +assimilation. A few instances of this will be sufficient.</p> + +<p>232. Blue is called a cold color, because it induces a feeling of +coolness to the eye, and is much used by nature in her cold effects.</p> + +<p>Supposing that we have painted a storm scene, in desolate country, with +a single miserable cottage somewhere in front; that we have made the +atmosphere and the distance cold and blue, and wish to heighten the +comfortless impression.</p> + +<p>There is an old rag hanging out of the window: shall it be red or blue? +If it be red, the piece of warm color will contrast strongly with the +atmosphere; will render its blueness and chilliness immensely more +apparent; will increase the <i>degree</i> of both, and, therefore, the +abstract impression of the existence of cold. But, if it be blue, it +will bring the iciness of the distance up into the foreground; will fill +the whole visible space with comfortless cold; will take away every +relief from the desolation; will increase the <i>duration</i> of the +influence, and, consequently, will extend its operation into the mind +and feelings of the spectator, who will shiver as he looks.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span></p> + +<p>Now, if we are making a <i>picture</i>, we shall not hesitate a moment: in +goes the red; for the artist, while he wishes to render the actual +impression of the presence of cold in the landscape as strong as +possible, does not wish that chilliness to pass over into, or affect, +the spectator, but endeavors to make the combination of color as +delightful to his eye and feelings as possible.<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> But, if we are +painting a <i>scene</i> for theatrical representation, where deception is +aimed at, we shall be as decided in our proceeding on the opposite +principle: in goes the blue; for we wish the idea of cold to pass over +into the spectator, and make him so uncomfortable as to permit his fancy +to place him distinctly in the place we desire, in the actual scene.</p> + +<p>233. Again, Shakspeare has been blamed by some few critical asses for +the raillery of Mercutio, and the humor of the nurse, in "Romeo and +Juliet;" for the fool in "Lear;" for the porter in "Macbeth;" the +grave-diggers in "Hamlet," etc.; because, it is said, these bits +interrupt the tragic feeling. No such thing; they enhance it to an +incalculable extent; they deepen its <i>degree</i>, though they diminish its +duration. And what is the result? that the impression of the agony of +the individuals brought before us is far stronger than it could +otherwise have been, and our sympathies are more forcibly awakened; +while, had the contrast been wanting, the impression of pain would have +come over into ourselves, our selfish feeling, instead of our sympathy, +would have been awakened; the conception of the grief of others +diminished; and the tragedy would have made us very uncomfortable, but +never have melted us to tears or excited us to indignation. When he, +whose merry and satirical laugh rung in our ears the moment before, +faints before us, with "a plague o' both your houses, they have made +worms' meat of me," the acuteness of our feeling is excessive: but, had +we not heard the laugh before, there would have been a dull<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> weight of +melancholy impression, which would have been painful, not affecting.</p> + +<p>234. Hence, we see the grand importance of the choice of our means of +enhancing effect, and we derive the simple rule for that choice, namely, +that, when we wish to increase abstract impression, or to call upon the +sympathy of the spectator, we are to use contrast; but, when we wish to +extend the operation of the impression, or to awaken the selfish +feelings, we are to use assimilation.</p> + +<p>This rule, however, becomes complicated, where the feature of contrast +is not altogether passive; that is, where we wish to give a conception +of any qualities inherent in that feature, as well as in what it +relieves; and, besides, it is not always easy to know whether it will be +best to increase the abstract idea, or its operation. In most cases, +energy, the degree of influence, is beauty; and, in many, the duration +of influence is monotony. In others, duration is sublimity, and energy +painful: in a few, energy and duration are attainable and delightful +together.</p> + +<p>235. It is impossible to give rules for judgment in every case; but the +following points must always be observed:—First, when we use contrast, +it must be natural and likely to occur. Thus the contrast in tragedy is +the natural consequence of the character of human existence; it is what +we see and feel every day of our lives. When a contrast is unnatural, it +destroys the effect it should enhance.</p> + +<p>Canning called on a French refugee in 1794. The conversation naturally +turned on the execution of the Queen, then a recent event. Overcome by +his feelings, the Parisian threw himself upon the ground, exclaiming, in +an agony of tears, "La bonne reine! la pauvre reine!" Presently he +sprang up, exclaiming, "Cependant, Monsieur, il faut vous faire voir mon +petit chien danser." This contrast, though natural in a Parisian, was +unnatural in the nature of things, and therefore injurious.</p> + +<p>236. Secondly, when the general influence, instead of being external, is +an attribute or energy of the thing itself,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> so as to bestow on it a +permanent character, the contrast which is obtained by the absence of +that character is injurious, and becomes what is called an interruption +of the unity. Thus, the raw and colorless tone of the Swiss cottage, +noticed in § 42, is an injurious contrast to the richness of the +landscape, which is an inherent and necessary energy in surrounding +objects. So, the character of Italian landscape is curvilinear; +therefore, the outline of the buildings entering into its composition +must be arranged on curvilinear principles, as investigated in § 144.</p> + +<p>237. Thirdly. But, if the pervading character can be obtained in the +single object by different means, the contrast will be delightful. Thus, +the elevation of character which the hill districts of Italy possess by +the magnificence of their forms, is transmitted to the villa by its +dignity of detail and simplicity of outline; and the rectangular +interruption to the curve of picturesque blue country, partaking of the +nature of that which it interrupts, is a contrast giving relief and +interest, while any Elizabethan acute angles, on the contrary, would +have been a contrast obtained by the absence of the pervading energy of +the universal curvilinear character, and therefore improper.</p> + +<p>238. Fourthly, when the general energy, instead of pervading +simultaneously the multitude of objects, as with one spirit, is +independently possessed and manifested by every individual object, the +result is repetition, not unity; and contrast is not merely agreeable, +but necessary. Thus, a number of objects, forming the line of beauty, is +pervaded by one simple energy; but if that energy is separately +manifested in each, the result is painful monotony. Parallel right +lines, without grouping, are always liable to this objection; and, +therefore, a distant view of a flat country is never beautiful unless +its horizontals are lost in richness of vegetation, as in Lombardy, or +broken with masses of forest, or with distant hills. If none of these +interruptions take place, there is immediate monotony, and no +introduction can be more delightful than such a tower in the distance as +Strasburg, or, indeed,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> than any architectural combination of verticals. +Peterborough is a beautiful instance of such an adaptation. It is +always, then, to be remembered that repetition is not assimilation.</p> + +<p>239. Fifthly, when any attribute is necessarily beautiful, that is, +beautiful in every place and circumstance, we need hardly say that the +contrast consisting in its absence is painful. It is only when beauty is +local or accidental that opposition may be employed.</p> + +<p>Sixthly. The <i>edge</i> of all contrasts, so to speak, should be as soft as +is consistent with decisive effect. We mean, that a gradual change is +better than instantaneous transfiguration; for, though always less +effective, it is more agreeable. But this must be left very much to the +judgment.</p> + +<p>Seventhly. We must be very careful in ascertaining whether any given +contrast is obtained by freedom from external, or absence of internal, +energy, for it is often a difficult point to decide. Thus, the peace of +the Alpine valley might, at first, seem to be a contrast caused by the +want of the character of strength and sublimity manifested in the hills; +but it is really caused by the freedom from the general and external +influence of violence and desolation.</p> + +<p>240. These, then, are principles applicable to all arts, without a +single exception, and of particular importance in painting and +architecture.<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> It will sometimes be found that one rule comes in the +way of another; in which case, the most important is, of course, to be +obeyed; but, in general, they will afford us an easy means of arriving +at certain results, when, before, our conjectures must have been vague +and unsatisfactory.</p> + +<p>We may now proceed to determine the most proper <i>form</i> for the mountain +villa of England.</p> + +<p>241. We must first observe the prevailing lines of the near hills: if +they are vertical, there will most assuredly be monotony, for the +vertical lines of crag are never grouped, and accordingly, by our fourth +rule, the prevailing lines of our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> edifice must be horizontal. On the +Lake of Thun the tendency of the hills is vertical; this tendency is +repeated by the buildings,<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> and the composition becomes thoroughly +bad; but on the Lake of Como we have the same vertical tendency in the +hills, while the grand lines of the buildings are horizontal, and the +composition is good. But, if the prevailing lines of the near hills be +curved (and they will be either curved or vertical), we must not +interrupt their character, for the energy is then pervading, not +individual; and, therefore, our edifice must be rectangular.</p> + +<p>In both cases, therefore, the grand outline of the villa is the same; +but in one we have it set off by contrast, in the other by assimilation; +and we must work out in the architecture of each edifice the principle +on which we have begun. Commencing with that in which we are to work by +contrast: the vertical crags must be the result of violence, and the +influence of destruction, of distortion, of torture, to speak strongly, +must be evident in their every line. We free the building from this +influence, and give it repose, gracefulness, and ease; and we have a +contrast of feeling as well as of line, by which the desirable +attributes are rendered evident in both objects, while the <i>duration</i> of +neither energy being allowed, there can be no disagreeable effect upon +the spectator, who will not shrink from the terror of the crags, nor +feel a want of excitement in the gentleness of the building.</p> + +<p>242. Secondly, Solitude is powerful and evident in its effect on the +distant hills; therefore the effect of the villa should be joyous and +life-like (not flippant, however, but serene); and, by rendering it so, +we shall enhance the sublimity of the distance, as we showed in speaking +of the Westmoreland cottage; and, therefore, we may introduce a number +of windows with good effect, provided that they are kept in horizontal +lines, and do not disturb the repose which we have shown to be +necessary.</p> + +<p>These three points of contrast will be quite enough: there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> is no other +external influence from which we can free the building, and the +pervading energy must be communicated to it, or it will not harmonize +with our feelings; therefore, before proceeding, we had better determine +how this contrast is to be carried out in detail.</p> + +<p>243. Our lines are to be horizontal; then the roof must be as flat as +possible. We need not think of snow, because, however much we may slope +the roof, it will not slip off from the material, which, here, is the +only proper one; and the roof of the cottage is always very flat, which +it would not be if there were any inconvenience attending such a form. +But, for the sake of the second contrast, we are to have gracefulness +and ease, as well as horizontality. Then we must break the line of the +roof into different elevations, yet not making the difference great, or +we shall have visible verticals. And this must not be done at random.</p> + + +<p><a name="fig14"></a></p> +<p class="figcenter"><img src="./images/fig14.jpg" +alt="Fig. 14. Leading lines of Villa-composition." +title="Fig. 14. Leading lines of Villa-composition." /></p> +<p class="figcenter caption">Fig. 14. Leading lines of Villa-composition.</p> + + +<p>244. Take a flat line of beauty, <i>a d</i>, fig. 14, for the length of the +edifice. Strike <i>a b</i> horizontally from <i>a</i>, <i>c d</i> from <i>d</i>; let fall +the verticals, make <i>c f</i> equal <i>m n</i>, the maximum; and draw <i>h f</i>. The +curve should be so far continued as that <i>h f</i> shall be to <i>c d</i> as <i>c +d</i> to <i>a b</i>. Then we are sure of a beautifully proportioned form. Much +variety may be introduced by using different curves; joining parabolas +with cycloids, etc.; but the use of curves is always the best mode of +obtaining good forms.<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a></p> + +<p>Further ease may be obtained by added combinations. For instance, strike +another curve (<i>a q b</i>) through the flat<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> line <i>a b</i>; bisect the maximum +<i>v p</i>, draw the horizontal <i>r s</i>, (observing to make the largest maximum +of this curve towards the smallest maximum of the great curve, to +restore the balance), join <i>r q</i>, <i>s b</i>, and we have another +modification of the same beautiful form. This may be done in either side +of the building, but not in both.</p> + +<p>245. Then, if the flat roof be still found monotonous, it may be +interrupted by garret windows, which must not be gabled, but turned with +the curve <i>a b</i>, whatever that may be. This will give instant humility +to the building, and take away any vestiges of Italian character which +might hang about it, and which would be wholly out of place.</p> + +<p>The windows may have tolerably broad architraves, but no cornices; an +ornament both haughty and classical in its effect, and, on both +accounts, improper here. They should be in level lines, but grouped at +unequal distances, or they will have a formal and artificial air, +unsuited to the irregularity and freedom around them. Some few of them +may be arched, however, with the curve <i>a b</i>, the mingling of the curve +and the square being very graceful. There should not be more than two +tiers and the garrets, or the building will be too high.</p> + +<p>So much for the general outline of the villa, in which we are to work by +contrast. Let us pass over to that in which we are to work by +assimilation, before speaking of the material and color which should be +common to both.</p> + +<p>246. The grand outline must be designed on exactly the same principles; +for the curvilinear proportions, which were opposition before, will now +be assimilation. Of course, we do not mean to say that every villa in a +hill country should have the form <i>a b c d</i>; we should be tired to death +if they had: but we bring forward that form as an example of the +agreeable result of the principles on which we should always work, but +whose result should be the same in no two cases. A modification of that +form, however, will frequently be found useful; for, under the +depression <i>h f</i>, we may have a hall of entrance and of exercise, which +is a requisite of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> extreme importance in hill districts, where it rains +three hours out of four all the year round; and under <i>c d</i> we may have +the kitchen, servants' rooms, and coachhouse, leaving the large division +quiet and comfortable.</p> + +<p>247. Then, as in the curved country there is no such distortion as that +before noticed, no such evidence of violent agency, we need not be so +careful about the appearance of perfect peace; we may be a little more +dignified and a little more classical. The windows may be symmetrically +arranged; and, if there be a blue and undulating distance, the upper +tier may even have cornices; narrower architraves are to be used; the +garrets may be taken from the roof, and their inmates may be +accommodated in the other side of the house; but we must take care, in +doing this, not to become Greek. The material, as we shall see +presently, will assist us in keeping unclassical; and not a vestige of +column or capital must appear in any part of the edifice. All should be +pure, but all should be English; and there should be here, as elsewhere, +much of the utilitarian about the whole, suited to the cultivated +country in which it is placed.</p> + +<p>248. It will never do to be speculative or imaginative in our details, +on the supposition that the tendency of fine scenery is to make +everybody imaginative and enthusiastic. Enthusiasm has no business with +Turkey carpets or easy-chairs; and the very preparation of comfort for +the body, which the existence of the villa supposes, is inconsistent +with the supposition of any excitement of mind: and this is another +reason for keeping the domestic building in richly productive country. +Nature has set aside her sublime bits for us to feel and think in; she +has pointed out her productive bits for us to sleep and eat in; and, if +we sleep and eat amongst the sublimity, we are brutal; if we poetize +amongst the cultivation, we are absurd. There are the time and place for +each state of existence, and we should not jumble that which Nature has +separated. She has addressed herself, in one part, wholly to the mind; +there is nothing for us to eat but bilberries, nothing to rest upon but +rock, and we have no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> business to concoct picnics, and bring cheese, and +ale, and sandwiches, in baskets, to gratify our beastly natures, where +Nature never intended us to eat (if she had, we needn't have brought the +baskets). In the other part, she has provided for our necessities; and +we are very absurd, if we make ourselves fantastic, instead of +comfortable. Therefore, all that we ought to do in the hill villa is, to +adapt it for the habitation of a man of the highest faculties of +perception and feeling; but only for the habitation of his hours of +common sense, not of enthusiasm; it must be his dwelling as a man, not +as a spirit; as a thing liable to decay, not as an eternal energy; as a +perishable, not as an immortal.</p> + +<p>249. Keeping, then, in view these distinctions of form between the two +villas, the remaining considerations relate equally to both. We have +several times alluded to the extreme richness and variety of hill +foreground, as an internal energy to which there must be no contrast. +Rawness of color is to be especially avoided, but so, also, is poverty +of effect. It will, therefore, add much to the beauty of the building, +if in any conspicuous and harsh angle, or shadowy molding, we introduce +a wreath of carved leafwork,—in stone, of course. This sounds startling +and expensive; but we are not thinking of expense: what ought to be, not +what can be afforded, is the question. Besides, when all expense in +shamming castles, building pinnacles, and all other fantasticisms has +been shown to be injurious, that which otherwise would have been wasted +in plaster battlements, to do harm, may surely be devoted to stone +leafage, to do good. Now, if there be too much, or too conspicuous, +ornament, it will destroy simplicity and humility, and everything which +we have been endeavoring to get; therefore, the architect must be +careful, and had better have immediate recourse to that natural beauty +with which he is now endeavoring to assimilate.</p> + +<p>250. When Nature determines on decorating a piece of projecting rock, +she begins with the bold projecting surface, to which the eye is +naturally drawn by its form, and (observe<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> how closely she works by the +principles which were before investigated) she finishes this with +lichens and mingled colors, to a degree of delicacy, which makes us feel +that we never can look close enough; but she puts in not a single mass +of form to attract the eye, more than the grand outline renders +necessary. But, where the rock joins the ground, where the shadow falls, +and the eye is not attracted, she puts in bold forms of ornament, large +leaves and grass, bunches of moss and heather, strong in their +projection, and deep in their color. Therefore, the architect must act +on precisely the same principle: his outward surfaces he may leave the +wind and weather to finish in their own way; but he cannot allow Nature +to put grass and weeds into the shadows; <i>ergo</i>, he must do it himself; +and, whenever the eye loses itself in shade, wherever there is a dark +and sharp corner, there, if he can, he should introduce a wreath of +flower-work. The carving will be preserved from the weather by this very +propriety of situation: it would have moldered away, had it been exposed +to the full drift of the rain, but will remain safe in the crevices +where it is required; and, also, it will not injure the general effect, +but will lie concealed until we approach, and then rise up, as it were, +out of the darkness, to its duty; bestowing on the dwellings that finish +of effect which is manifested around them, and gratifying the natural +requirements of the mind for the same richness in the execution of the +designs of men, which it has found on a near approach lavished so +abundantly, in a distant view subdued so beautifully into the large +effect of the designs of Nature.</p> + +<p>251. Of the ornament itself, it is to be observed that it is not to be +what is properly called architectural <i>decoration</i> (that which is +"decorous," becoming, or suitable to), namely, the combination of minor +forms, which repeat the lines, and partake of the essence of the grand +design, and carry out its meaning and life into its every member; but it +is to be true sculpture; the presenting of a pure ideality of form to +the eye, which may give perfect conception, without the assistance of +color: it is to be the stone image of vegetation, not botani<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>cally +accurate, indeed, but sufficiently near to permit us to be sure of the +intended flower or leaf. Not a single line of any other kind of ornament +should be admitted, and there should be more leafage than flower-work, +as it is the more easy in its flow and outline. Deep relief need not be +attempted, but the edges of the leafage should be clearly and delicately +defined. The cabbage, the vine, and the ivy are the best and most +beautiful leaves: oak is a little too stiff, otherwise good. Particular +attention ought to be paid to the ease of the stems and tendrils; such +care will always be repaid. And it is to be especially observed, that +the carving is not to be arranged in garlands or knots, or any other +formalities, as in Gothic work; but the stalks are to rise out of the +stone, as if they were rooted in it, and to fling themselves down where +they are wanted, disappearing again in light sprays, as if they were +still growing.</p> + +<p>252. All this will require care in designing; but, as we have said +before, we can always do without decoration; but, if we have it, it +<i>must</i> be well done. It is not of the slightest use to economize; every +farthing improperly saved does a shilling's worth of damage; and that is +getting a bargain the wrong way. When one branch or group balances +another, they <i>must</i> be different in composition. The same group may be +introduced several times in different parts, but not when there is +correspondence, or the effect will be unnatural; and it can hardly be +too often repeated, that the <i>ornament</i> must be kept out of the general +effect, must be invisible to all but the near observer, and, even to +him, must not become a necessary part of the design, but must be +sparingly and cautiously applied, so as to appear to have been thrown in +by chance here and there, as Nature would have thrown in a bunch of +herbage, affording adornment without concealment, and relief without +interruption.</p> + +<p>253. So much for form. The question of color has already been discussed +at some length, in speaking of the cottage; but it is to be noticed, +that the villa, from the nature of its situation, gets the higher hills +back into a distance<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> which is three or four times more blue than any +piece of scenery entering into combination with the cottage; so that +more warmth of color is allowable in the building, as well as greater +cheerfulness of effect. It should not look like stone, as the cottage +should, but should tell as a building on the mind as well as the eye. +White, therefore, is frequently allowable in small quantities, +particularly on the border of a large and softly shored lake, like +Windermere and the foot of Loch Lomond; but cream-color, and +putty-color, and the other varieties of plaster-color are inexcusable. +If more warmth is required by the situation than the sun will give on +white, the building should be darkened at once. A warm rich gray is +always beautiful in any place and under any circumstance; and, in fact, +unless the proprietor likes to be kept damp like a traveling codfish, by +trees about his house and close to it (which, if it be white, he must +have, to prevent glare), such a gray is the only color which will be +beautiful, or even innocent. The difficulty is to obtain it; and this +naturally leads to the question of material.</p> + +<p>254. If the color is to be white, we can have no ornament, for the +shadows would make it far too conspicuous, and we should get only +tawdriness. The simple forms may be executed in anything that will stand +wet; and the roof, in all cases, should be of the coarse slate of the +country, as rudely put on as possible. They must be kept clear of moss +and conspicuous vegetation, or there will be an improper appearance of +decay; but the more lichenous the better, and the rougher the slate the +sooner it is colored. If the color is to be gray, we may use the gray +primitive limestone, which is not ragged on the edges, without preparing +the blocks too smoothly; or the more compact and pale-colored slate, +which is frequently done in Westmoreland; and execute the ornaments in +any very coarse dark marble. Greenstone is an excellent rock, and has a +fine surface, but it is unmanageable. The grayer granites may often be +used with good effect, as well as the coarse porphyries, when the gray +is to be particularly warm. An outward surface of a loose block may be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> +often turned to good account in turning an angle; as the colors which it +has contracted by its natural exposure will remain on it without +inducing damp. It is always to be remembered, that he who prefers +neatness to beauty, and who would have sharp angles and clean surfaces, +in preference to curved outlines and lichenous color, has no business to +live among hills.</p> + +<p>255. Such, then, are the principal points to be kept in view in the +edifice itself. Of the mode of uniting it with the near features of +foliage and ground, it would be utterly useless to speak: it is a +question of infinite variety, and involving the whole theory of +composition, so that it would take up volumes to develop principles +sufficient to guide us to the result which the feeling of the practiced +eye would arrive at in a moment. The inequalities of the ground, the +character and color of those inequalities, the nature of the air, the +exposure, and the consequent fall of the light, the quantity and form of +near and distant foliage, all have their effect on the design, and +should have their influence on the designer, inducing, as they do, a +perfect change of circumstance in every locality. Only one general rule +can be given, and that we repeat. The house must <i>not</i> be a noun +substantive, it must not stand by itself, it must be part and parcel of +a proportioned whole: it must not even be seen all at once; and he who +sees one end should feel that, from the given data, he can arrive at no +conclusion respecting the other, yet be impressed with a feeling of a +universal energy, pervading with its beauty of unanimity all life and +all inanimation, all forms of stillness or motion, all presence of +silence or of sound.</p> + +<p>256. Thus, then, we have reviewed the most interesting examples of +existing villa architecture, and we have applied the principles derived +from those examples to the landscape of our own country. Throughout, we +have endeavored to direct attention to the spirit, rather than to the +letter, of all law, and to exhibit the beauty of that principle which is +embodied in the line with which we have headed this concluding paper; of +being satisfied with national and natural forms,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> and not endeavoring to +introduce the imaginations, or imitate the customs, of foreign nations, +or of former times. All imitation has its origin in vanity, and vanity +is the bane of architecture. And, as we take leave of them, we would, +once for all, remind our English sons of Sempronius "qui villas +attollunt marmore novas," <i>novas</i> in the full sense of the word,—and +who are setting all English feeling and all natural principles at +defiance, that it is only the <i>bourgeois gentilhomme</i> who will wear his +dressing-gown upside down, "parceque toutes les personnes de qualité +portent les fleurs en en-bas."</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Oxford</span>, <i>October, 1838.</i></p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> [Compare <i>Modern Painters</i>. vol. III. chap. x. § 15.]</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> [This passage seems to suggest that the Villa Pliniana on +Como was built by Pliny. It was, however, the work of an antiquarian +nobleman of the Renaissance, and merely named after the great +naturalist, who was born, perhaps, at Como, and mentions an ebbing +spring on this site.]</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> For instance, one proprietor terrifies the landscape all +round him, within a range of three miles, by the conspicuous position of +his habitation; and is punished by finding that, from whatever quarter +the wind may blow, it sends in some of his plate-glass. Another spoils a +pretty bit of crag by building below it, and has two or three tons of +stone dropped through his roof, the first frosty night. Another occupies +the turfy slope of some soft lake promontory, and has his cook washed +away by the first flood. We do not remember ever having seen a +dwelling-house destroying the effect of a landscape, of which, +considered merely as a habitation, we should wish to be the possessor.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> We are not thinking of the effect upon the human frame of +the air which is favorable to vegetation. Chemically considered, the +bracing breeze of the more sterile soil is the most conducive to health, +and is practically so, when the frame is not perpetually exposed to it; +but the keenness which checks the growth of the plant is, in all +probability, trying, to say the least, to the constitution of a +resident.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> We hope the English language may long retain this corrupt +but energetic superlative.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> This position, as well as the two preceding, is important, +and in need of confirmation. It has often been observed, that, when the +eye is altogether unpracticed in estimating elevation, it believes every +point to be lower than it really is; but this does not militate against +the proposition, for it is also well known, that the higher the point, +the greater the deception. But when the eye is thoroughly practiced in +mountain measurement, although the judgment, arguing from technical +knowledge, gives a true result, the impression on the feelings is always +at variance with it, except in hills of the middle height. We are +perpetually astonished, in our own country, by the sublime impression +left by such hills as Skiddaw, or Cader Idris, or Ben Venue; perpetually +vexed, in Switzerland, by finding that, setting aside circumstances of +form and color, the abstract impression of elevation is (except in some +moments of peculiar effect, worth a king's ransom) inferior to the +truth. We were standing the other day on the slope of the Brevent, above +the Prieuré of Chamouni, with a companion, well practiced in climbing +Highland hills, but a stranger among the Alps. Pointing out a rock above +the Glacier des Bossons, we requested an opinion of its height. "I +should think," was the reply, "I could climb it in two steps; but I am +too well used to hills to be taken in in that way; it is at least 40 +feet." The real height was 470 feet. This deception is attributable to +several causes (independently of the clearness of the medium through +which the object is seen), which it would be out of place to discuss +here, but the chief of which is the natural tendency of the feelings +always to believe objects subtending the same angle to be of the same +height. We say the feelings, not the eye; for the practiced eye never +betrays its possessor, though the due and corresponding mental +impression is not received.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> This is rather a bold assertion; and we should be sorry to +maintain the fact as universal; but the crystals of <i>almost</i> all the +rarer minerals are larger in the larger mountain; and that altogether +independently of the period of elevation, which, in the case of Mont +Blanc, is later than that of our own Mendips.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> In § 166 we noticed the kind of error most common in +amateur designs, and we traced that error to its great first cause, the +assumption of the humor, instead of the true character, for a guide; but +we did not sufficiently specify the mode in which that first cause +operated, by prompting to imitation. By imitation we do not mean +accurate copying, neither do we mean working under the influence of the +feelings by which we may suppose the originators of a given model to +have been actuated; but we mean the intermediate step of endeavoring to +combine old materials in a novel manner. True copying may be disdained +by architects, but it should not be disdained by nations; for when the +feelings of the time in which certain styles had their origin have +passed away, any examples of the same style will invariably be failures, +unless they be copies. It is utter absurdity to talk of building Greek +edifices now; no man ever will, or ever can, who does not believe in the +Greek mythology; and, precisely by so much as he diverges from the +technicality of strict copyism, he will err. But we ought to have pieces +of Greek architecture, as we have reprints of the most valuable records, +and it is better to build a new Parthenon than to set up the old one. +Let the dust and the desolation of the Acropolis be undisturbed forever; +let them be left to be the school of our moral feelings, not of our +mechanical perceptions; the line and rule of the prying carpenter should +not come into the quiet and holy places of the earth. Elsewhere, we may +build marble models for the education of the national mind and eye; but +it is useless to think of adapting the architecture of the Greek to the +purposes of the Frank; it never has been done, and never will be. We +delight, indeed, in observing the rise of such a building as La +Madeleine: beautiful, because accurately copied; useful, as teaching the +eye of every passer-by. But we must not think of its purpose; it is +wholly unadapted for Christian worship; and were it as bad Greek as our +National Gallery, it would be equally unfit. +</p><p> +The mistake of our architects in general is, that they fancy they are +speaking good English by speaking bad Greek. We wish, therefore, that +copying were more in vogue than it is. But imitation, the endeavor to be +Gothic, or Tyrolese, or Venetian, without the slightest grain of Gothic +or Venetian feeling; the futile effort to splash a building into age, or +daub it into dignity, to zigzag it into sanctity, or slit it into +ferocity, when its shell is neither ancient nor dignified, and its +spirit neither priestly nor baronial,—this is the degrading vice of the +age; fostered, as if man's reason were but a step between the brains of +a kitten and a monkey, in the mixed love of despicable excitement and +miserable mimicry. +</p><p> +If the English have no imagination, they should not scorn to be +commonplace; or rather they should remember that poverty cannot be +disguised by beggarly borrowing, that it may be ennobled by calm +independence. Our national architecture never will improve until our +population are generally convinced that in this art, as in all others, +they cannot seem what they cannot be. The scarlet coat or the +turned-down collar, which the obsequious portrait-painter puts on the +shoulders and off the necks of his savage or insane customers, never can +make the 'prentice look military, or the idiot poetical; and the +architectural appurtenances of Norman embrasure or Veronaic balcony must +be equally ineffective, until they can turn shopkeepers into barons, and +schoolgirls into Juliets. Let the national mind be elevated in its +character, and it will naturally become pure in its conceptions; let it +be simple in its desires, and it will be beautiful in its ideas; let it +be modest in feeling, and it will not be insolent in stone. For +architect and for employer, there can be but one rule; to be natural in +all that they do, and to look for the beauty of the material creation as +they would for that of the human form, not in the chanceful and changing +disposition of artificial decoration, but in the manifestation of the +pure and animating spirit which keeps it from the coldness of the grave. +[With this remarkable foreshadowing of Mr. Ruskin's Art-teaching compare +<i>Seven Lamps</i> and <i>Lectures on Architecture and Painting</i>, +throughout.]</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> [Referring again to the intended sequel.]</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> This difference of principle is one leading distinction +between the artist, properly so called, and the scene, diorama, or +panorama painter.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> [For further discussion of which, see <i>Elements of +Drawing</i>, Letter III.]</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> [In their turrets and pinnacles, as shown by a poor +wood-cut in the magazine, not worth reproduction.]</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> [Compare <i>Modern Painters</i>, vol. IV. chap. xvii. § 49, and +<i>Elements of Drawing</i>, Letter III.]</p></div> +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Poetry of Architecture, by John Ruskin + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE POETRY OF ARCHITECTURE *** + +***** This file should be named 17774-h.htm or 17774-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/7/7/17774/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Suzanne Lybarger, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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