CHAPTER XIV.

Application of Gardening and Architecture united, in the Formation of a new Place-Example, from BAYHAM-River-Lake-The HouseCharacter-Observations on Grecian Houses-Characteristic Architecture-External Gothic not incompatible with Comfort-How far it should prevail internally.

THE necessity of uniting architecture and landscape-gardening is so strongly elucidated in the Red Book of BAYHAM, that I gladly avail myself of the permission of its noble possessor to insert the following observations; but as the ruins of Bayham Abbey are generally known to those who frequent Tunbridge Wells, it is necessary to premise that the situation. proposed for a new house is very different from that of the Abbey.

"No place, concerning which I have had the honour to be consulted, possesses greater variety of water, with such difference of character as seldom occurs within the limits of the same estate.

The water near the Abbey, now intersecting the meadow in various channels, should be brought together into one river, winding through the valley in a natural course: this may be so managed as to drain the land while it improves the scenery; and I suppose the whole of this valley to be a more highly dressed lawn, fed by sheep and cattle, but without deer.

Above this natural division the water will assume a bolder character; that of a lake, or a broad river, filling the entire bottom of the valley, between two wooded shores, and dashing the foot of that steep bank on which the mansion is proposed to be erected. This valley is so formed by nature, that an inconsiderable dam will cause a lake, or, rather, broad river, of great apparent extent: for, when I describe water, I never estimate its effects by the number of acres it may cover, but by its form, its continuity, and the facility with which its termination is concealed.

Where a place is rather to be formed than improved, that

is, where no mansion already exists, the choice of situation for the house will, in some measure, depend on the purpose for which it is intended, and the character it ought to assume: thus a mansion, a villa, and a sporting seat, require very different adaptation of the same principles, if not a variation in the principles themselves. The purpose for which the house at BAYHAM is intended, must decide its character: it is not to be considered as a small villa, liable to change its proprietor, as good or ill success prevails, but as the established mansion of an English nobleman's family. Its character, therefore, should be that of greatness and of durability. The park should be a forest, the estate a domain, the house a palace. Now, since magnificence and compactness are as diametrically opposite to each other as extension and contraction, so neither the extended scale of the country, nor the style, nor the character of the place, will admit of a compact house.

In determining effects, it is not sufficient to consider merely the size of the building; but as all objects appear great or small only by comparison, it is also necessary to consider the size and character of those by which this mansion will be accompanied.

The surrounding scenery of BAYHAM must influence the character of the house; we must, therefore, consider what style of architecture will here be most appropriate. There has ever appeared to me something wrong, or misunderstood, in the manner of adapting Grecian architecture to our large mansions in the country: our professors having studied from models in a different climate, often forget the difference of circumstances, and shew their classic taste, like those who correctly quote the words, but misapply the sense, of an author. The most striking feature of Grecian architecture is a portico, and this, when it forms part of a temple, or a church, may be applied with propriety and grandeur; but when added to a large house, and intersected by two or three rows of windows, it is evidently what, in French, is called an Appliqué, something added, an after-thought; and it has but too often the appearance of a Grecian temple affixed to an English cotton-mill.

There is, also, another circumstance belonging to Grecian

architecture, viz., symmetry, or an exact correspondence of the sides with each other. Symmetry appears to constitute a part of that love of order so natural to man; the first idea of a child, in drawing a house, is to make the windows correspond, and, perhaps, to add two correspondent wings.

There are, however, some situations, where great magnificence and convenience are the result of a building of this description; yet it can only be the case where the house is so large, that one of the wings may contain a complete suite of private apartments, connected with the house by a gallery or library, while the other may consist of a conservatory, &c.

Every one who has observed the symmetrical elevations scattered round the metropolis, and the small houses with wings, in the neighbourhood of manufacturing towns, will allow, that symmetry so applied is apt to degenerate into spruceness; and of the inconvenience of a house, separated from its offices by a long passage (however dignified by the name of colonnade), there cannot surely be a question. There is yet another principle which applies materially to BAYHAM, viz., that symmetry makes an extensive building look small, while irregularity will, on the contrary, make a small building appear large: a symmetrical house would, therefore, ill accord with the character of the surrounding country.

Having expressed these objections against the application of Grecian architecture, before I describe any other style of house, I shall introduce some remarks on a subject which has much engaged my attention, viz., the adaptation of buildings not only to the situation, character, and circumstances of the scenery, but also to the purposes for which they are intended; this I shall call characteristic architecture.

Although it is obvious that every building ought to tell its own tale,' and not to look like anything else, yet this principle appears to have been lately too often violated: our hospitals resemble palaces, and our palaces may be mistaken for hospitals; our modern churches look like theatres, and our theatres appear like warehouses. In surveying the public buildings of the metropolis, we admire St. Luke's Hospital as a mad-house, and Newgate as a prison, because they both announce their purposes by their appropriate appearance, and no stranger has occasion to inquire for what uses they are intended.

From the palace to the cottage, this principle should be observed. Whether we take our models from a Grecian temple, or from a Gothic abbey, from a castle, or from a college, if the building does not look like a house, and the residence of a nobleman, it will be out of character at BAYHAM. It may, perhaps, be objected, that we must exactly follow the models of the style or date we mean to imitate, or else we make a pasticcio, or confusion of discordant parts. Shall we imitate the thing, and forget its application? No: let us rather observe how, in Warwick Castle, and in other great mansions of the same character, the proud baronial retreat of the times of old,' has been adapted to the purposes of modern habitation. Let us preserve the massive strength and durability of the castle, and discard the gloom which former tyranny and cruelty inspired; let us preserve the light elegance of Gothic abbeys in our chapels, but not in our houses, where such large and lofty windows are inadmissible; let us, in short, never forget that we are building a house, whether we admire and imitate the bold irregular outline of an ancient castle, the elegant tracery in the windows of a Gothic church, or the harmony of proportions, and the symmetrical beauty of a Grecian temple.

Of the three distinct characters, the Castle, the Abbey, and the House-Gothic, the former of these appears best calculated for BAYHAM [see figs. 118, 119, 120, and 121]. Yet, as the object is not to build a castle, but a house, it is surely allowable to blend with the magnificence of this character the advantages of the other two, as well as the elegance, the comfort, and the convenience of modern habitation. It may be urged, that the first purpose of a castle is defence; that of a house, habitation; but it will surely be allowed, that something more is required than the mere purposes of habitation. An ordinary carpenter may build a good room; a mechanic, rather more ingenious, may connect a suite of rooms together, and so arrange their several offices and appendages as to make a good house, that is, a house sufficient for all the purposes of habitation. But an architect will aim at something higher; he will add to the internal convenience, not merely external beauty, but external propriety and character; he will aim not only to make a design perfect in itself, but perfect in its application.