Alberti, Leone Battista, Architecture, 1755

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1Places will fill them with Maggots and Worms;
andany conſtant impetuous Wind willmake them
ſhrivelled and withered.
For Pulſe and eſpe­
cially Beans make a Floor of Aſhes mixed with
Lees and Oil.
Keep Apples in ſome very cloſe,
but cool boarded Room. Ariſtotle is of Opi­
nion, that they will keep the whole Year round
in Bladders blown up and tied cloſe.
The In­
conſtancy of the Air is what ſpoils every
Thing; and therefore keep every Breath of it
from your Apples, if poſſible; and particularly
the North-wind, which is thought to ſhrivel
them up.
We are told that Vaults for Wine
ſhould lie deep under Ground, and be very cloſe
ſtopt up; and yet there are ſome Wines which
decay in the Shade.
Wine is ſpoilt by the
Eaſtern, Southern and Weſtern Winds, and
eſpecially in the Winter or the Spring.
If it is
touched even by the North-wind in the Dog­
days, it will receive Injury.
The Rays of the
Sun make it heady; thoſe of the Moon, thick.
If it is in the leaſt ſtirred, it loſes its Spirit and
grows weak.
Wine will take any Smell that
is near it, and will grow dead near a Stink.
When it is kept in a dry cool Place, always
equally tempered, it will remain good for many
Years.
Wine, ſays Columella, ſo long as it is
kept cool, ſo long it will keep good.
Make
your Vault for Wine therefore in a ſteady
Place, never ſhaken by any Sort of Carriages;
and its Sides and Lights ſhould be towards the
North.
All Manner of Filth and ill Smells,
Damps, Vapours, Smoke, the Stinks of all
Sorts of rotten Garden-ſtuff, Onions, Cabbage,
wild or domeſtick Figs, ſhould by all Means
be quite ſhut out.
Let the Floor of your Vault
be pargetted, and in the Middle make a little
Trench, to ſave any Wine that may be ſpilt by
the Fault of the Veſſels.
Some make their
Veſſels themſelves of Stue or Stone.
The big­
ger the Veſſel is, the more Spirit and Strength
will be in the Wine.
Oil delights in a warm
Shade, and cannot endure any cold Wind; and
is ſpoilt by Smoke or any other Steam.
We
ſhall not dwell upon coarſer Matters; namely,
how there ought to be two Places for keeping
Dung in, one for the Old, and another for the
New; that it loves the Sun and Moiſture, and
is dried up and exhauſted by the Wind; but
ſhall only give this general Rule, that thoſe
Places which are moſt liable to Danger by Fire,
as Hay-lofts and the like, and thoſe which are
unpleaſant either to the Sight or Smell, ought
to be ſet out of the Way and ſeparated by
themſelves.
It may not be amiſs juſt to men­
tion here, that the Dung of Oxen will not
breed Scrpents.
But there is one filthy Prac­
tiſe which I cannot help taking Notice of.
We
take Care in the Country to ſet the Dunghill
out of the Way in ſome remote Corner, that
the Smell may not offend our Ploughmen;
and yet in our own Houſes, in our beſt Cham­
bers (where we ourſelves are to reſt) and as it
were at our very Bolſters, we are ſo unpolite as
to make ſecret Privies, or rather Store-rooms of
Stink.
If a Man is Sick, let him make uſe of
a Cloſe-ſtool; but when he is in Health, ſure­
ly ſuch Naſtineſs cannot be too far off.
It is
worth obſerving how careful Birds are, and par­
ticularly Swallows, to keep their Neſts clean
and neat for their young ones.
The Example
Nature herein ſets us is wonderful.
Even the
young Swallows, as ſoon as ever Time has
ſtrengthened their Limbs will never Mute, but
out of the Neſt; and the old ones, to keep the
Filth at a ſtill greater Diſtance, will catch it
in their Bills as it is falling, to carry it further
off from their own Neſt.
Since Nature has
given us this excellent Inſtruction, I think we
ought by no means to neglect it.
CHAP. XVIII.
The Difference between the Country Houſe and Town Houſe for the Rich.
The Habitations of the middling Sort ought to reſemble thoſe of the Rich;
at leaſt in Proportion to their Circumſtances.
Buildings ſhould be contrived
more for Summer, than for Winter.
The Country Houſe and Town Houſe
for the Rich differ in this Circum­
ſtance; that they uſe their Country Houſe
chiefly for a Habitation in the Summer, and
their Town Houſe as a convenient Place of
Shelter in the Winter.
In their Country Houſe
therefore they enjoy the Pleaſures of Light,
Air, ſpacious Walks and fine Proſpects; in

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