Alberti, Leone Battista, Architecture, 1755

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1be painted but the moſt comely and beautiful
Faces; which we are told may be of no ſmall
Conſequence to the Conception of the Lady,
and the Beauty of the Children.
Such as are
tormented with a Fever are not a little refreſh­
ed by the Sight of Pictures of Springs, Caſcades
and Streams of Water, which any one may
eaſily experience; for if at any Time you find
it difficult to compoſe yourſelf to reſt in the
Night, only turn your Imagination upon ſuch
clear Waters as you can remember any where
to have ſeen, either of Springs, Lakes or Streams,
and that burning Drowth of the Mind, which
kept you waking, ſhall preſently be moiſtened,
and a pleaſant Forgetfulneſs ſhall creep upon
you, till you fall into a fine Sleep.
To theſe
Delicacies we muſt add thoſe of well-diſpoſed
Gardens and beautiful Trees, together with
Porticoes in the Garden, where you may enjoy
either Sun or Shade.
To theſe add ſome lit­
tle pleaſant Meadow, with fine Springs of
Water burſting out in different Places where
leaſt expected.
Let the Walks be terminated
by Trees that enjoy a perpetual Verdure, and
particularly on that Side which is beſt ſhelter­
ed from Winds, let them be encloſed with Box,
which is preſently injured and rotted by ſtrong
Winds, and eſpecially by the leaſt Spray from the
Sea.
In open Places, moſt expoſed to the Sun,
ſome ſet Myrtles, which will flouriſh extreme­
ly in the Summer: But Theophraſtus affirms,
that the Myrtle, the Laurel, and the Ivy re­
joyce in the Shade, and therefore directs us to
plant them thick, that they may mutually
ſhelter one another from the Sun by their own
Shade: Nor let there be wanting Cypreſs­
trees cloathed with Ivy.
Let the Ground alſo
be here and there thrown into thoſe Figures
that are moſt commended in the Platforms of
Houſes, Circles, Semicircles, and the like, and
ſurrounded with Laurels, Cedars, Junipers
with their Branches intermixed, and twining
one into the other. Phiteon of Agrigentum,
though but a private Man, had in his Houſe
three hundred Vaſes of Stone, each whereof
would hold an hundred Amphoras, or about
fifteen of our Hogſheads.
Such Vaſes are very
fine Ornaments for Fountains in Gardens.
The
Ancients uſed to make their Walks into a Kind
of Arbours by Means of Vines ſupported by
Columns of Marble of the Corinthian Order,
which were ten of their own Diameters in
Height.
The Trees ought to be planted in
Rows exactly even, and anſwering to one an­
other exactly upon ſtraight Lines; and the
Gardens ſhould be enriched with rare Plants,
and ſuch as are in moſt Eſteem among the Phy­
ſicians.
It was a good agreeable Piece of Flat­
tery among the ancient Gardeners, to trace
their Maſters Names in Box, or in ſweet-ſmel­
ing Herbs, in Parterres.
Roſe-trees, intermix­
ed with Pomegranates and Cornels, are very
beautiful in a Hedge: But the Poet ſays,
Your Hedge of Oak with Plums and Cornel made,
To yield the Cattle Food, the Maſter Shade.
BUT perhaps this may ſuit better with a
Farm intended for Profit, than with a Villa
calculated chiefly for taking the Air in: And
indeed what we are told Democritus very much
condemned, namely, the incloſing a Garden
with any Sort of Wall, I ſhould not blame in
the Caſe before us, but am rather of Opinion,
that it is a very proper Defence againſt Malice
or Rapine.
Nor am I diſpleaſed with the plac­
ing ridiculous Statues in Gardens, provided they
have nothing in them obſcene.
Such ſhould
be the Diſpoſition of the Villa.
In Houſes in
Town, the inner Apartments and Parlours
ſhould not in the leaſt give way, either in
Chearfulneſs or Beauty, to the Villa; but in
the more publick Rooms, ſuch as the Hall and
Veſtibule, you ſhould not aim ſo much at De­
licacy, as to forget a decent Gravity.
The Por­
ticoes of the Houſes of the principal Citizens
may have a compleat regular Entablature over
the Columns; but thoſe of lower Degree,
ſhould have only Arches.
Vaulted Roofs are
proper in both.
The whole Entablature muſt
be in Height one fourth Part of the Shaft.
If
there is to be a ſecond Order of Columns over
the firſt, let that ſecond Order be one fourth
Part ſhorter than the lower one; and if there
is to be a third Order over this, let it be one
fifth Part ſhorter than that below it.
In each
of theſe the Pedeſtal or Plinth under each Or­
der of Columns, muſt be in Height one fourth
Part of the Column which it ſupports; but
where there is to be only one ſingle Row of
Columns, the Proportions may be taken from
thoſe of profane Works of a publick Nature.
A private Houſe ſhould never have ſuch a Pe­
diment as may ſeem to rival the Majeſty of a
Temple.
However, the Front of the Veſtibule
may be raiſed ſomewhat above the reſt of the
Building, and be adorned with a ſmaller Pedi­
ment.
The reſt of the Front on each Side this
Pediment may be adorned with a ſmall Plinth,
which may riſe ſomewhat higher at the princi­

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