Alberti, Leone Battista, Architecture, 1755

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1a Space of Ground in ſome ſecure and not un­
frequented Part of the City, and fortify it with
Towers and Galleries.
From this Wall in­
wards the Apartments where the Priſoners are
to be confined, let there be an open Walk
about four Foot and an half wide, where the
Keepers may take their Rounds every Night
to prevent any Eſcapes by Conſpiracy among the
Priſoners.
The Space remaining in the Mid­
dle of this Circuit divide in the following Man­
ner.
Inſtead of a Veſtibule make a good plea­
ſant Hall, where thoſe may be inſtructed who
are ſent thither in order to be forced to learn
how to demean themſelves.
Next to this Hall,
make Habitations for the Goalers and Places
for them to keep guard in, within an Encloſure
of Lattices and Croſs-bars.
Next let there be
an open Court, with Porticoes on each Side of
it, with Windows in them, through which you
may ſee into all the Cells within; in which
Cells Bankrupts and Debtors are to be confin­
ed, not all together, but in different Apart­
ments.
In the Front of this Court there muſt
be a cloſer Priſon, for ſuch as are guilty of
ſmall Offences, and beyond that a Place where
Priſoners for capital Crimes may be confined
with yet greater Strictneſs and Privacy.
CHAP. XIV.
Of private Houſes and their Differences; as alſo of the Country Houſe, and
the Rules to be obſerved in its Situation and Structure.
I now come to treat of private Edifices. I
have already obſerved elſewhere, that a
Houſe is a little City.
We are therefore in the
building of it, to have an Eye almoſt to every
Thing that relates to the Building of a City;
that it be healthy, furniſhed with all Manner
of Neceſſaries, not defficient in any of the Con­
veniencies that conduce to the Repoſe, Tran­
quility or Delicacy of Life.
What thoſe are
and how they are to be obtained, I think I have
already, in a great Meaſure, ſhewn in the pre­
ceding Books.
However, as the Occaſion here
is different, we ſhall conſider them over again
in the following Manner.
A private Houſe is
manifeſtly deſigned for the Uſe of a Family,
to which it ought to be a uſeful and conveni­
ent Abode.
It will not be ſo convenient as it
ought, if it has not every Thing within itſelf
that the Family has Occaſion for.
There is a
great Number of Perſons and Things in a Fa­
mily, which you cannot diſtribute as you would
in a City ſo well as you can in the Country.
In building a Houſe in Town, your Neigh­
bour's Wall, a common Gutter, a publick
Square or Street, and the like, ſhall all hinder
you from contriving it juſt to your own Mind;
which is not ſo in the Country, where you have
as much Freedom as you have Obſtruction in
Town.
For this, and other Reaſons, there­
fore, I ſhall diſtinguiſh the Matter thus: That
the Habitation for a private Perſon muſt be
different in Town from what it is in the Coun­
try.
In both theſe there muſt again be a Dif­
ference between thoſe which are for the meaner
Sort of Citizens, and thoſe which are for the
Rich.
The meaner Sort build only for Ne­
ceſſity; but the Rich for Pleaſure and Delight.
I ſhall ſet down ſuch Rules as the Modeſty of
the wiſeſt Men may approve of in all Sorts of
Buildings, and for that Purpoſe ſhall begin
with thoſe which are moſt eaſy.
Habitations
in the Country are the freeſt from all Obſtruc­
tions, and therefore People are more inclined to
beſtow their Expence in the Country than in
Town.
We ſhall therefore firſt take a Review
of ſome Obſervations which we have already
made, and which are very material with Re­
lation to the chief Uſes of a Country Houſe.
They are as follows: We ſhould carefully avoid
a bad Air and an ill Soil.
We ſhould build
in the Middle of an open Champian, under the
Shelter of ſome Hill, where there is Plenty of
Water, and pleaſant Proſpects, and in the
healthieſt Part of a healthy Country.
A heavy
unhealthy Air is ſaid to be occaſioned not on­
ly by thoſe Inconveniencies which we mention­
ed in the firſt Book, but alſo by thick Woods,
eſpecially if they are full of Trees with bitter
Leaves; becauſe the Air in ſuch Places being
not kept in Motion either by Sun or Winds,
wants its due Concoction; it is alſo occaſioned
by a barren and unwholſome Soil, which will
never produce any Thing but Woods.
A
Country Houſe ought to ſtand in ſuch a Place
as may lie moſt convenient for the Owner's
Houſe in Town. Xenophon would have a Man

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