Читать книгу The Englishman's House: A Practical Guide for Selecting and Building a House онлайн

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Most of the old mansions, &c., of this country and many parts of Continental Europe, have been erected in situations that were then immediately, and at little cost, available for the purpose. At one time the choice of such situation depended on careful attention to the special circumstances of those who erected the building. Thus it is found, generally, that the banks of the rivers, as affording ready and cheap means of carriage by the stream, were mostly chosen. Hence our abbeys, monasteries, &c., are frequently found in such localities. Baronial castles were usually erected on hills, the height of which tended to the security of the owners against sudden incursions of their foes. From the varied character of English topography has arisen that great variety of picturesque beauty that distinguishes the ruins which abound in almost every county throughout the length and breadth of the land; such ruins, architecturally considered in relation to the surrounding circumstances of wood, vale, hill and dale, have become subjects of study and suggestion to modern architects, and models, constantly adopted at the present time, in certain details, for producing new designs. In the selection of these, or of any other style, however, Burke has laid down, in his essay on “The Sublime and Beautiful,” an excellent rule: “A true artist should put a generous deceit on the spectators, and effect the noblest designs by easy methods. Designs that are vast only by their dimensions, are always the sign of a common and low imagination. The work of art can be great but as it deceives; to be otherwise is the prerogative of nature only.”