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Repton, Humphry, 1752-1818 / Fragments on the theory and practice of landscape gardening: including some remarks on Grecian and Gothic architecture, collected from various manuscripts, in the possession of the different noblemen and gentlemen, for whose use they were originally written; the whole tending to establish fixed principles in the respective arts
(1816)
Fragment XIV. Wingerworth, pp. [59]-62
Page [59]
FRAGMENT XIV. WINGERWORTH. EXTRACT FROM THE RED'BOOK OF WINGERWORTH, IN DERBYSHIRE, A SEAT OF SIR WINDSOR HUNLOCK, BART. CHARACTER AND SITUATION. TI elevated situation of the House, on one of those broadhills peculiar to the most picturesque county in England, would alone stamp the character of importance on the place, in what- ever style the house might have been built; for where we see a large pile of building on the summit of the hill, we- are na- turally led to compare its relative importance with the scenery to which it belongs. And here we shall be surprised, on ap- proaching the mansion, to find it so much larger, richer, and more dignified, than it appears from a distance: the reason is, that the mansion is one square mass, almost a cube, and every building which partakes of this form, however great its propor- tions, :always appears less than' it really is, because the eye is not attracted either by its length, depth, or height, each being nearly equal: and it is only from a subordinate building placed near it, that we form any idea of its real magnitude. The House at Wingerworth is one of those magnificent piles
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