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times to avow the interference of art, than to attempt an ineffectual concealment
of it. Such situations
are peculiarly applicable to the Gothic style, in which horizontal lines
are unnecessary.
I These sections can only describe the shape of the ground as it cuts across
in any one direction:
but another shape is also to be considered: thus it generally happens that
a knoll is longer one way
than the other, or it may even extend to a natural ridge, of sufficient length
for a long and narrow
house; but such an house must be fitted to the ground, for it would be absurd
in the architect to
place it either diagonally or directly across such a ridge: the same holds
good of the inclined plane,
which is, in fact, always the side of a valley, whose general inclination
must be consulted in the
position of the building. A square house would appear awry, unless its fronts
were made to corres-
'pond with the shape of the adjacent ground.
I I shall conclude this digression by observing, that, on a dead flat or
plain, the principal apart-
ments ought to be elevated, as the only means of showing the landscape to
advantage. Where
there is no inequality, it will be very difficult to unite any artificial
ground with the natural shape:
it will, in this case, be advisable either to raise it only a very few feet,
or to set the house on a base-
ment story. But wherever a park abounds in natural inequalities, even though
the ground near the
house should be flat, we may boldly venture to create an artificial knoll,
as it has been executed at
Welbeck.'