Page 105

4 FOUNTAIN.
PLATE XXIV.
A FOUNTAIN.
FEW architectural embellishments have so interesting an
effect as fountains, and being capable of an inexhaustible vari-
ety of design, situation and magnitude, it is rather a matter
of surprise that their beauties have been neglected, ever since
the general abandonment of them nearly a century ago. At
that time certainly their whimsical and profuse introduction
in all places, suitable and otherwise, naturally satiated the
taste, and was eventually altogether fatal to their cultivation;
but, since they have been excluded so long from our country,
the motive which effected it, is surely banished also, and they
may again very properly meet with encouragement, and suc-
ceed to some of the patronage by which far lss valuable
material is now fostered.
When a supply of water is adequate, fountains may in most
cases be introduced with propriety; for it is that part of their
artificialness which implies scarcity of water, and manual la-
bour in effecting a display of its powers, that is offensive to
true taste; and surely it must be most painful to witness such a
display, when it is known that, to produce it, a poor fellow, hid
in some nook of the premises, is pumping most lustily, and anx-
iously wishing you would turn your attention to some other
object, that his labour may be over. It was formerly, however,
no uncommon thing to witness extensive displays at the expense
of proportionately laborious means.
p
105S