Encyclopaedia Britannica, or, a Dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature : enlarged and improved. Illustrated with nearly six hundred engravings > Volume 8, ELE-FOR

FAR * [ 4
Farm, priory, and a Gothic feat, llill more particularly cha-
w—-v—- raifterifed by an infcription in obfulcte language and
the black letter, belong to the one •, the urns, Virgil’s
obelilk, and a ruftic temple of Pan, to the other. All
thefe allutions and obje£ta are indeed equally rural :
but the images in an Engiilh and olafiical eclogue ire
not the fame ; each fpecies is a diftinft imitative cha-
ra£ler. Either is proper ; either will raife the farm it
is applied to above the ordinary level ; and within the
compafs of the fame place both may be introduced 5
but they thould be feparate: when they are mixed, they
counteraft one another •, and no reprefentation is pro¬
duced of the times and the countries they refer to. A
certain diftrift fh >u!d therefore be allotted to each, that
all the fields which belong to the refpe6live chara&ers
may lie together, and the correfponding- ideas be pre~
■ferved for a continuance.
Of an an- 2. In fuch an affortment, the more open and polifbed
cient farm, fcenes will generally be given to the Arcadian Ihcp-
herd } and thofe in a lower degree of cultivation, will
be thought more conformable to the manners of the
ancient Britilh yeomanry. We do not conceive that
the country in their time was entirely cleared, or dif-
timftly divided j the fields were furrounded by woods,
not by hedges ; and if a confiderable tra£t of improved
land lay together, it (lill was not feparated into a num¬
ber of inclofures. The fub]e6ts, therefore, proper to re¬
ceive this charaffer, are thofe in which cultivation feems
to have encroached on the wild, not to have fubdued
it; as the bottom of a valley in corn, while the fides
are ftill overgrown with wood ; and the outline of that
wood indented by the tillage creeping more or lefs up
the hill. But a glade of grafs, thus circumftanced,
does not peculiarly belong to the fpecies ; that may
occur in a park, or paftoral farm 5 in this, the paftures
fliould rather border on a wafte or common : if large,
they may be broken by draggling bullies, thickets, or
coppices j and the fcattered trees Ihould be befet with
brambles and briars. All thefe are circumftances
which improve the beauty of the place ; yet appear to
be only remains of the wild, not intended for embellilh-
ment. Such interruptions muft, however, be lefs fre¬
quent in the arable parts of the farm j but there the
opening may be divided into feveral lands, diftinguilh-
ed, as in common fields, only by different forts of grain.
Thefe will fufficiently break the famenefs of the fpace ;
and the tillage does not furnifii a more pleafing fcene,
than fuch a fpace fo broken, if the extent be moderate,
and the boundary beautiful.
As much wood is elfential to the charafler, a fpot
may eafily be found, where turret's riling above the co¬
vert, or fome arches feen within it, may have the re-
femblance of a caftle or an abbey. The partial conceal¬
ment is almoft nectlfary to both ; for to accord with
the age, the buildings mud feem to be entire; the
ruins of them belong to later days: the difguife is,
however, advantageous to them as objefts 5 none can
be imagined more pidlurefque, than a tower bofomed
in trees, or a cluder appearing between the Hems and
the branches. But the fuperditions of the times fur-
nilh other objefts which are more within compafs:
hermitages were then real 5 folitary chapels were com¬
mon 5 many of the fprings of the country being deem-
* ed holy wells, were diltinguilhed by little Gothic domes
built^over them ; and every hamlet had its crofs, even
i
3 ] FA R>
this, when perfeft, fet on a little rudic pillar, and that Farfti.
railed upon a bafe of circular deps, may in fome fcenes -y—
be confiderable : if a fituation can be found for a May-
pole, whence it would not obtrude itfelf on every view,
that alfo might not be improper; and an ancient church,
however unwelcome it may be when it breaks into the
defign of a park or a garden, in fuch a farm as this
would be a fortunate accident: nor would the old yeMr
in the church-yard be indifferent; it would be a me¬
morial of the times when it was ufeful.
Many other obje&s, fignificant of the mariners of our
ancedors, might perhaps, upon recollection, occur ; but
thefe are amply fufficient for a place of confiderable
extent; and cottages mud abound in every age and
every country ; they may therefore be introduced in
different forms and pofitions. Earge pieces of water
are alfo particularly proper ; and all the varieties of
rills are confident with every Ipecies of farm. From
the concurrence of fo many agreeable circumltances in
this, be the force or the effeCt of the chara&er what it
may, a number of pleafing fcenes may be exhibited ei¬
ther in a walk or riding, to be contraded to thole
which in another part of the place may be formed on
Arcadian ideas; or even to be fubdituted in their dead,
if they are omitted.
3. A part may alfo be free from either of thefe imita- Of a fimpl®
tive characters, and laid out in a common fimple farm. ^arm*
Some of the greated beauties of nature are to be found
in the fields, and attend an ordinary date of cultiva¬
tion : wood and water may there be exhibited in feve¬
ral forms and difpofitions ; we may enlarge or divide
the inclofures ; and give them fuch diapes and bounda¬
ries as we pleafe; every one may be an agreeable fpot ;
together, they may compofe beautiful views ; the arable,
the padure, and the mead, may fucceed one another ;
and now and then a little wild may be intermixed with¬
out impropriety ; every beauty, in Abort, which is not
unufual in an inclofed country, whether it arifes from
negleCI or improvement, is here in its place.
The buildings, alfo, which are frequent in fuch a
country, are often beautiful objeCls ; the church and
the manfion are confiderable: the farm-yard itfelf, if
an advantageous fituation be chofen for it ; if the
ricks, and the barns, and the out-houfes, are ranged-
with any defign to form them into groups, and if they
are properly blended with trees ; may be made a piCfu-
refque eompofition. Many of them may be detached
from the group, and difperfed about the grounds :
the dove-cot, or the dairy, may be feparated from
the refi ; they may be elegant in their forms, and pla¬
ced wherever they will have the bell effeCl. A com¬
mon barn, accompanied by a clump, is fometimes
pleafing at a diftance ; a Dutch barn is fo when near ;
and a hay-fiack is generally an agreeable circum-
fiance in any pofition. Each of thefe may be fingle ;
and befides thefe, all kinds of cottages are proper.
Among fo many buildings, fome may be converted to
other purpofes than their conftrudion denotes ; and,
whatever be their exterior, may within be made
agreeable retreats, for refrefhment, indulgence, or
fhelter.
With fuch opportunities of improvements, even to *
decoration within itftlf, and with advantages of prof-
pe£t into the country about it, a fimple farm may un¬
doubtedly be delightful. It will be particularly ac¬
ceptable