Ephraim Chambers

Terms

Alley, Arbor, Arch, Avenue, Basin, Bath/Bathhouse, Bed, Beehive, Border, Bower, Canal, Cascade/Cataract/Waterfall, Column/Pillar, Conservatory, Copse, Edging, Espalier, Fence, Flower garden, Fountain, Gate/Gateway, Greenhouse, Grotto, Grove, Hedge, Hermitage, Hothouse, Jet, Kitchen garden, Labyrinth, Parterre, Piazza/Veranda/Porch/Portico, Plantation, Prospect, Shrubbery, Statue, Terrace/Slope, View/Vista, Walk, Wood/Woods

Texts

• 1741–43, Cyclopaedia (n.p.)

“AJUTAGE, or ADJUTAGE, in hydraulics, part of the apparatus of an artificial fountain, or jet d’eau; being a sort of tube, fitted to the mouth or aperture of the vessel: through which the water is to be played, and by it determined into this or that figure. . . .

• 1741–43, Cyclopaedia (n.p.)

"[vol. 1] ALLEY, * in gardening, a strait parallel walk, bordered or bounded on each hand with trees, shrubs, or the like. See GARDEN, WALK, EDGING, &tc.

"* The word alley is derived from the French word aller, to go; the ordinary use of an alley being for a walk, passage, or thorowfare from one place to another.

"Alleys are usually laid either with grass or gravel. See GRASS, and GRAVEL-Walk.

"An Alley is distinguished from a path, in this; that in an alley there must always be room enough for two persons at least to walk abreast; so that it must be never less than five feet in breadth; and there are some who hold that it ought never to have more than fifteen.

"Counter-ALLEYS, are the little alleys by the sides of the great ones.

"Front-ALLEY, is that which runs strait in the face of a building.

"Transverse ALLEY, that which cuts the former at right angles.

"Diagonal ALLEY, that which cuts a square, thicket, parterre, &c. from angle to angle.

"Sloping ALLEY, is that which either by reason of the slowness of the point of sight, or of the ground, is neither parallel to the front, nor to the transverse alleys.

"ALLEYS in Ziczac, is that which has too great a descent, and which, on that account, is liable to be damaged by floods; to prevent the ill effects whereof, it has platbands of turf run across it from space to space, which help to keep up the gravel. This last name is likewise given to an alley in a labyrinth, or wilderness, formed by several returns of angles, in order to render it the more solitary and obscure, and to hide its exit.

"ALLEY in Perspective, is that which is larger at the entrance than at the exit; to give it a great appearance of length.

"ALLEY of Compartiment, is that which separates the squares of a parterre. . . .

"[vol. 2] QUINCUNX is chiefly used in gardening, for a plantation of trees, disposed originally in a square; consisting of five trees, one at each corner, and a fifth in the middle; which disposition repeated again and again, forms a regular grove, wood, or wilderness, and then viewed by an angle of the square, or parallelogram, presents equal and parallel alleys. . . .

"WALKS, in gardening, See the article ALLEYS."

• 1741–43, Cyclopaedia (1:n.p.)

“APIARY*, bee-house; a place where bees are kept; and furnished with all the apparatus necessary for that purpose. See BEE, HIVE, BOX. &c.

“*The word comes from the Latin, apis, a bee. The apiary should be skreened from high winds on every side, either naturally or artificially; and well defended from poultry, &c. whose dung is offensive to bees. See GARDEN, HONEY &c.”

• 1741–43, Cyclopaedia (1:n.p.)

“ARBOUR, among gardeners, &c. a kind of shady bower or cabinet, contrived to take the air in; yet keep out the sun and rain. See GARDEN.

“Arbours are now gone much into disuse; being apt to be damp, and unwholesome.— They are distinguished into natural and artificial.

“Natural ARBOURS, are formed only of the branches of trees, interwoven artfully, and borne up by strong lattice-work, poles, hoops, &c. which make galleries, halls, porticoes, and green vista’s naturally covered.

“The trees wherewith these arbours are formed, are usually the female elm, or Dutch lime-tree; in regard they easily yield, and by their great quantity of small boughs, form a thick brush-wood: the lower parts are filled up with horn-beam.

“Artificial ARBOURS, and cabinets, are made of lattice-work, borne up by standards, cross-rails, circles and arches of iron. For which purpose they make use of small fillets of oak, which being planted and made strait, are wrought in checkers, and fastened with wire.”

• 1741–43, Cyclopaedia (1:n.p.)

“ARCH, in architecture, is a concave structure, raised with a mould bent in form of the arch of a curve, and serving as the inward support of any superstructure. . . .

“Triumphal ARCH, is a gate, or passage into a city, built of stone, or marble, and magnificently adorned with architecture, sculpture, inscriptions, &c. serving not only to adorn a triumph, at the return from a victorious expedition, but also to preserve the memory of the conqueror to posterity. See TRIUMPH.

“The most celebrated triumphal arches, now remaining of antiquity, are that of Titus, of Septimius Severus, and of Constantine, at Rome, of which we have figures given us by Des Godetz.”

• 1741–43, Cyclopaedia (1:n.p.)

“AVENUE, in gardening, is a walk, planted on each side with trees, and leading to some place. See GROVE, GLADE.

"All avenues, Mortimer says, should lead to the front of an house, garden-gate, highway-gate, or wood, and terminate in a prospect.—In an avenue to an house, whatever the length of the walk is, it ought to be as wide as the whole breadth of the front; and if wider, better.”

• 1741–43, Cyclopaedia (1:n.p.)

“BASON is also used on various occasions for a small reservatory of water: as the bason of a jet d’eau, or fountain; the bason of a port, of a bath, &c. which last Vitruvius calls labrum. See FOUNTAIN.”

• 1741–43, Cyclopaedia (1:n.p.)

“BATH, BALNEUM, a convenient receptacle of water for persons to wash, or plunge in, either for health or pleasure. See WATER. Baths are either natural or artificial. Natural, again, are either hot or cold. . . .

“BATHS, BALNEA, in architecture, denote large pompous buildings among the ancients, erected for the sake of bathing.

“Baths made a part of the ancient gymnasia.”

• 1741–43, Cyclopaedia (n.p.)

“[vol. 1] BED, in gardening, a piece of made-ground, raised above the level of the adjoining ground, usually square or oblong, and enriched with dung or other amendments; intended for the raising of herbs, flowers, seeds, roots, or the like.

“Hot-BED. See the article HOT-Bed. . . .

“HOT-BED, a piece of earth or soil plentifull enriched with manure, and defended from cold winds, &c. to forward the growth of plants, and force vegetation, when the season or the climate of itself is not warm enough. . . .

“[vol. 2] PARTERRE, in gardening, that open part of a garden into which we enter, coming out of the house; usually, set with flowers, or divided into beds, encompassed with platbands, &c. See GARDEN."

• 1741–43, Cyclopaedia (1:n.p.)

“CASCADE,* a steep fall of water, from a higher into a lower place. See CATARACT.

“* The word is French, formed of the Italian cascata, which signifies the same; of cascare to fall; and that from the latin cadere.

“Cascades are either natural, as that of Tivoli; or artificial, as those of Versailles, &c. and either falling with a gentle descent, as those of the Sceaux; in form of a buffet, as at Trianon; or down steps, in form of a perron, as at St. Clou; or from bason to bason, &c. . . .

“CATARACT * of Water, a fall, or precipice, in the channel, or bed of a river; caused by rocks, or other obstacles, stopping the course of its stream: from whence the water falls with a great noise and impetuosity.

“* The word comes from the Greek . . . cum impetu decido, I tumble down with violence; compounded of . . . down; and . . . dejicio, I throw down.”

• 1741–43, Cyclopaedia (1:n.p.)

“COLUMN, in architecture, a round pillar, made to support, or adorn, a building. . . .

“Statuary COLUMN, that which supports a statue. . . .

“Symbolical COLUMN, is a column representing some particular country, by the attributes proper thereto. . . .

“Triumphal COLUMN, a column erected among the ancients in honour of an hero; the joints of the stones, or courses whereof, were covered with as many crowns, as he had made different military expeditions.”

• 1741–43, Cyclopaedia (1:n.p.)

“CONSERVATORY, in gardening, See GREEN-House. . . .

“GREENHOUSE, or conservatory; a house of shelter in a garden, contrived for preserving the more tender and curious exotic plants, which will not bear the winter’s cold abroad in our climate. See EXOTIC.

“Greenhouses, as now built, serve not only as conservatories, but likewise as ornaments of gardens; being usually large and beautiful structures, in form of galleries, wherein the plants are handsomely ranged in cases for the purpose. See GARDEN.”

• 1741–43, Cyclopaedia (1:n.p.)

“COPPICE or COPSE, a little wood, consisting of underwoods; and may be raised either by sowing, or planting. See WOOD.”

• 1741–43, Cyclopaedia (1:n.p.)

“ESPALIER, in the French gardening, a wall-tree; or a fruit-tree, which is not left to grow at liberty in full air, but has its branches nailed or fastened to a wall, near which it is planted; and thus growing, it is made to conform it self to the flat though unnatural, figure thereof. See FRUIT-Tree, WALL, &c.

“ESPALIERS, in our gardening, are rows of trees, planted regularly round the out-side of a garden, or plantation, for the general security thereof, from the violence and injury of the winds; or else only round some part of a garden, for the particular security of a plantation of orange trees, lemon trees, myrtles, or other tender plants; or, lastly for the bounding of borders, walks, avenues, &c. See GARDEN, &c.

“Espaliers are now come into mighty use, with respect to the first of these intentions: in effect, it is found by experience, that the best brick, or stone walls, are not of themselves sufficient security to fruit-trees, from the ravages of blighting winds. See WALL.

“The reason may be, that being built close and compact, they repel the winds, and by that means damage the tender plants, that lie within the reach of the repulsion. But these espaliers serve to deaden the violence of the winds, so as the tender greens, or plants, encompassed by them, rest serene and quiet.

“Thus, if the espaliers, for instance, be of spruce holly, or yew, they give way to the fource of tempestuous winds beating against them, without occasioning any resilition thereof.

“Mess. London and Wise, direct them to be planted at some distance, without the outmost bounds, or walls of gardens, &c. Two, or three rows of trees, they think sufficient, from 18 or 20 to 25 foot a-part. And as to the method, or order, of disposing the trees, the most commodious is where the middle row makes every where equilateral triangles with the extreme rows, in the following manner. See QUINCUNX.

“The trees recommended for making, or planting, these espalier fences, are the elm, lime, beech, Scotch fir, oak, pine and sycamores; but particularly the two first. For the method of planting them, see PLANTING, TRANSPLANTING, &c.

“As for espalier hedges, or hedge rows for defence of tender greens, and plants, from destructive winds in the summer season; if there be occasion to use them the first or second year after they are planted, a substantial frame of wood must be made, seven or eight foot high, with posts and rails. And to this espalier frame, must the side boughs of the young trees be tied, to cause the espalier to thicken the sooner.

“For the form of such an espalier, it must be oblong, running north and south.—It may be planted with apples, pears, holly, laurel, lime, maple, white-thorn, yew, &c.”

• 1741–43, Cyclopaedia (1:n.p.)

“FOUNTAIN, or artificial FOUNTAIN, in hydraulicks, a machine, or contrivance, whereby the water is violently spouted, or darted up; called also Jet d’Eau. See JET d’ Eau, FLUID, &c.

“There are divers kinds of artificial Fountains; some founded on the spring, or elasticity of the air; and others on the pressure or weight of the water, &c."

• 1741–43, Cyclopaedia (1:n.p.)

“GARDEN. . . .

“Gardens are distinguished into flower-gardens, fruit-gardens, and kitchen-gardens: the first for pleasure, and ornament; and therefore placed in the most conspicuous parts: the two latter for service; and therefore made in by-places.”

The chief furniture of pleasure gardens are, parterres, vista’s, glades, groves, compartiments, quincunces, verdant halls, arbour work, mazes, labyrinths, fountains, cabinets, cascades, canals, terraces, &c.”

• 1741–43, Cyclopaedia (1:n.p.)

“GROTTO*, or GROTTA, in natural history, a large deep cavern or den in a mountain or rock. . . .

“GROTTO, is also used for a little artificial edifice made in a garden, in imitation of a natural grotto. The outsides of these grotto’s are usually adorned with rustic architecture, and their inside with shell-work, furnished like-wise with various jet-d’eaus, or fountains, &c.

“The grotto at Versailles is an excellent piece of building.—Solomon de Caux has an express treatise of grotto’s and fountains.

“* The word is Italian, grotta, formed according to Menage, and &c. from the Latin crypta: du Cange observes, that grotta was used in the same sense in the corrupt Latin.”

• 1741–43, Cyclopaedia (1:n.p.)

“HEDGE*, in agriculture, &c. a fence, inclosing a field, garden, or the like; made of branches of trees interwoven. See FENCE.

“* The word is formed of the German hag, or haeg, or the Anglo Saxon hegge, or hege; which signifies simply inclosure, circumference.

“Quick-set HEDGE, is that made of quick or live trees, which have taken root; in contradistinction to that made of faggots, hurdles, or dry boughs.”

• 1741–43, Cyclopaedia (1:n.p.)

“HERMITAGE, properly signifies a little hut, or habitation, in some desart place, where a hermit dwells.

“HERMITAGE is also popularly attributed to any religious cell, built and endowed in a private and recluse place; and thus annexed to some large abbey, of which the superior was called hermita.”

• 1741–43, Cyclopaedia (1:n.p.)

“HOT-HOUSE. See STOVE, HYPOCAUSTUM, &c.”

• 1741–43, Cyclopaedia (1:n.p.)

“JET D’EAU, a French word, signifying a fountain that casts up water to any considerable heighth in the air. See FOUNTAIN.

“Mariotte shews, that a jet d’eau will never raise water so high as its reservoir, but always falls short of it by a space, which is in a subduplicate ratio of that heighth.—The same author shews, that if a greater jet branch out into many smaller ones, or be distributed through several jets, the square of the diameter of the main pipe, must be proportioned to the sum of all the expences of its branches: and that if the reservoir be 52 foot high, and the adjutage half an inch in diameter, the pipe ought to be three inches in diameter.”

• 1741–43, Cyclopaedia (2:n.p.)

“LABYRINTH . . . among the ancients, was a large intricate edifice cut out into various isles, and meanders, running into each other, so as to render it difficult to get out of it.”

• 1741–43, Cyclopaedia (2:n.p.)

“PLAT-BAND, in gardening, a border, or bed of flowers, along a wall, or the side of a parterre; frequently edged with box, &c. See PARTERRE, EDGING, &c.”