ess
effective, it is more agreeable. But this must be left very much to the
judgment.

Seventhly. We must be very careful in ascertaining whether any given
contrast is obtained by freedom from external, or absence of internal,
energy, for it is often a difficult point to decide. Thus, the peace of
the Alpine valley might, at first, seem to be a contrast caused by the
want of the character of strength and sublimity manifested in the hills;
but it is really caused by the freedom from the general and external
influence of violence and desolation.

240. These, then, are principles applicable to all arts, without a
single exception, and of particular importance in painting and
architecture.[53] It will sometimes be found that one rule comes in the
way of another; in which case, the most important is, of course, to be
obeyed; but, in general, they will afford us an easy means of arriving
at certain results, when, before, our conjectures must have been vague
and unsatisfactory.

[Footnote 53: [For further discussion of which, see _Elements of
Drawing_, Letter III.]]

We may now proceed to determine the most proper _form_ for the mountain
villa of England.

241. We must first observe the prevailing lines of the near hills: if
they are vertical, there will most assuredly be monotony, for the
vertical lines of crag are never grouped, and accordingly, by our fourth
rule, the prevailing lines of our edifice must be horizontal. On the
Lake of Thun the tendency of the hills is vertical; this tendency is
repeated by the buildings,[54] and the composition becomes thoroughly
bad; but on the Lake of Como we have the same vertical tendency in the
hills, while the grand lines of the buildings are horizontal, and the
composition is good. But, if the prevailing lines of the near hills be
curved (and they will be either curved or vertical), we must not
interrupt their character, for the energy is then pervading, not
individual; and, therefore, our edifice must be rectangular.

[Footnote 54: [In their turrets and pinnacles, as shown by a poor
wood-cut in the magazine, not worth reproduction.]]

In both cases, therefore, the grand outline of the villa is the same;
but in one we have it set off by contrast, in the other by assimilation;
and we must work out in the architecture of each edifice the principle
on which we have begun. Commencing with that in which we are to work by
contrast: the vertical crags must be the result of violence,