THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.

VOL 13, No. 355., SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1829. [PRICE 2d.]




VILLAS IN THE REGENT'S PARK.




[Illustration: MARQUESS OF HERTFORD'S VILLA.]

[Illustration: DORIC VILLA.]


The definition of the word _villa_ is a country seat; but the reader
will ask, how can a country seat be in the midst of a metropolis, or in
its brick and mortar confines? The term, however, admits of various
modifications. The villas of the Romans resembled large city palaces
removed into the country, and some of them were four times larger than
Versailles with its three thousand apartments. The villas of modern
Rome likewise more resemble palaces than abodes of domestic
convenience; and one of them, the Villa Mondrogone, has more windows
than there are days in the year. Such are the Italian villas, of which
the name conveys as accurate an idea as the English reader acquires
from the French _chateau_, which, in reality, implies a comfortless
factory-looking abode, with a blaze of fresco embellishments.