STRUCTURES IN LANDSCAPE 199 



its outer line relates to the view beyond, not concealing too much or 

 intruding a too formal foreground. Its height above the surface below 

 will be motived by the relations of its bank or retaining wall — perhaps 

 with its steps or niches or other decorations as the case may be — to the 

 composition offered in a view towards the building, by its proportions 

 for itself, and by its relation as a base to the building. A series of 

 terraces running down a hillside should have adequate termination, 

 both at the ends of each separate terrace and at the bottom of the 

 scheme. The relative shapes of such terraces should be carefully 

 studied so that their successive surfaces may be seen in pleasant pro- 

 portion from above and their successive walls may surmount one an- 

 other in pleasant relation as seen from below, and culminate effectively 

 in the dominating structure. For these purposes an ideal arrangement 

 of terraces would be one in which the upper terrace next the building 

 was narrow and high, and the height of the successive terraces decreased 

 and their width increased to the terrace at the foot of the series, which 

 might be broad and low. In formal arrangements of the ground like 

 those in a formal garden, importance may be given to one part of an 

 area by arranging it as a terrace, as for instance where one end of a 

 garden is so treated and a banqueting house or shelter built on such an 

 elevation. Or the concavity of the whole form of a garden may be 

 accented by a slight terrace running all the way around it. 



Since people will, if it is possible, invariably come to the very edge Parapets 

 of any elevation on which they stand to enjoy a view, there should 

 usually be a path along the outer edge of the terrace, and, if the fall 

 be at all considerable, a parapet of some kind on which the visitor may 

 lean. If the design requires it, this parapet need be no more than knee 

 high, but it will still be effective if it be broad enough. At the head of 

 the curving flight of steps above the tapis vert at Versailles, where a 

 parapet would have been undesirable on account of the view towards 

 the chateau, the safety of spectators is practically assured by an ever- 

 green hedge planted on the lower level, with its broad top, trimmed flat, 

 reaching to the upper level. A terrace parapet can hardly exceed a 

 height comfortable to rest the elbows on without seeming out of scale 

 with the size of a man. The question of the construction of the parapet 

 — balustrade, pierced wall, post and panel, or whatever else of all the 



