ROADWAY OF THE APPROACH. 65 



can be had with a gentle inclination to the hall door, 

 or a sufficient breadth of level surface can be formed 

 in front of it. Almost every case has some peculiarity 

 of its own. There should always be a level platform 

 of gravel of sufficient breadth to allow carriages to 

 turn on it. When this platform is small, it is very 

 desirable that the adjoining portion of the approach 

 should be level. When the nature of the ground ad- 

 mits of it, the platform should be extended, and its 

 exterior portions should be laid down in grass. Where 

 the ground slopes rapidly from the entrance-front, it 

 is proper to support the platform by an ornamental 

 wall or balustrade. The approach should, if possible, 

 never descend toward the house, without a consider- 

 able space of level ground intervening between the 

 lowest point of the descent and the entrance-platform. 

 Any visible descent near the house always imparts to 

 the latter a mean and inferior appearance. 



Roadway of the Approach. — The road, to have 

 any thing like a tolerable appearance, cannot be less 

 tban twelve feet wide. From twelve to sixteen feet 

 may be regarded as a medium breadth ; but it may be 

 necessary to make it as much as twenty feet, A long, 

 narrow approach, through an extensive j^ark, has very 

 much the look of a footpath. The road should be well 

 formed ; for, though it may not be subjected to the bur- 

 den of heavy cartages, the carriages that pass over it 

 are not always of the lightest description. Besides, in 

 addition to its being a good road, it should also be a 

 irood walk, and this cannot be effected without its be- 

 ing finished in a superior manner. The roadway should 

 have its bottom paved with hand-packed stones, from 

 four to six inches deep ; over these should be placed 



