DRESS GROUND. 43 



some it is most essential ; as, for instance, 

 when a house stands upon the brow of a steep 

 descent, and where, the soil being unfavour- 

 able for the growth of trees, no other fore- 

 a;round can be obtained. Dale Park, in 

 Sussex, is a striking example of such a 

 situation. The house stands on the very 

 brink of a chalky hill, and commands a rich 

 middle distance of park scenery, with an 

 extensive view of the sea in the distance. 

 A bold terrace, with its accompaniments, by 

 adding a foreground, would form a beau- 

 tiful and interesting composition. The de- 

 cided form of the parapet, with its light and 

 shadow, would, by its contrast, increase the 

 aerial softness of the distance, at the same 

 time that it would hide from the windows the 

 bare unbroken slope of lawn ; and, by carrying 

 the eye immediately to the middle ground, 

 leaving the imagination to fill up the inter- 

 vening space below, would give great apparent 

 extent to the scene. 



The architectural foreground is also essen- 

 tial, where the ground on one side slopes 

 across the eye with no contrasting line on the 

 other : the terrace wall, in this case, intersect- 

 ing the sloping line, restores the horizontal 



