Ifl 



than u should appear loo deep, (that is. not mote than si* or eight feet, ami 

 for villas where tin 1 ground is not abrupt, from three t«> Com feet), the pound 



;it the base of the wall will have to BO raised (us at b). so as to shuw tin- 



wall a proper height, and to appear of one level or depth t h roughout its 

 length ; otherwise a wall, if too deep ami obliquely out of level, would hare 

 a tendenc] to destroy the due proportions of the structure when flawed in 

 approaching it. 



I have a decided objection to the house being so elevated as to require 

 thus,- 1,.1'tv flights of steps which we so frequently find shout them. Thai 

 are exceedingly inconvenient to the invalid, the aged, and the infirm, and 

 must be a constant nuisance to ladies, particularly in wet weather. The most 

 glaring error of this kind I ever met with was at Beaucheif Abbey, a verj 

 ancient edifice, in Derbyshire. The exact number of Bteps I do not remem- 

 ber, but there must have been twenty or more, rising to the height of the first 

 3tory, over the servants' compartments. The only effectual remedy for this 

 was an extensive terrace, which I proposed. There is another example of this 

 kind of error at Wollaion. the Beat of Lord Middleton, in No tt i ngh a mshir e. 

 Here there are several flights of steps one "above another. The first (about 

 twelve or fifteen in number) leads to a platform or landing; and this, again, 

 is followed by other smaller flights Leading to the door of the hall. In fact. 

 there are numerous instances of the same kind in this country, but I mention 

 these as most striking. Although there may. in the opinion of some, be a 

 display of grandeur in these flights of steps, and they may appear to harmonise 

 with the edifice, still I think an equal degree of grandeur might have been 

 produced if the present living rooms at Wollaton had been on the ground 

 floor, with only half a dozen steps to reach them, which is the utmost I 

 would ever allow : and I am quite sure that a far greater amount of comfort 

 in the interior, as well as greater extent and variety in the exterior of the 



edifice, aright have been secured, had the compartments for the sonants 



hen associated with the west side, between the mansion and the stables, 

 instead of being, as they now are. partially underground. 



It is no uncommon thing to find houses injudicioiisU erected on sites 

 from which there is ao fall, and sometimes even on plots considerably lower 

 than the ground contiguous to it, so that the fall is rather to the front of 

 the house than from it. In such cases, in order to earn off the wet. and 



