THE TECHNICS OF GARDENING. 157 



stands, or which forms its base, constitutes the ter- 

 race. In such cases the terrace- walls are usually in 

 two or more levels, the upper terrace being mostly 

 parallel with the line of the house, or bowed out at 

 intervals with balconies, while the lower terrace, or 

 terraces, serve as the varying levels of formal gar- 

 dens, pleasure-grounds, labyrinths, &c. The terraces 

 are approached by wide steps that are treated in a 

 stately and impressive manner. The walls and 

 balustrades, moreover, conform, as they should, to 

 the materials employed in the house ; if the house be 

 of stone, as at H addon, or Brympton, or Claverton, 

 the balustrade is of stone ; if the house be of brick, 

 as at Hatfield or Bramshill, the walls and balustrades 

 will be of brick and terra-cotta. The advantage of 

 this agreement of material is obvious, for house and 

 terrace, embraced at one glance, make a consistent 

 whole. There is not, of course, the same necessity 

 for consistency of material in the case of the mere 

 retaining walls. 



As one must needs have a system in planning 

 grounds, there is none that will more certainly bring 

 honour and effect to them than the regular geome- 

 trical treatment. This is what the architect naturally 

 prefers. The house is his child, and he knows what 

 is good for it. Unlike the imported gardener, who 

 comes upon the scene as a foreign agent, the architect 

 works from the house outwards, taking the house as 

 his centre ; the other works from the outside inwards, 

 if he thinks of the "inwards" at all. The first 

 thinks of house and grounds as a whole which shall 



