leads by an upward flight of steps to one side or a wide terrace walk, that 

 encompasses on all four sides a large sunk garden of formal design. This 

 garden runs the whole length of the forecourt and depth of the house, 

 and has a width equal to some two-thirds of its length. A large middle 

 fountain-basin, with shaped outline of angles and segments of circles, has 

 a balustraded kerb with a stone obelisk on every pier. In the centre is a 

 handsome tazza in which the water plays. Wide paths lead down flights 

 of balustraded steps from all four sides to the gravelled area within which 

 the fountain stands. The spaces between, and the banks rising to the 

 level of the upper terraces, are of turf. Rows of Irish yews stand ranged 

 on both levels. It is all extremely correct, stately — dare one say a trifle 

 dull ? Opposite the forecourt the garden is bounded by a good yew 

 hedge protecting it from wind from the valley below. Midway in the 

 length is an opening where a low wall and seats give a welcome outlook. 

 The same yew hedge returns eastward to the south-east angle of the 

 house ; the garden's opposite boundary being a low wall with a sunk 

 fence outside, giving a view into the park. 



There is an entrance from the garden to the house on its southern side 

 by a flight of balustraded steps, and niches with seats are on either side of 

 the door. 



Wonderful are these great stone houses of the early English 

 Renaissance — wonderful in their bold grasp and sudden assertion of the 

 new possibilities of domestic architecture ! For it may be repeated that 

 it was only of late that a man's house had ceased to be a place of defence, 

 and that he might venture to have windows looking abroad all round, 

 and yet feel perrectly safe without even an inclosing moat. 



In the present day it is somewhat difficult to account tor the designer's 

 attitude of mind when deciding on such a lavish employment of the 

 obelisk-shaped finials. One can only regard it as the outcome of the 

 taste or fashion of the day, when he borrowed straight from the Italians 

 everything except their marvellous discernment. One accepts the many 

 obelisks at Montacute as showing the reflection of Italian influence on 

 the Tudor mind ; to-day and new, they would be inadmissible. The 

 modern mind, with the vast quantity of material at hand, and the 

 easy access to all that has been said and done on the subject, should 



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