16 SITUATION. 



villa, when it is finished and ornamented as a terrace should 

 be, i. e., with vases, urns, &c., of sizes and forms harmonizing 

 properly with the architecture of the building. The same prin- 

 ciple may be applied to detached conservatories when placed in 

 the grounds as ornamental objects. 



While speaking of terraces, it may not be out of place to 

 remark, that, about some of the finest gardens of this country, 

 these grass walls are introduced to absolute satiety. Nothing 

 like a gentle, undulating surface is for a moment tolerated, but, 

 as a matter of custom, the ground must be levelled, and flanked 

 by a terrace. Now we think that when terraces are found neces- 

 sary in front of a garden structure, of an ornamental charac- 

 ter, they ought to be of a different character from those intermi- 

 nable sod banks so liberally constructed about some fine places 

 that we could mention, but forbear doing so, on the principle, 

 that, where much has been done, a few errors in taste may be 

 justified. However, it cannot be denied that a steep bank of 

 grass, twelve or twenty feet deep and as many from the walls 

 of the building, void of any architectural decoration or ornament 

 of any description, save its own unrelieved formality, is in as 

 bad taste as would be the surrounding of a mud-walled hut with 

 architectural balustrades and sculptured ornaments. Steep, 

 formal terraces, without architectural decorations to unite and 

 harmonize them with the structure, are, unquestionably, the 

 most insipid and meaningless objects that can be introduced 

 into ornamental grounds. 



What is called an architectural terrace, consisting of a low 

 parapet and balustrade of handsome masonry, or other rich 

 ornamental work, has always a pleasing effect, especially when 

 attached to buildings of an ornamental character,^ whether 

 these buildings be for dwellings, or for horticultural purposes. 

 These terraces, however, are very different from those perpen- 

 dicular turf-banks, of which I have already spoken. The 

 former are truly artistical, and, in connection with classical 



* The reader who is interested in this subject, and wishes for further 

 information on this kind of ornamental terraces, is referred to the ele- 

 gant remarks and illustrations thereon by Mr. Downing. [See Downing' 's 

 Landscape Gardening ; section, Architectural Embellishments.] 



