CONNECTION BETWEEN THE HOUSE AND GROUNDS. 389 



be a platform G or 8 feet wide of gravel, from 18 in. to 2 ft. higher than the 

 surrounding surface, and bounded by a slope of turf at an angle of 45°. 

 Opposite the entrance- door, this platform may be ascended to by three stone 

 or brick steps, in the slope; and there may be similar steps descending to the 

 lawn on the pleasure-ground front. In the case of houses on a larger scale, 

 the platform may be much wider ; andj instead of being laid with gravel, it 

 may be paved with flagstones ; for the slope covered witii turf, a low wall 

 may be substituted surrounded by a balustrade or other ornamental open- 

 work. The flight of steps may also have side or spandril walls, appropriately 

 finished and decorated. In the case of some houses, in particular situations, 

 there may be a second terrace or platform exterior to the first, on a lower 

 level, and considerably broader. The walk on this second platform may be 

 of gravel, and there may be a strip of turf between it and the first platform, 

 which may be ornamented with shrubs or flowers, or it may be without these, 

 according to circumstances. On the outside of the gravel walk, the lawn 

 may extend indefinitely, and may either terminate in an architectural boun- 

 dary at a few yards' distance, or it may extend to an ha! ha I or to a wire 

 fence, the situation of which is not observable from the house. In short, 

 while the first platform is in width and character chiefly influenced by the 

 magnitude and style of the house, the outer or lower one ought to be jointly 

 influenced by the style of the house, and the natural character of the surface 

 of the ground. Where the character of the surface is at all marked by bold 

 undulations, steep slopes, or abrupt transitions, these features ought to 

 influence the lower platform more than the character of the mansion; but, on 

 the contrary, where the grounds are comparatively flat, then the character 

 of the outer or lower platform should partake of that feature in the scenery 

 which is the most conspicuous, and which of course will be the house. Plat- 

 forms or terraces, therefore, may be said to form the groundwork of the 

 appendages to a house in the country. The appendages themselves are 

 various, as, independently of the offices, which, we contend, ought to be only 

 partially and not wholly concealed, there are the green-houses or conserva- 

 tories, architectural seats or loggias, covered or open ; seats arranged so as 

 to be covered from the rain, fig. 243 ; con- 

 necting verandas, sun-dials, vases for flow- ^^^ 

 ers, basins for fountains, architectural 

 baskets, and other mural compartments for 

 plants or flowers ; and various other similar 

 objects. In the management of these ap- 

 pendages, an artist, without some invention 

 and good taste, will be greatly at a loss; 

 and therefore the proprietor of a house 

 already built, who wishes to harmonise it with the grounds, should consider 

 well on whose advice he acts. A mere architect is no more competent to 

 advise in such a case, than a mere gardener or a mere landscape-painter. 

 It must be a person who has directed particular attention to the subject, and 

 who unites the knowledge of the architect, as far at least as the exterior of 

 the buildings is concerned, with that knowledge of composition of general 

 scenery which is necessarily possessed by the landscape-painter, and a con- 

 siderable share of that knowledge of cultivation which is essential to the 

 gardener. 



