On Garden Atdiitecture. 21 



of beauty : its pathways should attract the beholder from the drawing-room 

 or parlor, hall or boudoir, to wander amid their beauties ; its fountains 

 and terraces should invite him to linger beside and upon them ; its grottoes 

 and pavilions should allure him to rest beneath their protection. From the 

 house, it should be but a step, as it were, to the garden ; and the garden 

 should be so arranged, that this step should not only be direct and natural, 

 but should give at the first glance a general insight into its beauties, and 

 excite the desire to explore and admire them. It is, then, of the greatest 

 importance how the garden is approached from the house. 



As a general rule, the approach to the garden from the house should be 

 not directly from an apartment like the drawing or sitting room, but by a 

 hall, vestibule, or ante-room specially designed for the purpose ; for while 

 every view of the garden should present beautiful features, and especially 

 so every view from the house, it would be destructive of the privacy gener- 

 ally desired in the apartments of a dwelling-house to have the chief entrance, 

 or even an important entrance, to the garden opening from one of them. 

 This objection, however, might not be felt in some cases at all, especially 

 in a house used only as a summer residence ; and there would probably al- 

 ways be a choice of the apartment to be made the vestibule to the garden, 

 should it be desired to avoid having a hall or ante-room especially for the 

 purpose. Moreover, it is necessary in almost every design to husband the 

 resources of art, and concentrate them upon the principal features. This 

 principle, however, is subject in practice to great modifications, arising from 

 the peculiar circumstances of each case, — the situation and extent of the 

 grounds ; the size of the house and its apartments ; the use of the dwelling, 

 whether it be for a mere summer residence or a permanent dwelling-place. 

 These, and a variety of other conditions, would determine in what way the 

 entrance or entrances to the garden from the house should be designed 

 and arranged. If, for instance, the house were merely a summer residence, 

 the garden-front on an extended scale, the garden itself large and varied, 

 and it were practicable to have a path and vista opening opposite a window 

 of each of the principal apartments, the windows of the garden-front might 

 be French casements carried to the floor ; and thus from each apartment 

 there would be an entrance or entrances to the garden. But, even in such 

 a case, it is extremely doubtful whether it would not be better- to preserve 



