V THE COURTS, TERRACES, WALKS 103 



but when the house starts from a terrace it at 

 least looks dry, and the terrace enables you to 

 see the garden. The French author of The 

 Theory of Gardening lays it down that there 

 should always be a descent from the building to 

 the garden of three steps at least. The main 

 terrace was always placed to overlook the prin- 

 cipal garden. This might be either to the back 

 of the house or to the left or right of it, accord- 

 ing to circumstance. It has been given as a rule 

 for the width of such a terrace that it should 

 be equal to the height of the house from the 

 ground line to the eaves. This rule is so far 

 good that it is likely to prevent those petites 

 manieres mesquines^ against which the French 

 author warned designers, but it is not borne out 

 by existing instances. The great terrace at 

 Montacute, which overlooks the west garden, 

 is about 45 feet wide, which is much less than 

 the height of the building. On the other hand, 

 the north terrace at Versailles measures about 

 120 feet wide by 820 long; the terrace at 

 Bolsover, in Derbyshire, about 300 feet long 

 by 50 feet wide. The proportions of a terrace 

 depend not only on the height of the building, 

 but on the length of the terrace itself. In 

 Marshal Tallard's garden the house terrace 

 was 60 feet long by 14 wide. Switzer says the 

 house terrace can hardly be too wide, and that, 

 as a rule, in England they were much too 

 narrow. He gives a plan of a terrace 100 feet 



