1 86 THE FORMAL GARDEN IN ENGLAND viii 



and in the centre of each side there is a curious 

 temple of stone ; six pillars support a circular 

 stone roof with a projecting cornice on brackets, 

 and an open cupola above, formed of three 

 stone ribs joining at the top and terminating in 

 an open ball formed of two intersecting circles 

 of stone. Instances of terraces with retaining 

 walls but no balustrade are not common. 

 There is an instance at Cothele, in Cornwall, 

 where the two upper terraces have low retain- 

 ing walls of stone but no balustrade, and the 

 third terrace has a grass bank. The grass 

 bank is the better treatment and looks well 

 with simple flights of stone steps. Th^ terrace 

 of Etwall Hall, Derbyshire, is a good example 

 of this. 



In the French gardens the flights of steps 

 leading from the terrace to the lower levels 

 were very elaborate. In James's translation 

 several diagrams are given of the great French 

 instances. In England the steps were usually 

 laid out in plain rectangular flights, though 

 circular and curved steps were often used for 

 short flights. There is a good instance of 

 a semicircular flight at the end of the house 

 terrace to Eyam Hall ; and occasionally the 

 flight of steps widened out as it descended with 

 a winding balustrade, as in the steps to the 

 entrance of Wootton Lodge, in Staflx)rdshire. 

 In the eighteenth century, when people were 

 more ambitious and the mason exulted in his 



