Chapter VII 



Approaches '' 



THE road by which a stranger is supposed to pass 

 through the park or lawn to the house is called 

 an approach ; and there seems the same relation betwixt 

 the approach and the house externally that there is 

 internally betwixt the hall or entrance and the several 

 apartments to which it leads. If the hall be too large 

 or too small, too mean or too much ornamented for 

 the style of the house, there is a manifest incongruity 

 in the architecture, by which good taste will be 

 offended ; but if the hall be so situated as not to con- 

 nect well with the several apartments to which it ought 

 to lead, it will then be defective in point of conven- 

 ience. 



So it is with respect to an approach : — it ought to 

 be convenient, interesting, and in strict harmony with 

 the character and situation of the mansion to which it 

 belongs. 



There seems to be as much absurdity in carrying an 

 approach round, to include those objects which do not 

 naturally fall within its reach, as there was formerly in 

 cutting through a hill, to obtain a straight line point- 

 ing to the hall door. A line of red gravel across a lawn 

 is apt to offend, by cutting it into parts, and destroy- 

 ing the unity of verdure, so pleasing to the eye. But 

 I have in some places seen the aversion of showing 

 a road carried to such a length, that a gap has been dug 

 in the lawn, by way of road ; and, in order to hide it, 



