36 



PARKS AND PLEASURE-GROUNDS. 



the mansion-liouse. We would liave said wholly, were 

 it not preferable that the entrance front should be in 

 great measure open to the park. When the entrance 

 front is enclosed^ it should only be for the protection of 

 the gravel and lawn in the immediate vicinity of the 

 house. The extent of this gravel and lawn will of 

 course be regulated by the size of the whole place. It 

 is seldom expedient to have much lawn in front of the 

 mansion. Generally speaking, it is better that the 

 grazing lands of the park should occupy this position, 

 and that the scenery on this side of the house should 

 partake rather of the character of the park than of the 

 pleasure-grounds. Being limited, then, on the entrance 

 front of the house, the pleasure-grounds, on the draw- 

 ing-room front and on the other sides, wiE. receive a 

 proportional enlargement. Their actual extent must be 

 determined by the nature of the ground and the size of 

 the park. Perhaps they may include all the space in 

 the vicinity of the house, with the exception of that on 

 the entrance front, fi'om which may be had the finest 

 views in the park and in the surrounding country. 

 These views add much to the interest and variety of the 

 grounds. If there are few or no prospects of this kind, 

 the greater is the necessity that the pleasure-grounds 

 should be so laid out as to awaken interest and to afford 

 gratification within themselves. 



Composition of the Landscape, — The views which it is 

 desirable should be possessed from the house require 

 a varied arrangement of the dressed grounds. As for- 

 merly stated, those on the drawing-room front should, 

 if possible, be the finest. Sometimes they may all be 

 included in one prospect, the pleasm-e-grounds forming 

 the foreground of the pictm'e, and the park and exterior 



