Art Out-of-Doors 
keener vision, a truer artistic sense, than 
they. It was not an architect, it was Mr. 
Olmsted, who first saw how greatly the 
Capitol, on the side which faces the city, 
might be improved by the addition of a 
wide and high architectural terrace. The 
beauty of the building itself has been much 
increased by this terrace, which adds to its 
apparent height and thus betters its propor- 
tions ; and it is now integrally united by 
the terrace to the sloping gardens which 
stretch away in front of it. 
What has been done here might with cor- 
responding advantage.be done to some large 
country houses that I happen to remember, 
while I know others that would be utterly 
spoiled if the simple way in which their 
foundations rise from the soil were disturbed 
by terracing, or by formal arrangements of 
any sort. There is no rule— there are only 
principles ; and these principles only an ar- 
tist who knows something of both architec- 
ture and gardening is likely to apply with 
justness. No definite ideal can be cherished, 
to the exclusion of others, by a person who 
wants to produce good results upon canvases 
186 
