house, it is better to withdraw it into some secondary position, and to mould it more in conformity with its main purpose, than for architectural display. In such cases, it perhaps ought to be at once removed into the general flower-garden; but before doing so, a place should be sought for it in the dressed grounds in the vicinity of the mansion-house, where it may be decorated with terraces and other ornaments, while it is treated directly as a glass-house for plants, with internal arrangements as above indicated. Wood and iron are generally employed for the frame-work of such houses, as they combine strength and lightness in a higher degree than any other materials. Stone pilasters of slender proportions may be introduced, to give a somewhat architectural air to the structure. The glass which is used for the sashes should be good, and free from impurities and irregularities, in large squares, or in panes, long at least, if not broad, for nothing connected with plant-houses produces so mean and slovenly an effect as short panes of glass with a multitude of overlaps.

Stable Court, and Offices.-The stables and their appendages may form a suitable part of the mansionhouse group of buildings where the latter are not below the medium size; but when circumstances do not permit this arrangement, I would recommend for them a dry, sunny, airy situation, commanding a good supply of water, at a medium distance from the house, but certainly not in a prominent position in the grounds. Scarcely anything is in worse taste than a large rectangular building, with its huge coach-house gates, central pediment, and a steeple or tower, composing together a staring object in the park, and competing with the mansionhouse itself. Stables of this description are not uncom

mon, and sometimes they have their dignity increased by being erected near the principal approach. While the stable offices should be of easy access, they ought always to be placed on the secondary approach or back road. A convenient site for them may frequently be found on the edge of the pleasure-grounds, where they should be wholly or partially concealed by planting. A walk leading from the house through the grounds, and passing near a private entrance into the stable-court, will be found a great convenience. It is not unusual to combine the stable-court and farm offices into one square. The arrangement is not a happy one, particularly if the farm offices are extensive and near the house; and it becomes most inconvenient should the home farm be let, as it sometimes is, for in that case two masters and two sets of servants cannot long remain on good terms. Several instances of this misarrangement and its consequent annoyances have fallen under my notice. As a general rule, the farm offices should be kept at as great a distance from the mansion-house as the convenience of the home farm and the easy access of the proprietor will permit.

19

CHAPTER II.

THE APPROACH.

The Site of the

Definition. Direction of the Approach.
Entrance-gate. Style of the Gate and Lodge. Line of
Approach through the Park.-Gates on the Line of Approach.
-Formation of the Approach.-Roadway of Approach.-
Decoration of Approach.-The Avenue.-The Fine Approach.

AN Approach is a road leading from the principal
highway of the district, and passing through the park
and dressed grounds to the mansion-house. It is not to
be considered as identical with the avenue found in some
old places, which latter is an alley or straight road run-
ning between parallel lines of tall trees. The term
approach, in its general acceptation, may denote every
kind of access to the house; in common usage, how-
ever, it is mostly restricted to the principal one. In
districts where there are large forests or extensive pas-
ture farms connected with the estate, the external high-
way may be so private as to assume the character of an
approach, and as such may require to be dealt with on
the principles of landscape-gardening: at present it is
proposed to speak of the approach only as internal to
the park.
In the estimation of some, the approach
occupies a primary place in the arrangement of a country

residence. It is probably sufficient, in almost all cases, to allow it a third-rate position in the scale of importance. The site of the house, as related to the park generally and to the leading road of the district, clearly ought to hold the first place, and the second may be safely conceded to the pleasure-grounds and flowergardens. These points, indeed, should not be determined irrespective of the approach, a not uncommon mistake in the opposite direction; but in forming a general idea of the whole place, and particularly in the construction of the roads, care should be taken that the site of the house and the seclusion of the adjacent grounds should not be sacrificed, as they too often are, to the vanity of having a fine approach. In most cases, there is no great difficulty in making a good approach, at least when the house, offices, gardens, and pleasuregrounds have been properly arranged; but when these objects have been ill-assorted, the work is far from being an easy one, especially when the house has been set down with its principal entrance to the south, when it should have been to the north, or towards the east instead of the west; or when the kitchen or other offices are attached to the wrong wing of the house. Such misarrangements may be said to be of daily occurrence, and they often present almost insuperable obstacles in the way of properly laying out the various parts of the grounds. These arise from the circumstance that no definite plan of the place has been formed, nor even a general idea of it conceived, till after the site of the house has been fixed, and perhaps the work of building has been partially, if not completely, executed. The proprietor then begins to think how he is to get to his house; he at length perceives difficulties in the forma

tion of the approach which render professional advice desirable, and applies for it when it is too late, or when all that the utmost ingenuity can effect is a decidedly inferior line of approach. To avoid these errors the garden artist should be consulted almost as soon as the architect, or, indeed, at the same time. We have no intention of disparaging the professional position of the architect, which, in relation to the house, must be admitted to be primary and all-important; but as connected with the house, he has generally some ideas respecting the approach which we must be allowed to say should be received with caution. He naturally would make the approach the means of showing off his own work, sometimes not judiciously even in reference to that object, and very often at the cost of sacrificing all the rest of the grounds. We cannot wonder that he should overlook that of which he has seldom any conception; but it is to be regretted that on that account a fine place should be deteriorated. Gentlemen who do not need professional assistance should make themselves sure that the requirements of the approach are brought in some degree into harmony with those of the mansionhouse and the grounds, before the building operations are commenced.

Direction of the Approach. -The position and direction of the principal approach, in respect to the surrounding country, are subjects which require mature consideration. When the nature of the ground and other circumstances permit, it should lead towards the house from that side of the park on which the nearest city or town of the district is situated, this being the direction in which the greatest number of visitors may be expected to arrive, and in which the social relations