It is allowed by all authors who have written on landscape-gardening, since the days of Uvedale Price, that the want of artistical connexion between the house and the grounds is the most glaring defect in English country residences. Houses are very generally seen rising abruptly from a surface of naked gravel or turf, or partially disguised by a few trees or shrubs, accompanied perhaps on the lawn front by some flower-beds. The offices at one end of the house, and the green-house or some other projection at the other, are commonly half or entirely hidden by masses of plantation, so that nothing is seen of the main body of the edifice but the two fronts; and even these have their architectural effect often greatly injured by single trees immediately before them. The principal circumstance which has led to the want of connexion between the house and grounds in English residences is, the sudden and inconsiderate revolution introduced by the modern system of landscape-gardening; by which all the ancient terraces and mural barriers were indiscriminately swept away, in order to give place to the characteristic features of the new style, viz., the undulating surface, and apparently unlimited extent of smooth lawn, the winding approach-road, and the ha! ha! ditch, or the invisible wire railing, which separates the lawn from the park.

The powerful influence of novelty rendered this arrangement satisfactory at the time; but, after a certain period had elapsed, the incongruity of so much art being found in juxta-position with what was avowedly simple nature, was felt to be absurd. Attempts were now made to connect the house with the grounds by means of trees, partly scattered round it, close up to the doors and windows, and partly in masses of close plantation. In the course of twenty years, the trees and shrubs having grown up, this also was found an unsatisfactory mode; the trees obstructing the views of the surrounding landscape from the house, and of the house from the surrounding landscape; and, besides, rendering the house gloomy and damp within. It was now felt that it was not only necessary to connect the house with the grounds, but to connect it in a harmonious manner; and, instead of bringing the two extremes of highly refined architecture and simple nature in immediate contact, by planting trees close to the house, it was thought advisable to introduce, as a medium between the trees and the architecture, certain architectural appendages, either useful or ornamental; and gradually to unite these with the woody scenery of the place.

The most general appendage of this sort, and one which is applicable to the smallest houses as well as the largest, and which, in our opinion, scarcely any country house ought to be without, is a plinth round the outside wall, from which the walls of the house should appear to rise. This plinth, on the smallest and simplest scale, may be from 1 ft. to 2 ft. high, projecting from 2 in. to 4 in., and be continued round the house: beyond this there may be a platform 6 or 8 feet wide of gravel, from 18 in. to 2 ft. higher than the surrounding surface, and bounded by a slope of turf at an angle of 45°. Opposite the entrance-door, this platform may be ascended to by three stone or brick steps, in the slope; and there may be similar steps descending to the lawn on the pleasure-ground front In the case of houses on a larger scale, the platform may be much wider; and, instead of being laid with gravel, it may be paved with flagstones; for the slope covered with turf, a low wall may be substituted surrounded by a balustrade or other ornamental openwork. The flight of steps may also have side or spandril walls, appropriately finished and decorated.

In the case of some houses, in particular situations, there may be a second terrace or platform exterior to the first, on a lower level, and considerably broader. The walk on this second platform may be of gravel, and there may be a strip of turf between it and the first platform, which may be ornamented with shrubs or flowers, or it may be without these, according to circumstances. On the outside of the gravel walk, the lawn may extend indefinitely, and may either terminate in an architectural boundary at a few yards' distance, or it may extend to an ha! ha! or to a wire fence, the situation of which is not observable from the house. In short, while the first platform is in width and character chiefly influenced by the magnitude and style of the house, the outer or lower one ought to be jointly influenced by the style of the house, and the natural character of the surface of the ground. Where the character of the surface is at all marked by bold undulations, steep slopes, or abrupt transitions, these features ought to influence the lower platform more than the character of the mansion; but, on the contrary, where the grounds are comparatively flat, then the character of the outer or lower platform should partake of that feature in the scenery which is the most conspicuous, and which of course will be the house.

Platforms or terraces, therefore, may be said to form the groundwork of the appendages to a house in the country. The appendages themselves are various, as, independently of the offices, which, we contend, ought to be only partially and not wholly concealed, there are the green-houses or conservatories, architectural seats or loggias, covered or open; seats arranged so as to be covered from the rain, fig, 243; connecting verandas, sun-dials, vases for flowers, basins for fountains, architectural baskets, and other mural compartments for plants or flowers; and various other similar objects. In the management of these appendages, an artist, without some invention and good taste, will be greatly at a loss; and therefore the proprietor of a house already built, who wishes to harmonise it with the grounds, should consider well on whose advice he acts. A mere architect is no more competent to advise in such a case, than a mere gardener or a mere landscape-painter. It must be a person who has directed particular attention to the subject, and who unites the knowledge of the architect, as far at least as the exterior of the buildings is concerned, with that knowledge of composition of general scenery which is necessarily possessed by the landscape-painter, and a considerable share of that knowledge of cultivation which is essential to the gardener.