in Gardening, a level division of ground, ground, which for the most part faces the south, or best front of a house, and is generally furnished with ever- greens, flowers, &c. There are two kinds of these, the plain ones and the parterres of embroidery.

Plain parterres are most valuable in England, because of the firmness of the English grass turf, which is supe- rior to that of any other part of the world; and the par- terres of embroidery are cut into shell and scroll work, with alleys between them. An oblong, or long square, is accounted the most proper figure for a parterre; and a parterre should indeed be always twice as long as it is broad, because, according to the known laws of perspec- tive, a long square always looks to a square; and an exact square always appears less than it really is. As to the breadth of the parterre, it is to be proportionable to the breadth of the house; but less than 100 feet in breadth is too little.

There should be on each side the parterre a terrace walk raised for a view, and the flat of the parterre be- tween the terraces should never be more than 300 feet, at the utmost, in breadth; and about 140 feet in width, with twice and a half that in length, is esteemed a very good size and proportion.