292 Xant)scape Hrcbitecture 



yet not obtrusively. The exact point of the course of 

 the stream or arm of lake chosen for the location of the 

 bridge should be carefully selected and the height and 

 conspicuousness of the bridge adjusted to the landscape. 

 Thomas Whately has written perhaps better than any 

 one else on these and other points in relation to bridges : 



"The form of a lake, on the contrary, intimates 

 that all the several shores are, by making a certain 

 circuit, accessible. Bridges therefore are inconsistent 

 with the nature of a lake, but characteristic of a river: 

 they are on that account used to disguise a 'termina- 

 tion; but the deception has been so often practised, 

 that it no longer deceives; and a bolder aim at the 

 same effect will now be more successful. If the end 

 can be turned just out of sight, a bridge at some dis- 

 tance raises a belief, while the water beyond it re- 

 moves every doubt of the continuation of the river, 

 and the supposition immediately occurs, that if a dis- 

 guise had been intended the bridge would have been 

 placed farther back, and the disregard thus shown to 

 one deception gains credence for the other. 



"To give bridges their full effect, the connexion 

 between them and the river must be attended to: 

 from the want of it, the single wooden arch, now 

 much in fashion, seems to us generally misplaced. 

 Elevated without occasion so much above, it is totally 

 detached from the river ; it is often seen straddling in 

 the air, without a glimpse of the water to account for 

 it ; and the ostentation of it as an ornamental object 



