GENERAL IMPROVEMENT. O 



sites just mentioned; for, though circum- 

 stances will sometimes demand an elevated 

 situation, yet it is by no means favourable 

 to comfort or access ; nor is the general com- 

 position usually so good as from a lower 

 station. 



I consider a house to be best situated when 

 it stands upon a platform, with a rising ground 

 behind it, and with a depth below it : no po- 

 sition can be more favourable for that variety 

 of embellishment so desirable around the 

 house. When the undulation of ground is of 

 a more gentle character, I w^ould still fix my 

 house as nearly upon this plan as circum- 

 stances mio;ht admit. With reoard to the 

 scenery from the house, I should be careful 

 to get, if possible, from my windows, some 

 laro-e trees for a foreground, as essential to the 

 general composition ; a point of much more 

 consequence than a mere extensive view. 



I think it a great mistake in the placing of 

 a house, to set it parallel to a river or a valley. 

 I remember a house so placed with regard to 

 the Thames, in a very beautiful part of its 

 course ; but, from the situation of the house, 

 you look straight across the river, which nar- 

 rows it to little better than a canal, whilst the 



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