POSITION OF THE HOUSE IN THE PARK. 23 



want of that depth which is attainable when it is set 

 down near one side or end of the place. Excellent 

 sites may often be selected near the shore of an arm 

 of the sea, on the bank of a lake, or in the vicinity of 

 a river, as at these points, besides the land scenery, we 

 have that life and variety which water can alone afford. 

 There are, however, few rivers forming the boundaries 

 of estates of sufficient breadth to allow the house to be 

 erected close to their banks. Besides the risk of inun- 

 dation and of damp vapor, which is incident to low 

 situations, there is always the possibility of discordant 

 or offensive objects being erected on the opposite side. 



Note. — The objection to the narrowness of the rivers 

 in Great Britain is well made ; but not so in America. 

 The St. Lawrence, Niagara, Detroit, St. Clair, the 

 Ohio, Mississippi, the Connecticut, Hudson, Delaware, 

 Susquehannah, Potomac, and an hundred others of our 

 broad rivers, afford the finest possible sites for dwellings, 

 in many instances on their immediate banks, where 

 they are of sufficient width to render " discordant or 

 offensive objects on the opposite side " so indistinct or 

 innocuous, as to form no serious objection to improving 

 them for park or villa residences. A site on the im- 

 mediate bank of a broad stream, or bay, or lake, will 

 seldom be chosen, excepting in a level country, where 

 the house would, if placed at a distance back, not 

 command it, and where the banks are of sufficient 

 elevation to be out of the reach of floods. "Water, in 

 connection with landscape scenery generally, is more 

 effective when seen from a moderate distance, than 

 when it makes the immediate foreground of the pic- 

 ture. This, however, will depend much on the breadth 

 of surface which the water occupies, and whether it 



