WATER. 



135 



rior object is a suitable site for the lake. If tbe locality 

 does not convey tbe impression tbat the water is resting 

 in a hoUow, vale^ or platform, and is retained tbere by a 

 natural obstruction not easily removed, tbere will be 

 " a want of truth or fidelity" of expression in relation 

 to " the thing imitated" that will tend to excite aver- 

 sion rather than pleasure in the minds of those who 

 have been trained to a genuine taste for the beauties 

 of nature. Wherever the artificial lake is seen, generally 

 speaking, it ought to appear in the lowest part of the 

 landscape within the park ; or if it cannot be made to 

 present this appearance from every point of view, care 

 should be taken to secure a considerable breadth of 

 space between the lake itself and the natural outlet by 

 which its waters seem to be drained off. Without these 

 necessary features there is a want of truthfulness in the 

 expression. It is true that in hilly and mountainous 

 countries pools are found mthout the conditions above 

 specified, but there is always something to account for 

 them, and they are mostly mere spots in the landscape ; 

 while in parks and pleasure-grounds sheets of water are, 

 from their nature, prominent objects, and whatever is 

 obtrusively artificial or out of harmony is sure to be 

 offensive. When a series of ponds or lakes are formed 

 on the same stream, and in the same park, it is desirable 

 that the natural form of the ground should be such as 

 to indicate that, in each case, no great amount of 

 obstruction was necessary to attain the designed effect. 



The place, then, for an artificial lake is a natural 

 hollow where no great embankment is required, or 

 where a moderate excavation will afford materials for 

 the banks needed to retain the water, for the islands and 

 promontories on the lake itself, and for the knoUs and 



