30 
LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 
eious manner as to heighten the charms of nature. Large 
and costly hot-houses were erected by Dr. Hosack, with 
also entrance lodges at two points on the estate, a fine 
bridge over the stream, and numerous pavilions and seats 
commanding extensive prospects ; in short, nothing was 
spared to render this a complete residence. The park, 
which at one time contained some fine deer, afforded a de- 
lightful drive within itself, as the whole estate numbered 
about seven hundred acres. The plans for laying out the 
grounds were furnished by Parmentier, and architects from 
New York were employed in designing and erecting the 
buildings. For a long time, this was the finest seat in 
America, but there are now many rivals to this claim. 
The Manor of Livingston , lately the seat of Mrs. Mar)" 
Livingston (but now of Jacob Le Roy, Esq.), is seven 
miles east of the city of Hudson. The mansion stands 
in the midst of a fine park, rising gradually from the 
level of a rich inland country, and commanding prospects 
for sixty miles around. The park is, perhaps, the most 
remarkable in America, for the noble simplicity of its 
character, and the perfect order in which it is kept. The 
turf is, everywhere, short and velvet-like, the gravel-roads 
scrupulously firm and smooth, and near the house are the 
largest and most superb evergreens. The mansion is one 
of the chastest specimens of the Grecian style, and there 
is an air of great dignity about the whole demesne. 
Blithewood , formerly the seat of R. Donaldson, Esq., 
(now John Bard, Esq.), near Barry town, on the Hudson, 
is one of the most charming villa residences in the 
Union. The natural scenery here, is nowhere sur- 
passed in its enchanting union of softness and dignity 
—the river being four miles wide, its placid bosom 
broken only by islands and gleaming sails, and the horizon 
