be an advantage, in the way of conferring more privacy and retirement; it must be looked upon as a source of increased outlay, and additional subsequent labour.

Where there is any possibility of obtaining such a piece of land, it is most important that it should have a public road along one of its sides only, and that this road should be on the north, north-east, or north-west boundary. Access will thus be given to the house at the point which is of least consequence in regard to views, and the warmer and better sides can be kept open and private. Entrance from any other point would always more or less interfere with the lawn, and the more polished parts of the garden; besides laying bare some of the best windows of the house, or involving the necessity of giving these an inferior aspect. This is assuming, however, that the site be chosen with reference to a proper aspect and views for the house. And the rule is of course inapplicable to places of large extent, where a public road often forms the best possible boundary to the property, on all sides.

Comparative nearness to a railway station, or to a line of road along which public conveyances frequently pass, will, even where a carriage is kept, be a decided acquisition: for there is certain to be times when either the owner or his friends will want to make use of these conveniences. In wet weather, especially, it will be unpleasant to have to walk far before reaching some kind of conveyance.

Proximity to some seat of business, where at least the necessaries of life can be readily procured, will also be an advantage. To have to send a great distance for articles of food when there may be an unexpected demand for them, will generally be a heavy tax upon patience and time. The situation ought, likewise, to be within reach, by an easy and pleasant walk, of some suitable place of worship, one that is well established being more congenial than an entirely new one, and particularly than such as are only contemplated, not built; for there is often much uncertainty and delay about the erection of a church that has merely been projected.

It should be recollected that roads on which there is much traffic, bring a large amount of dust at certain seasons, while they render a house and garden more exposed to observation from the foot-passengers, or the travellers on public vehicles. A

place on a small and less frequented road, at a little distance from a great highway, will therefore be more comfortable and more secluded than one which lies by the side of a turnpike road. And this view of the case will further serve to show the undesirableness of having a property entirely surrounded by roads. Arable lands, fields, open country, or other gardens and private estates, will be the best possible accompaniments on all the southerly sides of a place.

Anything in the way of a public path crossing a property, and severing it into two parts, or a public road passing across a plot in the same manner, would seriously prejudice its value. When such things are carried through an estate without being fenced off, they lay bare certain portions of it to the public eye, and, what is worse, subject it to continual trespass. And to fence off

a path or road of this description, would greatly mutilate a place, and give it a small and confined appearance. Nor is it at all easy to get established pathways diverted, unless a more direct route can be prepared for them. The nuisance of having a place thus open to the use of all, in populous districts, can hardly be exaggerated.

In this, as in a variety of similar cases, however, circumstances that would be inconvenient and objectionable to most persons, might be altogether unproductive of annoyance to others; for no rule of life is more true, or of more universal application, than that things are not so much discomforting or pleasurable in themselves, but are just what they are considered to be. So that what would be intolerable to many, might become perfectly inoffensive to those who were determined to regard it favourably.

2. Besides the advantage of having the property on the best boundaries of a place congenially treated, and appropriated to agricultural or garden purposes, or left to the rudeness and picturesqueness of Nature, it is of consequence that the whole of the surrounding property be of a similar character, and that it be not covered with cottage tenements, or crowded with any kind of inferior houses, or the atmosphere darkened by the smoke, and polluted by the gases from large manufactories. To live amidst fields and gardens, and cultivated or unassisted Nature, or to have only the vicinity of kindred or superior places, is a luxury well worth the sacrifice of some trifling conveniences, and the

travelling a mile or two further from a town. There is so much calculated to offend and to annoy in a closely peopled neighbourhood, especially if it be crowded with small cottages, that the majority of persons will gladly shun it.

In particular, will it be necessary to avoid settling near the seat of any chemical or other works emitting noxious gases; for the cultivation of a garden in such a locality is a most difficult and uncertain process, and subject to continual disappointment. The influence of such gases on vegetation is often most sudden and disastrous; besides being quite irremediable.

Not only, however, will it be well to look closely into the character of the district around a place to be selected, and ascertain how it is actually built upon or appropriated, and by what class of persons it is populated; but the probable uses of the neighbourhood should likewise be considered. A particular locality may, at the time of choosing it, appear highly rural, and have every desirable characteristic; whereas, in a few years, it may become densely covered with small houses or obnoxious manufactories, be cut up into narrow roads, and otherwise be completely spoiled as a place for residence. For all these things, then, due calculation must be made; and though no human foresight can reach anything like certainty in such a matter, especially considering the rapid transitions which property is now frequently undergoing, diligent investigation will commonly prove a tolerably safe guide.

Those localities unquestionably offer the greatest security in regard to the preservation of a respectable and partially rural character, wherein large tracts are in the hands of one or two proprietors, who bind lessees or purchasers to build only a certain number and class of houses on the land, and themselves agree to lay it out strictly according to a definite plan. Here there is something approaching to absolute certainty; and a person may settle on a given spot with the full knowledge of what alone can be done by all his neighbours, and the actual status of those neighbours as regards pecuniary and social considerations.

Where several plots of land overlook fine natural scenery, as on the shores of large rivers, lakes, or the sea, that which is nearest the object itself will generally be the most eligible, if other things are about equal. For the view over a natural land

scape that is incapable of alteration, and with no intervening space that can ever be used by another party, becomes perfectly safe from interruption at any future period, and may be treated much more liberally, and with reference solely to individual wants and tastes. Every position farther from the scenery most worth preserving, however unencumbered the view from it may be, will be liable to have that view more or less intercepted by the uses to which the interposing property may be put, unless the elevation be very considerable, and the slope of the ground rapid and almost precipitous.

For the same reasons, building land that surrounds any open common, or public park, or large private inclosure, that is dedicated by the owners inalienably to ornamental or grazing purposes, will be much more eligible in the way of securing uninterrupted views than any other description of property; and a small piece of land in such a situation will be equal or superior in value, as regards the circumstances just mentioned, to a much larger one that is entirely surrounded by other building land.

If, again, land on both sides of a public road commands the same beautiful scenery, that which is on the side nearest the scenery itself will be greatly superior as the site for a house and garden; because, on the opposite plot, a partial plantation will have to be made to screen the place from the road, and this will, to some extent, block out the view, while the owner will be thoroughly dependent, in respect to landscape, on what may be done by his opposite neighbour in the way of both planting and building. It will be most unlikely-almost impossible-that some of this latter should not entirely obstruct every open sight into the country beyond.

3. What has formerly been done upon a place, may be by no means an insignificant, and will certainly be an interesting question. The part which it plays in local histories or legends, and the associations which previous ownership, or occupation, or uses, may fasten upon it, are all worthy of scrutiny; and may help either to endear and enliven a spot, or to clothe it with gloomy and repulsive features.

To be able to trace back the possession of a property by one or more families through a long series of years, will be almost as pleasing to some minds as having a lengthened and wellascertained personal pedigree; and, though many would not

care to know who have been the former owners, and for how long a period the history can be made out, to others such a record will be full of attraction; and the very trees and shrubs, if any old ones exist, will be all the more pregnant with interest, when it is authentically made out by whom and when they were planted.

Whether a piece of land has been used for agricultural purposes from time immemorial, or has always lain comparatively waste and vacant, or has been the site of a particular kind of buildings, it may frequently be gratifying to learn. Certain uses to which it may have been put will sometimes suffice to render the locality highly venerable, and almost sacred. The occurrence of Druidical or Roman remains in the neighbourhood, or the discovery of any vestige of these on the actual plot, or the appropriation of part of the land to ecclesiastical objects in former days, or the existence upon it of any relic of religious, or manorial, or lordly edifices, may be richly fraught with associations, all more or less calculated to awaken and satisfy investigation.

Nor will such things be always simply matters of amusement or poetry. They may have their use likewise. In reviving ancient recollections and usages, or searching after mementos of former times, a variety of hints may be gleaned as to the treatment of a place, or objects brought to bear upon the composition of its landscape, which will be exceedingly remunerative. A valuable spring or well may be laid bare; a charming ruin may be contrived from existing fragments; the first step in a train of interesting antiquarian researches may be stumbled on; family histories, which are often the key to greater memorials, may be brought to light; and, what is not entirely unimportant, an excellent and characteristic name for the property may be suggested: for, in the prevailing fashion for distinguishing every place, however small, with a separate title, those are usually happiest who have some historical or local circumstance on which to found it. The old and common names of fields are often highly characteristic, and, when sufficiently descriptive or euphonious, there is great propriety in adopting the ancient title of any part of a property intended for a residence, but more particularly of the field on which the house is to be built or the garden founded.