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.

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 landscape 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.

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 impossiblethat 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 distinguish

ing 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.

4. The relative elevation of the district, or of the particular site selected in it, will have a great influence on the healthiness, comfort, and scenery of a place. A tract that is low and flat is always damper, and consequently colder. I have often noticed dips in a road along which I have been accustomed to travel in winter evenings, where, by the much greater coldness of the atmosphere in such lower parts, (even though no water existed,) I could distinguish the arrival at them with closed eyes; and where rivers, or streams, or other pieces of water exist in hollows, their dampness and coldness are of course increased. Fogs, which are notoriously unhealthy and unpleasant, are always more prevalent in valleys or low level tracts; and it is a well-ascertained fact that Spring frosts are felt much later, and Autumn frosts earlier in lowland districts, and near the course of streams, than on the sides or summits of hills.

A rather elevated or hilly tract, though more exposed to winds than a flatter locality, will, if it have a good aspect, and slope in the right direction, be drier and warmer in winter, and command much finer views of the country. It will be more likely to be free from all kinds of nuisances, to be out of the way of cottage property, and to escape from the gaze of travellers along contiguous roads. Where a house and garden are lower than the outside road, it is extremely difficult to shut them in effectually. From a gentle eminence, too, it will be easy to conceal all the bad features of the adjoining property, and to make use of all the better objects in enhancing the beauty and variety of a scene.

Any extravagant height, however, above the rest of the