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Above this natural division the water will assume a bolder
character; that of a lake, or a broad river, filling the entire bottom
of the valley between two wooded shores, and dashing the
foot of that steep bank on which the mansion is proposed to
be erected. This valley is so formed by nature, that an incon-
siderable dam will cause a lake, or rather broad river,° of great
apparent extent: for when I describe water, I never estimate
its effects by the number of acres it may cover; but by its form,
its continuity, and the facility with Which its termination is
concealed.
Where a place is rather to beformed, than improved, that is,
where no mansion already exists, the choice of situation for the
house will, in some measure, depend on the purpose for which
it is inteuded, and the character it ought to' assume: thus a
mansion, a vtlla, and a sporting seat, require very different adap-
tation of the same principles, if not a variation in the principles
themselves. The purpose for which the house at BAYHAM is
intended must decide its character: it is not to be considered
as a small villa, liable to change its proprietor, as good or ill
success prevails; ;but as the established mansion of an English
nobleman's family. Its: character, therefore, should be that of
greatness and of durability. The park should be a forest, the
estate a domain, the house a palace. Now, since magnificence
and compactness are as diametrically opposite to each other as
extension and contraction, so neither the extendedscale'of 'the
country,. nor the style, nor the character oC the place, will
admit of a compact house.
In determining effects it is not sufficient to consider merely
the size of the building; but as all objects appear great or small