In the neighbourhood of towns, where the air is always more or less charged with smoke, an elevated site will always be found to have the clearest atmosphere; and, for persons in good health, it is generally allowed, that the atmosphere should not only be free from impurities, but free from more than the average quantity of water held in suspension in the given climate. In valleys and low situations, there is always a larger proportion of water in the atmosphere than in situations which are high, and have a dry soil and subsoil; and for these reasons, an elevated situation, for strong healthy persons., provided all other things be agreeable, should be selected. On the contrary, where the constitution of the intending occupant or his family has a tendency to consumption, a low situation, with a somewhat moist atmosphere, is preferable; or, in the case of asthma, an intermediate position, sheltered, and with a comparatively warm climate. In choosing a situation with reference to the height of the surface, its absolute elevation is sometimes of less consequence than the facilities which it affords for the free circulation of air.

A situation may be hilly, and yet so covered with high trees, that the air, except in winter, when the trees are not in leaf, becomes stagnated and charged with watery exhalations from the ground, which is kept damp by the shade, and by the transpiration from the leaves of the trees. Dry ground, on a lower level, but open and exposed to the influence of the sun and the winds, is obviously healthier than a situation of this description. A situation, may also be elevated, and yet not healthy, from its soil being naturally damp; and, on this account, if the walls of the house have not been built in such a manner as to prevent the damp from ascending through them, it may be inferior in point of healthiness to a lower situation where the soil is dry.

5. A low situation near the sea, or close on its shore, is almost always healthy; whether on a coast, like that of the west of England and Scotland, exposed to moist winds, or like that on the east of both countries, which is chiefly exposed to dry winds. The reason seems to be. that the air, in both cases, does more good by its bracing properties, than injury by the excess of moisture in the one case, or the deficiency of moisture in the other. On the other hand, elevated situations on surfaces covered with peat bog, or with marshy, wet, springy soil, are generally unhealthy. The baulks of a sluggish river are unwholesome, while those of a river with a rapid current are the con: trary. The beauty of the view or prospect, or the circumstance of there being or not being a prospect, is a subject of consideratipn so obviously depending on elevation, that it only requires to be mentioned. Scarcely any object that can be created within the boundary wall of a small spot can compensate for the want of a distant prospect, to a general admirer of landscape; and, on the contrary, no distant prospect, however beautiful it may be, can compensate to a lover of plants, for the want of a good garden: the beau ideal is to unite both; but, as this can rarely be done, it is for the proprietor to seek after the nearest approximation to it that he can find, or to choose which of these desiderata he considers preferable.