Lakes or ponds are the most beautiful forms in which water can be displayed in the grounds of a country residence.* They invariably produce their most pleasing effects when they are below the level of the house; as, if above, they are lost to the view, and if placed on a level with the eye, they are seen to much less advantage. We conceive that they should never be introduced where they do not naturally exist, except with the concurrence of the following circumstances. First, a sufficient quantity of running water to maintain at all times an overflow, for nothing can be more unpleasant than a stagnant pool, as nothing is more delightful than pure, clear, limpid water; and secondly, some natural formation of ground, in which the proposed water can be expanded, that will not only make it appear natural, but diminish, a hundred fold, the expense of formation. (* Owing to the immense scale upon which nature displays this fine element in North America, every sheet of water of moderate or small size is almost universally called a pond. And many a beautiful, limpid, natural expanse, which in England would be thought a charming lake, is here simply a pond. The term may be equally correct, but it in by no means as elegant.)
