This section is from the book "Landscape Gardening", by Andrew Jackson Downing. Also available from Amazon: Landscape Gardening.
The Manor Of Livingston, lately the seal of Mrs. Mary Livingston (but now of Jacob Le Roy, Esq.), is seven miles east of the city of Hudson. The mansion stands in the midst of a fine park, rising gradually from the level of a rich inland country, and commanding prospects for sixty miles around. The park is, perhaps, the most remarkable in America, for the noble simplicity of its character, and the perfect order in which it is kept. The turf is, everywhere, short and velvet-like, the gravel-roads scrupulously firm and smooth, and near the house are the largest and most superb evergreens. The mansion is one of the chastest specimens of the Grecian style, and there is an air of great dignity about the whole demesne.
 
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