SKETCHES BY A PRACTISING ARCHITECT. 109 



which material for ordinary building was being ab- 

 stracted piece-meal ! The preservation of Wanstead 

 House, in a critical sense, would have been cheaply 

 purchased by the destruction of every royal palace 

 in England — Windsor alone excepted. While open 

 to the public view previous to its sale, a strong illus- 

 tration was afforded of the utter indifference with 

 which a national ornament can be regarded in com- 

 parison with the superficial finery of its furniture 

 and hangings. Crowds were assembled. They 

 mounted the platform of its noble portico without a 

 glance upwards or around. If they retreated from 

 the house into the lawn, it was not to gain a fair 

 view of one of the finest Palladian elevations ever 

 seen : their main object was to stir up the water 

 of the fish-pond with their walking sticks, or to 

 gather a nosegay from one of the flower beds. I 

 remember walking about for half an hour, in anxious 

 hopes of hearing some remarks upon the beauty of 

 the mansion ; but it was not alluded to in any way, 

 save by a young lady, who energetically observed 

 upon the " clearness of its reflection in the water." 

 The positive building never elicited a comment ; its 

 inverted semblance threw her into raptures. Thus 

 Macready's Hamlet is neglected for a sight of the 

 man who walks on the ceiling, and drinks port wine 

 with his head downwards. 



My indentures were signed, sealed and delivered, 

 and my premium paid, some time before Wanstead 

 House was doomed ; otherwise — much as I loved 

 her— my lady architecture would have been deserted. 

 The contemplated possibility of seeing a like child 

 of my own, barbarously pulled to pieces limb by 

 limb, would have driven me rather to seek employ- 

 ment in an excise office, than paternity in architec- 

 tural alliance. But the die was cast; and, in spite 

 of my horrors I am really become a "practising 

 architect." 



A worse case, however, than that of seeing a 

 favorite design annihilated may be readily imagined. 



