Theory and Practice 



9S 



extended, to appear four times as large, with less expense 

 and more internal convenience. 



A house in the country is so different from a house 

 in town that I never could see any good reason for 

 disposing the living-rooms abovestairs. It may per- 

 haps be said that the views are more perfect from the 

 higher level, but the same degree of elevation may be 

 obtained by building the cellars aboveground, and 

 afterwards raising the earth above them, as I advised 

 at Donnington and Blaize Castle; and surely the in- 

 convenience of an external staircase can scarcely be 

 compensated by any improvement of the views. To 

 counteract this error in modern houses, 1 have, in 

 some instances, raised the earth to the principal floor; 

 and, in others, where the architecture would not allow 

 this expedient, I have advised a gallery to be added, as 

 at Hooton and Higham Hill. 



Few subjects having occurred in which I have so fully 

 discussed the proper situation for a house and all its 

 appendages as that of Michel Grove, I shall subjoin 

 the following extract from that Red Book: 



There is no circumstance connected with my pro- 

 fession in which I find more error of judgement than in 

 selecting the situation for a house, yet it is a subject 

 every one fancies easy to determine. Not only visitors 

 and men of taste fall into this error, but the carpenter, 

 the land-steward, or the nurseryman feels himself equally 

 competent to pronounce on this subject. No sooner 

 has he discovered a spot commanding an extensive 

 prospect than he immediately pronounces that spot the 

 true situation for a house; as if the only use of a man- 

 sion, like that of a prospect-tower, was to look out of 

 the windows."** 



