Theory and Practice 



other character, containing the same number of apart- 

 ments. The chief difficulty of building arises from the 

 want of materials: a house of Portland stone would be 

 very expensive; a red-brick house, as Mr. Brown used 

 to say, " puts the whole valley in a fever" ; a house of 

 yellow brick is little better; and the great Lord Mans- 

 field often declared that had the front of Kenwood 

 been originally covered with Parian marble he should 

 have found it less expensive than stucco. Yet one of 

 these must be used in any building except a castle; but 

 for this the rude stone of the country, lined with bricks, 

 or faced with battens, will answer every purpose; be- 

 cause the enrichments are few, except to the battle- 

 ments and the entrance-tower, which are surely far less 

 expensive than a Grecian portico. 



The attached offices, forming a part of the front, are 

 so disposed as to lie perfectly convenient to the prin- 

 cipal floor and to the private apartments, while the 

 detached offices, the courtyards, and even the garden- 

 walls, may be so constructed and arranged as to in- 

 crease in dimensions the extent of the castle. This 

 unity of design will be extended from the house to the 

 water, by the boat-house, the cold-bath, and the walls, 

 with steps leading to a bridge, near which the engine- 

 house may form a barbican, and contribute to the mag- 

 nificent effect of the picture as well as to the general 

 congruity of character. 



When we look back a few centuries and compare 

 the habits of former times with those of the present, 

 we shall be apt to wonder at the presumption of any 

 person who shall propose to build a house that may 

 suit the next generation. Who, in the reign of Queen 

 Elizabeth, would have planned a library, a music-room, 

 a billiard-room, or a conservatory ? Yet these are now 



