MR. URBAN AND A COUNTRY HOUSE 



mire it coolly, if we admire it at all. But a 

 lesser one— less beautiful, possibly, judged by 





the conventional laws of the art* — whose 

 quaint assemblage of modest peaks and outly- 

 ing offices seems to shadow forth the indi- 

 viduality of the occupant, and is invested with 

 a homely yet cheery quietude — this we admire 

 with a livelier interest. 



If, however, economy in the use of stone 

 for domestic purposes demands comparatively 



1 Since the first publication of this book, old conven- 

 tionalisms in all that relates to country houses have been 

 largely upset. There is now to be seen a variety and a 

 freedom of treatment which would have astonished and 

 bewildered the builders of twenty years ago: it is not too 

 late, however, to speak an approving word for those mod- 

 est exteriors, which win by reason of their modesties. 



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