THE SEARCH AND FINDING 



glare of another man's architectural taste. In 

 the city or the town there are conventional 

 laws of building, established by custom, and 

 by limitations of space, to which all must in 

 a large measure conform; but with the width 

 of broad acres around one, I should chafe as 

 much at living in the pretentious house of an- 

 other man's ordering and building, as I should 

 chafe at living in another man's coat. Coun- 

 try architecture, whose simplicity or rudeness 

 is so far subordinated to the main features of 

 the landscaj>e as not to provoke special men- 

 tion, may be of any man's building; but 

 wherever the house becomes the salient feature 

 of the place, and challenges criticism by an 

 engrossing importance as compared with its 

 rural surroundings, then it must be in agree- 

 ment with the tastes and character of the occu- 

 pant, or it is a pretentious falsehood. 



Perhaps I ought to beg the reader's pardon 

 for this interpolation here, of a law of adjust- 

 ment in respect to the country and country 

 houses, which would have more perfect place 

 in what I may have to say upon the general 

 subject of rural architecture. 



At present I return to my stock of pleasant 

 advisory letters: 



A tasteful gentleman, of active habits, calls 



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