246 



A PHIL. 



without any house, it being let to a contiguous 

 renter. In such cases, it will be useful to have 

 some general hints for his direction. 



It very rarely happens that a man has an oppor- 

 tunity, of making the experiment of building a house 

 twice in his life, and therefore he should reflect 

 well before he begins. It is more common to see 

 people fail in this essential step, than almost any 

 other. How many new houses, in which people 

 have no more elbow-room, in number of pieces, 

 than if they were in the stocks ! How many in 

 \\hich comfort is sacrificed to show, warmth to 

 space, the sun's rays, in latitude 55, to the sight 

 of a park or a lake, shelter to a prospect, and the 

 convenience of a lumber-room to the arrangement 

 of an anti-chamber 1 and as to cupboards, closets, 

 and stowage of many sorts, the fools in middling 

 life allow their puppy architects to sweep them all 

 away ; because my lord, with 40 servants, trans- 

 fers such things to the offices. Where do we meet 

 \vith a moderate house well calculated for a small 

 fortune ? Where do you find one planned for a 

 man who keeps the key of his wine-cellar ; who 

 has connected a kitchen and dining-room in such 

 manner, that the smell of the former shall be ex- 

 cluded, without a long walk to the latter? Who 

 has contrived a moving table, served through the 

 wall, without any servants to wait in the room ? 

 There is not one apartment in a house, from the 

 cellar, to the garret, that has not been improved for 



men 



