MR. URBAN AND A CO UNTR Y HO USE. 247 



reputation, if they give him no profit. Great repu- 

 tation may go without great profit, though great 

 profit hardly ever goes, in our time, without great 

 reputation. 



If he have a fancy for architectural and other 

 decorations, it may safely be said that fifty acres will 

 f urnish ample margin for the most riotous expendi- 

 ture. It is quite amazing indeed as much to the 

 proprietor as outsiders to witness the voracity with 

 which a small place even under elegant and mis- 

 guided direction will consume moneys. The en- 

 grossing tastes of the city are not without a capa- 

 bility in this direction ; but one or two good sand- 

 banks, a small ledge, a plantation, and artificial ponds 

 in connection with a rural taste which is ambitious 

 without being experienced, will I think absorb money 

 as easily as any outlets of the metropolis. 



I should strongly counsel Mr. Urban, or any 

 other, who feels this inclination possessing him, 

 thoroughly to mature his plans before beginning; 

 there is no rural wasting so monstrous as the waste 

 of building walls and removing them, or of excavat- 

 ing valleys and the next summer filling them up. A 

 few judicious hints at the beginning, based on good 

 sense and taste combined, may work the saving of 

 thousands. I am inclined to think that the pleasant 

 scenes of the Central Park are to be credited (or 



