XXXIV 



nothing to say, nqthing should be saicL He knew pier- 

 jfectly well that there is a time for discords, and a place 

 for departures from rule, and he. understood them, when 

 they came,: — which was pecuKar and very lovely jn a man 

 of so delicate a nervous organization. . This' led him \to be 

 toleraiit of EtU' differences of opinioii dnd action, and to be 

 aensitiyely wary of injuiiiig the feelings of those from whom 

 he differed. He was thus scientific in the true sense. In. 

 his department he was wise, and we find him writing frpr^ 

 Warwick Cattle again, thus : " Whoever designed this, 

 front, niadeUp asdt is of lofty towers and irregular walls, 

 must 'have been a poet, as -vv^ell as architect, for its csm- 

 position and details struck nie as having the , proportions 

 and congruity of a fine scene in nature, which we feel is 

 - not to be measured and defined by the ordinary rules of 

 ■art." ■ ' • ' '' ' '■ 



His own home was his finest work. It wafe materially 

 beautiful, and spiritually bright with the^ purest lights of 

 affection. Its hospitality Was gracious and graoeful. It 

 consulted the taste, wishes, and habits of the guest, but 

 with such unobtrusiveness, that the fqfrorite flower every 

 morning by the plate upon the breakfast-table, seemed to 

 have come there as naturally, in the family -arrangements, 

 as .the plate itself He held his house as the steward of 

 his friehds. His social genius nev^r suffered a moment to 

 drag wearily by. No man wag so necessarily .devoted to 

 "his own affairs,^— no host ever seemed so devoted to Hs 

 guests. ■- Those guests were of the n^ost agreeaWe kind, or, 

 .at least, they seemed so in tha,t house. Perhaps the inter- 

 preter of the House Beautiful, she who — jn the poet's 

 natural order -7-^ was as " moonlight -unto sunlight," was 

 the universal solvent; By day,, there were always books, 

 conversation, driving, working, lying on the lawn, excur- 



