Xl MEMOIK. ' 



form anticipated. His pxquisite regard for the details of 

 life, gave a conipleteAess to his household, which is nowhere 

 spTpassed. 'Fitiiegs isthe-^rst element of beauty, and 

 every thing in his arrangemeni? was appropriate. It was, 

 iard not to gigh, when' qontenlplating the' beaiitiftil results 

 he accomplished by taste and tact, B,nd at comparati'YBfy 

 little pecuniary expense, to think of the sums elsewhere 

 squandered upon an insufficient and shallow splendor. 

 Yet, as beauty was, with Downing, Kfe, and not luxury, 

 although he .was, in feeling and by actual profession, the 

 Priest of Beauty, he was never. a Sybarite, never sentimen- 

 tal, neve.r weakened by the service. In the dispositions of 

 most, men devoted to beauty, as artists and poets, there is 

 a vein Of languor, a leaning' to luxiiryj- of wjhich no trace 

 was even visible in him. His ^ habits of life were singularly 

 regular. He used no tobacco, drank little wine, and wsis 

 no goutmand; But he -^-as no ascetic. ' He loved to en- 

 tertain Sybarites, poets^ and .the lovers of luxury : doubt- 

 less from a consciousness that he. had the iinagicof pleasing 

 them more than they had ever been pleased. He enjoyed 

 the pleasure of his guests. The various play of different' 

 eh^racters entertaiaed him. Yet with all his -fondness for 

 %e placeSj, he justly estimated^ the tendency of their in- 

 fluence. He was ndt enthusiastic, he was nqt seduced 

 into bHndiiess by his own preferenceSj but he - main- 

 tained that cool and aiccurate estimate of tjiings and ten- 

 dencies which always made his advice invaluable. Is there 

 any truer aceoimt of the syren influence of a. superb ' 

 and extensive, country-seat than the following froih the 

 paper : "A Visit to Montgomery Place." "It is not, we 

 are sure, th,e spot for a man to .plan campaign's of con- 

 quest, and' ye doubt, even, whether the scl^oiar whose- am- 

 bition it is . 



