-MEMOiiR. xliii 



brilliant society ; still— as it always had been, and was, until 

 the end — ^the seat of beautiful hospitality. He was often 

 enough perplexed in his affaifs-^hurried by the monthly 

 recurring neces.sity-of " the leader," and not'quit§ sat^fied 

 at any time until \ that literary task was accomplished. 

 His business confined and interested him ; his large cor- 

 respondence was promptly managed ; .but he was still san- 

 guine,, under that Spanish -reserve, and still spent profusely. 

 He had a- thousand interests ; a State agricultural school, 

 a national agricultural bureau at Washingt,on, designing pri- 

 vate and public buildings, laying out large estates, pursuing 

 his own scientific and literary studies, and preparing a, work 

 upon Eural Architecture. From his elegant home he was 

 scattering, in the Horticulturist, pearl-seed of precious 

 suggestion, which fell in all kinds of secluded and remote 

 regions, and bore, and, are bearing, costly fruit. 



.In 1849, Mr. John Wiley published " Hints to Young 

 Architects,', by G-eorge* Wight wick, Architect ; with Ad- 

 ditional Notes and Hints to , Persons about Building, in 

 this CQuntry, by A. J. Downing." It was a work prepar- 

 atory to the original one he designed to publish, and full 

 of most valuable suggestions. For in every thing he was 

 American. His shai'p sense . of ^propriety as the primal 

 element of beautyj led him constantly to insist that the 

 place, and circumstances, and time, should always be care-, 

 fully considered before any step was taken. The satin 

 shoe was a grace in the parlor, but a deformity in the gar- 

 den. The Parthenon was perfect in a certain climate, 

 under cettain conditions, and for certain pm-poses. But 

 the Parthenon. as a country mansion in the midst of 

 American woods and fields was unhandsome and ofiensive. 

 His. aim in building ^ house was to adapt it to the site, 

 and to the means and characteir' of the' owner. 



