A FEW WORDS ON OUB PROGRESS IN BUILDING. 221 



THE EUEAl CO'f OF ME. BaJOTT. 



BY IQWKDL. 



My worthy Mend, A. Gordon Knott, 



From business snug withdrawn. 

 Was much contented with a lot 

 Which would contain a, Tudor: cot 

 'Twixt tw€;Ji^tf feet, square of gai'dett-plot 



Ai)Ai twelve feet more of lawn. 



He h^d laid business onthe shelf 

 ■ To'give his taste expansion, ., • 

 And, since no man, retired with pelf, 



The building mania can shun,. 



Knott' being middle-aged himself, 



' Eesolyed-to build (unhappy elf)) 



A mediaeval mansion. 



He, called an architect in counsel; 



"I want," said he, "a — youTinox wh^t,", 



(You are a builder, I am Knott,) 



A thing complete from chimney-pot ', 

 Down to the very groundsel ; r 



Here's a half acre of good land ; 



Just^ave it nicely mapped and planned. 

 And make your workmen drive on ; - 



Meadow there is, and upland .tbo, ' , • 



And I should like a water- view, 

 D' you think you could contrive one^! 



(Perhaps the pump and trougKii^ould do. 



If painted a jijdi^iouS blue ?) 



The woodland Tve -atjl^nd^d to ;" 



(He meant three pines stuck up askew, 

 Two'dead Ones and a live one.) 



" A-pocket-fuU of tocks 'twould take 

 To build s- house of freestone, 



Biit then it is- not haitd to make . 

 What noW-a-days is the stone ; 



The cunning painter in aJ;rioe , 



Your house's outside petrifies, 



And people think it very gneiss 

 Without inquiring deeper ; 



