55 



sombre dampness, to a more cheerful 

 shade ; and the third is, to mark the 

 whole with that degree of importance 

 and extent, which the size of the house 

 and the surrounding territory demand. 



If the first impressions made by any character 



e> ' °^ Crewe. 



place be greatly difterent from its true 

 character, it becomes necessary to inves- 

 tigate the cause that may have rendered 

 the first judgment erroneous. I had been 

 led, from a consideration of the antiquity 

 of the Crewe family in Cheshire, to expect , 



a certain degree of magnificence; but my 

 first view ot" the house being from an un- 

 favourable point, and at too great a dis- 

 tance to judge of its real magnitude, I 

 conceived it to be very small; and (mea- 

 suring the surrounding objects by this 

 false standard) the whole place lost that 

 importance which I afterwards found it 

 assume on a closer examination. This 

 may be explained from the following 

 causes. 



In former days the dignity of a house 

 was supposed to increase in proportion to 

 the quantity of walls and buildings with 



