HOW THE HOUSE WAS BUILT 9 



was a puzzle to the builder how to turn the finial out 

 of the solid, for no such work in this house is stuck on, 

 and no lathe that he had could turn so great a length ; 

 but as there is no problem in woodwork that a clever 

 carpenter cannot solve, he just had it worked out by 

 hand. 



The oak gallery to which the stairs lead is sixty 

 feet long and ten feet wide. One feels some hesitation 

 about praising one's own possessions, but it is a part of 

 the house that gives me so much pleasure, and it 

 meets with so much approval from those whose 

 knowledge and taste I most respect, that I venture to 

 describe it in terms of admiration. Thanks to my 

 good architect, who conceived the place in exactly such 

 a form as I had desired, but could not have described, 

 and to the fine old carpenter who worked to his 

 drawings in an entirely sympathetic manner, I may 

 say that it is a good example of how English oak 

 should be used in an honest building, whose only pre- 

 tension is to be of sound Avork done with the right 

 intention, of material used according to the capability 

 of its nature and the purpose intended, with due regard 

 to beauty of proportion and simplicity of effect. And 

 because the work has been planned and executed in 

 this spirit, this gallery, and indeed the whole house, 

 has that quality — the most valuable to my thinking 

 that a house or any part of it can possess — of con- 

 ducing to repose and serenity of mind. In some 

 mysterious way it is imbued with an expression of 



