38 



PARKS AND PLEAS UKE-G ROUNDS. 



trees or shrubbery, as chance may govern, and all con- 

 nection with gardens, retired walks, the woods and 

 fields — a full half of the charm of country life — is as 

 effectually cut off as though one lived on the opposite 

 side of a public street. The house may be shaded on 

 one, two, or on every side by a veranda ; but what 

 matters it? It is still cut off from immediate inter- 

 course with the grounds which should in all propriety 

 closely connect with and adjoin one or more sides of it, 

 and through which should be no public passage, and 

 only approachable through a door of the house, or 

 a gate belonging to -it. It is a show-house, in fact, 

 erected to gratify the builder's ostentation, instead 

 of a dwelling in which to enjoy domestic peace and 

 seclusion. 



The exterior architecture of such a house, as appli- 

 cable to a dwelling, cannot be good, because there 

 is a want of fitness in its appearance for the purposes 

 for which it is built. To apply architectural propor- 

 tions and beauty to an object like this, it should be 

 largely extended to embrace an open court, around 

 which its several parts should extend, like a European 

 palace, a thing we have no use for in America as a 

 private country residence. A moderate- sized house of 

 forty, fifty, or sixty feet square, as large as is usually 

 required here, with a strictly architectural finish, must 

 look like a public structure, and then it becomes an 

 absurdity as a dwelling. Its interior fitness is no 

 nearer the mark, for its convenience must yield to the 

 demands of the exterior — a show dwelling altogether. 



In the second light in which the style of the house 

 may be regarded, as the permanent residence of the 

 man ©f leisure, the scholar, the retired man of business, 



