EXTENT OF THE SITE. 



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least liave tlie most favourable station in tlie district^ by 

 occupying the first or second of tbe lowest platforms of 

 the valley in wbich it stands. 



Extent of the Site. — On undulating or billy sm*- 

 faces the site selected for tbe bouse sbould always be of 

 sufficient extent^ not only to contain tbe wbole of its 

 buildings^ but also to afford ample space for tbe roads^ 

 and room for carriages turning at tbe entrance_, together 

 with a broad walk and terrace on tbe drawing-room 

 front. Inattention to these requisites wUl often lead to 

 great subsequent expense and inconvenience. We have 

 seen a fine mansion so put down between two steep 

 banks that at its entrance there was scarcely room to 

 turn a donkey-cart^ if we may be permitted to employ a 

 familiar but undignified comparison. At the same time, 

 the garden front was such that it required a thick wall 

 reared up from a considerable depth below to form a 

 walk a few yards wide in front of a pile of buildings 

 which would grace a terrace of magnificent dimensions. 

 Such an error, if we may presume to call it one, was 

 rendered excusable, or at least was accounted for, by the 

 circumstance that it was the site of an ancient ancestral 

 castle that was thus occupied. We cannot wonder that 

 old feudal associations and family recollections should 

 lead " afar descended^^ proprietors to cleave to some par- 

 ticular spot as thefr time-hallowed homestead. Still we 

 sometimes think that there is bad economy of cherished 

 memories in thus enveloping and concealing the old with 

 the new. If an eligible site were to be found in the 

 vicinity, we should rather have chosen that for the 

 house, and have left the ruin in its own inherent dignity: 

 — so would there have been two objects of interest 

 instead of one ; and the fragment of departed grandeur 



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