A house of more than two stories
is a mere barrack; indeed the ideal is of one story, raised upon
cellars. If the rooms are large, the house may be small: a single
room, lofty, spacious, and lightsome, is more palatial than a
castleful of cabinets and cupboards. Yet size in a house, and some
extent and intricacy of corridor, is certainly delightful to the
flesh. The reception room should be, if possible, a place of many
recesses, which are 'petty retiring places for conference'; but it
must have one long wall with a divan: for a day spent upon a divan,
among a world of cushions, is as full of diversion as to travel. The
eating-room, in the French mode, should be AD HOC: unfurnished, but
with a buffet, the table, necessary chairs, one or two of Canaletto's
etchings, and a tile fire-place for the winter. In neither of these
public places should there be anything beyond a shelf or two of
books; but the passages may be one library from end to end, and the
stair, if there be one, lined with volumes in old leather, very
brightly carpeted, and leading half-way up, and by way of landing, to
a windowed recess with a fire-place; this window, almost alone in the
house, should command a handsome prospect.
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