sion, and it may be admitted that he is only indirectly concerned with it; still both its external and internal arrangements are to him matters of considerable importance, and come in for a share of his attention, as they give a character, or at least impart a colouring, to the scenery which he may endeavour to create in the vicinity. We therefore deem it proper to offer a few hints on this subject. Every well-arranged mansion-house, whether large or small, should have two principal fronts,—the entrance front, and the drawing-room front. Of the first, the main door and hall form the principal features, as the drawing-room and other public rooms should do of the second. These fronts should be on opposite sides of the house, or, if this arrangement cannot be adopted, they should be at right angles to each other, with an end window or two belonging to one of the public rooms opening on the entrance front. The former arrangement is calculated to impart to these rooms a proper degree of seclusion, and to keep them, as it were, within the best portion of the dressed grounds, which should be on the drawing-room side of the house. Another portion of the interior not unfrequently interferes with the privacy of the dressed grounds,-viz., the servants' apartments. These, when on the ground-floor and under the public rooms, overlook the pleasure-grounds in a most undesirable manner. To obviate this inconvenience, the clumsy expedient of sinking them, in whole or in part, below the external level of the ground, is often resorted to; but such apartments, even when furnished with an open area in front of them, have always a damp, unhealthy look, and not only give to the edifice a mean appearance, but also seem to indicate that from some defect in its construction, it had been necessary to stick

it into the ground, instead of allowing it to stand on the surface. In either position, they interrupt that feeling of retirement which is requisite to the full enjoyment of dressed grounds. Servants' apartments may be formed, with excellent effect, into a sort of wing or minor group of buildings attached to the main body of the house. Besides these relations to objects immediately contiguous, the arrangement of the interior of the house should have a reference to the park and the more distant country. The drawing-room should always command the finest views which are to be seen from the windows, whether these occur in the adjacent or in the external scenery. The views from the hall door are of minor importance, but they ought not to be overlooked or neglected. The house, when felicitously arranged in these respects, may be said to preside over the beauties of the place. Other considerations, indeed, may be, and often are, taken into account. If warmth rather than beauty is the object aimed at, the drawing-room front should look towards the south, whatever may be the scenery in that quarter, and the entrance should be on any of the other sides which may be most sheltered or most convenient. Both the elements of warmth and beauty, however, may sometimes be secured by placing the family rooms towards the south, and the public rooms towards the east or west, with end windows to the south or north, if the finest views happen to be in these directions.

Conservatory.-Among the various appendages which it is desirable that a mansion-house should possess, none is more important than the conservatory, which, when happily placed, may be regarded as an extension of the drawing-room, or at least, if it is in the vicinity of

the house, and properly connected with it, it is of admirable convenience as a place of walking and of recreation in all kinds of weather. If possible, it should be contiguous to some one of the public rooms or the corridor; if the drawing-room can be made to open into it, or communicate with it by a short corridor, so much the better; but it is most desirable that it should be easily accessible by the family without their leaving the house or doing more, at most, than passing along a glazed passage or veranda. When the conservatory enters into the original arrangements, one or other of these expedients may generally be practicable; but if it is entirely an afterthought, it sometimes happens that a suitable site for it cannot be obtained. It has wants of its own. It requires free air and open sunshine, and would be rendered useless were it shaded by the house. It obviously cannot stand on the northern side of the mansion; and if the drawing-room has a central position in that direction, it is evident that no immediate connection can be established between them. There is nothing, however, in itself to prevent it from occupying such a site on any of the other three sides as will harmonize with the other buildings of the house, or will suit the internal arrangements and communications. In general, it is easier to make a good adaptation and adjustment in houses of moderate extent, than in very large ones. The conservatory, when entered from the house, should be considered as a glazed drawing-room, fitted, by its abundance of light, and its command of warmth, for the growth of fine exotic plants. Its internal arrangements should be simple, its passages of ample width, and its whole appliances should be such as to permit a free exhibition of the plants without their admirers crushing upon them or

being incommoded by them. The shelving and stages, when these are introduced, should be kept low, so that the plants, if not below the eye, may be on a level with it, or not much raised above it. Such a position is required by many plants, as, for example, most of the heaths, camellias, cacti, pelargoniums, etc. Others, as the fuchsias, acacias, passifloras, and glycines, are seen with more effect from below, and may therefore be allowed to grow up, or may be trained in more elevated places in the house. When the conservatory is constructed on a large scale, the stages perhaps had better be omitted, and the shelves confined to the north side; and besides borders round the other sides, the centre may be arranged into wide plots for the growth of large plants in groups or masses. A paved walk may encircle the house, leaving a border between it and the upright glass walls, and the central space may be irregularly divided by paths of clean gravel, which will have a more gardenlike effect than when a number of intersecting pavements are employed. The internal frame-work of the house should be simple, but elegant. Elaborate decoration in this department has a tendency to detract from the effect of the plants. Fine mouldings and carvings harbour insects, collect dust, and, as they are difficult to clean, contract an untidy appearance in a very short time. The colouring of the wood or iron-work should be light, but not glaring; a shade of white is generally the most suitable, as it brings out the green of the foliage, and interferes little with the tints of the flowers. A fountain, or a group of statuary, is a desirable addition to the conservatory, as also a piece of rockwork for the growth of ferns and succulent plants. The heating of the internal air is, in ordinary circumstances, best accomplished by

hot-water pipes, which, for the convenience of the walks, must be placed below the floor, with iron gratings above them, to permit the immission of the heat. There is one important advantage in employing a hot-water circulation for raising and regulating the temperature,-viz., that the furnace by which the heat is supplied does not necessarily require to be close to the house, though undoubtedly it is the more effective the nearer it is. The boiler may be placed at the distance of more than a hundred feet without any material disadvantage, provided the pipes are laid under ground in a dry and double-cased drain, to prevent the escape of heat from the water in its passage to the house. The external appearance of the conservatory, and its effect on the group of buildings composing the mansion-house, require careful and mature consideration. There may be various positions which would suit it perfectly as a receptacle for plants, but in which any of the ordinary forms of glazed houses would have an injurious effect on the structure to which they might be appended. There is a certain amount of incongruity between almost all the forms alluded to and the architecture of our modern houses. Architects have laboured to overcome this difficulty, and seldom with much success. Indeed, their efforts have generally resulted in their making the conservatory a vegetable dungeon, or perhaps at best something like a Parisian orangery, rather than a lively and genial abode for plants which require, for their healthy and luxuriant development, more light than our cloudy atmosphere and our distance from the equator readily afford. When made an architectural erection, it should be constructed to admit as much light as possible. If this cannot be effected while it is kept in harmony with the mansion