found a very complete orangery amongst his Epistles; and I,
probably, should have copied his model, instead of building after
my own fancy, and you had been referred to him for the history of
my late exploits in architecture: by which means my performances
would have made a better figure, at least in writing, than they are
like to make at present.

"The area of my greenhouse is a hundred paces long, fifty broad,
and the roof thirty feet high. The wall toward the north is of
solid stone. On the south side, and at both the ends, the stonework
rises but three feet from the ground, excepting the pilasters,
placed at convenient distances to strengthen and beautify the
building. The intermediate spaces are filled up with large sashes
of the strongest and most transparent glass. The middle sash (which
is wider than any of the others) serves for the entrance, to which
you mount by six easy steps, and descend on the inside by as many.
This opens and shuts with greater ease, keeps the wind out better,
and is at the same time more uniform than folding-doors.

"In the middle of the roof there runs a ceiling thirty feet broad
from one end to the other. This is enlivened by a masterly pencil,
with all the variety of rural scenes and prospects, which he has
peopled with the whole tribe of sylvan deities. Their characters
and their stories are so well expressed, that the whole seems a
collection of all the most beautiful fables of the ancient poets
translated into colours. The remaining spaces of the roof, ten feet
on each side of the ceiling, are of the clearest glass, to let in
the sky and clouds from above. The building points full east and
west, so that I enjoy the sun while he is above the horizon. His
rays are improved through the glass, and I receive through it what
is desirable in a winter-sky, without the coarse alloy of the
season, which is a kind of sifting or straining the weather. My
greens and lowers are as sensible as I am of this benefit: they
flourish and look cheerful as in the spring, while their fellow
creatures abroad are starved to death. I must add, that a moderate
expense of fire, over and above the contributions I receive from
the sun, serves to keep this large room in a due temperature; it
being sheltered from the cold winds by a hill on