uestion of building himself a house, though he might
not have been able to build it himself, he was thoroughly qualified to
choose an architect. His choice fell upon Professor Aitchison, now R.A.,
and he probably hit upon the only man of his generation able to put his
feeling into bricks and mortar, viz., the feeling for a beauty sedate,
delicate, and dignified.

We must remember the condition of things architectural in the sixties to
do justice to the independence of employer and architect. It was a time
when the Albert Memorial was possible, and when men tried to guide their
steps by the light of "The Seven Lamps of Architecture." A sentimental
fancy for Gothic based on irrational grounds was all but universal, and
it needed courage to avow a preference for the classical. The compromise
in favour of quaintness and capricious prettiness which began under the
name of the "Queen Anne style," and has contributed so many picturesque
and pleasing buildings to our modern London, had not yet budded. Nor
would it ever at any time of his life have thoroughly responded to
Leighton's taste. So long as he could detect a defect he was
dissatisfied, and extreme nicety is not what the Dutch style pretends
to. It depends upon a picturesque combination of forms of no great
refinement in themselves, but which give a varied skyline and a pretty
play of light and shade. It amuses at the first glance, and as it rarely
demands a second, it is well suited to turbid atmospheres, which blur
outlines, and a chilly climate in which people cannot loiter out of
doors. Moreover, the old-world memories it evokes, although in a minor
degree than was the case with the Gothic, contribute to its facile
popularity. But the classical taste is a love for form and delicate
beauty of line _as such_, quite irrespective of any associations which
may accompany them, or lamps, be they seven or seventy times seven. And
to build his house in this style was the natural thing for a sculptor
and fastidious seeker after the ideal in form. He found the man he
wanted in Professor Aitchison.

We must go over the outside and inside of the house, but rapidly; for to
do more than just indicate the points worth attention would be waste of
effort. To convey an idea of the feelings produced by architecture is
perhaps possible, but it is perfectly vain to hope to picture it or
reproduce in words the actual beauties of proportion or of colour. Those
who wish to verify them must