and "bounes" to boot, and that we did _parfois_ try the
elasticity or the stretching powers of our _camere_ pretty considerably,
and did cram therein no end of guests. But on the whole, we have fairly
made the experiment _in propria persona_; we have weighed well friend
Johnson's castellated independence, and _l'ami_ Dubois's social
contiguation;--and, rent for rent, we prefer the latter. If we must live
with two neighbours within a few feet of us, we would rather have one
under us on the ground floor, and one above us on the second, and
ourselves in the midst on the first, and all three clubbing together to
live in a little palazzo:--we would rather have this, than be crammed in
between Mr A and Mr B, each of us in a third or fourth rate kind of
house, with poor thin walls, small low rooms, dirty areas, melancholy
gardens, shabby-genteel fronts, ugly backs, and little comfort.

It may be said, and justly, that the idea of a man living in his own
castle is applicable only to that state of society when large towns do
not exist, inasmuch as the idea can be nothing more than an idea, and
can hardly ever approach to a reality, the moment men begin to
congregate themselves together in cities. Doubtless, it is indispensable
to all our notions of comfort, and of the due independence of social
life--it is, indeed, one of the main elements of the constitution of a
family, that a certain degree of isolation should be maintained and
respected; but we submit to the candid observer, that the only
difference between English cities and continental ones in this respect
is, that Englishmen aim at "horizontal" independence, foreigners at
"vertical." Englishmen form their line of location every man shoulder to
shoulder, or rather, elbows in ribs; foreigners mostly get upon one
another's backs and heads, and form a living pyramid like the clown and
boys at Astley's. By this arrangement, however, it comes to pass, that
for the same number of inhabitants much more ground is occupied by an
English than by a continental town; and also, that each single dwelling
is of mean, or, at the most, moderate architectural appearance, the
great condition of elevation being wanting, and the power of
ornamentation being generally kept closely under by the limitation of
each individual's pecuniary resources. Practically, we contend, there is
quite as much comfort (we think, indeed, in many cases more) in the
continental manner of arranging houses as in the E