But, methinks, we had better strike out any kind of architecture, so it
be our own, however wretched, than thus tread back upon the past.
Mr. B------ now conducted us to his residence, which stands a little
beyond the outskirts of the city, on the declivity of a hill, and in so
windy a spot that, as he assured me, the very plants are blown out of the
ground. He pointed to two maimed trees whose tops were blown off by a
gale two or three years since; but the foliage still covers their
shortened summits in summer, so that he does not think it desirable to
cut them down.
In America, a man of Mr. B------'s property would take upon himself the
state and dignity of a millionaire. It is a blessed thing in England,
that money gives a man no pretensions to rank, and does not bring the
responsibilities of a great position.
We found three or four gentlemen to meet us at dinner,--a Mr. D------ and
a Mr. B------, an author, having written a book called "The Philosophy of
Necessity," and is acquainted with Emerson, who spent two or three days
at his house when last in England.
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