Page 113

113
that seems plausible, beyond that of amusement to the mind
from variety, is, that by examining and comparing different
designs, the best parts of each may be selected; but this is con-
tradicted by every day's experience.
There is no instance in which a good plan has ever been the
result of much diversity of opinion: and in no instance, since
the effort of Beaumont and Fletcher, has combined genius ex-
celled individual unity of talent or experience.
To the remark in the preceding Fragment, which recom-
mends " placing the best rooms towards the best Views and the
"best Aspects," I should add, " not placing the entrance on
C the same side of the house with the principal apartments:"
and thus, after all, it will be found, that nine times in ten the
entrance must be on the north side; and notwithstanding the
absurdity of a magnificent portico towards that aspect, where
no sunshine can illumine its columns, or require its shade,
almost all the finest porticos in England are placed to the
north; and I have myself, from     necessity, been compelled to
do so in many instances, against my better judgment.*
In approaching the close of my active life, it is natural that
I should look back on the various objects which have claimed
* The late Sir William Chambers asserts, that the entrance to a House, like a nose
on a face, was the principal feature, and ought to be the most prominent. Yet in his
own Villa at Whitton he had five doors in the principal front: that in the centre opened
into a shell-work grotto, used as a dairy. Such is the difference betwixt Theory and
Practice, even where the Professor may be supposed to have been uncontrolled,
Q