The first grand error is that of placing houses so that their carriage or main entrance is on the side having the best view. This used to be the practice in building mansions till within the last sixty years; but, being now almost entirely left off in that class of dwellings, we are astonished to find it still lingering among the architects of villas. This is a criticism, like that just made on the edges of walks and roads, that every possessor of a villa can make for himself. He may rely on it, that where the best landscape, whether of the home scenery or distance, is obtained from the entrance hall-door, an error has been committed either in placing the house or in arranging its apartments. It is easy to make a thousand excuses for an error after it has been committed, and to show, by innumerable apparently infallible reasons, that the thing could not have been otherwise than as it is; but one good reason for any thing is enough, and those who feel themselves in the right seldom give more.
