The south-east front of Frome House is a specimen of regular, but not enriched, house-gothic; and is in such state of repair as makes it unnecessary to take it down, and unpardonable to replace it by any modern style of building. What remains, however, of the old house, is neither large enough, nor sufficiently convenient for the modern residence of a gentleman's family; being only a single house, without access to any room, except that which was formerly the hall, but now destroyed, as such, by an intermediate ceiling. It is, therefore, proposed to add so much as will double the present building; and I trust no one can object to this new part corresponding in style with what is left of the old original mansion, by preserving the character of similar date; although to the proposal of adding at all to the present house the three following objections may possibly be urged:- Firstly. The present site is too low: Secondly. It is too near the water: and, Thirdly. It is on the verge of the estate.
To the first I must observe, that our ancestors very judiciously placed their castles on eminences for defence, and their abbeys and houses in the valleys for shelter: but, in the champaign country of Dorset, it would be absurd to place a new house on a more elevated part of the property, exposed to every wind, without a tree to cover it.
