Modernizing old houses

The present style of living in the country is so different from that of former times, that there are few houses of ancient date which would be habitable, without great alterations and additions. Such, indeed, is the constant fluctuation in the habits and customs of mankind, and so great the change in the luxuries, the comforts, and even the wants of a more refined people, that it is, in these times, impossible to live in the baronial castle, the secularized abbey, or even in the more modern palaces, built in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, preserving all the apartments to their original uses.