LXXXII--Mitchell Cottage, East Orange. LXXXIII--Detail, Mitchell Cottage, East Orange, N. J. LXXXIV--Princessgate. Princessgate, rear. LXXXV--Eastover, the west front. LXXXVI--Searles Cottage. Exemplifying architectural style. The Modern American Dwelling. Exemplifying fashion. LXXXVII--Style and the picture. Middletown, Conn. Detail in South Eighth Street, Philadelphia. LXXXVIII--Detail, Silvergate. LXXXIX--Miss Simplicity--her house. Detail, Princessgate. XC--Green Tree Inn, Germantown. XCI--Princessgate (modern) developed from Dutch and English Farm-house Motives. Try to have the rear of your house as attractive as the front. XCII--Biltmore, in North Carolina. XCIII--House of H. W. Poor, Tuxedo, N. Y. XCIV--House of H. W. Poor, Tuxedo, N. Y. Phillips House, Lawrence, L. I. XCV--Garden Gate at Wyoming, N. J. Window of a Dining-room, Wyoming, N. J. Edgar House, Newport, R. I. AMERICAN RENAISSANCE CHAPTER I ETHICS The magnificence of this subject, even of a single branch--the domestic phase--is disproportionate to a review in one volume, in the scope of which, I fear, I cannot achieve much more than a respectable introduction. But even an introduction, like the overture to an opera, is better begun at the beginning. Civilized man, and especially one of Anglo-Saxon descent, is a home-loving creature. To him the dwelling-place stands for his most important institution. The arts, sciences and traditions he pursues, mainly as they are to minister unto it, and its fruition is the goal of life. About this dwelling-place, then, there must be a very great deal to be said, indissolubly associated as it is with everything in life worth having--one’s childhood, parents, children, wife, sweetheart, and next to these one’s own personal comfort--one’s hours of leisure and recreation. Therefore, just so much as domestic architecture departs in an impersonal, artificial way from whatever relates to or reflects these associations, just so much does it err--does it fail. It will be obvious, upon a moment’s consideration, that any cold-blooded practice or discussion of academic formulæ, alone, looking to the development of American domestic architecture, is hopelessly inefficient. The home one builds must mean something besides artistic and engineering skill. It must presuppose, by subtle architectonic expression, both in itself and in its surroundings, that its owner possessed, once upon a time, two good parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, and so on; had, likely, brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, all eminently respectable and endeared to him; that _bienséance_ and family order have flourished in his line from time immemorial--there were no black sheep to make him ashamed--and that he has inherited heirlooms, plate, portraits, miniatures, PLATE I. [Illustration: IN AN OLD-TIME RENAISSANCE GARDEN.] [Illustration: THE GOVERNOR SMITH HOUSE, WISCASSET, ME.]