However, we do not consider it our mission to enter on Quixotic quarrels with the ways of the world. It is, as our young people soon find— “A very good world to live in, To lend, to spend, or to give in; But to beg, or borrow, or get one’s own, ’Tis the very worst world that ever was known.” In taking a house, the first matters to be considered are, the rent we can afford to give, and whether we are bound to any particular locality. Having settled this, we may begin our search accordingly. Where locality is not specified, always choose one as open and airy as may be, and where the soil, or at any rate the subsoil, is not clay, where the drainage is good, and there is an ample supply of water, and no neighbouring factories giving out noxious gases and poisonous smoke and vapour. Too close a vicinity to a churchyard is likewise to be avoided. Of course, the house must be capable of accommodating the family who are to occupy it, and there should always be a spare room or two which can be used for bed-rooms, or other purposes in case of emergency. There should be closets, cellars, &c., and good ventilation front and back. A fee to a well-qualified surveyor is often well bestowed, for he may detect serious faults in a house, which, to an ordinary observer, seems well-built and comfortable. The agreement with the landlord should be clearly understood, and all liabilities as to parochial and other taxes, local rates, house repairs, with charges for fixtures, &c., inquired into, and definitely arranged, before the agreement is signed. It sometimes happens that the chief rooms are not papered and painted until the house is let. In such case the in-coming tenant generally has the power of choosing the papers, or panellings, and paint. He will, of course, select such as will best harmonize with the colour which the furniture and hangings should have. Having taken our house, it generally wants a thorough cleaning and airing. The former may sometimes be got out of the landlord; the latter must always be done by the tenant; and in spring, autumn, and winter, fires should be kept for three or four days, according to the time the house has been empty, and to the repairs it has undergone during that interval; for, of course, nobody takes a house in the state of dirt and dis-repair in which it is usually left by an out-going tenant, or if they do so under the notion that the landlord will set it all to rights after they are in, they will find out their mistake, and repent their confidence.