28 APRIL 1917, Page 15

THE HOUSE OF LYME.

[TO THZ EDITOR OF THZ " $PECT/TOR.1 Sne—In your review last week of Lady Newton's history of Lyme you allude to the "shock experienced by a certain owner of an historical house," who (as you think Mr. George Russell has related somewhere), when asked by a friend, "And who was the architect?" snapped out, "Oh. Cubitt." Is this an instance of les grands esprit: se rencontrent, or is it another version of the reply which, according to a paper* read at Northampton on March 5th, 1914, Mr. Stopford Sackville made, when going round Drayton with a visitor who asked him, "Who was the builder of the house?" The reply he describes as "flippant rather than accurate "—viz., " Cubitt! " You will probably agree that the answer in question is moro applicable to the term " builder " than "architect," but whether the shock was experienced by the owner or by the questioner may perhaps be left in doubt. —I am, Sir, &c., EXPERTO CREDE.