THE COUNTRY HOUSES OF ENGLAND.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—All true lovers of rural England will feel grateful to the Spectator for giving prominence to the above subject. If the suggestions put forth in your article are acted upon, and our beautiful old country houses are turned into homes, hospitals, museums, &c., then the minds of many of us will be set at rest. It is to be hoped that a few other wealthy patriots inspired by Mr. Shaw will come to the rescue whenever the need arises. It ought not to be difficult in these days of house shortage for three or four like-minded families to club together in the pur- chase of some of the smaller estates, and " run " them, or farm them, or in some other i-ays to turn the lands to good account. Anything rather than that any of our beautiful inheritance should fall into ruin or—worse still—into anti-British hands. It is an unfortunate fact that often we do not realize how much we might have loved until we have lost. Let us therefore not lose our love of country, or be indifferent to the fate of its treasures, lest we wake up one day to find them all gone irre-
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