CHANGING TASTE
Sta,—Mr. Joh& Betjeman describes Staunto0 Harold as 'one of the most gracious building, in England.' The Hon. John Byng, ridinS about the country during the last twentl years of the eighteenth century constantlf protested against the decay and mutilation of old houses, the building of new country seatl and the laying out of landscaped parks oo the profits of enclosure and manufacture Writing in his Diary on June 22, 1789, Ill describes Staunton Harold as 'a flaring, latelY built, ill-seated house,' which he did not thing it worth his trouble to go into, ' promisinli nothing curious, old or new.'
Perhaps at 'a similar distance of time another school of taste will arise and plead for the preservation of the packing-caol architecture of the 1950s. Meanwhile, I loot eagerly for an expert who will cry up till merits of Butterfield. Our fourteenth' century' village church is a perfect example of his methods of restoration, complete witb bath-room tiles, gilded pinnacles of plaster, and Gothic woodwork.—Yours faithfully,
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