I

Down by the river There's a mansion fair to see. Skyward it towers Over base humanity.

Inside its portals, (Decked in Georgian heraldry), Two hundred mortals Dwell secure from ribaldry.

II

Cell on cell the chambers tower, Floor on floor the windows glower, (Rhododendrons are in flower In the courtyard).

China with a picture on it. Biddies, each in lacy bonnet, English accents, (grace a sonnet Said at mealtime).

III

Rooms decorated in antique tradition, Chambers adorned with a dado in pine, Studies designed by a geometrician,--Corners he laid out by sine and cosine.

Windows they planned with a cunning precision.

Born of a Mephistophelian mind.

Keeping the light out, admitting no vision;

The view, it is said, is best seen by the blind.

Each suite has a bedroom, (the only solution

We found--there's no fireplace to fill up the wall),

But the architects think that we're all Lilliputian.