HE welcome given to Small Country Houses of To-day would seem, if I may T believe my correspondents, to have been due in no small measure to the seven chapters (out of forty-eight) which described old houses repaired and enlarged. This suggested that a second and uniform volume, dealing wholly with the treatment of old houses, whether cottage or farm house or small manor house, would be useful to the increasing number of people who like the atmosphere of age in their homes. A real responsibility rests on those who under take the alteration oi an old fabric, for our buildings are an essential part of our national history. This is no less true of the cottage than of the palace. Our building traditions are as much, indeed more, a heritage from forgotten craftsmen, as from William of Wykeham, Master Yevele at Westminster and John of Gloucester, who was King's Mason at Windsor. Of such nameless folk we may use Solomon's words, with but a single change a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom built the city yet no man remembered that same poor man. To those who appreciate all the skill and subtlety of touch which were the outcome of the wisdom of old builders, this record of the treatment of their handiwork is dedicated.