Paul Johnson, by way of Jay Nordlinger in NRO

Would like to share with you a beautiful paragraph, by Paul Johnson. It’s from his Spectator column:

My perfect library would be a wing of a country house, with very high ceilings and a gallery; below it French windows opening on to a meadow with trees in the distance. Shelves would cover all the walls, with an oak staircase on wheels to get at the higher reaches, and a spiral staircase to the gallery, also full of books. A door would lead to an inner room, my study, with French windows leading on to an orchard. A spiral staircase within this room would ascend to a small bedroom above, with a tiny bathroom and rudimentary kitchen. So I could, at need, live a self-contained existence within my library-stronghold. In the main room would be a large mahogany table with racks containing portfolios of drawings and watercolours by its sides. No pictures on the walls — just books — and no nonsense of terrestrial and celestial globes.

Hey, I’d like a globe — at least a terrestrial one! But, still, what a beautiful paragraph, and a typical one (of this author).