it is not by any means an example of castellated Gothic. When Pugin ridiculed the modern attempt at castellated architecture, he seems to have disposed of the question altogether. No building is castellated without many features for which we have no use; and the very things which are indispensable to us defy castellated treatment. Low sills to windows, and windows reaching to the ground, conservatories, and much else, are at variance with a style whose accommodation seems to have been confined to a bower' for my lady, a 'closet' for my lord, and a hall where everyone seems to have got very comfortable in common, and, with the exception of my lady and my lord, slept on the straw when sleep overtook them.

6

Compare the remains of any castle of the Plantagenet period with Kimbolton in its Tudor days, where all seem to have had decent lodging, to say nothing of the means of very considerable hilarity provided to their hands. Hampton Court in Wolsey's time was not an incommodious residence; and later, Longleat, Castle Ashby, Audley End, Wollaton Hall, and many more, were pleasant places to live in. If we are to copy, let us at least copy the architecture of those of whose habits we know something, and whose accommodation has not proved unsuited to the wants of an age which produced more statesmen, philosophers, and soldiers than dyspeptics and valetudinarians.

Gothic architecture was not invented; it was the growth and progress of art generally, and latterly fell

D

off considerably, particularly on the Continent. There is no reason why the principles of all art, on which the Gothic was founded, no less than all others, should not lead to a progressive movement which will come to something. It is true that the Victorian style is not a great step in advance; it is in reality no advance at all, but an ill-disguised backward movement, of which the generation may take note.

The house of the Augustan age, from 1700 to 1760, is a very comfortable style of house, suited to every purpose of state or convenience, and not only calculated for mansions of a princely character, but equally for modest suburban or country residences. Its roofs are of a pitch suitable to the climate, and allowing good attics; its chimneys are solid and ample in appearance; it admits of as much decoration as can be desired, and can dispense with it as well as can any style. Symmetry is not essential; it seems to have comfort for its character, and to breathe an air of peace and plenty.

For very rich people the Roman style has no equal. Blenheim, Castle Howard, Stowe, Chatsworth, Wardour, Harewood, and others, 'quos referre mora est,' are very splendid; but it is one thing to build a house and another to live in it. The repairs alone of a very large house are equivalent to a considerable rental.

The Anglo-Italian style is very good for a marine villa, or any exclusively summer residence, but it always seems to require for site the hill-side overlooking the

sea or an extensive plain. It demands a prospect, without which it seems impertinent. A tower is frequently designed for this style, in situations not the least requiring one. It is entirely dependent for effect on breadth; a weather stain is fatal; even a few stones of a lighter or darker shade than the rest spoil it. For this reason it is a good style for stucco, and looks well when painted in almost any shade of common colour. And here a word in favour of stucco and paint.

Although stucco and paint lie under the ban of architects of the Transcendental school, there are yet persons who prefer a dry house to a damp one. Cement, if good, is more durable than most of the freestones. It contains no inherent moisture, having been burnt, and admits none. Where cemented walls are green outside and mildewed within, the cause is damp rising from the ground and drawn upwards into the body of the wall by capillary attraction. Cement which is composed of road scrapings and mud from a clay soil is not here meant. Cement which is bought at a fair price, of manufacturers of character, and laid on by an honest builder, particularly if there is a good clerk of the. works to represent the employer's interest, is a most excellent coating to a wall, and is fit for anything but a church, palace, or public building.

Paint gives a clean, uniform appearance to stuccoed buildings, and renders them thoroughly waterproof. Its only objection is that it requires renewal; but even stone requires cleaning, if in cities. We are accustomed

to see in London stone and brick buildings scraped and renovated, and some years ago all the houses in Paris were thus furbished up by Imperial decree. The Travellers' Club in Pall Mall is a specimen of what may be done in cement. It will, in all probability, outlast the Army and Navy Club, in the same street, a piece of the corner of the lower cornice of which, weighing upwards of 2 cwt., fell not long ago.

The Grecian style is little used at present, though there seems no reason, excepting that it has gone out of fashion—a fact the writer regrets, for it has in many respects no equal. It has always seemed to him that the Grecian style never had fair play. The architects never forgot their temples. In all other styles they seem to have given some play to fancy, imagination, conceits even, and with the best effect. The architects of the beginning of the present century, hot from Athens and Magna Græcia, had not the feeling for the picturesque which distinguishes those of the present day; and the latter, instead of trying earnestly what could be done with Grecian architecture, seem to have abandoned it as impracticable. If this style is used, it should be remembered that it requires breadth and repose, which are synonymous. Have no little beds in fancy patterns. Try a broad walk, a rectangular or elliptical basin, no vases—at least no small ones—a large tazza for water, broad turf margins, banks of shrubs, temples embosomed in masses of shrubs arbutus, laurel, rhododendrons-no climbing plant about the

masonry, a cedar here and there, steps and change of level the more the better, and here the picturesqueness may be got.

STYLE OF GARDENS.

The style of the garden may at all times be later than that of the house. Changes of fashion and taste would affect the garden sooner than the house. In the one the whole external and internal decoration would have to be changed at great cost; in the other it is only the trouble of making or destroying a few walks and beds. A few loads of earth to make a bank, and a few yards of cutting, will materially alter the style of a garden; and as we are prepared for greater caprice, we are not shocked at slight incongruities. In digging up almost any old garden, remains of still older can be traced, and this in cases where we know the house itself has not been altered.

The writer has always thought that the architecture of gardens should be to a certain extent florid—that is to say, more so than the house. Perhaps it is that, being in the midst of flowers, leaves, tendrils, and delicate forms generally, the transition to extreme simplicity is too violent, and shocks the spectator.

As an example. A perfectly plain die or pedestal of polished granite or marble would be considered quite good enough, and, indeed, most appropriate to support a handsome vase, tazza, or bust, if within doors, whether in sculpture gallery, hall, library, or observatory,