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INTRODUCTION.

the very qualities to which it is most indebted for the impression it makes render it least ofall eligible for imitation, not only vastness, but an appearance of massive strength andsecurity being almost essential to it. Employed upon a small scale, it can hardly be so ma-naged as not to be trivial; and by ceasing to be dignified and sublime, it becomes puerileand ridiculous. A touch of either style, may under particular circumstances, be introducedinto domestic buildings; yet it should be done with great reserve, and mock Castles, mockAbbies, and things of that description, ought to be left to the tea-garden and the confec-tioner.

While some have seemed to imagine that Gothic architecture, and every variety of it, isindiscriminately applicable to every kind of buildings, others have asserted that it canrarely be employed at all, with any degree of propriety or regard to comfort, in modernresidences, since, according to them, it is attended with disadvantages that counterbalanceits recommendations. When ancient English architecture was more imperfectly understoodthan it is at present, and so long as religious buildings were almost exclusively followed asauthorities in structures that demanded to be very differently treated; there were groundsfor such complaint. Grecian and Roman architecture are undoubtedly of far more generalapplication—for even when deprived of all ornament, and so neutralized as to style as nolonger to retain any character, buildings constructed on such principles, may possess anegative kind of merit, whereas any of the varieties of our own ancient architecture wouldby being so stripped become positively offensive;—yet there is one class of buildings forwhich the latter particularly recommends itself. These are country residences and theirappendages, from the unpretending cottage or lodge, to the villa or mansion. Admittingfar greater variety of outline both in plan and elevation, and consequently bolder effects oflight and shade, and more picturesque masses, it is particularly well calculated for detachedbuildings, which are beheld from various points of view; and provided the features them-selves be not maimed by the omission of what naturally belongs to them, more may beaccomplished in this style than can very well be done in the other upon the same scale andat the same expence. Even the roofs and chimneys alone, which in the Grecian style arerather to be concealed than studiously displayed, or if not concealed kept very unobtrusive,here contribute no less to character than to picturesque appearance. Another circumstancethat tends greatly to recommend this style for domestic buildings upon a moderate scale isthat it allows the windows to be of very different dimensions and proportions, and plaineror more ornamented, on the same floor, as either internal convenience, or the external ele-vation shall require. Neither is it one of its least favourable peculiarities that such frequentand extensive application may be made of the projecting or bay window, which admits of suchdiversity in plan, proportions, elevation and embellishment. While features of this de-scription are almost always sure to tell externally, and to possess a pictorial if not invariablya strictly architectural value,—among other reasons, because when they rise from theground, by advancing beyond the general mass, they give an appearance of greater solidityto its base, so do they come greatly to the aid of the architect in the interior, he being thus

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