' Cjmnplars

of

CtiBor 3rrfHterture, (tc.

SECTION I.

“ Halles ful heygh, and houses ful noble,

Chambers with chymneys, and chapels gaye.”— Plowman’s Crede.

Domestic Architecture, like painting and sculpture, was greatlyimproved under the first and second Edwards ; and that it attained ahigh degree of splendour in the reign of Edward III. , we have theauthority of Chaucer and other old writers. But time, and the deso-lating wars between the Houses of York and Lancaster, and, again, thepuritanical wars,* have left us few traces of the habitations of that period,except, perhaps, some remains of castles, with here and there the ruinof a monastic structure. All the writers, however, who speak of thesubject, agree, that the houses of the great were more magnificent thancomfortable,! and that the lower orders were miserably lodged.

* See Illustrations at the end of the volume.

+ Mr. Whitaker, a very learned antiquary, in his History of Manchester, gives the followingdescription of an early baronial mansion:—

“ The lord’s mansion was constructed of wood on a foundation of stone, was one ground-story, and composed a large, oblong, and squarish court. A considerable portion of it wastaken up by the apartments of such as were retained more immediately in the service of theseignior ; and the rest, which was more particularly his own habitation, consisted of one greatand several little rooms. In the great one was his armoury; the weapons of his fathers, the

B