so

Plate III.— $art tif tt)t Clofatn 4 mt a larger ^>cale; a Wteto fromtbe Court into t&e Jflotorr*Cartim,

“ Let my due feet never failTo walk the studious cloisters pale.”

II Penseroso.

This arcade, being in every respect a continuation of the corridor,forms a deambulatory of considerable size. “ There are few old man-sions,” says Sir John Cullum, “ without their walking places, and theycertainly had their use; but this age of list, sand-bags, and carpets,that dreads every breath of air as if it were a pestilence, shudders atthe idea of such a body of element being admitted into any part ofa dwelling.” And Lydgate, in his Troy Boke, evidently with the modelof a monastic cloister in his mind, describes the sides of every streetas being covered with “ fresh alures ” of marble, or cloisters crownedwith rich and lofty pinnacles, and fronted with tabernacular work,vaulted like the dormitory of a monastery, and called deambulatories,for the accommodation of the citizens in all weathers. Warton, speakingof this poem, says, “ It is extremely curious; not for the capriciousincredulities and absurd inconsistences which it exhibits, but becauseit conveys anecdotes of ancient architecture, and especially of that floridand improved species which began to grow fashionable in Lydgate’sage.” Hence, it appears that there is sufficient authority for theintroduction of this somewhat ecclesiastical feature into a domesticstructure.

From the cloister, a descent, by steps, leads to the garden; * and the

* For a description of the gardens at Kenilworth, see Illustrations.