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Nothing can be more absurd than artificial representations of substancesso scarce and costly, that, however closely they may be imitated, are mani-festly counterfeit, even to common observers.

Plates II., XII., and XXIII., are offered' as specimens of thevariations in English architecture, applied to manor-houses, in the reignsof Henry VII. , Henry VIII. , and Elizabeth; the commencement,middle, and termination of the period which this Work is designed toillustrate.

With all their external beauty and internal magnificence, Tudorhouses were deplorably deficient in many of the comforts with whichmodern habitations abound; yet in this respect a decided amendment isvisible in the buildings of the Elizabethan age upon those of Henry VIII. ;and again particularly in the mansions of James I. and Charles I. Cor-respondent, indeed, with the increase of convenience was the decrease oftaste; and as the plans of houses progressively improved, their archi-tectural character declined. Nor would the most ardent admirer ofthe pure old English style venture to compare the dwellings of earlierdays,* in point of comfortable and cheerful economy, with those of theeighteenth century, when the noble art of architecture was at a verylow ebb.

But let it not be imagined that this superiority in the disposition ofapartments was effected by the introduction of classical models, or thatour own peculiar style is not susceptible of equally advantageous arrange-

* “ It is observable” (at Leckinfield manor-house) “ that in upwards of fourscore apart-ments there do not seem to have been more than three or four destined for the reception of thenoble owners and their guests: these were, probably, the drawing chamber, the new chamber,the carved chamber, and the great chamber or dining-room; all the rest were merely offices,or cabins to sleep in.”— Dr. Percy.