oriel window, and on the inner face are four tall, slender, octagonal turrets, and there are wings on each side with battlements in corbie steps."(p. 197.)

At the cost of a little anachronism, (while speaking of buildings of the fifteenth century,) we cannot help mentioning the extremely beautiful palace of St. David's, built by Henry Gower during his episcopate between 1328 and 1347. This building, remarkable for the abundance and beauty of its decoration, with its superb rose-window and graceful chapelspire, is also especially valuable as possessing a character almost peculiar to itself. Designed at the culminating period of English architecture, it is just one of those buildings which would seem to furnish a starting-point for future developments; the building is neither Early English nor Perpendicular; it is something like a realization of the essential principles of geometrical architecture as applied to domestic work, distinct alike from the tentative character of the preceding style, and untouched by the false idea of unity which more or less mars every work in the succeeding style. We are not, however, claiming for the palace at St. David's any ideal perfection, while yet we look on it as one among the comparatively few buildings from which we may work on to far more splendid results in times still future.

The influence, however, of the change in Domestic Architecture during the fifteenth century is probably most conspicuous in those buildings which, a century earlier, would have been almost wholly military in their character. In some (as Tattershall, Lincolnshire, and the magnificent castle of Hurstmonceux, of which the outer shell alone remains) the design, while sufficient to guard against a sudden attack, evidently is not adapted for anything like serious warfare, while at Cowdray House, and Thornbury Castle in Gloucestershire, the fortifications seem to be intended much more for show than for use.

At Thornbury the chief feature is the bay window, which runs up the whole height of the building, while the character of the whole shews that the idea of fortification is very subordinate to that of a peaceful residence. In this respect it furnishes an instructive contrast with Ragland Castle, on which subject the editor has availed himself of some interesting remarks by Mr. E. A. Freeman :

“Ragland is much the more military of the two.... Thornbury, on the other hand, may perhaps best be described as a house built within a castle. . . . The exterior walls of Thornbury, except towards the town, are clearly meant for defence, though the defences are not very strong. But within is just the façade of a magnificent mansion, with no military character whatever, except in the machicolations, &c. ... A gateway, as peaceful-looking as that of any college in Oxford, occupies the centre of a long and singularly regular range, composed chiefly of polygonal towers of different sizes, each end being terminated by a very massive one: polygonal towers also form the chief objects in the first approach to Ragland, but the manner of their employment is different. The gateway is approached, after various external defences, by a bridge over a moat, GENT. MAG. VOL. CCVII. C& 2

and defended by portcullis after portcullis. Two massive polygonal towers form the extreme objects to right and left; but of these one forms a genuine keep... and the other differs widely from the analogous one at Thornbury.... On entering the court it is, however, worth notice that the gateway of Thornbury preserves its character within as a distinct and important portion of the building, while at Ragland it is quite lost in the general design of the range of which it forms a part. At Ragland, also, the extraordinary excellence of the external masonry is exchanged within in many parts for the merest rubble and a very poor kind of architectural detail, while Thornbury presents the most beautiful workmanship in all its parts. At Ragland the hall preserves its old importance in the general design, standing between the two courts as the most prominent portion of the building. It is a building of most stately proportions, unusually lofty, but its architecture is of an extremely poor kind. Both its oriel and its smaller windows appear perfectly beggared by the elaborate specimens at Thornbury. At Thornbury there is hardly any hall in the sense of former ages; the principal domestic apartments consist of four magnificent chambers, one of which, and that one in the upper range, somewhat exceeds the rest in size and importance. The elaborate series of oriels in this range is well known; certainly the whole façade, with its windows and chimneys, is surpassed by no example of English domestic architecture." (p. 376.)

We do not profess to have done justice to these most valuable and interesting volumes; but we have perhaps said enough to prove the reality of what we call Gothic as the English national style, and to attest its vital power. Look for it where we will, applied to whatever design, adapted for whatever wants, it meets us with the unmistakeable characteristics which stamp its identity, while they interfere in no way with the inexhaustible fertility of its resources. Growing up from the meanest beginnings, slowly at first and painfully, it exhibits no random experiments, no mere dabbling in foreign forms, no conscious eclecticism, but worked out by the national mind, it meets every need, ecclesiastical or civil, military or domestic. Since that time, and for nearly three hundred years, there has been little but the random adoption of foreign forms, the unsystematic selection of anything that may suit a passing whim or fashion. Our words may betray perhaps some bitterness, but they spring rather from a feeling of grief and disappointment that an invaluable opportunity for testing the capabilities of our ancient national architecture seems too likely to be thrown away.

The designs of Mr. G. Gilbert Scott for the Foreign and Indian Offices, approved and sanctioned by the late Government, are to be submitted again、 to a vote of the House of Commons; and their rejection is urged on the ground that Gothic is a purely ecclesiastical style, redolent of mere sacerdotal tyranny and oppression. With what eyes those who speak thus can have read the history or examined the monuments of their country, we cannot imagine; nor does it seem possible by any arguments of sober sense to meet the tissue of fraudulent sophistry and presumptuous nonsense by which the plainest facts are either denied or falsified. It seems not merely absurd, but monstrous, to be called on to disclaim distinctive sacerdotal ideas, because we say that the architecture of the men who built Windsor

and Eltham, Thornbury and Hurstmonceux, is the national style of Englishmen. The petty objections urged against Mr. Scott's designs have been utterly swept away: it is idle to spe. k of dim and narrow slits to serve as windows, when the designs exhibit as large an area of glass as any that are most devoid of Gothic characteristics. And even though these designs may not be faultless, they differ thus far from every other, that they are the result of a faithful and laborious study of the real principles of architecture, and that our own national architecture, while the dabbling in Greek or Roman or Renaissance forms can only produce designs less suited to our climate and our habits, and which, while they fail to harmonize with the structures of our forefathers, will succeed only in marring the beauties which they profess to have adopted.

Those who, like Sylvanus Urban, have watched the progress of the work before us from its commencement, will rejoice with him at its successful termination. It is now just twenty years since the first sketch of it was written by Mr. William Twopeny, and published by Mr. Parker in his " Glossary of Architecture," third edition, 1840,-and several of his beautiful and accurate drawings were engraved at that time, some of which were given in the 'Glossary" as specimens,—with a view to awaken public attention to a subject which was then understood by very few. The number of those who had really studied the existing remains of the houses of our ancestors probably did not amount to a score; it was an illustrious band, most of whom have since been taken from us, and those who remain we can hardly expect to be spared much longer among us. Mr. Petrie and Mr. Gage Rokewode, Mr. Huntly and Lord Northampton, Pugin and Edward Wilson, are gone. Mr. Blore, d Mr. Twopeny, and Mr. Hussey remain among us, but advancing in years and too much occupied in their respective professions to be able to follow up their favourite study. But they have not laboured in vain; the knowledge which they acquired by patient and diligent research on what was then untrodden ground, has been freely communicated to others, and their successors may now be counted by hundreds, and soon will be by thousands. The study is in itself so much more interesting and fascinating than that of our old churches, there is so much greater variety, so much more to make out, and everything is so connected with the habits, manners, and customs of our ancestors, that when a key to this subject has once been learned, it is certain to be followed up with enthusiasm. Such a key is supplied by the work before us, and with such a teacher there will be no lack of students.

The first sketch we have mentioned was speedily followed by the announcement of a more complete work by Mr. R. C. Hussey, a cousin of Mr. Twopeny, and equally well acquainted with the subject. This announcement was continued for several years, and many more engravings were made for the purpose of illustrating it. Unfortunately, Mr. Hussey's professional engagements increased so rapidly, that he was obliged reluc

GENT. MAG. VOL. CCVII.

D d

tantly to give up the work he had undertaken, without having proceeded so far as to write any part of it. Mr. Ambrose Poynter then undertook it, and employed the late Mr. Hudson Turner as a black-letter scribe to make extracts from the Public Records illustrative of the subject. After two or three years more, Mr. Poynter also found that the work required more time than he could give to it, and recommended Mr. Parker to trust it entirely in the hands of Mr. Hudson Turner, who was then the Secretary of the Archæological Institute, and had published some valuable papers in their journal; he had also supplied a good deal of material for Mr. Poynter's History of Windsor Castle," and had entirely compiled the valuable volume of "Household Expenses," &c., given to the Roxburgh Club by Mr. Beriah Botfield, so that he was evidently in many respects well qualified for the task, especially during that early period when existing remains are scanty, and our chief reliance must be upon records. But of architecture Mr. Turner knew nothing; he had never studied buildings, and could not distinguish those of one century from another: so far as architectural details were required, he was obliged to trust entirely to Mr. Parker, who, fortunately, was able to supply that deficiency.

66

Soon after the completion of the first volume Mr. Turner died, and left little behind him upon paper, having always trusted too much to his wonderful memory. Mr. Parker now found himself again without an editor, and was unable to find any one able and willing to undertake the task, when it was suggested to him by friends to go on with it himself: this he was at first very reluctant to do, being aware of the laborious nature and the importance of the task thus thrust upon him: but he saw that he had some advantages from his position which others could not have, he had books at his command, and although his time was very fully occupied for more than half the year, the Oxford long-vacation gave him the opportunity of going about for three or four months in the summer every year, and while seeking health and recreation, he could also collect materials for the work by visiting and examining as many of the existing remains as possible. He has made the most of these opportunities, and the result is now before us. It should be remembered, also, that from his youth he had been familiar with Rickman's admirable book, the key to the whole subject, and had long learned to distinguish the different styles of architecture, and to be able to tell the age of any building within a few years.

The time of the appearance of this concluding volume is singularly opportune, just after the Prime Minister of England has declared in the face of Europe that there is no such thing as an English national style of architecture, that Gothic was only fit for churches and colleges; here we have hundreds of examples of Anglo-Gothic houses brought before our eyes. Nor will the excuse that Lord Palmerston was not speaking of country houses, avail him, for here we have examples of town houses also, and abundant proof that the only reason we have not more is, that they