Taste In Architecture Governed By. Domestic Manners.

plan and character of the fifteenth century residences show that , though the house had still to be made capable of defence , yet that object Avas no longer paramount unless in the border counties , in Scotland , Ireland , Wales , and places Avhere paxticular circumstances retarded change . In the settled districts the castellated type , Avhere preserved , Avas retained in form

merely for the sake of effect , and perhaps from associations ; for Avhen it Avas not requisite to maintain armed men Avithiu the residence , its arrangement necessarily became altered , losing the military and gaining the peaceful residence character . The parts and uses of the house give a true and intelligible idea of the further progress of civilization . The

diminishing in size of thc great hall designed for the entertainment of the retainers with the lord , and the increase of the private apartments , show us that the feudal sovereignty of the baron or lord of the manor , which had been preeminent , was at length beginning to diminish ; that a rising middle ¦ class composed of merchantstradesmen and shopkeepers

, , , and independent guilds of artisans , began to make their weight felt in the eom . nionaltj' - —arising naturally out of the changes in the social condition which gave privileges to men who had been serfs , and caused commerce and . the industrial arts to advance . The improved change iu the domestic habits and social condition of the people towards the commencement of the next century tended also to further alteration of the plan in building houses . At this period , in to \ vns

and in the country , many of the houses Avere built chiefly of wood ( at least as to the upper of the two storeys ) ; there were ¦ brackets and heads to doorways , cornerposts , bargeboards , and gables , often richly ornamented ; sanitary arrangements were attended to ; there Avere street pavements , down pipes ; aud servers underground for street drainage , the latter at times

' ¦ id fine , large and Avell built , as to have been subsequently mistaken by antiquarians for subterranean passages . An improvement also now took place in the construction of bridges , almshouses , hospitals , inns , and taverns ; and new furniture andjutensils came into use , such as hangings , tapestry , and panelling . Simultaneously Avith this improvement in

¦ houses many new trades and callings arose , such as stationers , glaziers , plumbers , bed makers , clock makers , and others , in tho time of Henry VIII ., and more especially in the reign of Queen Elizabeth , the state of the country and the condition and requirements of the people had so advanced that at that date a change , vastly for the better , is to be observed in the

character of thc English house , denoting the habitual use of luxuries not to be found in a previous age , and the encouragement of a more refined and cultivated taste among the nobility and gentry . The effect of this improved taste in the line arts and literature is obvious in the decorative arrangements of domestic life , in ceilings coved and divided into panels by massive ornamental beams , in Avails painted with classic scenes , and in Avooclen cases often elaborately carved for the reception of books gorgeously bound .

Here Ave may glance aside for a moment , to notice that iu tho houses of the fifteenth century , when civilization in thc true direction first . sprang up in this country—at least ¦ that style of civilization Avhich has come clown to us , though " with perpetual and considerable improvements—there Avas not a chamber from which the rooms of the modern house not be traced . The present dining room Avas represented

may ¦ b y thc " small" or " banqueting hall , " then first entirel y 'detached ( behind the dais ) from the " large hall , " in consequence of thc upper classes abandoning—except on grand occasions—the custom of eating Avith their retainers . Of the rooms built above the hall , the "larger" and the " smaller " " solars , " or the " lords' chambers , " and the "lady ' s

chamber , " AVC have the . representatives now in the drawing room , tho stud y , or library , and the boudoir . The sleeping apartments Avere scarcely more nuniei'ous in respect to the occupants of a house . The bed was a rare piece of furniture , cove-red during the day with handsome tapestry , and saving at ni ght the necessity of another apartment , just

as it is not uncommon , in these clays when a bachelor m lodgings occupies the same room day and night , to haA e a sofa bed in an apartment that serves to sit in . We have called into use the butlery and the' pantry , both in collegiate and in private establishments , though "butlery " is the name used at universities , and " pantry" that in the

homes of individuals ; iu colleges and in private houses thc office of the butler is retained , while that of the " pantler " is lost . Tho cellar was situated at that period pretty much as it is now , just under the " lords' chamber ; " but the space required for decanting or rather drawing wine Avas larger than IIOAV from g lass bottles not having come into general use .

The cupboards were-also more extensiA e ; indeed , they were complete separate chambers , just as in these days in some important mansions , rooms called garde robes , are set apart for the purpose of keeping wearing apparel . The kitchen Avas important . The lardarhum exists on a smaller scale in thc larderbut the salsivrium is done away with on account

, of the butcher ' s business , eA en as the bakehouse and the breivhouse ( except in large establishments ) have been dispensed Avith on account of the trades of the baker and the brewer . There Avere also stables and farm buildings , of Avhich , though nearly every trace is swept away , enough has been ascertained to know that they Avere generally built of

Avood , and Avere at times very extensive . To return to the progress of architecture and its alterations according to the variations in our customs and manners—we find that , after the time of the Tudors , during the reign of the Stuarts , a higher state of civilization and greater domestic

requirements effected a complete revolution in the architecture of England . The requirements of palaces and mansions , homes for the reception of Avorks of art , or emporiums for merchandize , demanded a sty le better suited to those Avants . Prom Italy—the first country in . Europe Avhich awoke from a long dream of rude art , where , amid the revival

of the arts and sciences , architecture Avas restored by Palladio , Scamozzi , and Labbacco—a style , founded on the Roman , though more immediately borrowed from the Venetians , made its AVUV through Prance and Germany into England . Much admired as may be the facade of the castle of Heidelberg for the genius and taste it presents as a specimen of tho

then , classical architecture , there is reason to believe , from the banqueting hall that Avas alone erected , that if Inigo Jones had completed the palace at Whitehall on the scale of magnificence originally intended , the structure Avoulcl have been unrivalled in splendour of design and purity of taste . Unfortunately the civil Avar broke out , and tho unhappy troubles in which his patron , Charles I ., Avas involved , totally frustrated the intentions of the architect , and . Italian architecture , Avhich had begun to flourish under the auspices of

Inigo Jones and his disciples , fell into a degraded state on account of the great discouragement given to it and the arts generally during the great political excitement that , to the exclusion of all other matters , prevailed in the country fertile next two or three generations . At thc commencement of the past century , during the auspicious reign of Queen

Anne , some grand designs in Italian architecture wore again executed ; and her reign , in spite of constant Avar abroad and political intrigues at home , Avituessed the completion of the greater part of St . Paul ' s Cathedral . Since that time England has been advancing with giant strides in all the arts and sciences , and her taste iu architecture has been

keeping pace Avith the spirit and refinement of the age . No one but a pedant in art will deny that in all parts of the laud Ave see , rising from year to year , buildings public and private , palaces , mansions , churches , theatres , markets , places of general resort , Avhich are objects of undoubted beauty , from the ornaments with which they are embellishedfrom

, the magnificence with which they are executed , from their studied elegance , and from the appropriate sites Avhich they adorn . 'Finally , we cannot but agree with many of the most refined