By the Rev. J. E. Jackson. 289 
and altered: but Longleat, with very slight exception, is the same, 
as to the exterior, as when it was designed. The balustrades, the 
cupolas, and statues on the top are not original, but rather later ; 
the present hall-door is also later; but, I believe, with these ex- 
ceptions, the house has undergone, externally, no material change 
from the day it was first built. There are the large mullioned 
windows of the earlier period of Henry VII.; and of the three 
stories, the pilasters in the lower one are of Doric character, in the 
middle Ionic, in the highest Corinthian ; the chimnies also are in 
the form of columns. Though from its pilasters and entablatures, 
the architecture of the house, when examined, would be pronounced 
Grecian, or Italian; still, its general effect and appearance are 
after all very much that of the old English ecclesiastical. It is 
not really ecclesiastical, because there is neither pointed window, 
nor tracery here; all is square: but the house has the old look, 
owing to the bold projection of the windows, and the varied outline 
of the roof, produced by the turrets and lofty chimnies. Observe, 
by the way, that the eight turrets on the roof are not placed at 
regular intervals, but in some kind of disorder. Perhaps this was 
done on purpose; the effect being to increase in the mind the idea 
of magnitude. For where every thing is in exact symmetry, and 
all parts correspond, the eye takes in the whole object, and measures 
the plan at once, but irregularity leaves the eye perplexed, and 
more is left to imagination. 
This new Italian fashion of Henry 8th’s reign was, upon the 
whole, adhered to in the reign of Edward VI., and the early part 
of Elizabeth. We have of this period, in Wiltshire, Littlecote, 
which retains much of its old character, though altered, and the 
South front of Corsham House, built in 1583; Longford is also of 
this date, but it is upon a somewhat eccentric model borrowed from 
an Island in Denmark. The Longleat style began to decline 
towards the reign of James I., much fantastic ornament and un- 
meaning device being introduced; still, during the decline, some 
very beautiful houses were built, of which we have good specimens 
in Wiltshire, in the Duke’s House at Bradford, Charlton Park, 
and Stockton House. 
