181 



is thus, that Virgil raises the idea of the 

 chief bard, 



ISIusxum ante omnes, medium nam plurima tiirba 

 Huuc habet, atque humeris extanlem sUiipicit altis. 



Of this kind is the grandeur that charac- 

 terizes many of the ancient castles ; which 

 proudly overlook the diti'crent outworks, 

 the lower towers, the gateways, and all the 

 appendages to the main building; and 

 this principle, so productive of grand and 

 picturesque effects, has been applied with 

 great success by Vanbrugh to highly orna- 

 mented buildings, and to Grecian architec- 

 ture. The same principle (with those va- 

 riations and exceptions that will naturally 

 suggest themselves to artists) may be ap- 

 plied to all houses. By studying the gene- 

 ral masses, the groups, the accompaniments, 

 and the points they will be seen from, those 

 exterior offices, which so frequently are 

 buried, if not under ground, at least be- 

 hind a close plantation of Scotch firs, may 

 all become useful in the composition; not 

 only the stables, which often indeed rival 



