265 



bitable, too much caution cannot be used 

 in clearing away those disguises and intri- 

 cacies, which the hand of time has slowly 

 created, lest with those accompaniments, 

 theirancient and venerable character should 

 be destro3^ed. 



Last of all are thediifercnt cottaoes, mills, 

 outhouses, and hovels ; many of whicii are 

 in their entire state extremely picturesque, 

 and almost all become so in decay. 



The most picturesque habitable buildings, 

 are old castles which were originally form- 

 ed for defence as well as habitation : they 

 in general consist of towers of different 

 heights, and of various outworks and pro- 

 jections ; particularly where the abruptness 

 and irrregularity oi the ground, has in a 

 manner forced the architect to adopt the 

 same iiTegularity in the shapes and heights 

 of his building. It is not improbable that 

 many of those old castles owe the extreme 

 picturesqueness of their appearance, to their 

 having been built at different times, just as 

 occasion required; for by those means, as we 

 well know, a number of common houses 



