212 The Art of Landscape Gardening 



acter at Bay ham. It may perhaps be objected that we 

 must exactly follow the models of the style or date we 

 mean to imitate, or else we make a pasticcio or confusion 

 of discordant parts. Shall we imitate the thing and for- 

 get its application ? No : let us rather observe how, in 

 Warwick Castle, and in other great mansions of the 

 same character,the proud baronial retreat "of the times 

 of old" has been adapted to the purposes of modern 

 habitation. Let us preserve the massive strength and 

 durability of the castle, and discard the gloom which 

 former tyranny and cruelty inspired ; let us preserve 

 the light elegance of Gothic abbeys in our chapels, but 

 not in our houses, where such large and lofty windows 

 are inadmissible ; let us, in short, never forget that we 

 are building a house, whether we admire and imitate the 

 bold irregular outline of an ancient castle, the elegant 

 tracery in the windows of a Gothic church, or the har- 

 mony of proportions and the symmetrical beauty of 

 a Grecian temple. 



Of the three distinct characters, the Castle, the Abbey, 

 and the House-Gothic, the former of these appears best 

 calculated for Bayham [Plates xxi and xxii] . Yet, as 

 the object is not to build a castle, but a house, it is surely 

 allowable to blend with the magnificence of this character 

 the advantages of the other two, as well as the elegance, 

 the comfort, and the convenience of modern habitation. 

 It may be urged that the first purpose of a castle is 

 defence ; that of a house, habitation ; but it will surely be 

 allowed that something more is required than the mere 

 purposes of habitation. An ordinary carpenter may 

 build a good room ; a mechanic, rather more ingenious, 

 may connect a suite of rooms together, and so arrange 

 their several offices and appendages as to make a good 

 house, that is, a house sufficient for all the purposes of 



