THE GOTHIC REVIVAL 23 



its way into the forms which her country lent to England. 

 Then there followed the Age of Romance, inaugurated by the 

 great Wizard of the North ; all the world fell in love with 

 ancient castles and old houses. Scott's magic wand lifted the 

 veil from the past, and disclosed scenes of bygone manners, 

 affecting, amusing, and exciting, thus making easy the advent 

 of the Gothic Revival. 



This revival broke the thread of classic tradition in house 

 building, a thread already attenuated. It brought about the 

 chaos of style which marks the nineteenth century. But it set 

 men thinking ; it gave them a fresh start ; it led them to attack 

 problems in a logical way, to adapt their designs to circum- 

 stances instead of insisting that circumstances must conform to 

 established laws of design. In a word it produced the wide 

 outlook and the reasonable attitude of adapting means to the 

 end, which are the hope of architecture to-day. 



Having thus given a bird's-eye view of the course followed 

 by house builders during the whole period under consideration, 

 we will now proceed to an examination in detail of the various 

 stages of its development. 



