MELTON CONSTABLE, NORFOLK 193 



dining-room has large panels with a boldly carved bolection 

 moulding. The door has a broken pediment in the gap of 

 which is placed a shield connected by heavy swags to the sur- 

 rounding work. Thrs was a common feature of the period. 

 The library door is of much the same type, but instead of a 

 shield there is a bust. The panels on the walls are formed 

 by a bold moulding, which is broken backwards and forwards 

 into a pattern that recalls the busy treatment of Jacobean 



In the Deanery at Wells is a fine panelled room attributed 

 to Sir Christopher Wren, and certainly wrought after his style 

 if not actually designed by him. The walls are divided into 

 bays by heavy Ionic pilasters, the spaces between which are 

 filled with large panels. Here, too, the bolection moulding is 

 carved, as well as several other members, the whole effect being 

 rich and handsome (Fig. 128). 



Melton Constable stands in a park amid the undulations of 

 the western part of Norfolk. It is a fine simple house of about 

 the year 1680 (Fig. 131). The eaves cornice gives it its chief 

 character ; the rest of the detail is correct, but strikes the modern 

 eye as being a little hackneyed ; but this is the fault, not of 

 the original architect but of his successors, who, if they did not 

 copy this actual work, drew, one after the other, upon the same 

 Avell of inspiration. 



These examples serve to illustrate the progress of house 

 design during the later years of the seventeenth century ; they 

 show how the fully developed classic manner had superseded 

 the homely treatment of Jacobean times. Its further career of 

 grandeur and stateliness demands a fresh chapter for its 

 consideration. 



