224 KIMBOLTON CASTLE 



have something which should impress the thousands who would 

 see the exterior, rather than the scores who might possibly see 

 the interior. The house itself was flanked, as at Castle Howard, 

 by two huge courts, one for the stables, the other for the kitchens ; 

 the total fa9ade was 850 ft. in length. The approach was 

 along the axial line over a splendid bridge, finer in every way 

 than that at Castle Howard ; indeed, it is the most satisfactory 

 piece of design at Blenheim. The house is overwhelmed by 

 its own size (Fig. 155). The eye cannot grasp it in its entirety, 

 and when it studies isolated portions they do not suggest 

 thoughts of domestic pleasures ; the colonnades and the turrets 

 are not consecrated by daily use, they are there for scenic 

 effect ; the statues are cold abstractions, they are no more 

 germane to Blenheim than to any other grand house. How 

 different is this effect from that of even the largest of the 

 Elizabethan palaces. There grandeur itself was homely. The 

 difference cannot be attributed to increase in size ; the absence 

 of homeliness springs not even from the inevitable difference 

 between a palace and a manor house. It is inherent in the 

 changed views prevalent both as to life and as to architecture. 

 The aloofness of the great noble accounts for something, but the 

 desire to produce scenic architecture in preference to creating 

 a home, accounts for more. It underlay nearly all Vanbrugh's 

 efforts, as indeed it did those of his contemporaries and successors. 

 At Stowe House, near to Buckingham, it is apparent in the 

 sacrifice of the bedroom windows on the south front to the 

 desire for an appearance of solidness and simplicity ; it is still 

 more obvious in the treatment of the gardens, presently to be 

 described. Seaton Delaval, in Northumberland, is perhaps 

 Vanbrugh's most pleasing production, but even here convenience 

 and common sense gave way to display, and the house itself, 

 having been burnt down some few years after it was built, no 

 one has thought it worth while to reinstate it. No one could 

 be comfortable in it if he did. 



In one of his houses, at any rate, Vanbrugh did not resort 

 to his usual devices for producing his effects. This was 

 Kimbolton Castle, in Huntingdonshire, which, except on one 

 front which has a great columnar portico, is as gaunt and plain 

 as anyone could desire ; and it was made so of set purpose, 

 for Vanbrugh writes to his client, the Earl of Manchester, in 

 July 1707, " I thought it was absolutely best to give it some- 

 thing of the castle air, though at the same time to make it 



