SOME PLEASING COUNTRY HOUSES 291 



the servants. The bedrooms, as many old houses still testify, 

 were provided with some variation of the chaise percee. 



The rooms, therefore, which had to be provided, could all 

 be of a fair size, and they could be so disposed as to allow their 

 windows to fall into the symmetrical arrangement, which the 

 exterior treatment required. The results can be seen in most 

 of our old-fashioned villages and towns : small manor-houses 

 and parsonages in the former ; houses for the doctor, the lawyer, 

 the well-to-do tradesmen in the latter. The vicarage at Puddle- 

 town, in Dorset (Fig. 199), is an example of the early years of 

 the century. It has one large chimney-stack in the main part 

 of the house, and two smaller, and probably later stacks in the 

 adjoining wing ; its wide eaves give it its distinctive character, 

 and further touches are added by the cut brickwork under the 

 window-sills and the circular panels in the end. Beyond these 

 there is nothing to raise emotions either of praise or blame. 

 There is considerably more attempt at design in the Court at 

 Holt, near Bradford-on-Avon (Fig. 201). This place is in 

 the midst of a district abounding in stone, and the builders 

 availed themselves of the opportunity to impart a more pre- 

 tentious character to their work. The older methods make 

 themselves felt in the manner in which the eaves cornice is 

 bent up to form a gable, steeper than classic handling usually 

 permits. Here, again, there are but two chimney-stacks, one 

 at each end of the house. 



The house in St Giles, Oxford (Fig. 200), is rather more 

 imposing. It is of the period of Wren, and is, indeed, attributed 

 locally to him. The treatment is large, simple, and dignified, 

 and the effect is enhanced by the handsome gate-piers which 

 give access, up a few steps, to the front door. It is evident 

 that here, at any rate, more rooms have fireplaces than those at 

 the ends of the house. There is another house at Oxford, in the 

 High Street (Fig. 203), of a later date, which is quite admirable 

 in its simplicity and careful proportions, and the front is relieved 

 from baldness by the slight projections at each end. Compared 

 with the more famous pieces of architecture by which it is 

 surrounded, this house is insignificant, and may well escape the 

 attention it deserves. Dating from early in the century is the 

 dower house at Deene, in Northamptonshire (Fig. 205), now 

 occupied as a public-house under the sign of the sea-horse, 

 which is the crest of the family owning the village. It presents 



