RAMHAM PARK, 



YORKSHIRE. 



\O one should be surprised at the abundant 

 satisfaction which the Yorkshircman finds 

 in contemplating the glories of" his many- 

 acred shire. Its historic memories, the 

 magnificence of its scenery, the splendours of its 

 monastic architecture, its variety, and the unfailing 

 charm of its character where it remains unspoiled by 

 the utilitarian hand- all these make it, as Fuller says, 

 "the best shire of England, and that not by the 

 general kal<i(hresis of good for grfai, but in the proper 

 acceptance thereof." " If," he says, " in Tullie's 

 Orations, all being excellent that is admitted optima 

 qH* /OHgissima, the best which is the longest, then, by 

 the same proportion, this shire, partaking in gixxlncss 

 alike with the others, must he allowed the In-st." To 

 this quaint demonstration there are those who take 

 exception in the matter of domestic architecture, and 



even the faithful Murray, though he will cry " Vorke, 

 Vorke for my rnonie," makes a certain disallowance 

 here. If" we arc in quest of places that are "grand," 

 we may expericiue some disappointment, perhaps, at 

 the rarity of great edifices in some parts of t he- 

 county ; but if we look for the dwellings of the 

 substantial yeoman, the prosjH-rous trader and the 

 country squire of Tudor and Stuart times, we shall 

 find in the dales abundant materials to fill a hundred 

 sketch-books, 



Hramham Park is of another class altogether. 

 It is not one of" these, but a truly great house of the 

 county, belonging to a time in which as Taine says 

 in reference to the monarchical and formal gardens of 

 I .e Notre as the complement of the grave and 

 studied architecture of Mansard and I'errault -- "men 

 were studious of their dignity and observers of the 



SUH TKO/'JCAL. 



