mi DI \\i in ,\RDI \ 





cd from the Cmwn, became, dunn;; most of" the 

 seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the property 

 <it" the family of" Rah, and was then sold by them 

 to Ruhard Palmer, who built the house at Holme 



<, which his descendants hold now. But, k-sules 

 the main, or bishop's, manor, S.wning also had a 

 rectorial manor, which, from time immemorial, was 

 annexed to the Deanery of" >alislnirv. Its lands 

 prevented the full isolation which was desired for 

 Holme Park, and 

 Richard Palmer 

 obtained an Ait 

 of Parliament 

 ing them in 

 him on a yearly 

 payment to the 

 dean, who still 

 retained a peculiar 

 jurisdiction in this 

 parish and the 

 advowson of the 

 living. The 

 pleasant little .|M-, 

 whose modern 

 development XM 

 are about to 

 notice, lies, as we 

 have said, con- 

 tiguous to the 

 church ; its line 

 enclosing wall 

 marks it as a 

 place of old-time 

 occupation, and its 

 name helps the 

 folk of Sonning to 

 remember the 

 interesting and 

 unusual features 

 of its medieval 

 past, whose spirit 

 and habits are 

 largely exemplified 

 by the present 

 house with its 

 entry behind 

 screens, its ban- 

 queting-hall rising 

 up to the roof, 

 and the immense 

 oriel of pegged oak. 



No one who 

 looks at our illus- 

 trations and who 

 knows his manner 

 will fail to recog- 

 nise here the 

 finger-prints ot 

 Mr. Lutycns. He 

 has done much that 



is larger and more ambitious, but nothing that is more 

 complete and satisfying. It shows much ingenuity 

 and a large measure of originality. But it also 

 shows full knowledge of old work, and a realisation, 

 amounting almost to second nature, of that delicate 

 and sensitive instinct of line and proportion, of form 

 aiul colour, whose presence in the general run ot old 

 work mad*- it good, and whose absence in the general 

 run of new work makes it bad. Mr. Lutycns is not 



of those loiucitcd Phaetons uho rashly attempt to 

 drive the chariot of art along the pathuax 

 originality than which none is so thick set with 

 pitfalls without profiting by the experience and 

 being guided by the rules ot a long-previous In 

 siuicssful charioteers. ! till of thought and idea, he 

 ^icpts, us-.s (even, at need, copies) old models, 

 and so prodiiics work whuh at once reminds us of 

 the best that was and delights us as the best that is. 



A CURVED SWttP OF hASV STEPS. 



Yet another point strikes us as we take a general and 

 bird's eye view ot this little creation ot his. \ 

 only arc design of house and of garden good in them- 

 selves, as abstractions, they are the right and proper 

 designs for the particular and concrete purpose. 

 I Icre are not a set of plans drawn in an office, with no 

 vision beyond that office's walls, ready to IK- set down 

 on any or every plot. It is abundantly clear that every 

 feature and characteristic of the ground was intimately 



