RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 341 



area beneath free and unencumbered. Applied, too, tc 

 openings for the admission of light, which were deemed 

 of comparatively little or no importance by the Greeks, the 

 arch was of immense value, making it possible to pierce 

 the solid wall with large and lofty apertures, that diffused 

 a magical brilliancy of light in the otherwise dim and 

 shadowy interior. 



We have here adverted to the Gothic cathedral (as we 

 did to the Greek temple) as exhibiting the peculiar style in 

 question in its greatest purity. For domestic purposes, 

 both, for the same reasons, are equally unfitted ; as they 

 were never so intended to be used by their original invent- 

 ors, and being entirely wanting in fitness for the purposes 

 of habitation in domestic life ; the Greek temple, as we 

 have already shown, from its massive porticoes and the 

 simple rectangular form of its interior ; and the Gothic 

 cathedral, from its high-pointed windows, and immense 

 vaulted apartments. It would scarcely, however, be more 

 absurd to build a miniature cathedral, for a dwelling in the 

 Gothic style, than to make an exact copy of the Temple of 

 Minerva 30 by 50 feet in size, for a country residence, as 

 we often witness in this country. 



The Gothic Style, as applied to Domestic Architecture, 

 has been varied and adapted in a great diversity of ways, 

 to the wants of society in different periods, from the 12th 

 century to the present time. The baronial castle of feudal 

 days, perched upon its solitary, almost inaccessible height, 

 and built strongly for defence ; the Collegiate or monastic 

 abbey of the monks, suited to the rich fertile plains which 

 these jolly ascetics so well knew how to select ; the Tudor 

 or Elizabethan mansion, of the English gentleman, sur- 

 rounded by its beautiful park, filled with old ancestral trees ; 



