3 Si Br it toils Illustrations of Toddington. 



to the modern English mansion and villa, which is pregnant with judicious 

 criticism and remarks, and cannot fail to prove instructive to every gardener 

 who is at all ambitious of deriving intellectual enjoyment from objects with 

 which lie is continually surrounded. We make no apology, therefore, to the 

 reader for the length of our quotations, and we trust that our esteemed friend 

 the author will be gratified by knowing that his sentiments on domestic ar- 

 chitecture and landscape-gardening, by being published in this Magazine, will 

 be perused and studied by a class of readers who are not likely to have access 

 to his elegant, and unavoidably expensive work ; while, at the same time these 

 quotations will prove that " Toddington" is a book as useful as it is elegant. 

 We could wish, indeed, that it could be perused, and the plates examined, by 

 every country gentleman intending either to plant or to build. 



" The exterior of a building, like the title of a book, should not only be in- 

 telligible but expressive and apposite. It should as much indicate the true 

 object and destination of the former, as the words of a titlepage should give a 

 plain intimation of the contents of the latter. A painter would be reprehen- 

 sible in employing dark colours and grave characters in the representation of 

 a cheerful or a humorous subject ; and an author would be equally injudicious 

 in writing a quaint or ludicrous titlepage to a pathetic tale, or to a philo- 

 sophical treatise. So, also, the principal front of an edifice should hold out 

 some indication, some visible mark, of its purpose and application. 



" Every person, whether learned or illiterate, who looks upon the walls of 

 Newgate or the west front of Salisbury Cathedral, will readily understand the 

 real purpose of either building. No one would be so absurd as to call the 

 latter a prison, or the former a church. The interiors of both these edifices 

 are still more palpably appropriate in their respective manifestations ; for the 

 architects knew their duty, and, influenced by sound sense and good taste, 

 designed every part of their respective buildings with rationality and con- 

 sistency. 



" The exterior of the Mansion of Toddington plainly indicates its purport : 

 it carries 'outward and visible signs' of its inward appliances. It cannot be 

 mistaken for a church or a prison, for a manufactory or for a farm-house. The 

 windows, doors, chimney-shafts, and other accompaniments, intelligibly and 

 plainly show that it is the habitation of a person of rank and wealth. It is 

 evidently the home of the lord of the domain in which it is placed; and by its 

 magnitude and ornamental details it demonstrates, at once, the station of its 

 occupant and the taste of its architect. In the instance before us, these are 

 united in the same person ; for the present noble owner of Toddington has 

 not only furnished the means for erecting, but likewise the designs for con- 

 structing and finishing, the edifice. 



" ' When the Gothic style first appeared in modern houses, novelty easily 

 gave a charm to man}^ miserable conceits, which, now that the real merits of 

 the style are better understood, can only be looked upon with contempt. 

 Such failures ought not to pass unregarded by the architect who aspires to a 

 lasting name ; they are so many beacons to warn him to steer off from false 

 taste. Most of these failures have been incurred by attempting too much. 

 The strength and grandeur of a feudal castle, or the milder solemnity of an 

 ancient abbey, can very rarely be imitated ; and it is quite absurd and ri- 

 diculous to pretend to such effects in a house of moderate size. True prin- 

 ciples of taste have been sadly overlooked in many iiuitations of such buildings j 

 showy compositions have been made up of parts indiscriminately copied from 

 castles and churches, reduced to petty dimensions, stripped of their proper 

 details, and the naked outline feebly executed in wood or plaster.' (JVi/Lon — 

 Piigin's Specimens, ii. xviii.) 



" ' The excessive refinement of modern habits occasions much difficulty in 

 domestic architecture. So much must be reserved ior Jittbig iip of a house to 

 satisfy fashionable ideas of comfort and convenience, that little more can be 

 allowed for the fabric than naked walls and roof.' (Ibid.,ii. xxii.) 



" Of modern imitations of Gothic, we may advert to a few examples; from 



