§100,107. WINDOWS.— FORMS OP HOUSES. 343 



it ; and still worse are large windows in the upper, and small 

 ones in the lower, part of the building. 



106. [The mistake too of making ill-proportioned holes 

 in the walls, yclept windows, of such immoderate size that 

 they leave no adequate spaces either between or above them, 

 strikes every one who contemplates the generally monotonous 

 character of our town houses, if his perception has not been 

 deadened by the habit of seeing what is bad ; and the custom 

 of leaving the windows without any dressing gives them an 

 appearance of baldness and poverty. Again, it is inconsistent 

 to cut up the whole wall by these large rectangular apertures, 

 in order to admit light, and then do all that is possible to ex- 

 clude the same light by monstrous dust-catching hangings.] 

 And this error of covering half the opening with curtains 

 is the more obvious, as the space between the windows being 

 ill suited, by its want of light, for pictures, or for anything 

 intended to be seen by day, points it out as fitted to be then 

 draped by the curtains ; and these being drawn back again 

 over the windows at night, the vacant space may (in a small 

 or moderately sized room) display a large sheet of glass on 

 its hitherto dark surface, which will contribute to the bril- 

 liancy of the room by candlelight. 



Windows, narrow, and of enormous height, or of such an 

 expanse both in height and breadth that they appear to belong 

 to a manufactory, are still more objectionable ; [and we may 

 equally condemn a whole front so grooved with mouldings, 

 surrounding the thick-set windows, that it looks as if solely 

 composed of their framework. Above all, we must abhor the 

 modern florid-confectioner style of building, which displays a 

 superabundance of meretricious decoration, dotted over every 

 part to the summits of the chimneys, as in some of our new 

 streets. 



107. The uniformity required in street architecture has 

 very properly induced us to exchange the picturesque old 



z 4 



