332 Notes on Country Seats and Gaxlens. 



visited a great variety of smaller manor-houses ; and he also 

 found that the buildings of the two universities exhibited much of 

 domestic purpose in style and character. 



It is only by the contemplation of a variety of buildings of 

 the kind or period intended to be imitated, that the mind of an 

 architect can become sufficiently imbued with the feelings and 

 views which dictated their erection, to enable him to adopt any 

 given style with a certainty of success. The architects of the 

 time of James I. appeared to have aimed at giving a certain 

 degree of stateliness and magnificence to their buildings by the 

 large scale on which every part of them was designed. The 

 dark shadows consequent upon their projecting parts, and the 

 character of their windows, which are large and frequent, pierce 

 the general mass just to a sufficient extent to deprive it of the 

 monumental character, and to communicate to it the necessary 

 one of domestic purpose and habitation. A beau ideal being 

 thus imagined for the general effect, the details are easily made 

 out; either by copying precedents, or by devising original 

 compositions from the data afforded by existing buildings, or 

 engravings of those which have been destroyed. To embody 

 Mr. Gregory's ideas in such detail as to fit them for the practical 

 builder, he employed Mr. Salvin, whose talents as an architect 

 are well known, and whose designs for the new manor-house at 

 Harlaxton have, with a few alterations, been adopted and 

 acted on. 



The principal features of the view are : Belvoir Castle, seen 

 over a considerable tract of woodland; and the churches of 

 Harlaxton, Denton and Grantham, and Bottesford, which last 

 is seen as the terminal object from the entrance-door of the 

 house, and to obtain which the situation of the house was in 

 a slight degree adapted. Two opposite hills terminate abruptly 

 on the right and left, which let in a view of the Vale of Belvoir, 

 which is so flat as, in weather ever so slightly indistinct, to assume 

 the azure hue of sea. The grounds immediately under the 

 house undulate agreeably, and are thrown into park and forest 

 scenery. The view is one of great pastoral beauty and cheer- 

 fulness, and well adapted to habitation. 



The main body of the house is quadrangular, and it is placed 

 on the only true principle for the climate of Britain ; viz. that of 

 having an imaginary line from north to south to form the diagonal 

 of a square. The main approach will be straight, and very 

 nearly a mile in length. From the public road it first gradually 

 descends more than half its length to the bottom of a valley, in 

 which a lake of great extent might readily be formed ; and then 

 it as gradually ascends to the court of honour in front of the 

 mansion. It is in Mr. Gregory's plans to place the kitchen- 

 garden and stables on this approach, both with a view to their 

 convenience, and the character of domestic purpose which he is 



