Grouping IN General, and Buildings 37 



tation of an old style), I am of the opinion that 

 their ancient character should be preserved when 

 they are enlarged or made more comfortable, 

 even if a much finer building might be erected 

 on the spot. The memory of a by-gone time, 

 the majesty of years, also counts for something, 

 and it is a real misfortune that our pasteboard 

 age has destroyed so many of these relics. Thus, 

 quite recently a splendid castle in my neighbor- 

 hood, the possession of one of the first nobles of 

 the land, was pulled down at great cost and sup- 

 planted by a three-cornered structure resembling 

 a Leipzig goods store built by an up-to-date 

 architect, in which the yard measure, flanked by 

 bales and cases, would have been the only appro- 

 priate insignia. 



The English have not yet been guilty of this 

 folly, and nowhere else are family possessions 

 more religiously and more proudly preserved. 

 We also find there many estates of mere bour- 

 geois families which for more than six centuries 

 have passed from father to son, and with so little 

 change in general that, for instance, in Malahide 

 in Ireland, the family seat of the Talbots, even 

 the woodwork and the furniture of entire apart- 

 ments date back to those early years. And who 

 can behold the splendors of majestic Warwick 

 Castle, with its colossal tower a thousand years 

 old, or the royal seat of the Duke of Northum- 

 berland, without feeling penetrated with romantic 

 awe, and without delighting in the matchless 

 beauty of these grand piles? 



