366 
LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 
ments. 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 cen- 
tury 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, surrounded 
by its beautiful park, filled with old ancestral trees ; and the 
pretty, rural, gabled cottage, of more humble pretensions ; are 
all varieties of this multiform style, easily adapting itself to 
the comforts and conveniences of private life. 
Contrasted with Classic Architecture and its varieties, in 
which horizontal lines are most prevalent, all the different 
Gothic modes or styles, exhibit a preponderance of vertical, 
or perpendicular lines. In the purer Gothic Architecture, 
the style is often determined by the form of the arch predomi- 
nant in the window and door openings, which in all edi- 
fices, (except Norman buildings,) were lancet-shaped, or high 
pointed, in the 13th century ; four-centred, or low arched, 
in the times of Henry YII. and Till., and finally square- 
headed, as in most domestic buildings of later date. 
Castellated Gothic is easily known, at first sight, by the 
line of battlements cut out of the solid parapet wall, which 
surmounts the outline of the building in every part. These 
generally conceal the roof, which is low, and were originally 
