RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 
341 
area beneath free and unencumbered. Applied, too, tc 
openings for the admission of light, which were deemed 
of comparatively little or no importance by the Greeks, the 
arch was of immense value, making it possible to pierce 
the solid wall with large and lofty apertures,, that diffused 
a magical brilliancy of light in the otherwise dim and 
shadowy interior. 
We have here adverted to the Gothic cathedral (as we 
did to the Greek temple) as exhibiting the peculiar style in 
question in its greatest purity. For domestic purposes, 
both, for the same reasons, are equally unfitted ; as they 
were never so intended to be used by their original invent- 
ors, and being entirely wanting in fitness for the purposes 
of habitation in domestic life ; the Greek temple, as we 
have already shown, from its massive porticoes and the 
simple rectangular form of its interior ; and the Gothic 
cathedral, from its high-pointed windows, and immense 
vaulted apartments. 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 
century 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, sur- 
rounded by its beautiful park, filled with old ancestral trees ; 
