Page:A History of Domestic Manners and Sentiments in England During the Middle Ages.djvu/380

 360 Hijiory of Domejiic Manners of the houfe. Whether in town or country, houfes of any magnitude were now generally built round an interior court, into which the rooms almofl invariably looked, only fmall and unimportant windows looking towards the ftreet or country. This arrangement of courfe originated in the necellity of ll:udying fecurity, a necellity which was never felt more No. 234. Court of a Hoiije of the Ffteenth Century. than in the fifteenth century. We have lefs need to feek our illuftrations from manufcripts during this period, on account of the numerous examples of buildings which ftill remain in a greater or lefs ftate of perfedion, but Hill an illumination now and then prefents us with an interefling pidure of