Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/913

 VILLAS IN VARIOUS STYLES. [] 1 M I M 889 of Architecture may be assigned ; and, as I have not been able to lay my hands on any work treating on the subject, I speak merely from the opinions which I have formed, perhaps hastily enough, from examining some of these interesting remains of antiquity. It appears to me that the existing combinations which we find in many of the best examples, and which I have endeavoured to imitate, have not been the result of one effort, but of several ; and that the massive square or circular tower, with its loopholes and battlements, which gives these edifices such a lofty and commanding aspect, was the original part of the fabric, the other parts being subsequent additions, suited to the increased wants and refinement of a later age. The date of the one part, I think, we may, with propriety, assign to the end of the thirteenth or the beginning of the fourteenth century ; that of the others (the additions, if we may so call them), to the early part or middle of the sixteenth century. The leading features of these additions are evidently different from those of the original building (which was generally castellated), and were 5 L