Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/959

 VILLAS IN VARIOUS STYLES. 935 fancy. It may be worthy of remark, that, as another difference in procedure betTcccn the style under consideration and the classic modes, the former endeavours to make those members most attractive which are the most indispensable ; while the latter bestows the greatest share of ornament upon parts which are rather the result of luxury than of necessity. Hence, while the remains of Grecian and Roman Architecture produce their finest effects by the decorations of porticoes and colonnades, those of the middle ages, in our own land, make the window and the door the main sources of interest, causing even solid masonry to assume a playful arrangement and a luxuriant richness, which, if we could suppose such a subject beheld by an ancient Greek, would seem to him little less than the work of enchantment. Though this is the case, as viewed in general, it is not, certainly, in Domestic Architecture that we can see the composition of the window carried to its finest display. Indeed, by some, the use of the pointed window, for domestic purposes, is entirely prohibited ; the only appropriate forms being supposed to be those of the square-headed window, and the oriel or bay. In all works that are on a small scale, the introduction of the pointed-headed window, sharp or obtuse, woidd certainly indicate a very erroneous taste. We cannot, however, at aU understand how the strictness of the prohibition can be maintained under circumstances wherein a domestic building assumes the character of magnitude and complexity. It assuredly cannot be maintained on the ground of precedent ; for, in the old dining-halls, pointed windows were features of con- stant recurrence : witness the halls of Eltham, Hampton Court, and Croydon ; or, if it be objected that these are instances of a palatial and not an ordinarj' domestic character, take a more unassuming, but not less interesting, example in Crosby Hall. Neither are we disposed to admit as valid the objections to pointed windows, founded upon the sup- position that they must necessarily be insecure, because they cannot be closed their whole height by shutters ; and that they must also be inconvenient, because not suited to the ordinary arrangement of drapery. As to the question of security, we should think that shutters might be altogether dispensed with, where a window is divided into narrow spaces by stone mullions, and these, again, by stout iron stay-bars to hold the lead-lights ; or, if not, still the part which remains undefended by shutters, being the window head, is the very part that is best guarded by an increased strength and intricacy of masonry. As to inconvenience on the question of drapery, we have only to say that a pointed window is misapplied unless it be in a large, or at least a lofty apartment, and one in which suflScient space may be spared between the window head and the ceiling to allow of the necessary provision on the part of the upholsterer. Of pointed window heads, as applicable to our present subject, figs. 1631 and 1632 exhibit sketches; the former from Hampton Court, the latter 1631 from Crosby Hall. If, how- ever, compositions of a more elaborate character be at any time required for domestic purposes, the chief points for attention will be, first, the subdivision of the window, when of more than three lights, into principal and minor portions, by the use of greater and smaller mullions, as shown in fig. 1629, without which there can be no force or expression of design; and, secondly, the preservation of continuous and flowing Unes, without which there can be no grace- fulness or repose : of course, we are presupposing a regard to propriety in the forms of moulduig and of tracery. The other kinds of window belonging to Domestic Archi- tecture are the square-headed and the oriel. Of these the former will be understood by reference to fig. 1630. It is frequently (as there shown) divided in height as well as width by a transom bar, or cross mullion ; each compartment being usually headed with a flattened arch, — usually, we say, for the practice is not without variation ; and, though some writers have considered the omission of this arched head, whether above or below, as a mark of Elizabethan taste, it certainly is not exclusively so. Indeed, windows divided by mullions into compartments of the simple oblong form were in occasional use a century before the time of Elizabeth ; nor are they at all opposed to that principle of Pointed Architecture which requires the use of an arch for the support of superincum- bent weight ; since, from the smallness of the spaces in proportion to the solids, the openings of such windows come under the rule of panels, rather than under that which governs the management of larger apertures. Simple as these windows may thus be rendered on the one hand, they are susceptible, on the other, of as much richness of decoration as may be required. An elaborate specimen, for one out of many, of the ornamental kind, may be seen in the cloisters of Christ Chmch, Oxford. The square- 1632