Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 2.djvu/386

 FOURTH PERIOD 370 MUCHALLS HOUSE be A r Burnet of Leyis, 1619, ended be Sir Thomas Burnet of Leyis his sonne, 1627." It is designed on the plan of buildings surrounding a courtyard (Fig. 817), the north, east, and part of the west sides of the square being occupied with the house, and the remaining side enclosed with a wall. FIG. Sir. Muchalls House. Plan. The ground floor is vaulted with plain groined vaults, which at this time were sometimes used instead of the barrel vaults hitherto employed in the basements. At the north-east angle is the kitchen ; and the usual cellars, having originally small loopholes, occupied the remainder, but have now been a good deal altered. The first floor contains the hall and a smaller room or withdrawing- room, the ceilings of which are ornamented with ribbed plaster-work, the panels being filled in with the heads of Roman emperors, Classic heroes, and Scripture characters. The fireplaces have fine mantelpieces., with panels above containing coats-of-arms, etc. Mr. Billings maintains that, because the figures in ceilings of this and other Scottish castles and houses are not those of national heroes, but of foreigners, therefore they must have been executed by foreign workmen. But this theory is quite untenable. The figures used are those which invariably accompanied the revival of Classic Architecture everywhere. In France, Germany, and England, the same heads of Roman emperors and Classic and Scripture characters prevail, to the exclusion of native worthies. Although the architecture at Muchalls is, externally, entirely Scottish (Fig. 818), the details of the internal decorations used here,