The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-11-12

able for size, and weak and uninteli-
 gent endeavor to produce Gothic
 architecture, of which the designers
 understood neither the principles nor
 it's place In domestic architecture. It Is
 not yet abandoned perhaps because
 Pugin and others mastered its mean
 ing and use and made it live again. But
 though Eaton Hall, g. house of the first
 magnitude, represents the vitality of this style, the greater number of the
 more modern English palaces ore eith-
 CT purely Renaissance or very much in l f1uenced by the Italian feeling. Here
 and there we find a huge French chat eau like Waddesdon, or Plantagent fortress reproduced, like Lord Pen-
 rhyn's castle of Bangor, or mixture
 of ecclesiastical style like the spires
 and c1oisters of Ashbridge, built from
 the profits of the Bridgewater canal
 But in the vast majority of eases the very wealthy English, whether landed proprietors or magnates of commerce
 or trade, have been firm and faithful to
 the lessons brought from beyond the
 Alps Our country gentlemen looked,
 in truth, not to the men, but to the
 style, or what had been done elsewhere,
 and trusted to the style and it's models
 to keep the men up to the mark. The
 result Is that the country is covered
 with these Italian or Italizing palaces,
 nearly all good and imposing, and full
 of true proportion, and often most
 beautiful Between the elegance of
 Lord Ebury's white palace at Moor
 Park and the gray freestone porticos of Brodsworth, the Thellussons' Yorkshire house or the colonades of Blenheim or Castle Howard. or the towers of Ment- more, there Is an infinite variety. But though all do not rise to the first rank of design, very few fall below what in an international competition would be considered very sufficient standard of merit Size one of the postulates of architectural success, they all have, and the structural excellence, as we have said before is beyond cavil.
 The maxim that houses were built to live in, not look at, suggests falsely that building which is imposing with out is uncomfortable within. There could be no greater error, judged by the English country palaces. The interiors are beautiful, habltable and, unlike the palaces of any other country, are furn- ished. Kings, like Henry VIII and queens, like Elizabeth were not abouve being proud of their furniture, their tapestry, and even their beds, and had all these things duly entered in their records There is as much possible art in Persian carpets and hangings as In glass of mosaics; but though these things do make a great difference to the interiors Of houses and a high | is valuable evidence of the 1 national taste, it is not greatly more in | evidence in the palaces of England than ] In the general average of smaller hous- as. But he size of the rooms and the general scale of the interior do pre- serve one branch of domestic archi- lecture which would otherwise disap- pear. The permanent decoration of the 'ooms and galleries Is different from hat used in a house." It is far more brilliant in color. Pure colors, sobered oy gold, can be used, and are used, with most admirable effect. So can sculpture and reliefs. It is only in these houses that the more magnificent style If decoration is found. When combined, IS it often is. with the effect of the of the finest colorists cover ng wall after wall, and hanging in gall cry after gallery, it gives union of he arts of architecture and painting, with statuary added also in it's right which nothing else in his country does give.-Spectator.