New-York tribune., 1909-07-18

Most writers architecture find il next TO |
impossible to treat their subject without dealing
more or less in technical terms, and when |
they manage to dispense with these they retain !
e technical point Of view. Mr.. Sparrow is con- /
WINGED that the story of home building in Eng
land is not, at bottom esoteTic mystery, and
lie has undertaken TO tell il in such a way as TO
make il lmpid clear to the layman- He has sue |
ceeded in his task, producing one Of the most /
interesting books which have appeared in a long
time in this department Of literature His work /
has been made the easier by his instructive
recognition OF the fact that houses have. after
all been erected to illustrate architectural
style bat to shelter human beings Thus, in his
sPeculations on the dawn of home life, specUla-
judiciously based on the archaeological
butterflies, his explanation Of the transition |
from the round huts Of the primitive era to the
gblong houses which gradually got themselves
built is set forth in the phrases Of common
sense I can only say" he writes that cir
ollar form is very difficult roof when its
diameter exceeds from twelve 10 eighteen feet"
and he goes 70 attribute the adoption of OBJ
long houses 10 these three things: They were
,asIer 10 roof than round houses Of an equal
area They enabled chief to sit at a greater
distance from his servants and DEFENDANTS.
They were thus more favorable 10 that COM
rrural life in halls which Angles and Saxons |
brought with them to England" In this practi- !
one point emphasized in Mr.. Sparrow's an |
slysis Is that the evolution Of domestic archi- |
lecture received immense impetus as the status |
Il woman rose in the social scheme II was |
- cNard her ideals Of refinement, comfort and |
privacy that the art Of building tended more |
and more as the rough habits Of the feudal ages
gave way 10 Renaissance amenity- Abiding to |
the had old days the author has a brief but |
significant passage showing how humanity and |
mode of SpaireriDsy itself reacted lugu
,-nother- He says:
During the Middle Ages. when discomfort was |
Tie rule Of life. women were dernoraIized hy home
conditions hat men did not mind, beng occupied |
during The day with business, while their wives /
M @e.F so t-,f - q, ~ 80 -. w 10
private; halls were bedrooms for ser
-ferth century at West1ninster. an open drain /
flowed through the royal halls and made the cour-
Tlers III Thorold Rogers speaks Of the indescrit-
able filth common in manor villages Il was not
surprising that rude and aUG
that home architecture moved forward at snails
The medieval castles which we admire 50
much to-day must have been appalling places in
which 20 live. When Henry III found the floor
al Windsor intolerabe he gave orders that il
vzs 10 be boarded like q ship a phrase giving
Us Il excellent idea of the novelty early Eng
land q one Of the simplest Of expedients AS
rule the earthen floors Of the old English house
were st-ewn with rushes. and as late as the /
fifteenth century this poor covering used. /
md rendered doubly horrible because il the /
custom throw into the rushes the rinsings
from glasses and all litter from the tabIe-bones
odds auC ends OF vegetables, etc" Il is pleasant
c learn that At least in their private rooms the
~adies would sometimes scatter flowers the
PUSHES ApTopos Of another substitute for
modern convenience, the use Of oiled linen in
windows instead Of glass. Nj Sparrow makes an
Interesting suggestion. Not writer this
QtestiOn Of glass windows" he says, has re-
Ineutered that, from Edward Is time O
Queen Elizabeths. all English lads com
PEELED by law 10 practise archery: and what
more tempting 20 rOveTs than q glass window
Il could be broken from a distance without any
one seeing" Hence in this authors opinion, the
use of oiled linen. The hypothesis that glass vas
. little used because il was expensive n rejects
for the reason that at this time the was
not really excessive, and, moreover the mobiles
/ in the land thought nothing Of putting large
sums into tapestries travelling carriages and the
Ike TO say nothing Of their clothes.
! There are other bits Of curious information in
Tins volume From what for example, does the
word bay take its origin? Mr. Sparrow has
looked the point up in the lore Of old rustic life,
and he says:
When you come upon il in hooks il means a
lTi- Of measurement equal in length to the width
a & fF % q NOT