The arched head to the window always seems best suited to the dignity demanded by structures of this class. It may be either pierced with tracery or by detached openings, left unperforated over a square head, and filled with sculpture, or may assume a hundred other varieties, according to the fancy of the designer. The square-headed window is, however, not only perfectly admissible, but may be rigidly adhered to in buildings of the highest class; and we see from the noble sixteenth century houses in Scotland that even the wide, oblong, and undivided opening is, by good management, capable of producing an effect harmonizing perfectly well with Gothic forms; indeed,

it may be said generally, that though our style will impart to buildings of the highest class any degree of magnificence, it is equally susceptible of the most severe simplicity without any risk of losing dignity; indeed, rather the contrary, for there can be no doubt that our failures are usually on the other side.

In designing windows, I would always recommend that the block form of their constructive elements be kept in view, that the fancy may not run wild and clash with reasonable construction. It is a good plan to draw out the constructive form denuded of decorative features, as a guide, and to add to this some diagram relating to the mode of opening contemplated, as well as to the internal fittings, that by reference to these, the window may be designed in perfect accordance with its construction and uses. By following these rules, many noble varieties will occur to the designer, and he will secure himself against his imagination running counter to his reason, a danger to which searchers after novelty are somewhat liable.

I shall not follow out windows in their many beau

tiful varieties, as bay-windows, oriels, dormers, &c., all of which are subject to the same varied forms of which I have been speaking. My object is not to write a treatise, but to advocate liberty in our mode of dealing with each feature of our domestic work, for the exercise of which none, perhaps, offers so wide a scope as the window; while, unquestionably, no style gives such an infinity of forms to the window as that I am advocating. What with the vast variety in the kind of window, and in their pattern, added to the modifications suggested by modern convenience, and by types borrowed from different countries, the number of changes which may be rung on this one feature, the window, are as inexhaustible as they are charming.

DOORWAYS.

Of doorways I have much less to say than of windows. They present few practical difficulties. They, too, may be either arched or square-headed, though the latter is only suited to narrow openings, unless placed under an arch with an intervening tympanum, which may be either plain, decorated with sculpture, or may be pierced so as to form a window. This is, in fact, one of the best forms of doorway, where there is height for it. The arch may, of course, be either of full height or segmental, as is most convenient. a general rule, a square head, whether assuming the form of a lintel or tympanum, should be strengthened by corbels, adding to the support of its ends, and shortening its bearing.

As

In domestic buildings, it is always desirable to have

wood frames to the doors, rather than to hang them to the stone jambs, as is usual in churches. The door itself is better panelled than simply boarded, as church doors usually are; indeed, the heavy, massive character of the latter should be carefully avoided. Their panels may be glazed, if convenience requires it; and if so, may be filled in with beautiful guards of wrought iron-work or brass.

The porch is a feature to the use of which Gothic architecture affords great facilities, but I do not know that it needs here any particular remark, except that they may be either of timber, or of brick or stone. In the absence of a porch, a projecting penthouse, either of wood or stone, is often a convenience, and conduces much to picturesque effect; or a porch may assume the form of a portico, carried only by two or more columns, as is so often seen in Italy.

ROOFS.

The pitch of the roof is a subject demanding more consideration than it has, I think, yet received. It is mainly regulated by three conditions-taste, climate, and material; in addition to which may be mentioned the actual construction of the roof, though that more frequently depends on the pitch than the latter on it.

None of these conditions are absolutely imperative. Taste may, and continually does, modify its demands to suit the occasion. Climate, for instance, may suggest a high roof, yet daily experience shews that it does not in all cases demand it; or it may suggest a low roof, without in any degree militating against

a high one; and the material of covering may not demand a high pitch, yet may be none the worse, but rather the better for it. The only imperative condition is the use of those rough materials, such as tile and stone slate, which will not exclude the rain if laid at a low pitch. We find ourselves, then, in this, as on many other questions, left very much to the dictates of our own reason.

The way in which taste regulates the pitch of roof, is by suiting it to the general feeling of the style. If that feeling be in favour of a horizontal tendency in the general character, the low pitch seems to suggest itself; while, if the tendency be rather towards vertical lines, the high pitch takes the precedence. Thus, as a general rule, Grecian architecture delights in the low, spreading pediment, and pointed architecture in the lofty, aspiring gable; and we may be content, without reasoning further, to lay down these natural preferences as inherent upon the two styles, and, therefore, only to be departed from to meet special and exceptional demands.

The pitch may also be said to have some reference to the mode in which the openings are covered: thus, in the pure lintel construction of Egypt and Persia, the roof-line was horizontal; in Greece, where necessity demanded a sloped covering, it was still kept as low as possible; at Rome, where the round arch was used jointly with the lintel, a higher pediment was admitted; when the round arch superseded the lintel, the roof rose to a right angle; and lastly, the introduction of the pointed arch was accompanied by roofs often rising with the arch itself to an angle of sixty degrees, and again sinking down into comparative flatness with the introduction of the depressed arch.

I prefer, however, the more obvious theory, that the roof should harmonize with the general character of the style. The fact that in Italy the roofs of medieval buildings were generally low, I am, I confess, rather disposed to attribute to classic traditions than the direct effect of climate.

My own experience of Italy would not lead me to predicate of it any want of necessity for efficient roofing. In my first night under an Italian roof, I was nearly flooded out of my bedroom by the torrents of rain which the low covering failed to exclude, while on the last evening of my stay I was ancle-deep in snow at a railway-station in the plains of Lombardy, and that after only half-an-hour's fall, and in the very beginning of November. Nor do my reminiscences of the furious swellings of the Arno, or of roads converted into rugged and deeply-furrowed water-courses, and in parts nearly washed away by three days' rain, impress me with the necessity for a good slope to your roof being much less in Italy than in England.

It is a fashion among writers on architecture to speak of Italy as always basking under an unclouded sun, and of more northern countries as constantly enveloped in mist or buried in snow. No doubt there is a great change of climate between the north and south of the Alps, one necessitating in the north all measures for admitting sunshine, and in the south for moderating it; but I much doubt whether in other respects there is such a difference, but that a high roof would be better than a low one in Italy as well as in England. I am, therefore, rather disposed to attribute the low roofs of Italy to antique tradition than to climate; while in the north, harmony of style