Page 190

Igo
-Gothic structures may be classed under three 'heads, viz.
The Castle Gothic, the Church Gothic, or the House Gothic;
let us consider which is the best adapted to the purposes of a
dwelling.
The Castle Gothic, with few small apertures and large masses
of wall, might be well calculated for defence, but the apartments
are rendered so gloomy, that it can only be made habitable by
enlarging and increasing these apertures, and, in some degree,
sacrificing the original character to modern comfort.
The more elegant Church Gothic consists in very large aper-
tures with small masses or piers: here the too great quantity of
light requires to be subdued by painted glass; and however
beautiful this may be in churches, or the chapels and halls of
colleges, it is seldom applicable to a house, without such violence
and mutilation, as to destroy its general character: therefore a
Gothic house of this style would have too much the appearance
of a church; for, I believe, there are no large houses extant of
earlier date than Henry VIII, or Elizabeth, all others being
either the remains of baronial castles or conventual edifices.
At the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII, a
new species of architecture was adopted, and most of the old
mansions now remaining in England were either built or repaired,
about the end of that reign, or in the reign of Queen Elizabeth:
hence it has acquired in our days the name of Elizabeth's- Gothic;
and although in the latter part of that reign, and in the unsettled
times which followed, bad taste had corrupted the original purity
of its character, by introducing fragments of Grecian architecture
in its ornaments, yet the general character and effect of those
houses is perfectly Gothic; and the bold projections, the broad