PLATES IX.-X.

A TUDOR HALL, ELIZABETHAN STYLE.

"Every part of decorative architecture which is discoverable in the Tudor mansions before the reign of Elizabeth, was derived from the then prevailing sacred architecture. Our only motive in calling attention to this fact, is the desire of keeping the mind on fixed principles, rather than on modifications. In the reign of Elizabeth, the forms and decorations of the two styles, namely, Gothic and Antique, became so indiscriminately mingled and Italianized, that no true order prevailed, which has rendered it impossible to designate it by any intelligibly expressive epithet.”—BOID.

THE external character of this design refers to the reign of Elizabeth, when battlemented parapets were discontinued, and manifesting the work of tranquil times, when the nobility and gentry were at liberty to sacrifice strength to convenience, and security to sunshine. The Roman letter was adopted for the plan, and arches now no longer crowned the mullion divisions of the windows, which were extended and transomed; Roman mouldings and Florentine ornaments in the interiors were also not only blended with, but had nearly superseded those of our ancient architectural details. After this period the builders seem to have indulged their own distempered imaginations without restraint; but with all the external beauty and internal magnificence of Tudor mansions, they were deplorably deficient in many of the comforts with which the modern Anglo-Italian houses abound. Yet, in this respect, a decided amendment is visible in the buildings of the Elizabethan age upon those of Henry VIII., and again particularly afterwards in the mansions of James I. and Charles I. Correspondent, indeed, with the increase of convenience was the decrease of taste; for as the plans of houses progressively improved, their external architectural character declined. Nor would the most ardent admirer of the pure old style venture to compare the dwellings of earlier days,* in point of comfort and cheerful economy, with those of the eighteenth century: thus the noble art of architecture itself was deplorably neglected.

The chaste and vigorous feeling which distinguished the works of the earlier architects was then, indeed, nearly extinct, and English architecture becoming in all its ramifications rapidly degenerate, although many of its features lingered in the heterogeneous composition of succeeding artists for half a century longer, as appears at Brambleby House, Sussex, (the scene of a popular novel by Washington Irving,) in which may be perceived the last glimmering of the Tudor style. However, let it not be imagined from what we have said, that a superiority in the disposition of apartments in England was accomplished solely by the introduction of the classic models which then took place, or that our own peculiar style of Tudor architecture was not susceptible of equally advantageous arrangements; of this we have proofs to the contrary. The Greeks designed for a widely different climate, and the indispensable large apertures of windows required by our atmosphere, would have entirely destroyed the characteristic massiveness and overpowering solemnity of the classic Greek, while in the obtuse pointed style, the spacious windows in England, by being subdivided by upright mullions and horizontal transoms, give amazing lightness, combined with an essential breadth of effect to our architecture. No better evidence of these facts could be adduced than the recent adoption of this style at Windsor Castle to all the purposes of state and private accommodation, under the munificent auspices of our sovereigns, allowed, as it justly is on all hands, that the only palace in this country worthy of a king, is that which is wrought in the architecture of Old England.

* It is observable (at Leckinsfield manor-house,) that in upwards of fourscore apartments, there does not seem to have been more than three or four destined for the noble owners, or their guests; these were probably the great withdrawing-room for the noble and his peers, the state bedchamber, the carved-chamber, and the banqueting-hall. All the rest were merely offices or cabins to sleep in.-(Dr. Percy.)

TUDOR FURNITURE, ELIZABETHAN.

Cabinets of massy proportions, carved in oak, ebony, walnut, and other woods, inlaid, some of which answered the double purpose of depositories and cupboards for plate, from having drawers and recesses enclosed by doors, and broad shelves between the tiers with turned columns were conspicuous objects in parlours and CHAIRS (temp.) ELIZABETHAN. bed-rooms at this period. To describe their decorative workmanship would be a task so elaborate, and extend to so great a length, that the writer would have but little chance of satisfying himself, much less the reader, in an attempt to do it adequate justice.

TABLE (temp.) ELIZABETHAN.

Bedsteads. The posts, head-boards, and canopies of bedsteads were curiously wrought and carved, in oak, walnut, box, and other woods, and variously painted and gilt. Ginger colour, hatched with gold, was a favourite style; but purple and crimson were also used in their decorations. Ancient documents describe these bedsteads as, "beddes of tymbre." They were further enriched with devices and mottoes, conspicuously placed on the panels and other parts. In the Gentleman's Magazine for November, 1811, there is an account of a very curious bedstead, at Hinchley, in Leicestershire, which is embellished with no fewer than twenty-nine emblematical devices, every one accompanied by an appropriate motto. And in Nicholson and Burn's History of Cumberland, one is described as existing in the year 1779, at Nunnery, called the Nun's bed, with this inscription

"Mark the end, and

You shall never doow amis."

Chairs. In most apartments we find "two great chayers," these were arm-chairs, with stuffed backs, and sides entirely covered, and similar to the lounging-chairs of the present day. Others, described as "Flemish chairs, scrolled chairs, and turned chairs," wrought in ebony, walnut, cherry-tree, and with high, carved backs, either stuffed in one long upright panel, or fitted with cane interwoved-work: the seats also stuffed, and covered with costly kinds of materials, as various as their shapes.

TUDOR GARDEN, ELIZABETHAN.

No garden of the age of Elizabeth remains; but a curious and complete description of such a noble place is given in Sir Francis Bacon's Essays, written about the end of her reign. The garden, he says, should not be less than thirty acres, to be subdivided into a green lawn of four acres, a garden of twelve acres, and a heath or pleasure-ground of six acres ; having on either side those three divisions an alley of four acres, answering, we may suppose, to the modern shrubbery. The green in front to be kept finely shorn, as nothing is more pleasant to the eye, and to have on each side a covert-alley formed of trellis-work, producing a shady walk leading to the garden. Knots of figures under the windows of the house are considered by him as too trifling to be admitted into this plan. The garden to be a perfect square encompassed with a stately hedge, elevated upon a bank set with flowers.

Images cut in juniper or other garden-plants are not recommended; but little low hedges, with some pretty pyramids, and a few fair columns and trellis-frames of carpenter's work; also statues for state and magnificence: the walks or alleys are to be spacious, and some set with musk-roses, wild thyme, and peppermint, which perfumes the air most delightfully when trodden upon. In the middle of the garden should be raised a mount, thirty feet high, surmounted by a banqueting-house with a chimney, and not too many windows. This mount to have three ascents made in perfect circles, and wide enough for three to walk abreast. Also a fountain that spouteth water, ornamented with images of marble, to be forty feet square, with steps up to it, and a pavement at the base; the water to be in perpetual motion. In the garden should be some fair alleys ranged on both sides with fruit-trees, and some pretty tufts of trees, a harbour with seats; but these by no means to be numerous. Vases, unless they be turfed and have living plants or bushes set in them, are not to be introduced. In the heath or wilderness, of which the most remote part of the plan is to consist, there should be no trees; but thickets of sweetbriar, honeysuckles, and woodbines; the ground set with violets, strawberries, and primroses; and to give it a natural wildness, little mounds with standard roses. The shrubbery and side alley to be sheltered from the heat, and to have variety of walks, finely gravelled, not grass; the borders set with fine flowers but sparingly, and at the end of both, the side ground a mount of some pretty height, leaving the wall of the enclosure breast-high to look abroad into the fields. For aviaries he says, "I like them not except they be of that largeness, or they may be turfed, and having living plants and bushes set in them, that the birds may have more scope and natural nestling, and that no foulness appears on the floor of the aviary. I have now made the platform of a princely garden, partly by precept, and partly by drawing; not a model, but some general lines of it, and in this I have spared no cost; but it is nothing for great princes, that, for the most part, taking advice with workmen, with no less cost, set their matters together, and sometimes add statues and such things for state and magnificence, but nothing to the true pleasure of a garden."