Gents Mag 1868 part 1 p.645
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Gentleman's Magazine 1868 part 1 p.645
after the English had done with them. When the round arch was dismissed from England, the Scotch were using it with all vigour, and the same thing occured with the Early English style, which pleased them much more than did the Decorated, and which they were exceedingly loth to give up. Add to this, the prevailing tendency to French patterns, and we see how it is that Scotland possesses such a distinctive architectural fashion. To the French taste must be attributed the fine examples of flamboyant windows in many of the Scottish abbeys. Another fact that strikes us in glancing over the church buildings of the various English counties is the difference in style which prevailed in different parts of the country, when the erection of churches was in a flourishing condition - as, for instance, in Somersetshire and Devonshire, where almost all the churches were Perpendicular of so distinctive a character as to be known as the West of England type. Fortunately for our modern churches we have no style, the last in which we indulged being a mixture of the pump-room with pure churchwarden; and such a debased mixture arose from this union, that it brought us all back again to seek the principles of true Gothic art. To this fact we owe a number of successful restorations and the rebuilding of some of our finest churches, - Doncaster, for instance, which would be a credit to any age. What would perhaps strike a foreigner most in reading the handbooks would be the number of fine seats which give England that peculiar charm of home residence. From the ducal palaces of Chatsworth. Belvoir, Alnwick, or Dunrobin, to the quiet, comfortable country house, there is every variety of mansion, breathing more or less the atmosphere of home, and showing at a glance the secret of that influence which the landed proprietors have always exerted in the country, and which it is hoped it will be very long ere they surrender. One scarcely knows which to admire most, the glowing parks and gardens that surround the seats of our gentry, or the works of art that embellish the interior. We are as a nation deficient in public galleries of pictures, but we doubt whether any country in the world can show a larger number of private collections. And fortunatlely for the lovers of art, the same spirit of liberality that presided over the acquisition of these art treasures, in most cases prompts their owners to throw them open for the gratification of the tourist. The number of show-places mentioned in the handbooks sufficiently attests this. There is one more feature to which we must allude before we close our brief summary. These red volumes address themselves to the specialist as well as to the general traveller, and the way in which the science of geology is handled in them proves that this fascinating study has gained a considerable hold over a large section of tourists. Indeed, our English geology is so varied, and so bound up with the scenery, that it is almost impossible for any observant or educated man to admire the one without taking an interest in the other; and such works as those of Mr. Geikie in the scenic geology of Scotland, or of Professor Ramsay on North Wales, are almost as necessary vade-mecums as handbooks themselves. To whatever part of Great Britain the annual "outing" is directed, the scientific traveller need never be at a loss for interest. The Woolhope Silurian valley of elevation in Herefordshire, the Dudley coalfield, the limestone gorges of Cheddar, |
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