The architecture of humanism; a study in the history of taste

46 THE ARCHITECTURE

OF

HUMANISM

sectionofwaysinaWood

orWildernesse,'

werewell

enough. Heretheymightbe

admittedas

curiosities

—

^asliterary

remindersoftheromantic

past,orshrines

to the poetry of

nature with which the

mediaeval

stylewasconceived tobe related.

Above all,they

mightactasa

foiltotheclassicalelements

themselves,

and do a dual service by

stimulating the senseof

historywhiletheysetofftheimmaculateconsistency

of the time. The

Gothic suggestions might even

penetrate the house. They might, without dis-

cordancy,

provide the traceries of a book-case or

enrichthe

mouldingsof

a

Chippendale

table. Here

andthere, inthe light spiritoffashionablecaprice,

theymight

furnishthedecorationof

a

room,

justas,

elsewhere,anEasternschememightdominate. But

togofurther,

and

Gothicisethemaindesign,seemed,

atthe first, anobvious faultoftaste.

'

I delight,'

writes

GraytoWharton,

'

to

hear

youtalkofgiving

yourhousesomeGothicornamentsalready. Ifyou

project anything, I hope it will be entirely within

doors: and

don'tletme (when I comegapinginto

ColemanStreet) be directedtothe

"

gentleman'sat

thetenpinnacles

"

or

"

withtheChurch

Porchat

his

door."

'

^

And

when, at Strawberry Hill, Horace

Walpole

allowed

aquaint imitationof

mediaevalism

tofurnish

his

wholedesign, the

concession, startling

and

evenabsurd asit

seemedtohiscontemporaries,

>Letters

ofThomasGray,vol.I.Ko.

cxiv.