finds an insuperable obstacle opposed to his progress. The zeal of
churchmen and the pride of barons, have preserved us many noble relics
of ecclesiastical and castellated buildings; but the private residence
of the more humble individual has, in no portion of the globe, been able
to secure to itself any thing approaching to a durable existence. What
was raised for comfort alone, was not in itself designed for perpetuity;
and the varying tastes of successive occupants, the changes of fashions,
or, what operate even more powerfully than all, the changes of fortune,
have conspired to subject this portion of human labor, in an eminent
degree, to that mutability which is the general lot of human
undertakings. In early times, also, the state of society operated
powerfully towards the production of the same destructive effect. When
even the monarch could no otherwise provide for the safety of his
palace, than by encircling it with the fortifications of the castle, a
life of continual alarm afforded his subjects no encouragement for the
cultivation of the arts of peace. Society knew no other classes than the
lord and his vassals: the former, enthroned in military state; the
latter, too poor to raise his aim beyond the necessaries of life; or,
where riches existed, too depressed by servitude to dare to let them
appear. Hence, during the prevalence of the feudal system, very little,
if any thing, more is known of domestic architecture, than is to be
collected from the rude illuminations of missals, or the unsatisfactory
descriptions of chroniclers. The monuments themselves have disappeared
from the face of the earth; or, if any instances can be adduced, tending
to disprove so comprehensive an assertion, they are few in number, and
worthless in quality. The utmost to be hoped for are such mutilated
remains, as Winwal-House, in Norfolk, lately figured by Mr. Britton, in
his _Chronological and Historical Illustrations of the Ancient
Architecture of Great-Britain_; remains that are calculated to excite no
other emotions than regret, and to awaken, without being by any means
able to satisfy, curiosity.--Nor indeed have Mr. Cotman's extensive
researches enabled him to meet with any of this description, all poor as
they are, within the limits of Normandy.

At the same time it has appeared right, conformably with the plan that
has been adopted in this work, as to ecclesiastical edifices, to lay
before the reader some specimens of the do