make a
picture of rare beauty. Part of the house is built of stone and part
half-timber, but a coat of thin plaster covers the stonework and makes
it conform with the rest. To plaster over stone-work is a somewhat
daring act, and is not architecturally correct, but the appearance of
the house is altogether pleasing.

The Elizabethan and Jacobean builder increased the height of his
house, sometimes causing it to have three storeys, besides rooms in
attics beneath the gabled roof. He also loved windows. "Light, more
light," was his continued cry. Hence there is often an excess of
windows, and Lord Bacon complained that there was no comfortable place
to be found in these houses, "in summer by reason of the heat, or in
winter by reason of the cold." It was a sore burden to many a
house-owner when Charles II imposed the iniquitous window-tax, and so
heavily did this fall upon the owners of some Elizabethan houses that
the poorer ones were driven to the necessity of walling up some of the
windows which their ancestors had provided with such prodigality. You
will often see to this day bricked-up windows in many an old
farm-house. Not every one was so cunning as the parish clerk of
Bradford-on-Avon, Orpin, who took out the window-frames from his
interesting little house near the church and inserted numerous small
single-paned windows which escaped the tax.

Surrey and Kent afford an unlimited field for the study of the better
sort of houses, mansions, and manor-houses. We have already alluded to
Hever Castle and its memories of Anne Boleyn. Then there is the
historic Penshurst, the home of the Sidneys, haunted by the shades of
Sir Philip, "Sacharissa," the ill-fated Algernon, and his handsome
brother. You see their portraits on the walls, the fine gallery, and
the hall, which reveals the exact condition of an ancient noble's hall
in former days.

[Illustration: Arms of the Gaynesfords in window, Crowhurst Place,
Surrey]

Not far away are the manors of Crittenden, Puttenden, and Crowhurst.
This last is one of the most picturesque in Surrey, with its moat,
across which there is a fine view of the house, its half-timber work,
the straight uprights placed close together signifying early work, and
the striking character of the interior. The Gaynesford family became
lords of the manor of Crowhurst in 1337, and continued to hold it
until 1700, a very long record. In 1903 the Place was purchased by the
Rev. ---- Gaynesford, of Hi