The Gothic Style, as applied to Domestic Architecture, has been varied and adapted in a great diversity of ways, to the wants of society in different periods, from the 12th century to the present time. The baronial castle of feudal days, perched upon its solitary, almost inaccessible height, and built strongly for defence; the Collegiate or monastic abbey of the monks, suited to the rich fertile plains which these jolly ascetics so well knew how to select; the Tudor or Elizabethan mansion, of the English gentleman, surrounded by its beautiful park, filled with old ancestral trees; and the pretty, rural, gabled cottage, of more humble pretensions; are all varieties of this multiform style, easily adapting itself to the comforts and conveniences of private life.
