EXTRACT FROM THE RED BOOK OF WINGERWORTH, IN DERBYSHIRE, A SEAT OF SIR WINDSOR HUNLOCK, BART. CHARACTER AND SITUATION. THE elevated situation of the house, on one of these broad hills, peculiar to the most picturesque county in England [see fig. 186], would alone stamp the character of importance on the place, in whatever style the house might have been built; for where we see a large pile of building on the summit of the hill, we are naturally led to compare its relative importance with the scenery to which it belongs. And here we shall be surprised, on approaching the mansion, to find it so much larger, richer, and more dignified, than it appears from a distance: the reason is, that the mansion is one square mass, almost a cube; and every building which partakes of this form, however great its proportions, always appears less than it really is, because the eye is not attracted either by its length, depth, or height, each being nearly equal: and it is only from a subordinate building placed near it, that we form any idea of its real magnitude.
[in September 1988, Tim Warner writing in Country Life reported the `New Red Book Discovery - at Wingerworth Hall', and that the Wingerworth Red Book is held in a private collection. Wingerworth Hall was demolished in 1924. TT]
