A house, unless it is in the cottage style or villa style, should always be higher than the average height of the trees in the country in which it is situated. This, we think, is a self-evident principle; since, as the house is the chief object in the landscape, it should be more conspicuous than the trees, which are only accessories. It is true that a house may be rendered more conspicuous than the trees, simply by placing it where there are no trees before it, and where those at the back and sides are at some distance from it; in short, by placing it in such a situation and circumstances as those of the house at Mamhead. Still we are of opinion that the house at Mamhead, to be in harmony with the grandeur of the place, ought to have been higher, and in a simpler style; for elevation and simplicity are the most effective elements of the sublime. As an example of a modern house in a naturally grand situation, and intended to be expressive of grandeur and dignity, reduced to the character of a villa by the height of the surrounding trees, we refer to Lowther Castle. This building has nothing of the castle character but round towers and battlements; and these and the masses should have been one third part higher, so as to be seen at a distance over the tops of the trees. As an example of one in which grandeur is produced by the height and simplicity of the general mass, and which also contains some of the finest apartments in England, we quote Wooton, by Inigo Jones, near Ashbourne, noticed in our Volume for 1841. The windows of a house intended to be expressive of grandeur ought not to be numerous or too near together; they ought to be large, with wide intervals between, to suggest the idea of spacious apartments within; and there ought to be broad spaces in the lower parts of towers and at angles, without any windows or with only very small ones, to suggest the idea of great strength and abundance of room. This kind of treatment is also exemplified at Wooton.
