is of solid timber, but the two windows, one in each gable, appear to be of lattice-work. There is no chimney; but two small wooden crosses decorate the gables.* We might have inferred as much, when we find in Alfric's Colloquies the Lignarius or tree-wright arguing that he cannot be dispensed with by society, because with other useful things he constructs houses;t and in his Vocabulary, the Archbishop gives as the equivalent for Aedificium getymbrung," (a timber structure.)‡ 66 In the Treatise of Walter de Biblesworth, of the thirteenth century, the process of building a house is given in ancient French verse, with English words occasionally interlined;§ and there are numerous lists of the parts of a house, both as regards the materials employed and the division of the space included. There was occasionally a "grund-weal" (fundamentum,) that is, a foun 6. Book; illustrating the error in perspective. ne non eow eallum notath craefte minon thonne ic wyrce Mr. Wright remarks on a portion of Alfric's Vocabulary, "This humble "enumeration of the parts of a common dwelling-house, posts, rafters, laths, a "roof, and a floor, (it is evidently supposed to be built of nothing but timber,) "offers a strong contrast with the elaborate details in the later Vocabularies." the balkes § Sus la mesere, les trayes mettet, raftres De dous cheverouns un couple facez. Le ferm estera sur le mesere, pyn and wymble (nauger) Par kyvyl et par terere. Mayer's Vocab., p. 170. dation of stone on which the wooden structure was reared; and there was the "burd-wogh," viz., board-wall, a partition of boards like an inner wainscot. A window was called a "eh-thyrl" (eye-hole), and occasionally eag"durru (eye-door).* 66 One description of the parts of a house deserves to be quoted. It is that by John de Garlande, written in the early part of the thirteenth century; and as he was an Englishman who had resided for years in France, we may regard the account as common to both countries. It will be noticed that the tools employed are those of the carpenter, not of the mason. trapytys "In aula mea hec architectari feci: trapetas, solivas, furstys lasys 'lacunaria,† tigna,‡ lodia,§ trabes,|| latas, ¶ laquearia,** the fote,the schefte, the hede of the pyler pylers "columnas, cujus partes sunt basis, stilus et epistilium. hatchet brode axe twy bil 66 Hec fabricantur cum securi, dolabra, rosticucio, vel idem est wedgys "bisacuta, acucia, terebre,tt et cum cuneis et cavillis,‡‡ reule "et celte, et plana,|||| et cum calce lathomi, cum lathomega, a squyre 66 amussi, et cum perpendiculo ponderoso." The wooden house shown at the commencement of this Many of the old Saxon words were, like these, very expressive. Thus Pedagogus in an Anglo-Saxon Vocabulary of the eleventh century, is translated by "cildre-hyrda," (the person who herds children!)-Mayer's Vocab., pp. 75, 81, n. + Bays of windows, according to some. Rafters. Balks. § Louvres or windows. Laths. **Post bonddes." ++ The auger. ‡‡ Pynnes. §§ A chisel. A plane. A sketch of the dolabrum or broad axe is given in the Pictorial Vocabulary with the name written beside it as usual. It is reproduced here. Подобовуй 7. English Broad Axe. or section, is that of the well-known "Jack of Newbury John Winchcombe. It is thus described by Mr. Edward Roberts. 66 66 "Several remnants of the ancient timber structure and exquisite foliated carvings have been destroyed, and nothing now is to be seen except the gable end shown in the plate. "This is at the north-west angle of the pile of buildings, adjoining the main street, the face next which has been re-built, and a modern shop front inserted, the entablature "showing sufficiently to mar the effect of the ancient work. "The substructure is of quite new brickwork, the timber having been displaced; but with the exception of the plaster "covering to the oriel window, all the remainder is of ancient 66 66 construction, although not all of the same date or character; "the verge-board, for instance, is of much earlier date than "the other carvings, and may have been brought from some "former building; and its comparative state of decay cor"roborates the suggestion. The whole framework is in oak, "and in the main is still perfectly sound. The herring-bone "brickwork is not coeval with the timbering; but it is quite "clear that, as was usual, the timbers have always been "exposed externally. There is no evidence forthcoming of "the date of the erection of this remnant. It can hardly "have been built by John Winchcombe; for on close ex"amination it bears the impress of earlier years than Henry VII, and is most likely to be of about the middle of the "fifteenth century. The oriel window cannot be seen in any way; the inside, although many of the timbers are visible, having been carefully boarded or cemented in, and "the oriel itself converted into a cupboard." 66 It was at this house that Mr. Winchcombe or Jack entertained Henry VIII and Queen Katherine. He was а "celebrated clothier, distinguished by his opulence and no "less by his patriotism." Another house, partially of wood, is shown in the annexed engraving. It represents the old Angel Hotel in Derby, which was known as a "hostelrie" so early as 1645. In 1836, the "Old Rodney," another noted inn next door, was taken down, and in the process, the timber end of the Angel Figure 1. с was exposed to view for a short time. That is the portion which is shewn in the engraving.* Sir William R. Wilde notices that log houses were in use among the Ancient Celtic Irish; and he refers especially to one which is in the possession of the Royal Irish Academy, made of solid oak, and found buried in a bog in the County of Donegal. In connexion with this it may be mentioned that in 1513, the Borough Moor at Edinburgh was a "field + It was discovered in 1833, (see Archæologia, xxvi, 361,) it was a square structure, twelve feet wide and nine feet high. The material consisted of rough blocks and planks of oak, which had been cut and shaped with stone axes and chisels, one of which was found on the floor, and corresponded with the marks on the timbers. There were two apartments, one above the other, each four feet high; and the chinks in the floor were filled with a paste, apparently composed of grease and fine sea sand. The stratum of bog on which it stood was fifteen feet deep; and before its erection there had been spread over this a layer of fine sand and a bedding of hazel bushes. In 1833, the top of the house was fourteen feet below the surface of the bog; so that the material must have grown nearly twenty-six feet since the house was occupied. A flint arrow-head, a wooden sword, and part of a sandal of leather were found within the house; and near it a causeway, a fire-place, charred timber, and numerous broken nut shells. 66 spacious and delightful, by the shade of many stately and aged oaks ;" but it was so great a nuisance as a forest, that the citizens were encouraged to build wooden galleries, projecting over the street, in order to get rid of the timber. It further appears, from Sir W. R. Wilde's narrative, that a "bird-cage wooden house" was taken down in Dublin in 1813; and another in Drogheda in 1824. The latter bore an inscription to the effect that it had been erected by Hiv Mor carpenter, in 1570. This was in the early part of the reign of Elizabeth. One portion of the medieval house is frequently mentioned, viz., the "pentice." This is otherwise called the "eskyng," in provincial dialects the "easing," and in pure English the "eaves." The pentice (sometimes called "penthouse,") appears to have been originally a shed or projection over an outer door or a window, and then to have passed along the whole side wall, and-in the absence of gutters and spouts -to have thrown the rain which fell on the roof clear of the wall. It was the incipient idea which results in the verandah ; without which the people of South America say the wooden houses will hardly last half the usual time.* These are found in Midway between these and houses of brick and stone were the frame houses, sometimes called "black and white," "half-timber," and "post and petrel." the oldest parts of several of our towns and cities; and they are unusually abundant in Cheshire, and in the adjoining portions of Lancashire and Staffordshire. The whole frame of the house, in such a case, is of solid beams of timber, of the thickness of the intended wall; and the interstices, except at the places designed for doors and windows, are then filled up with brick or stone work. But the liability of whole or *From an incidental allusion in Roger Ascham's Toxophilus, we find that old houses, like old shoes, were not worth repairing. This may account for the thorough disappearance of so many. He says "peced bowes be muche lyke owlde "housen, whyche be more chargeable to repayre than commodiouse to dwell in," |