fferent, being alive, and in the mass infinitely
varied and beautiful in form and colour, instead of being mechanical and
uniform, as we try to make our artificial roofs.

[German Roofs]

Very pretty and varied effects are produced in the old roofs of
southern Germany by the use of different coloured glazed tiles--red,
green, and yellow--arranged in simple patterns. One of the old towers at
Lindau has such a roof, and the colour effect is very rich and striking.

But I must not be led into a disquisition upon roofs further than in so
far as they illustrate the subject of composition of line and form, and
from the painter's point of view they frequently do in a very
delightful and instructive way.

[Illustration (f084): Albert Durer: St. Anthony.]

What, for instance, can be more varied and charming than the
compositions we constantly meet with in the rich backgrounds of Albert
Durer? Those steep barn roofs, and those quaint German towns inclosed in
walls with protecting towers--nests of steep tiled gables of every
imaginable degree--which give so much character and interest to his
designs, as in the background of his copper-plates "The Prodigal Son"
and "St. Anthony" here given. Their prototypes still exist here and
there in Germany, in such towns as Rothenburg, practically unchanged
since the sixteenth century, and give one an excellent idea of what such
houses were like. A visit there is like a leap back into the Middle
Ages. Every street is a varied and interesting composition. No two
houses are alike. They were built by the citizens to really pass their
lives in. The town is strongly placed upon the crest of a hill, with a
river at its foot, and well fortified and protected by massive
encircling walls and towers and deep gates, which give it so strong and
picturesque a character, while the timber and tile-roofed gallery for
the warders still exists along the inside of the walls. Such cities
arose by the strength of the social bond among men--the necessity for
mutual help in the maintenance of a higher standard of life, and mutual
protection against the ravages of sinister powers.

[The Mediaeval City]

Strong externally, internally they were made as home-like and full of
the varied delight of the eyes, as if the people had reasoned, "Since we
must live close together in a small place, let us make