ewhat grotesque application of
the ancient orders and ornaments, by large and picturesquely-formed
masses, spacious staircases, broad terraces, galleries of great length
(at times 100 feet long), orders placed on orders, pyramidal gables
formed of scroll-work often pierced, large windows divided by mullions
and transoms, bay windows, pierced parapets, angle turrets, and a love
of arcades. The principal features in the ornament are pierced
scroll-work, strap-work, and prismatic rustication, combined with
boldly-carved foliage (usually conventional) and roughly-formed
figures."--M. D. W.

Interiors are bright and with ample space; very richly ornamented
plaster ceilings are common; the walls of main rooms are often lined
with wainscot panelling, and noble oak staircases are frequent.

In the reign of James I., our first Renaissance architect of mark,
Inigo Jones (1572-1652) became known. He was a man of taste and
genius, and had studied in Italy. He executed many works, the designs
for which were more or less in the style of Palladio. These include
the addition of a portico to the (then Gothic) cathedral of St.
Paul's, and a magnificent design for a palace which Charles I. desired
to build at Whitehall. A fragment of this building, now known as the
Chapel Royal Whitehall, was erected, and small though it be, has done
much by its conspicuous position and great beauty, to keep up a
respect for Inigo Jones's undoubted high attainments as an artist.

More fortunate than Inigo Jones, Christopher Wren (1632-1723) had just
attained a high position as a young man of science, skill, and
cultivation, and as the architect of the Sheldonian Theatre at Oxford,
when in 1666 the great fire of London destroyed the Metropolitan
Cathedral, the parochial churches, the Royal Exchange, the Companies'
Halls, and an immense mass of private property in London, and created
an opportunity which made great demands upon the energy, skill, and
fertility of design of the architect who might attempt to grasp it.
Fortunately, Wren was equal to the occasion, and he has endowed London
with a Cathedral which takes rank among the very foremost Renaissance
buildings in Europe, as well as a magnificent series of parochial
churches, and other public buildings. It is not pretended that his
works are free from defects, but there can be no question that
admitting anything which can be truly said against them, they are
works of artistic genius, full of fresh an