the Baronial and Architectural History of the Borders as were least known, or as seemed more peculiarly deserving consideration. And to effect this I have visited and sketched all the principal buildings referred to, and subsequently freely used the Public Records of the realm, together with such other documents capable of affording assistance as are preserved amongst the muniments of Syon.

A prominent place has been assigned in this inquiry to the Barony and Castle of Alnwick. On every account it is the one of chief importance, the most instructive and rich in its historical incidents. With the exception of Windsor and Dover,-possessions which have never been alienated from the Crown, and which consequently have an unbroken chain of documentary illustration preserved amongst the Public Records, perhaps there is not any structure in England that can be so thoroughly investigated,— one that gives such a clear and continuous account of itself,-or one of which the changes and additions can be more satisfactorily explained.

Though I should often have felt myself justified, from long experience, and from a carefully-cherished study of our principal military and ecclesiastical buildings, from an acquaintance with the chief ones in France, as well as other parts of the Continent,in simply fixing dates to many of the rudely-built castles and peles I have described, without producing the reasons for doing so, yet wherever there was a doubt on the subject of age, I have detailed, perhaps too tediously, the grounds for adopting an opinion, by placing before the reader the same means of forming a judgment I might have had for influencing my own: the intention throughout all the architectural part of the volume having been purely to elicit the truth, as I have had no preconceived theories which I was desirous of maintaining.

The North Country Borders are in themselves so interesting and replete with narratives of ancient struggles for power and conquest, the scenes of so much bloodshed, outrage, and desolation, the battle-ground successively of Romans and Caledonians, Saxons and Danes, English and Scots,-that they will always invite the consideration of the historian. Many of the peles and bastel

houses, formerly so necessary for personal protection, have fallen; fortresses and strongholds against aggression have disappeared, their sites can only be recognised by depressed earthworks; and these also in their turn will become indistinct and level with the adjacent soil. Nor can we expect that the relentless agency of time will cease exercising its destructive influence, and continue to spare those castles which still exist; therefore I would diffidently hope that the labour I have here accomplished will rescue the remembrance of something memorable from its grasp, and, aided by the faithful artistic illustrations adorning the present volume, exhibit their record and resemblance to futurity.

In the architectural description of Alnwick Castle, it will be observed that only a casual reference has been made to those modern works that unavoidable decay has rendered indispensable. Yet, though inappropriate in the body of the volume, it may not be so here, to offer a few observations on the principle upon which these extensive reparations and additions have been carried out.

In a building rendered venerable by its age, and impressive through its historic appeals to the past, where so much remained belonging to the time of the Plantagenets, it would have been difficult, not to say highly reprehensible, to have introduced a style at all at variance with that already existing, both to so great an extent and in such perfection. It was therefore the first duty of an architect to preserve all those portions recommended by antiquity, because every ancient stone was, as it were, a letter in the chapter of its history; and to have rudely mingled together or destroyed the elements of such an architectural type, would have been an act of desecration. Mr. Salvin, to whom the work has been intrusted, has shown, by the conservative spirit in which he has carried on his operations, that he understood the value of the building placed under his directions,-by preserving in the first place every ancient fragment, and in the next by making such external repairs or additions as were in unison with the original portions of the Castle. He has happily introduced the style of the second Edward, when the Percies first came into possession of Alnwick. It was indispensable that this period of the early English style should be selected in preference to any other, because

by far the greater part of the building,—the walls, the towers, and the external mouldings, were all of this age, and they remained to a great extent uninjured. But within, the aspect was totally different: scarcely a vestige of what was old existed; curtain-walls had been consolidated, or hollowed out into chambers; towers built out of curtain-walls; and such other alterations made as suited the ideas of its successive possessors. Hence it became an open subject, in what way it ought to be treated; and whether the gloom, heaviness, and inconvenience of a mediæval castle should be preferred to the lightness, elegance, and comfort of the present day. Nor was it merely a question of this kind, which was one of common sense, and simple enough, that called for solution; but another problem required solution, upon which the convenience, magnificence, and luxury of the interior entirely depended. It was, whether the Gothic element should prevail within, to the exclusion of modern requirements, and the creations of a more advanced style of art. And here again common sense, necessity, and refinement were in unison in settling, not what amounted to a difficulty for decision, but really in carrying out what were the principles and constant practice of the old Gothic architects themselves.

It is indeed true that Gothic architects of the present day have, in a great degree, succeeded in copying the works of their predecessors, and that they have reached the culminating point of their ambition, which is, to produce a faithful imitation of styles that have arisen in their turn, and immediately given way on the appearance of a new one. And so far there is merit due to those students who are satisfied with copying buildings erected before their own time, if they copy them correctly. Perhaps there may be a want of creative genius amongst us; or the eye may be uneducated, and the formality of repeated panellings and foliations may be considered more beautiful than the free and flowing outlines of arabesque decoration. Perhaps there may be a desire among the admirers of the Gothic to remain stationary, and attempt nothing in advance of a particular style. But we know that the old masters of the art kept constantly advancing, engrafting improvement on the improvements of each other, and extending, instead of limiting, their ideas of what was beautiful

and perfect. They had an earnest faith in the future,—believing they were capable of erecting better buildings than they saw before them, not merely disdaining the slavery of imitation, but in numerous instances, as may be seen in some of our best cathedrals, such as Canterbury and Durham, remorselessly cutting through and mutilating the works of their predecessors, not even continuing their mouldings to keep up uniformity, because they considered their own works better.

Hence mediæval Gothic, with an unfettered and elastic spirit, was always progressing, expanding, or originating; and hence, from adopting the opposite course, modern Gothic is necessarily cramped, unimaginative, and false, incapable of making any impressive appeal to the outward senses, and still more so of elevating the mind.

The treatment of the interior of Alnwick Castle being, then, a question of convenience, of luxury, and cultivated taste, it would have been sacrificing at least these recommendations, if a style had been adopted which would not have entirely harmonised with them; if one had been chosen unsuitable to modern requirements, or unsusceptible of that ornamental sculpture and enriched style of decoration that would have made it a residence worthy of its distinguished occupiers: and since no style seemed to present such a pure and diversified scope for decoration as the classical Italian, a band of intelligent and accomplished workmen from Rome have been employed to impart the refinement necessary for its completion. The beauty of this style, and the exquisite way in which the work is being executed, is as yet scarcely understood by the more mechanical artists of our colder clime.

Since this volume has been contemplated, I have received several valuable suggestions from my friend John Hodgson Hinde, Esq., of Acton House, and I am indebted to him exclusively for the chapter on the Saxon Earls of Northumberland. It is satisfactory to know, that a gentleman so entirely conversant with the subject has a work now in the press illustrative of the early history of the county.

The grateful acknowledgments of the Archæological Institute

b

are due to his Grace the Duke of Northumberland, for the patronage he has given to their labours, and for his liberality in presenting, with only two or three exceptions, the whole of the illustrations to the present volume.

My own thanks will be more inadequately expressed; since without the same sanction and encouragement the work could scarcely have been undertaken.

Holdenby, August 10th, 1857.