were held, and where Addison and Steele used often to be found, is only just outside the metropolis on the north-west; Edmonton, on the north-east, where the Bell Inn is standing, that is immortalised by Cowper in “John Gilpin”; Finchley, familiar to every one through Hogarth’s “March of the Guards” in 1745, on their way to suppress the Pretender; and hundreds of other similar spots, would form not only an interesting but a large work of themselves. Excepting the brickwork, however, at Lincoln’s Inn[3] and “Pinner on the hill,” no illustrations of Middlesex have been attempted.
ANCIENT HOUSE NEAR ST. ALBANS.
CHAPTER V.
HERTFORD—ST. ALBANS—ELIZABETHAN ARCHITECTURE AND JOHN THORPE—MARLOW—STONY STRATFORD—COLCHESTER—BANBURY—TETSWORTH—OXFORD—NORFOLK AND SUFFOLK—NORWICH PRELATES—BRICK ARCHITECTURE.
HERTFORD county contains many noble mansions of historical note, though but few street scenes or homesteads that would quite fall within the scope of the present work. On the road between Abbots Langley and St. Albans is a pleasantly situated
house that says “old homestead” on the very face of it. Formerly it was a large farm-house, and it has more recently been altered internally to suit the convenience of a retired citizen. The chimneys and gables stand out with great boldness and effect. The capital town of Hertford is small, and though its records lead us back to great antiquity, even to the early days of Saxon rule, there is little of antiquity now to interest the traveller. It is, indeed, a well-built modern town, with good streets, numerous public buildings, and several churches. It was not without a little difficulty that the gable here represented was selected, though this is rather ingenious in its way. An octagonal window which rises from the ground stops under a projecting storey, and on the same line an oriel window is thrown out. This again stops at the eaves, over it is a gable with a double window. The proportions might possibly be somewhat improved, but there is much ingenuity in managing the various stops and faces. These indeed might be applied on a much more important scale.