The Home Counties Magazine

Author : W. J. Hardy
Publisher : Forgotten Books
ISBN 13 : 9780484269278
Total Pages : 432 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (692 download)

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Download or read book The Home Counties Magazine, 1901, Vol. 3 written by W. J. Hardy and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2018-02-09 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Home Counties Magazine, 1901, Vol. 3: Devoted to the Topography of London, Middlesex, Essex, Herts, Bucks, Berks, Surrey, and Kent T is a noticeable fact, and one which impresses itself with I, increasing force upon those who delight to study old buildings and institutions, that the people of two and more centuries ago always produced something consistently beautiful when - for the exercise of their religious duties, or the freer impulses of their generosity - they felt called upon to build fabrics or found charities, such as those of which the one before us now is an interesting though simple example. Everything was suited to the purpose for which it was designed; an eminent fitness is the first impression one receives, and this produces the charm of which we are all conscious, and which the touch of time so wonderfully completes for us. To nearly all of our ancient buildings these remarks apply; in their highest significance, of course, only to the magnificent abbeys and cathedrals, which were the direct outcome of that passionate and wide-spread religious spirit which permeated the Middle Ages; but still, in proportionate degree, to the colleges, hospitals, and other buildings which followed them upon their decline. The same Spirit seemed to inspire the founders and builders of these humbler institutions; and the old almshouses of Elizabethan times, as well as those of a century or so later, strike one as full of beauty, and suited in every way to the purpose for which they are required. Low, quiet, sheltered, generally surrounding an enclosed quad rangle, secluded from the outside bustle of the busy world, they are exactly fitted to be places where rest and repose may be found for those to whom active life is only a memory, and present exist ence more or less a trial. Truly typical of these is Whitgift's Hospital of the Holy Trinity, and though the workmanship throughout is of the simplest character, its peaceful beauty is none the less striking. Once inside that still quadrangle, with the noisy main street shut out from view or hearing, it needs but little imagination to think oneself back three hundred years, in the age of deliberate and slow-paced life, before the revolution of the rush ing machine had come. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.