. Essays and Belles Lettres. cture and Painting 73 foreign cities; and even those now present who have notpersonally visited any of the continental towns must remem-ber, I should think,some of the manyinteresting drawingsby Mr. Prout, , and other ex-cellent draughtsmen,which have for manyyears adorned our ex-hibitions. Now, theprincipal charm ofall those continentalstreet effects is de-pendent on thehouses having high-pitched gable the Netherlands,and Northern France,where the material forbuilding is brick orstone, the fronts ofthe stone gables areraised above theroofs, and you
. Essays and Belles Lettres. cture and Painting 73 foreign cities; and even those now present who have notpersonally visited any of the continental towns must remem-ber, I should think,some of the manyinteresting drawingsby Mr. Prout, , and other ex-cellent draughtsmen,which have for manyyears adorned our ex-hibitions. Now, theprincipal charm ofall those continentalstreet effects is de-pendent on thehouses having high-pitched gable the Netherlands,and Northern France,where the material forbuilding is brick orstone, the fronts ofthe stone gables areraised above theroofs, and you havemagnificent and grot-esque ranges of stepsor curves decoratedwith various orna-ments, succeedingone another in end-less perspective alongthe streets of Ant-werp, Ghent, orBrussels. In Picardyand Normandy,again, and man)towns of Germany,where the material for building is principally wood, the roof is made to projectover the gables, fringed with a beautifully curved cornice,and casting a broad shadow down the house This 74 Architecture and Painting is principally seen at Abbeville, Rouen, Lisieux, and othersof the older towns of France. But, in all cases, the effectof the whole street depends on the prominence of thegables ; not only of the fronts towards the streets, but of thesides also, set with small garret or dormer windows, eachof the most fantastic and beautiful form, and crowned witha little spire or pinnacle. Wherever there is a little windingstair, or projecting bow window, or any other irregularity ofform, the steep ridges shoot into turrets and small spires, asin Jig. , each in its turn crowned by a fantastic ornament,covered with curiously shaped slates or shingles, or crestedwith long fringes of rich ironwork, so that, seen from aboveand from a distance, the intricate grouping of the roofs of aFrench city is no less interesting than its actual streets; andin the streets themselves, the masses of broad shadow whichthe roofs form against the sky, are a
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