the gable itself, which, however, has undergone some alteration since it was first erected. The difference in the treatment of the arched lights in the several floors should be noticed. Another variety is to be seen in a house in Stratford-on-Avon (Plate LXXIX.), where the general disposition is rather simple, but all the woodwork is highly ornamented. The main beams which carry the projecting storeys are carved in the manner already mentioned as being prevalent at Ipswich. Here, again, there is a bay window on the first floor helping to carry the storey above it, and another projecting window on the top floor, the upper corners of which are hidden behind the barge-boards. The same general treatment is to be seen in an old house in the High Town at Hereford (Fig. 186), where the excellent effect is produced by very simple means. The woodwork of the framing is all straight, but it is massive, and not much less in width than the plaster panels. The upper storey projects far enough to give good shadow, which is varied by the shallow bays just beneath it. The gables have heavy carved barge-boards, and in each of them is a bay window, the top of which, unlike the example from Stratford, is free from interference by the barge-board. The pendants between the bays on the first floor are of the ordinary pierced pattern. In considering these specimens from busy towns, it should be remembered that they have all been more or less restored. [Illustration: 185.--HOUSE IN THE HIGH STREET, CANTERBURY.] [Illustration: 186.--OLD HOUSE, HIGH TOWN, HEREFORD.] [Illustration: PLATE LXXIX. HOUSE IN THE HIGH STREET, OXFORD. HOUSE AT STRATFORD-ON-AVON, WARWICKSHIRE.] The fashion of building with timber on the narrow streets of the time was felt to be dangerous, and in the year 1605 a proclamation was made in London that the fore-front and windows of all new houses within the city and one mile thereof should be of brick or stone. The old houses, however, were left until the great fire of 1666 swept them away: it was these charming half-timbered dwellings which afforded the chief fuel for that huge bonfire.