into a pantry, the hall has been shortened by the space required for the pantry, but except for this alteration the plan seems to indicate the original arrangement, including that of the front garden, with its gateway and circular steps, its paved walk, and the flight of steps leading to the terrace in front of the house. The external detail throughout is of the simplest, but there is a good ceiling in one of the parlours, and some of the woodwork is of unusual elaboration. The character of the work points to the early part of the seventeenth century as the date of erection. In these simpler examples the windows do not occupy nearly so large a proportion of the wall space as they do in the more ambitious houses. [Illustration: 87.--BOLSOVER CASTLE, DERBYSHIRE (1613).] An interesting adaptation of the symmetrical arrangement of the forecourt and lodges is to be seen at Bolsover Castle (Figs. 87, 88), where the square house has been built on the site of the ancient keep, which no doubt largely controlled its size. There are no gables, all the roofs being flat; that over the house itself is approached by a staircase in a domed turret, and was intended as a place of resort. The usual picturesqueness of outline is obtained by various turrets and chimneys. In the illustration the two chambers in the sides of the courtyard are hidden behind those which form the entrance to it. It is not easy to say to what use these chambers were to be put. They are all furnished with fireplaces, most of which are carefully wrought, as though for the delight of the owner rather than of his retainers. The house itself is full of interest; all the rooms on the basement and principal floor are vaulted, and the vaulting ribs and corbels are managed with such care as was seldom bestowed upon those features even in the days of stone vaulting. This method of construction was rapidly going out of fashion, most of the houses of the sixteenth century having floors of joists and boards, the underside being ceiled in the early part of the century with wood, and in the latter with plaster. But at Bolsover, as late as 1613, we have stone vaulting beautifully wrought. There is a large amount of good panelling also left, and the chimney-pieces are unrivalled in any house of the time for their beauty and variety. Some of these will be illustrated when that subject comes to be dealt with. This part of Bolsover Castle, although so carefully built and embellished, is but a small portion of the whole scheme. There was an immense gallery in close proximity, which, however, has fallen to ruin. It is in a style somewhat later than its smaller neighbour, with gigantic doorways and unwieldy mouldings, and forms a link between Jacobean work and the more fully developed classic treatment of the close of the seventeenth century. [Illustration: 88.--BOLSOVER CASTLE, DERBYSHIRE. GROUND PLAN (1613).