=Secular Examples.=--The interest of English Gothic extends beyond cathedrals to the profusion of edifices--chapels, churches, colleges, hospitals, and almshouses--that stud the country. Oxford presents a mine of study; Cambridge has its splendid examples; there are Royal Chapels of magnificence, such as =St. George’s Chapel, Windsor=; and town churches of extraordinary beauty, while scarce a village, however tiny and remote, but has an architectural treasure in its little church, sheltering the graves of its quiet “God’s Acre.” The homes of the nobles, during the Norman Period, had been frankly armed castles, including an outer “bailey” or court, an inner bailey, and a donjon or keep, surrounded by a moat and ramparts. In the fifteenth century the idea of domesticity increased, other buildings for various uses clustered round the main ones and the hall became the centre of the life of the inmates. At first there was a central fireplace, where the logs were piled on dogs, the smoke escaping through a flue or opening in the ceiling. The need of protecting this led gradually to the erection on the roof of a lantern-like turret, technically known as a _louver_, which became a characteristic feature of the exterior of a hall, even after the central fireplace had been moved to one of the walls and connected with a chimney. By this time the fireplace had grown to be the distinctive feature of the hall, embellished with a massive carved chimney-piece, around which the lord and his lady and guests gathered, while the house-fool laboured at his quips, or some wandering minstrel regaled the family with song or story, while the retainers of the establishment sat in the outer ring on the rush-strewn floor. For the hall was the common dining-room and recreation centre of the whole establishment, and on a dais at one end stood the high table at which the family and guests were served at meals, the retainers occupying the body of the hall. A salt-cellar was conspicuous in front of the lord, symbol of hospitality and also of class distinction, since the persons of “inferior quality” were entertained “below the salt.” In earlier times the hall also served as a sleeping place for the retainers. By degrees, however, as ideas of comfort and privacy increased, this habit was abandoned. Withdrawing rooms or bowers opened from the dais of the hall for the private use of the lord and lady, and bedroom accommodation was improved. And the progress toward greater domesticity was assisted by the discovery of gunpowder, which rendered the old system of fortification useless for defensive purposes, so that the idea of a castle was gradually superseded by that of a mansion. [Illustration: RATISBON CATHEDRAL P. 302] [Illustration: STRASBURG CATHEDRAL P. 302] [Illustration: TOWN HALL OF MUNSTER P. 305] [Illustration: CATHEDRAL OF S. GUDULE, BRUSSELS P. 307] [Illustration: COLOGNE CATHEDRAL P. 302] [Illustration: CLOTH HALL OF YPRES