the style is altogether more varied. Stone as well as wood is used in
their construction, and the rooms are more commodious and more
elaborately decorated. But the exterior carving and the curious signs
engraved on the time-stained wood, are the most distinctive features,
and give the streets their picturesque character. Here we may notice, in
odd corners, names and legends carved in wood on the panels, harmonizing
curiously with the decoration; just as the names of the owners (in
German characters) are carved on Swiss châlets; and the words 'God is
great,' and the like, form appropriate ornaments (in Arabic) over the
door of a mosque.[12] And upon heraldic shields, on old oak panels, and
amidst groups of clustering leaves, we may sometimes trace the names of
the founders (often the architects) of the houses in which several
generations lived and died.

[Illustration]

The strange familiarity of some of these crests and devices (lions,
tigers, dragons, griffins, and other emblems of ferocity), the English
character of many of the names, and the Latin mottos, identical with
some in common use in England, may give us a confused and not very
dignified idea respecting their almost universal use by the middle
classes in England. M. Taine, a well-known french writer, remarks that
'c'est loin du monde que nous pouvons jugez sainement des illusions dont
nous environt,' and perhaps it is from Lisieux that we may best see
ourselves, wearing 'coats of arms.'

It is considered by many an unmeaning and unjust phrase to call the
nineteenth century 'an age of shams,' but it seems appropriate enough
when we read in newspapers daily, of 'arms found' and 'crests designed;'
and when we consider the extent of the practice of assuming them, or