Italian Renaissance period, give a magnificent entrance to perhaps little and futile grounds, or are inappropriately set in a Tudor wall (built half as high as it should be), or in a modern iron fence. But we are not the only offenders; I could name many English modern parks whose enclosing partitions sin in this way; and here in Hong-Kong one of the most important Government buildings has a fine and impressive gate of wrought iron, with stone and cement and brick pillars, and a lodge, with splendid strutting Sikhs on guard in front of it, and no fence or wall at all at a few feet away from the entrance! This is a Chinese idea, rather, for one often sees all the pomp and display at the doors, while dirt and discomfort reign within; a grand gate to no garden in particular; or an imposing sally-port, with painted cannon, in a city wall which is down in a dozen other places, for the enemy to walk in unhindered.
This is one of the ideas that I am glad to say the Japanese have not imported from the Chinese, although the architectural features of their gates certainly received their character from them. Gate roofs, in particular, are very reminiscent of Chinese ones—only another instance of how this clever race accept what is good and useful, and reject what is not. The roofs, with their upturned corners, beautiful tiles, and lovely curves, are almost the nicest things to be seen in the Celestial Empire; so, when a
