SKETCH OF JAMES FERGUSSON. 119 



1845. It was followed, in 1847, by " Picturesque Illustrations of An- 

 cient Architecture in Hindostan," and at later dates by contributions to 

 the works of Captain Hart, Mr. Hope, and Meadows Taylor, on special 

 or local features in the architecture of India. Another work connected 

 with this subject may be mentioned here "Archaeology in India," 

 published in 1884, which was called forth by strictures on his views, 

 and had much of the controversial in its composition. Mr. Fergusson's 

 studies on these subjects, which he believed were prosecuted under sin- 

 gularly favorable circumstances, assumed such a character that he could 

 say : "Not only was I able to extend my personal observations to the 

 examples found in almost all the countries between China and the At- 

 lantic shore, but I lived familiarly among a people who were still prac- 

 ticing their traditional art on the same principles as those which guided 

 the architects of the middle ages in the production of similar but scarce- 

 ly more beautiful or more original works. With these antecedents, I 

 found myself in possession of a considerable amount of information re- 

 garding buildings which had not previously been described, and what 

 I considered of more value of an insight into the theory of the art, 

 which was certainly more novel." On the strength of this knowledge 

 he published, in 1849, " An Historical Inquiry into the Principles of 

 True Beauty in Art, with Especial Reference to Architecture." The 

 book was not written in a popular style, and did not sell. The matter 

 of this essay was afterward written over in a more engaging style, into 

 the " Illustrated Hand-Book of Architecture," a concise and popular 

 account of the different styles prevailing in all ages and countries, 

 which was published in 1855. This book was successful. Having 

 gone out of print, it was again rewritten in an entirely new form, and 

 the result of the remodeling appeared in 1865, as the "History of 

 Architecture in All Countries from the Earliest Times to the Present 

 Day," in three volumes, afterward enlarged into four. This book is 

 described by a critic in the "Academy" as practically standing "quite 

 alone in the English language as an encyclopaedia of architecture ; and 

 though its immensely wide scope necessarily forced its author to de- 

 pend largely on the drawings and statements of others, and so caused 

 many inaccuracies to creep into the text, yet on the whole it is a work 

 of real and, to all appearance, lasting value." The purpose of the 

 work was declared to be to write a universal history of architecture, 

 in which each style shall occupy exactly that amount of space which 

 the extent of the buildings or their merit would appear to justify ; 

 and to apply one law of criticism to all styles, ancient and modern, 

 Eastern and Western, showing why one building has been successful or 

 another failed, by a reference to those principles of design in archi- 

 tecture which seem to be universal and are easily understood. While 

 the method of the " Hand-Book " was topographical, the historical 

 method was adopted in the " History " as the one better suited to the 

 purposes of giving a general view of the whole of the subject, and of 



