58 SKETCHES BY A PRACTISING ARCHITECT. 



genius which typifies the purposes of a Gin-shop, 

 by a series of classic vases surmounting a tottering 

 balustrade. Here, we see a Gothic cot, with its 

 embattled parapet and chimney tops ! There, the 

 important patron of a Putney villa, knocking his hat 

 against the architrave of his Doric portico, and con- 

 trasting his " fair round belly with good capon lin'd," 

 with a couple of poor little half-starved wooden 

 columns, shining with white paint, and creaking 

 under the weight of his wife's flower pots on the 

 lead flat above. 



On the banks of some parish streamlet, tributary 

 to the Paddington Canal, rises "Priory House;" 

 — a " Priory," because of its pointed windows and 

 octagonal turrets, — a " house" because of the smoke, 

 which, issuing from the tops of those turrets, shows 

 them to be no more nor less than chimnies. By 

 means of blue, red, and yellow glass, a monastic 

 gloom is thrown over the little parlour within, poet- 

 ically qualifying the jolhty of the inmate, as he sits 

 with pipe in one hand and a jug in the other. Some- 

 times, it would appear that the architect's mind had 

 exerted its imaginings under the influence of feudal 

 inspiration. Required to design and erect a " suitable 

 building" for Miss RadclifFe's " Young Ladies' Sem- 

 inary," he is forthwith reminded of his patroness' 

 namesake, the fearful Ann ! and he goes to work 

 with the " Mysteries of Udolpho" in one eye, and 

 Warwick Castle in the other. Knowing the tendency 

 of young ladies to run away from school, he resolves 

 on putting them into a fortress, and wisely advan- 

 tages his purpose by choosing a site whose peninsula 

 form is protected by the circumfluence of a district 

 sewer. On the isthmus rises a frowning portal to 

 complete the impregnability of the Seminary; and 

 thus he secures needle- work and literature from the 

 besiegings of truantism or love. 



And, after all, what is to be said of this? Is it 

 a matter to be serious or jocose upon ? Amiable let 

 lis be at all events ; and merry, if possible. Buries- 



