SKETCHES BY A PRACTISING ARCHITECT. 59 



ques are amusing in the extreme ; and why should 

 they be less amusing from the fact of their being 

 unintentional ? A few architects are cheated out of 

 their commission : — but what of that ? They are not 

 wantonly cheated : and, they, of all men, are best 

 qualified to enjoy the sport of the thing. A spectator, 

 ignorant of the right use of the limbs, and uninitiated 

 in the graces of attitude, would derive no pleasure 

 from the antics of Astley's clown. He, thinking it 

 all right, would either pass the extravagance over as 

 a piece of insipid propriety, or would calmly eulogise 

 it as a mere sample of active motion. Oh ! did he 

 but know, under help of education, the fun of the 

 matter ! Could he but contrast the gravity of 

 supposed well-doing with the drollery of the actual 

 thing done. The joke of Tom Thumb and Chro- 

 nonhotonthologos would be much increased by a 

 belief that they had been intended for serious tragedy 

 by their authors. It is the true disciple of ^schylus 

 and Shakspeare, who would most enjoy that fact. 

 To a woman of real fashion, what is more entertaining 

 than the affected air of some retired cit's wife, whose 

 wealth renders her a victim to ridicule while shie 

 fancies herself the admired of all observers. The 

 drama has its farce ; — why not the Arts ? To require 

 that the farce of architecture should be intentional 

 would be absurd : — if it be required at all, it can 

 only be expected from the serious efforts of pretending 

 ignorance ; and the sterling merit of the circumstance 

 is simply this, that both parties, both laugher and 

 laughee, are honestly entertained ; the latter, under 

 a grave sense of his importance, and the former as 

 truly appreciating the humour of that gravity. 



The stickler to attic propriety would say thus : — 

 " Let no man emulate the honors of a Greek portico, 

 who cannot aifbrd to make it so high, as that he may 

 pass under it without endangering the crown of his 

 hat, or the aspiring ribbands of his wife's bonnet: 

 nor let him ever dream that his Doric columns will 

 answer in effect, while the circumference oi' their 

 bodies is exceeded by the rotundity of his own.'' V 



