266 on taste in architecture. Aug. ig. 



nor the right of primogeniture, nor the accuniulacion 

 of property bj marriage or collateral succcfsion, had 

 rendered private individuals capable of erecting last- 

 ing monuments of taste and magnificence. 



The whole revenues of the commonwealth, that 

 could be saved from the exigencies of government, 

 were employed either in the building of stately 

 temples in honour of the gods, or in defraying the 

 expence of public roads, bridges, aqueducts, or plea- 

 sing the populace by the celebration of spectacles 

 and games, to feed the vanity of the public or of 

 the prince. The extinct empire of middle Asia 

 seems to have been the first that erected durable 

 monuments of architectural grandeur ; and as in the 

 remains of these, lately contemplated by the truly 

 learijed and excellent Sir William Jones, in the neigK- 

 bourhood of Bombay, and at Benares in Indostan, 

 we perceive the semblance of the manners, drefs, rcr 

 ligion, customs, and architecture, of the Gothic and 

 Scythian nations ; so we may fairly conjecture that 

 all sciences and arts have followed the course of the 

 natural day. 



Averting our eye with a respectful smile, from 

 the calculations of Mr Bailli on the antiquity of 

 these nations, let us call ourselves home to objects of 

 contemplation where we have better guides. " They, 

 (writes the ingenious Mr Riou) who, to judge of 

 the origin of a. custom or of an art, and of its pafsage 

 from one people to another, adhere to the mere con- 

 templation of any detached circumstances which may 

 «ffer certain appearances of likenefs, and thus, from 

 some particular equivocal forms, draw their conclu- 



