920 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION J. 



ducers to make something better. We can hardly blame 

 manufacturers for the present state of thinos, because compe- 

 tition will not permit them to give more than is demanded. 

 Neither can we altogether blame builders or their euijiloyers, 

 for they must cut their coat acccording to the cloth and 

 yet keep up appearances. The evil lies in the spirit of the 

 age, which looks for ostentation at the expense of truth. 



No doubt good individual bricks are now made, perhaps 

 of better quality than those of any previous age. This is a 

 cheering fact, for it shows the possibilities of modern work ; 

 yet, on the other hand, it cannot be doubted but that the 

 average brick of any previous period from Roman times 

 downward is a better article than that now commonly used. 

 Such being the case, it has become the custom to plaster over 

 the most exposed brick fronts with a thin coating of stucco 

 or cement in order to render the walls more impervious to 

 moisture, to protect outside faces from rapid denudation, and 

 to hide ugly bricks, slovenly workmanship, or other defects. 

 In this manner the popular conscience is satisfied ; for a weak, 

 unsound, and partially decomposed building has at all events 

 received the outward appearance of strength and durability. 



The spirit of deception once being admitted, proves con- 

 tagious ; consequently even in cases where good material is 

 obtainable, and no other essential difficulty in the way, we 

 find a gaudy and ostentatious cement front preferred to sound 

 honest brickwork. 



If it be true that the architecture of a given period is but 

 a petrified reflection of the characteristics of the people, what 

 are the impressions which a modern brick building will leave 

 for the criticism of the future ai-cheeologist .'' 



Shall we say that bad bricks and mortar tell of that tyrant 

 competition — the most relentless and remorseless the world 

 has yet seen ? — shall we say that the poverty of originality 

 in modern designs is explanatory of that plagiarism which 

 cheap literature has placed in the hands of the half-educated? — 

 shall we say that the superfluity of gaudy and ill-chosen 

 ornament represents the ostentation of the age? — whilst the 

 thin coating of typical cement is but the mask which barely 

 veils the fraud and deception of so many every-day transactions 

 from a not too enquiring world. 



It is a prostitution of sincerity, truth, and good sense to 

 plaster over a thin brick wall in order to represent ashlar, 

 delicately carved trusses and ornamentation, massive cornices, 

 and impossible lintels, all resting on a ponderous base of huge 



