Architecture in the United States. 109 
So much for the effect on the morals of a people. The reaction 
on the mind is also of very great consequence. A flourishing state 
of architecture, it is true, implies a good degree of previous mental 
culture ; but no cause perhaps, operates with more quickness, cer- 
tainty and power, in refining the mind, thus prepared, than this. It 
is placing objects of taste before the public, which they cannot help 
seeing, about which they must converse, whose beauties they 
must analyse, on which, in short, all will turn critics, and the sure 
consequence will be, a refinement of taste, an elevation of mental 
character, which will carry itself into all the concerns of life. The 
principle of accommodation is one of the most powerful and useful 
inournature. Place a civilized man among savages, and his thoughts, 
feelings and habits, will, before many years, be strongly assimilated 
to those of the savage: place a savage in refined society, and his 
character will ina short time undergo achange. Place a number of 
tasteful public edifices in a town, and the private buildings of that 
town will become classic and tasteful : build private edifices on the 
principles of good taste, and I do not hesitate to say, that their inte- 
rior will correspond,—that in cleanliness, good order and regularity 
of the system within, there will be a sure and rapid improvement, 
reacting strongly on the mind, as well as on the moral character of 
the occupants. 
The subject is’ one sufficiently important, to be a matter of gov- 
ernmental patronage. This we can scarcely expect, but I hope 
much from honorable rivalship between our cities and towns. The 
character of a place depends more on this, than would seem proba- 
ble, at first sight ; and, as I have already said, will depend on it still 
more in future years. Most of the Italian cities owe their reputa- 
tion, and some of them, through the crowds of foreigners thus allur- 
ed, a considerable part of their support, to the attention architect- 
ure formerly received. Milan would gain but little attention from 
the multitudes hurrying yearly to Rome, were it not for her cathe- 
dral. Genoa would draw but slight notice, were it not for her 
beautiful palaces. The Duomo and Logia of Florence divide with 
its gallery, the admiration of all travellers: even Rome owes much 
of her present celebrity to her architectural remains, and Greece 
without hers would be but a winter’s shadow. I recollect the first 
time I heard a native of Leghorn speak of his city. He wished to 
make a favorable impression about it, and spoke, not of its sudden 
rise, its harbor, or commerce, or canals, but of its burying ground. 
