Theory and Practice 



i8i 



building would have appeared diminutive so near to 

 the neighbouring large oak; I therefore judged that the 

 best rule for the dimensions of the columns was 

 rather less than the diameter of the oak, and this, of 

 course, determined the whole proportion of the Doric 

 portico. 



So prevalent is the taste for what is called Gothic,in the 

 neighbourhood of great cities, that we see buildings of 

 every description, from the villa to the pig-sty, with little 



Fig. 23. Gothic Cottage. 



pointed arches or battlements, to look like Gothic ; and 

 a Gothic dairy is now become as common an appendage 

 to a place as were formerly the hermitage, the grotto, or 

 the Chinese pavilion. Why the dairy should be Gothic, 

 when the house is not so, I cannot understand, unless 

 it arises from that great source of bad taste, to introduce 

 what is called a pretty thing without any reference to its 

 character, situation, or uses. Even in old Gothic cot- 

 tages we never see the sharp-pointed arch, but often the 

 flat arch of Henry VIII, and perhaps there is no form 

 more picturesque for a cottage than buildings of that 



