APRIL. 167 



it is intended, and out of harmony with its situation. Mr. 

 Alison has remarked, " that there is no rule of criticism more 

 important in itself, or more fitted to preserve the taste of the 

 individual and of the public, than to consider every composi- 

 tion as faulty and defective, in which the expression of the 

 art is more striking than the expression of the subject ; or in 

 which the beauty of design prevails over the beauty of char- 

 acter or expression." He had been treating of "the gradual 

 desertion of the end of the art, for the display of the art 

 itself." This error is very manifest in the construction of 

 dwelling-houses in this country; where, in a general effort to 

 display the architectural art, the effect of the work upon the 

 mind of the spectator, except to excite his admiration, is 

 wholly overlooked. 



In treating of this subject I shall arrange expression under 

 four different heads ; comprehending historic or romantic ex- 

 pression, which is derived from association with certain 

 objects made familiar to us in the pages of history and 

 romance ; rural or poetic expression, having its origin in our 

 ideas of rural comfort and retirement, and of those rustic 

 scenes presented to us by the muse of pastoral song ; mortal 

 expression, which comes from that combination of qualities 

 that awaken in the mind ideas favorable, or unfavorable, of 

 the character of the designer or the occupants ; lastly, 

 harmonic expression, which is but the manifest appropriate- 

 ness of the building to the general style and appearance of 

 other houses in its vicinity, and to the natural objects around 

 it. 



I. Historic expression is more generally regarded in the 

 style of public buildings, as churches, state-houses, and mon- 

 uments. It forms, also, what may be termed the national 

 character of a private dwelling-house. Thus we have the 

 English and the Italian, the Gothic and the Grecian, the 

 Roman and the Oriental styles, both of civil and domestic 

 architecture. It is the charm of historic associations that has 

 caused so many imitations of foreign cottages and villas 

 among our American houses. Unfortunately the interest is 

 often lost in the imitation, unless it harmonizes with its local- 



