244 JAMES GIBBS'S BOOK 



cured." He suggests that, furnished with his book, these remote 

 gentlemen can employ any workman who understands lines to 

 build them a house, and even make alterations in his designs if 

 guided by a person of judgment. But he (very rightly) warns 

 his readers against employing only ignorant workmen in the 

 management of buildings of great expense, lest they undergo 

 the mortification of finding the result condemned by persons of 

 taste, entailing even the drastic remedy of pulling the building 

 down. He also warns them against extravagant and misapplied 

 ornament, " for it is not the Bulk of a Fabrick, the Richness and 

 Quantity of the Materials, the Multiplicity of Lines, nor the 

 Gaudiness of the Finishing, that give the Grace or Beauty and 

 Grandeur to a Building ; but the Proportion of the Parts to one 

 another and to the Whole, whether entirely plain, or enriched 

 with a few Ornaments properly disposed." It is to be feared 

 that his readers must have felt that what he gave with one hand 

 in offering them his book, he took away with the other by 

 showing how hazardous it was to use it without training and 

 experience. 



He concludes by saying that his designs had been done in 

 the best taste he could form upon the instructions of the greatest 

 masters in Italy, supplemented by his own observations upon 

 the ancient buildings there during many years' study ; adding,, 

 as a sly dig at the amateurs, " for a cursory View of those 

 August Remains can no more qualify the Spectator, or Admirer, 

 than the Air of the Country can inspire him with the knowledge 

 of Architecture." 



It is a characteristic pronouncement, with its reliance on the 

 authority of the Italian masters, its insistence on proportion, its 

 omission of any reference to domestic comfort, its intention that 

 the book should help the unlearned, coupled with the warning 

 that unless the user had taste and judgment of his own, he must 

 seek those qualities in an expert. 



The illustrations give a good idea of what was expected in a 

 country house in those days. The plans are all symmetrical,, 

 and each front is regular and intended to be seen ; there was na 

 thought of giving the house a back for the use of servants and 

 tradesmen. Indeed there were hardly any tradesmen to be 

 considered. Every house was self-sustaining and provided its 

 own bread, meat, and vegetables. This is an important point to- 

 bear in mind ; it accounts for the numerous outbuildings which 



