RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 319 



only those wandering sons of Ishmael, who pitch their 

 tents with the same indifference, and as little desire to 

 remain fixed, in the flowery plains of Persia, as in the 

 sandy deserts of Zahara or Arabia. 



In a city or town, or in its immediate vicinity, where 

 sps.ce is limited, where buildings stand crowded together, 

 and depend for their attractions entirely upon the style 

 and manner of their construction, mere architectural 

 effect, after convenience and fitness are consulted, is of 

 course the only point to be kept in view. There, the 

 facade, which t meets the eye of the spectator from the 

 public street, is enriched and made attractive by the 

 display of architectural style and decoration, commen- 

 surate to the magnitude or importance of the edifice ; and 

 the whole, so far as the effect of the building is concerned, 

 comes directly within the province of the architect alone. 



With respect to this class of dwellings we have little 

 complaint to make, for many of our town residences are 

 highly elegant and beautiful. But how shall we designate 

 that singular perversity of taste, or rather that total want 

 of it, which prompts the man, who, under the name of 

 villa residence, piles up in the free open country, amid the 

 green fields, and beside the wanton gracefulness of luxuriant 

 nature, a stiff modern " three story brick," which, like a 

 well bred cockney with a true horror of the country, 

 doggedly seems to refuse to enter into harmonious com- 

 bination with any other object in the scene, but only 

 serves to call up the exclamation, 



Avaunt, stiff pile ! why didst thou stray 

 From blocks congenial in Broadway ! 



Yet almost daily we see built up in the country huge 



