

RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 303 



dwelling-house, the expression of purpose is conveyed by 

 the chimney-tops, the porch or veranda, and those 

 various appendages indicative of domestic enjoyment, 

 which are needless, and therefore misplaced, in a public 

 building. In a church, the spire or the dome, when 

 present, at once stamps the building with the expression 

 of purpose ; and the few openings and plain exterior, with 

 the absence of chimneys, are the suitable and easily 

 recognised characteristics of the barn. Were any one to 

 commit so violent an outrage upon the principle of the 

 expression of purpose as to surmount his barns with the 

 tall church spire, our feelings would at once cry out 

 against the want of propriety. Yet how often do w r e 

 meet in the northern states, with stables built after the 

 models of Greek temples, and barns with elegant Venetian 

 shutters to say nothing of mansions with none but 

 concealeo cli line} tops, and without perches or append- 

 ages of an} Kind, to give the least hint to the mind of the 

 doubting spectator, whether the edifice is a chapel, a bank, 

 a hospital, or the private dwelling of a man of wealth and 

 opulence ! 



" The expression of the purpose for which every 

 building is erected," says the writer before quoted, "is 

 the first and most essential beauty, and should be obvious 

 from its architecture, although independent of any 

 particular style ; in the same manner as the reasons for 

 things are altogether independent of the language in 

 which they are conveyed. As in literary composition, no 

 beauty of language can ever compensate for poverty of 

 sense, so in architectural composition, no beauty of style 

 can ever compensate for want of expression of purpose/" 

 Applying this excellent principle to our own country 



