and on the Employment of Vases. 283 



castles have, it is true, passed away with those feudal times 

 which gave rise to them ; but the Gothic architecture is by no 

 means less adapted to the wants of modern life. On the other 

 hand, the Gothic cottage, irregular and picturesque in its outline, 

 may, in its internal arrangement, be made to conform to the re- 

 quirements of domestic hfe, while, unhke the Grecian (which 

 is a whole in itself), subsequent additions may be made to the 

 edifice, and only add to the beauty and good effect of the entire 

 building. By thus adapting the style of architecture to the 

 character of the scene in which it is placed, a point quite lost 

 sight of in works upon architecture (and which, as there is no 

 practice of landscape gardening in this country, may be very 

 properly inculcated through a medium like the present) , a har- 

 mony and variety is produced by these two styles alone, which 

 will be productive of the highest pleasure. But, in the erection 

 of country residences, we would by no means desire to be Hmited 

 to these two styles, and, like some architects, consider every 

 thing else barbarous. On the contrary, we consider any style 

 of architecture the most suitable and proper, which shall be 

 found, in the most perfect manner, to attain and answer the ends 

 desired. In this point of view, it is perhaps questionable whether 

 the Grecian, with its open colonnades, so dehghtful under a warm 

 sky, is as suitable for a northern climate like ours, as the Gothic, 

 with its thick walls and comfortable apartments. But as we 

 have all the extremes of temperature in this cUmate which are 

 found under the remote zones of latitude, a greater variety of 

 forms may also be permitted in building, than in either a very 

 hot or cold country. 



In applying these two principles, viz. fitness to the end de- 

 sired, and harmony of expression with the landscape, to the villas 

 and seats of our inhabitants, a person of judicious taste will 

 readily perceive great faults, both in the style of architecture 

 selected, and in the choice of the sites ; and it cannot also fail 

 of occurring to him how many beautiful and admirably adapted 

 forms for private dwellings are totally neglected, from a perverse 

 blindness to every thing but the prevailing mode. There can 

 scarcely be a more appropriate, agreeable and beautiful residence 

 for a citizen who retires to the country for the summer, than a 

 modern Itahan villa, with its ornamented chimneys, its broad ve- 

 randah, forming a fine shady promenade, and its cool breezy 

 apartments. Placed where a pleasant prospect could be enjoyed 

 — a few statues distributed with taste over the well-kept lawn — a 

 few Italian poplars, with their conical summits rising out of the 

 gracefully-rounded clumps of fohage which should surround it — 

 the whole would be quite perfect and delightful. If, again, we 

 imagine a quiet village, nestled at the foot of some of our fine 

 mountains, in the neighborhood of which is a pretty picturesque 



