MAY. 209 



kindred and corresponding imagery ; the extent and compass 

 of which, allowing for different degrees of sensibility and 

 habits of attention, will form the scale of such enjoyment. 

 Of this description are the objects and circumstances called 

 picturesque ; a word that is now become extremely common 

 and familiar in our tongue, and, like all other foreign words, 

 is very frequently used improperly. 



The author speaks of architecture quite at length, in its 

 application both to painting and gardening. One quotation 

 conveys an idea which may be interesting. He says, "At 

 this time, when the taste for gothic architecture has been so 

 generally revived, nothing is more common than to hear pro- 

 fessors as well as lovers of the art, expatiating upon the merits 

 of the pure gothic ; and greatly endeavoring to separate it from 

 those spurious and adscititious ornaments by which it has been 

 lately debased : but, nevertheless, if we ask what they mean by 

 pure gothic^ we can receive no satisfactory answer ; there 

 are no rules — no proportions — and consequently no definitions ; 

 but we are referred to certain models of generally acknowl- 

 edged excellence. These models are of two kinds, entirely 

 differing from each other ; the one called the castle and the 

 other the cathedral or monastic ; the one having been em- 

 ployed in the fortresses, and the other in the churches and 

 convents of those nations which divided the Roman empire, 

 and erected the states and kingdoms of modern Europe upon 

 its ruins." The author denies that these nations had any 

 architecture as an art reduced to principles ; and it is manifest 

 that they either invented, or adopted both these styles of ar- 

 chitecture after their settlement in the Roman empire. There 

 is every reason to believe that they adopted certain styles 

 which they found already existing in their conquered country. 

 The overhanging battlements, now called gothic, were cer- 

 tainly known to the Romans as early as the reign of Titus ; 

 as there are, among the paintings of Herculaneum, represen- 

 tations of walls and towers completely finished in this way; 

 and it is probable that this fashion continued down to the 

 subversion of the empire, and was then adopted by the con- 

 querors. 



VOL. XXII. NO. V. 27 



