Anecdotes of PAINTING, &c. 



C H A P. V. 



State of Archite5iure to the end of the Reigti 

 of Henry VIII. 



IT is unlucky for the \rorld, that our 

 earliefl anceflors were not aware of the 

 curiofity which v/ould infpire their defcen- 

 dcnts of kno'^ing minutely every thing re- 

 lating to them. When they placed three 

 or four branches of trees acrofs the trunks 

 ©f others and covered them with boughs or 

 ftraw to keep out the weather, the good 

 people were not apprized that they were 

 difcovering architecture;, and that it would 

 be learnedly agitated fome thoufand of years 

 afterwards who was the inventor of this flu- 

 pendous fcience. In complaifance to our 

 inquiries they would undoubtedly have 

 tranfmitted an account of the firil hovel 

 that was ever built, and from that patriarch 

 hut we fhould poffefs a faithfuU genealogy 

 of all it's defcendcnts : Yet fuch a curiofity 

 would dcftroy much greater treafures \ it 



would 



