224 Architecture in the United States. 



and the architect is soon perceived to have so far failed. There 

 arises here a singular difference between a Grecian and a Gothic 

 edifice. The former at first sight always appears smaller than it 

 really is, but the longer and oftener we look at it the more its parts 

 enlarge, till what was at first seemingly diminutive, becomes vast and 

 grand ; the latter on the contrary when first observed, always appears 

 larger than the reality, and is apt to shrink in its dimensions as we 

 inspect it more closely. In the case of the Gothic, our first emotion 

 is astonishment and admiration ; but the mind soon begins to gener- 

 alize its parts, and as it succeeds, the strong power of the building 

 declines : but the architect who understands his business, anticipates 

 us here ; he foils us in every effort at generalizing ; the powers of 

 our mind are kept divided and weakened, and the edifice still retains 

 its control. While we avoid simplicity, however, we must not run 

 into the other extreme, either of confusion or finesse : the one will 

 weary, the other will disgust, the beholder. 



Our country labors under many disadvantages, as regards the 

 Gothic style. Its expensive character is in most cases far beyond 

 our means. It flourished in Europe at a time when the revenues of 

 the church were princely, and no style demands such large pecuniary 

 resources as this. Still, enough has already been done among us, 

 to shew that this is not an insurmountable obstacle. There is an- 

 other important difficulty in the nature of Protestant worship. The 

 interior of our edifices for worship must not be broken up into parts. 

 The best form for a Protestant church is a rectangular parallelogram, 

 though 1 have seen the circle and other simple forms employed, seem- 

 ingly, without any inconvenient results. But any thing like a cross, 

 the favorite form of the Gothic, is entirely inadmissible. There is at 

 Washington a church in form of a Greek cross, in good taste as to its 

 general architecture, but in consequence of its shape, a part of the 

 congregation cannot see the minister, and the want of fitness in the 

 interior, is exceedingly unpleasant. But still, I do not despair. The 

 smoothness of the walls, on the exterior, may be broken by buttresses 

 and other projections, and the simplicity of the interior is kept from 

 being strongly felt by galleries, which, on this account, I do not con- 

 sider a great evil, notwithstanding the outcry frequently made against 

 them by writers on this style. The reader will bear in mind that 

 we speak of churches, as they must exist among us. Could we 

 have them, with the same multiplicity of parts as those in Catholic 



