218 RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 



iastes,'' (If lie proverb read whims, it would be gospel trutk) 

 Hence we see numberless persons "who set about building their own 

 bouse without the aid of an ai'chiteet, who would not think of being 

 their own lawyer, though one profession demands as much study and 

 capacity as the other ; and it is not to this we object, fca- we hold 

 that a man may often build his own house and pkad his own 

 rights to justice satisfactorily — ^but it must be done in both instances, 

 in the simplest alid most straightforward manner. If he attempts 

 to go into the discussion of Blacistone on the one hand, or the mys- 

 teries of Vitruvius and Pugiti on the other, he^is sure to get speedily 

 swamped, and commit all sorts of follies and extravagancies'' quite 

 ©ut of keeping with his natural character. 



The two greatest trials to the architect of' taste, who desires to 

 see his country and age making a respectable figure in this branch 

 of the arts, areto be found in that class of travelled smatterera in 

 mrtu, who have picked up here and there, in the tour from Liver- 

 pool to Rome, cfertain ill-assorted notions of artj which they wish 

 combined in one sublime whole, in the shape of theil own domicil ; 

 and that larger class, who ambitiously imitate in a small cottage, all 

 that belongs' to palaces, castles and buildings of princely dimensions. 



The first,cfclass is confined to no country. E?iamples are to.bfe 

 found every where, and we do not know of "a better hit at the folly 

 of these cognpscenti, than in the following relation of experiences by 

 one of the cleverest of English architectural critics : :'v 



" The architect is^ requested, perhaps, by a man of great wealthj' 

 nay, of established taste in some points, to make a design for a villa 

 in a lovely situation. The future proprietor carries him up stairs to 

 his study, to give him what he calls his 'ideas and materials,' and, 

 in all probability, begins somew|hat'thus : ' This, sir, is a slight note; 

 I made it on the spot ; approach to Villa Reale, near Puzzuoli. 

 Dancing nymphs, you perceive ; cypresses, shell fountain. I think 

 I should like somethitg like this for the approach ; classical you 

 perceive, sir ; elegant, graceful. Then, sir, this is a sketch- by an 

 American friend of mine ; Whe-whaw-Eantalnaraw's 'wigwam, king 

 of the — — Cannibal Islands ; I think he said, sir. Log, you ob- 

 serve ; scalps, and boa constrictor skins ; curious. Something like 

 this, sir, would look neat, I think, for the ffont door; don't' you? 



