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merits ; or else the more pointed forms of 

 Gothic splendour and magnificence, such 

 as we often view them in reality > and as 

 they strike the imagination in Milton's 

 glowing description of 



Some renown'd metropolis, 



AVith glittering spires antl 1 pinnacles aclorn'd, 

 Which now the rising sun. gilds with his beams. 



What a different aspect would a city pre- 

 sent, in which all the buildings were nearly 

 of the same height, and roofs and chimnies 

 the most conspicuous objects ! such, how- 

 ever, is the appearance of a number of ex- 

 pensive houses in the country. Yet, in my 

 opinion, a mansion with its offices, as being 

 admass of building independent of all others, 

 the highest parts of which are not eclipsed 

 by the superior height and magnitude of 

 other edifices, but are conspicuous from all 

 parts, has very little relation in its general 

 character to a house in a city ; it should 

 rather be considered in point of effect, and 

 when viewed at some distance, as a zvhole 



