136 ARCHITECTURE. BOOK Id 



rous ; and as they could not always be employed in these great 

 buildings, they would frequently assist those whose occupation 

 was chiefly that of rearing buildings for the lower classes of man- 

 kind. This, from a principle of vanity inherent in man, would 

 lead them, even in these low buildings, to imitate in some de- 

 gree what they had been accustomed to in their greater works. 

 And as the vulgar, in imitating the manners or dress of the 

 rich, always attach themselves to the ornamental parts ; so those 

 artists, disregarding the proportions of rooms, or the principles 

 of strength in walls or roofs, would copy such mouldings and 

 cornices as could be applied over their doors and windows. 

 Hence, in place of mere projections of wood or slates placed 

 over these parts to keep off the rain, Gothic labels of hewn- 

 stones would be substituted. Instead of plain round or square 

 chimney tops, they would erect those clustered angular stalks 

 which have to this day such an excellent effect in many places. 

 [See Plate VI. fig. 2.]— These imitations were carried so far, 

 that in many places the wood which supported the roof was 

 carved in all the parts exposed to view ; an excess of decoration 

 that would please all, in the tasteless age in which it was exe- 

 cuted, which is now pleasing from its age, but which we need 

 not fear seeing soon renewed, as men of abilities equal to such 

 work cannot be employed by the inhabitants of these buildings. 

 It is thus, that even in matters of taste, every evil works its own 

 remedy. In Scotland the imitation seldom went such a length, 



