RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 
310 
only those wandering sons of Ishmael, who pitch their 
tents with the same indifference, and as little desire to 
remain fixed, in the flowery plains of Persia, as in the 
sandy deserts of Zahara or Arabia. 
In a city or town, or in its immediate vicinity, where 
space is limited, where buildings stand crowded together, 
and depend for their attractions entirely upon the style 
and manner of their construction, mere architectural 
effect, after convenience and fitness are consulted, is of 
course the only point to be kept in view. There, the 
fa9ade, which meets the eye of the spectator from the 
public street, is enriched and made attractive by the 
display of architectural style and decoration, commen- 
surate to the magnitude or importance of the edifice ; and 
the whole, so far as the effect of the building is concerned, 
comes directly within the province of the architect alone. 
With respect to this class of dwellings we have little 
complaint to make, for many of our town residences are 
highly elegant and beautiful. But how shall we designate 
that singular perversity of taste, or rather that total want 
of it, wdiich prompts the man, who, under the name of a 
villa residence, piles up in the free open country, amid the 
green fields, and beside the wanton gracefulness of luxuriant 
nature, a stiff modern “ three story brick,” which, like a 
well bred cockney with a true horror of the country, 
doggedly seems to refuse to enter into harmonious com- 
bination with any other object in the scene, but only 
serves to call up the exclamation, 
Avaunt, stiff pile ! why didst thou stray 
From blocks congenial in Broadway! 
Yet almost daily we see built up in the country huge 
