The Ho vie of Taste. 
5 
“ It seems as if the day was not wholly profane, in which we have given heed 
to some natural object." 
It would be an anomaly to find a student of nature addicted to the vices 
that cast so many dark shadows on our social life, nor as a matter of fact 
can we readily recall an instance of a naturalist or philosopher who has been 
known as a bad man ; but of such as have been revered and loved for goodness 
the names are so numerous that we might liken them in plenitude as well as 
their nature to the stars in heaven. But to avoid any severe test, is it not 
true that the most genial natures are of the homely sort, attached to the 
fireside ; cultivators of rural tastes in some form or other; given to simple 
hobbies that keep the attention fixed on things that breathe purity, and quiet 
and peace, answering to their own aspirations ? They are healthy folks, healthy 
in mind as well as in body, and to clear perceptions add the impulses of 
generous hearts. We must receive the kingdom of heaven as little children, 
and shape our lives in childish ways to be worthy of it. 
In a certain sense the Home is the outside of a man ; it is an external 
vesture, and more or less, but always in some degree, a visible embodiment of 
his mental character. The man of intellect and taste will impress on every¬ 
thing about him an air of usefulness or elegance, and will make the best of 
the roughest materials that fate may cast in his path. Architecture—the 
highest of the domestic arts—spring out of the desire of the mind to dwell 
in a fair exterior, and to be surrounded by harmonious forms. In this, as in 
other of the useful arts, elegance, comfort, and convenience usually go hand 
in hand ; and while deformity is invariably more expensive in every sense than 
grace, so the well-built and tastefully-adorned mansion more readily meets our 
domestic requirements, and in accordance with our station, affords proper 
scope for embellishment within and without. Sir Henry Wotton says, 
“ Architecture can want no commendation where there are noble men and 
noble minds ; ” and it is not to be doubted that if ordinary residences were 
constructed in accordance with correct principles of taste, the dwellers in 
them would attain a higher status in mind and morals, for the character is 
powerfully impressed for good or evil by what surrounds it permanently. 
Why should the eye be compelled to gaze on ugly lines and awkward angles, 
false proportions, and incongruities intended as ornaments, when symmetry is 
at all times cheap, and accuracy of form the most useful and convenient ? If 
builders were equal to their work we should read art-lessons in the streets, 
instead of perpetually deploring the violation, in bricks and mortar, of every 
