The Architecture of Georgetown. 91 
taste" ! Nor again in the lines of construction is there 
ought to quarrel with. Most of our respectable dwelling 
houses are more or less square buildings with a fairly- 
commodious gallery to windward, consisting of win- 
dows and jalousies alternating ; and this gallery while 
most useful — nay a luxury in itself, — has all the advant- 
ages of keeping the glaring sun off the dining and the draw- 
ing rooms; these latter rooms on the whole are fairly lofty, 
though often badly proportioned. In the sleeping rooms 
above there is not much required nor is there much to 
complain of. As to entrances, halls, and staircases, these 
as a rule are not as they should be, studied features in 
our houses. 
And now a word about the construction, detail 
and ornamentation. In the first place, the timber 
uprights supporting the building and unavoidable show- 
ing themselves within, could here and there be turned 
to good account and made more sightly by throwing 
segmental or semicircular arches between them, thus giv- 
ing some adornment to the chamber and correcting at the 
same time the awkward stiffness of the perpendicular 
lines and horizontal beams ;— nor would such an arrange- 
ment demand much boxing up, a thing certainly to be 
avoided as much as possible in this colony where ants 
and other insects are ever seeking hiding-places and do- 
ing constant mischief. Where arches are not resorted to, 
as too expensive, the uprights might, when not too slender, 
be treated as pilasters with cap and astragal mitred 
round above and the skirting returning round to act as 
base or separate. Wooden-ceiling cornices too of simple 
and chaste design would add immensely to the appearance 
of the dining and drawing-rooms. Such art features 
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