ould be detected in one of them, that all the subsequent reasonings
were valueless. The reader may be assured, however, that it is not so;
the method of proof used in the following essay being only one out of
many which were in my choice, adopted because it seemed to me the
shortest and simplest, not as being the strongest. In many cases, the
conclusions are those which men of quick feeling would arrive at
instinctively; and I then sought to discover the reasons of what so
strongly recommended itself as truth. Though these reasons could every
one of them, from the beginning to the end of the book, be proved
insufficient, the truth of its conclusions would remain the same. I
should only regret that I had dishonored them by an ill-grounded
defence; and endeavor to repair my error by a better one.

I have not, however, written carelessly; nor should I in any wise have
expressed doubt of the security of the following argument, but that it
is physically impossible for me, being engaged quite as much with
mountains, and clouds, and trees, and criticism of painting, as with
architecture, to verify, as I should desire, the expression of every
sentence bearing upon empirical and technical matters. Life is not long
enough; nor does a day pass by without causing me to feel more bitterly
the impossibility of carrying out to the extent which I should desire,
the separate studies which general criticism continually forces me to
undertake. I can only assure the reader, that he will find the certainty
of every statement I permit myself to make, increase with its
importance; and that, for the security of the final conclusions of the
following essay, as well as for the resolute veracity of its account of
whatever facts have come under my own immediate cognizance, I will
pledge myself to the uttermost.

It was necessary, to the accomplishment of the purpose of the work (of
which account is given in the First Chapter), that I should establish
some canons of judgment, which the general reader should thoroughly
understand, and, if it pleased him, accept, before we took cognizance,
together, of any architecture whatsoever. It has taken me more time and
trouble to do this than I expected; but, if I have succeeded, the thing
done will be of use for many other purposes than that to which it is now
put. The establishment of these canons, which I have called "the
Foundations," and some account of the connection of Venetian
architecture with that