the
choice of the elephant's foot for the parallel of the Doric pillar: I
even thought of omitting, or rewriting, great part of the chapter, but
determined at last to let it stand. I am striving to speak plain truths
on many simple and trite subjects, and I hope, therefore, that much of
what I say has been said before, and am quite willing to give up all
claim to originality in any reasoning or assertion whatsoever, if any
one cares to dispute it. I desire the reader to accept what I say, not
as mine, but as the truth, which may be all the world's, if they look
for it. If I remember rightly, Mr. Frank Howard promised at some
discussion respecting the "Seven Lamps," reported in the "Builder," to
pluck all my borrowed feathers off me; but I did not see the end of the
discussion, and do not know to this day how many feathers I have left:
at all events the elephant's foot must belong to Mr. Garbett, though,
strictly speaking, neither he nor I can be quite justified in using it,
for an elephant in reality stands on tiptoe; and this is by no means the
expression of a Doric shaft. As, however, I have been obliged to speak
of this treatise of Mr. Garbett's, and desire also to recommend it as of
much interest and utility in its statements of fact, it is impossible
for me to pass altogether without notice, as if unanswerable, several
passages in which the writer has objected to views stated in the "Seven
Lamps." I should at any rate have noticed the passage quoted above,
(Chap. 30th,) which runs counter to the spirit of all I have ever
written, though without referring to me; but the references to the
"Seven Lamps" I should not have answered, unless I had desired,
generally, to recommend the book, and partly also, because they may
serve as examples of the kind of animadversion which the "Seven Lamps"
had to sustain from architects, very generally; which examples being
once answered, there will be little occasion for my referring in future
to other criticisms of the kind.

The first reference to the "Seven Lamps" is in the second page, where
Mr. Garbett asks a question, "Why are not convenience and stability
enough to constitute a fine building?"--which I should have answered
shortly by asking another, "Why we have been made men, and not bees nor
termites:" but Mr. Garbett has given a very pretty, though partial,
answer to it himself, in his 4th to 9th pages,--an answer which I
heartily beg the reader to consider. But, in page 12