rnament for beauty, and its total absence for
simplicity.

8. But all these disadvantages might in some degree be counteracted, all
these abuses in some degree prevented, were it not for the slight
attention paid by our architects to that branch of the art which I have
above designated as the Poetry of Architecture. All unity of feeling
(which is the first principle of good taste) is neglected; we see
nothing but incongruous combination: we have pinnacles without height,
windows without light, columns with nothing to sustain, and buttresses
with nothing to support. We have parish paupers smoking their pipes and
drinking their beer under Gothic arches and sculptured niches; and quiet
old English gentlemen reclining on crocodile stools, and peeping out of
the windows of Swiss chalets.

9. I shall attempt, therefore, to endeavor to illustrate the principle
from the neglect of which these abuses have arisen; that of unity of
feeling, the basis of all grace, the essence of all beauty. We shall
consider the architecture of nations as it is influenced by their
feelings and manners, as it is connected with the scenery in which it is
found, and with the skies under which it was erected; we shall be led as
much to the street and the cottage as to the temple and the tower; and
shall be more interested in buildings raised by feeling, than in those
corrected by rule. We shall commence with the lower class of edifices,
proceeding from the roadside to the village, and from the village to the
city; and, if we succeed in directing the attention of a single
individual more directly to this most interesting department of the
science of architecture, we shall not have written in vain.

_PART I._

The Cottage.

THE LOWLAND COTTAGE:--ENGLAND, FRANCE, ITALY:

THE MOUNTAIN COTTAGE:--SWITZERLAND AND WESTMORELAND:

A CHAPTER ON CHIMNEYS:

AND CONCLUDING REMARKS ON COTTAGE-BUILDING.

THE POETRY OF ARCHITECTURE.

I.

THE LOWLAND COTTAGE--ENGLAND AND FRANCE.

10. Of all embellishments by which the efforts of man can enhance the
beauty of natural scenery, those are the most effective which can give
animation to the scene, while the spirit which they bestow is in unison
with its general character. It is generally desirable to indicate the
presence of animated existence in a scene of natural beauty; but only of
such existence as shall be imbued with the spirit, and shall partake of
the essence, of the beauty, which, w