pon, and intimately
connected with, his hours of labor. This question, however, has no
relation to our immediate object, and we only allude to it, that we may
be able to distinguish between the two component parts of individual
character; the one being the consequence of continuous habits of life
acting upon natural temperament and disposition, the other being the
_humor_ of character, consequent upon circumstances altogether
accidental, taking stern effect upon feelings previously determined by
the first part of the character; laying on, as it were, the finishing
touches, and occasioning the innumerable prejudices, fancies, and
eccentricities, which, modified in every individual to an infinite
extent, form the visible veil of the human heart.

166. Now, we have defined the province of the architect to be, that of
selecting such forms and colors as shall delight the mind, by preparing
it for the operations to which it is to be subjected in the building.
Now, no forms, in domestic architecture, can thus prepare it more
distinctly than those which correspond closely with the first, that is,
the fixed and fundamental, part of character, which is always so uniform
in its action, as to induce great simplicity in whatever it designs.
Nothing, on the contrary, can be more injurious than the slightest
influence of the _humors_ upon the edifice; for the influence of what is
fitful in its energy, and petty in its imagination, would destroy all
the harmony of parts, all the majesty of the whole; would substitute
singularity for beauty, amusement for delight, and surprise for
veneration. We could name several instances of buildings erected by men
of the highest talent, and the most perfect general taste, who yet, not
having paid much attention to the first principles of architecture,
permitted the humor of their disposition to prevail over the majesty of
their intellect, and, instead of building from a fixed design, gratified
freak after freak, and fancy after fancy, as they were caught by the
dream or the desire; mixed mimicries of incongruous reality with
incorporations of undisciplined ideal; awakened every variety of
contending feeling and unconnected memory; consummated confusion of form
by trickery of detail; and have left barbarism, where half the world
will look for loveliness.

167. This is a species of error which it is very difficult for persons
paying superficial and temporary attention to architecture to avoid:
howev