Gothic. Grecian artists. the character of the people in which it exists. The impetuous and active invaders of the North, produced the light, lofty, and imposing design of what is called Gothic architecture; the gloomy Moor and Spaniard, delighted in the horse-shoe arch; the refined and elegant Greek, inspired rather by national taste than national character, produced a style of building wholly superior to any thing else, and as to character, governed by propriety the most refined. It was not the substantial, baseless Doric, that showed them always rigid and austere; nor the Corinthian order, that displayed always the attic salt; but a proper choice of a particular and suitable order, which rendered their buildings always appropriate, and their their taste. names immortal. I say, the Greeks were governed by a taste the most refined, which was directed only by the most accurate precepts of propriety, without being carried away into the unlimited extremes of displaying any universal character, to the exclusion of the rest; well knowing that The Greeks, Taste, like morals, loves the golden mean. Mason's Fresnoy, v. 98. I am aware, that national character has by some been supposed to be a sign of a nation's taste: this I do not think wholly the case: national character is natural to all nations; and in fact, less to those whose refinement, learning, and investigation, have taught them to separate the modes of character, and adapt them to their peculiarities. A nation, indeed, by following any particular art or character, may arrive at great perfection in that most suited to them; as the Ro mans, in more modern times, in painting, were masters of the grand, imposing, and austere; while the Venetian excelled in the rich, delicate and brilliant; but the Roman could not admire the Venetian, Their nor the Venetian the Roman works; while the man ent spirit. independof true taste can see the beauties of both, and feel their excellencies. The man of true taste, like a conscientious senator, is endued with an independent spirit, which prevents his being attached to any party, and induces him to follow right, and right only, whether it is derived from this or that source; thus upon the same principle, the same nation, the Greeks, produced both the light and elegant Corinthian order, and the firm and magnificent Doric. architec 6. In tracing the inimitable inventions of Greece to Roman Rome, we find indeed their proportions followed, and ture. in general their mode of forming the different parts strikingly pursued; but the Roman seems beyond this to have been wholly ignorant of the principles of architecture in Roman structures, instead of seeing one character pervade a building, as of lightness, massiveness, strength, dignity, elegance, or richness, we too often see the Corinthian, Ionic, and Doric, piled one above another, to the utter destruction of all character whatever. Bad architects will, however, exist in all ages and countries, and we cannot with justice say, that the Romans were wholly destitute of good architects; and their national propensity in later times for pomp and splendor, shows itself in their own two orders of architecture, (if we may call them such); for the composite, though not possessing that brightness, chasteness, elegance, and refined grace that the Modern architecture. pure Corinthian does, and though it is considerably more heavy and clumsy in its capital, and epistyle, yet it certainly possesses a character of massive, and luxuriant richness in the fulness of the leaves and volutes of the capital, which is peculiar to itself; but at best its meretricious contours allow it but little merit, in comparison with the Corinthian, its prototype. We must also allow the Tuscan order a character of dignity in its projecting cornice, which, at a great distance, gives it even a nobler effect than the Doric; but the sublime and exalted character of masculine strength, the innate vigour of masterly genius, the variety, refinement, and aptitude of design, and every quality that can enhance effect in architecture, are so conspicuous in the Doric, that there is no difficulty in assigning the palm; though, indeed, a comparison is hardly fair, as the character of each of them is distinctly different, the Doric order displaying the character of strength in the strongest manner, (for here I speak of the legitimate Doric, whose column was only between four and six diameters,) by its solid dimensions, its triglyphs, and its fluted shaft; while the Tuscan displays more a character of imposing and austere solemnity, by means of its projecting cornice, which could be applied only to the simplest design. 7. The moderns have borrowed their architecture, till lately, very much from Rome, and have, consequently, followed very many of their errors; but even with the moderns there is a striking display of national character; and we constantly see, that not only there are national styles used, but even in using any of the Grecian orders, one country will design it very differently from another: even in the common circumstance of a roof, we see that they are inva riably more pointed in France than in this country. Egyptian. 8. We might proceed to take notice of the solidity of the Saxon, the lightness and tawdriness of the Chinese, the mystery of the Egyptian, the gloom of Chinese. the Russian, in their innumerable pear-shaped domes, Russian. and many other styles of building, which strongly display national character: indeed, this subject alone would furnish matter for a great deal of curious investigation. tecture a art. 9. But it is to ourselves that we should turn our particular attention. As architecture is so universal, Archiit must surely be an object worthy of every man of universal taste and feeling, to promote its excellence as much as possible, that the eye may not be disgusted by the absurdities of ignorance. This, however, is a selfish feeling; we may, however, argue upon public good and public advantage. It will be allowed as a principle, that where the mind is led into a train of just and elegant thinking, or indeed any particular train of mind, it will apply that to every thing. Thus, to take a familiar example, the sailor would talk of starboard and larboard in the middle of a ball-room, and the painter of grandeur of effect, vivid contrast, and fine expression of character, when a house was on fire; so that, if architecture, which so constantly presents itself to us, were in perfection, and generally studied, we might have fair ground for supposing, that national taste itself would be improved; for there is nothing more true than that associated im- Associated pressions on the mind have a great tendency to pro- sions. impres Reynolds. Earl of duce a uniformity of character. Thus, the mind accustomed to elegance or deformity in any art, will apply that elegance or deformity to every thing it Sir Joshua undertakes. Sir Joshua Reynolds observes to the effect, that a virtuous and truly upright man was most likely to make a good painter. The Earl of Arundel, too, in the time of Charles the First, in still stronger terms enforces, that one who could not design a little, would never make an honest man.-(Evlyn Sculptura, p. 95.) Such remarks cannot of course be generally true; for men, on the one hand, do not act always up to their consciences; and on the other, when correct, are often so from interest or education, rather than from natural virtue; and, applying this to architecture, there are many who know how to build well, but, from caprice or fancy, indulge in some palpable absurdity. Nobody will however, deny, that we ought to direct the human mind, and that by so doing, and presenting the mind with a power of attaining excellence in one art, we shall have a fair opportunity of improving other arts. Addison. 10. Architecture is, however, an art, more than any other, capable of directing national taste; it is an art, as Addison tells us, (after speaking of the pleasure of sight,) "which has more immediate tendency than any other to produce the primary pleasures of the imagination" (see Spectator, No. 415); and therefore, as more forcibly laying hold of the mind, more decidedly capable of leading it. It is Vitruvius. an art which Vitruvius opens his work by telling us, in the words which I have quoted for the motto to this essay, is a science "by whose principles all the |