T RAV

TRAVELS IN AlIueA.futatiou, a Gothie taste onearth*, and present days, ma.y boast themerit ·of having produced to light the h6peful bantling.architecture, 'Iike its prototype of Egypt, '\VasGreciangoverned by rule andscale; that which the Normans adopted by the sweeps of the compassi~.The elegant and convenient variety and effect, the· scope of powerwhich an artist gifted with, talent could exhibit, immediately ba411nished in the eyes of this tasteful nation all competition from duUtechnical monotony,which, for onl.y tesource lu way ofretaliation, .•recurs to terms of reproach, terms which nJarkonly .their O'Wll abs'wr.dity. See the clumsiness of the Roman, in itschild the Saxon, architecture.See the comparative destitution ofeffect in the most labouredstructures of Greece 1A manrecurs to his scale in OI'der' to discovertheir perfection. 'fhe efforts of true taste speak for themselvcs. AhiHock to the igneous rîtuaJ, shaped ifnatùral, accurnulated ifnot found,ready to hand, ,the shepherd's summer hut of t\vigs and skins, and hif:lwintercave tolodge his familyand flockin,where the 6rst etfortsofhu~aningenuity were to roll a stoue close to tlle entrauce, andmake ana;per­,ture a.bove [m' the smoke toescape, are the sources to whichalJ struc·ture and architecture are to ,he traced, whether ,sacred or œconomic,through theirlong and diversified grafJations.The Arabs, with anational chal'acteristic, adopted the hQfSe-shoe in their afchitecture~is totally faIse in principle, but itseffect i8 pleasing...ItBeing faIse inprinciple, it cannot he admissible as a distinctive style. The Arahesque... Architeeturehasever preferred strong daims. In former days these e~tellcled bt:;yp:q(1 sc:.ience,even to prœternatural resource. Etymology proves this, and Gaelie, Keltie, and Telltonie, aIt eontributetheir concurrent testimony to this effect. Passillg by the Punie SojJite, wlliehis ..modishenough, Dar:ugh and Brujo,preserved in each sense in their respective tongues, prove ~he conne~ionof asspcia,ted ideas.t Connter-segments are the distinguishing feature of Scythian architecture. Of the point.d.1ltyle,anemanatioll ofthis idea,the ehurch ofSt. Sophia ofNicotia.ia the mos.t ancient.spe~mêJ~