the architecture of the middle ages, as applicable to buildings in the
nineteenth century. Let us repeat our belief, that it is in its
_adaptability_ to our wants, both practical and artistic, that its true
value consists. Mediæval architects in England are never tired of
insisting upon this fact; although hitherto they must confess to a
certain amount of failure, because, perhaps, they attempt too much.

If one were to judge by what appears to be going on in nearly every town
in England at the present time, we should say that there never was a
time when architecture was so much considered. 'Every town' (says a late
writer, speaking of the extent of this movement), 'that shares the
progress and character of the age, has a new town hall, a new exchange,
new schools, and every institution for which an honest pretence can be
found. A stranger, possessing an interest in the town, and with no claim
upon it excepting that it shall please his eye, must be charmed with the
profuse display of towers, turrets, pinnacles, and pointed roofs,
windows of all sorts, niches, arcades, battlements, bosses, and
everything else to be found in an architectural glossary. He may wonder
why a lofty tower--sometimes several towers--should be necessary to the
trying cases of assault and petty larceny, to the reading of newspapers,
to the inspection of samples of wheat, or to the drilling of little boys
in declensions and conjugations; but that is not his affair, and he has
nothing to do with it, except to be thankful for a good sky-line, and a
well-relieved, but yet harmonious, façade.' Nevertheless, we live in
certain hope of a more practical application of beauty and simplicity of
form, to the wants and requirements of our own day; and we believe that
it is possible to have both cheap and useful buildings, graceful in
form, and harmonious in colour and design.

But notwithstanding our admiration for the buildings of the thirteenth