at bottom the same rude mass, with the "architecture" tacked on. It
is not that the owner has any deeper or different sentiment towards
his dwelling, but merely that he has a desire to make a flourish
before the eyes of beholders. There is no heartfelt interest in all
this on his part; it gives him no pleasure; how, then, should it
please the spectator?

The case is the same, whether it be the coarse ornamentation of the
cheap cottage, or the work of the fashionable architect; we feel
that the decoration is superficial and may be dispensed with, and
then, however skillful, it becomes superfluous. The more elaborate
the worse, for attention is the more drawn to the failure.

What is wanted for any real progress is not so much a greater skill
in our house-builders, as more thoughtful consideration on the part
of the house-owners of what truly interests them in the house. We do
not stop to examine what really weighs with us, but on some fancied
necessity hasten to do superfluous things. What is it that we really
care for in the building of our houses? Is it not, that, like dress,
or manners, they should facilitate, and not impede the business
of life? We do not wish to be compelled to think of them by
themselves either as good or bad, but to get rid of any obstruction
from them. They are to be lived in, not looked at; and their beauty
must grow as naturally from their use as the flower from its stem,
so that it shall not be possible to say where the one ends and
the other begins. Not that beauty will come of itself; there must be
the feeling to be satisfied before any satisfaction will come.
But we shall not help it by pretending the feeling, nor by trying
to persuade others or ourselves that we are pleased with what has
been pleasing to other nations and under other circumstances.