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    elegant objects , which are not necessarily expensive things , as Mr Loudon has well set forth . He stigmatises all mean and miserable dwellings , and it cheers the hearts of all good men , when in

    (describing the general character of poor men ' s cottages , he emp hatically says , dwellings , in worse than which no English labourer ought to reside , and in which an English nobleman might reside , upon occasion , without much privation . ' I once wandered about the towns and country of the western part of New York state ,

    and was struck with the remarkable want of taste displayed in all the buildings , whether public or private , and this was not the result of want of material , or enterprize , or the skill to execute , but purely from the lack of knowledge and designs . All that they had of newer or better the people had invented for themselves . For the most part the houses were nests of wooden boxes , a sort of human body packing cases ; they were rather screens than

    dwellings , as boys make card boxes for silkworms . At the town of Buffalo , the thriving settlement at the head of Lake Erie , I remarked that there was some attempt at architectural ornament , and occasionally a little bit of taste might be observed , sufficient to mark the whole place with a character distinct from that of the

    neighbouring towns . Conversing with a lawyer and asking the Cause of this , he replied , ' I guess the proprietor of the Kagle tavern is a gentleman of great taste in building , and all the new comers copy after him . ' That same Eagle tavern " was a splendid wooden mansion , painted in white paint and green paint , and pillared and carpet ted , and glased and gilt , and blinded and

    bestaircased , all in a style the most gaudy and meretricious ; yet it was clean and airy and plentiful , and had a spacious dining hall , capable of holding I know not how many score of boarders , and altogether it was calculated to strike with considerable effect on the optics of that class of people who think more of the gilded cabin of a yacht , than of the symmetry of her build . Now , had the * Eagle of Buffalo been possessed of Mr . Loudon ' s book , he

    would , being a man destitute of all prejudice , have adopted every thing in it which his judgment might pronounce eligible , and Buffalo would at once have taken a stride in all relating to domestic architecture and domestic comfort which would have made her a nucleus of improvement to the whole country round . Invention and improvement from original ideas is a slow process ; copying is simple , as Mr . Babbage will avouch . It took a Watt years to bring a steam engine to perfection ; but when made , every ordinary

    engineer might multiply it an hundred fold . We will hope that a copy of Mr . Loudon ' s book will y et reach the * Eagle , ' and improve the condition of all the neighbours : it is more than a mere work of architecture , it is a manual of every convenience belonging to rural life in every branch . It gives not the shell only , but also the kernel ; it describes the processes of building and furnishing as well ; all "lay be found up to the period when the indvreller lays him down

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    Housebuilding and Houstkeep ing . 49 i

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1834, page 491, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2635/page/31/