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extent and magnificence, and which is described wi th all tl ie
o 7
detail naturally to be expected from the partiality of aproprietor, presents none of this irregularity; or it by anyingenuity of interpretation, something of the kind maybe conjectured to have existed, it must have been purelyaccidental, and only produced in consequence of the necessaryarrangement of the interior apartments, without the leastreference to any general or preconceived design 1 . Thesebuildings, therefore, cannot reasonably be supposed competentto afford us any correct views of picturesque effect in theircomposition with natural scenery; and the fact is, that theancients never possessed any knowledge or perception ofthose qualities of external objects which are called picturesque.It is not intended by these remarks to prescribe the exclusiveor servile imitation of any particular species of the remainsof antiquity, but merely to recommend an adherence to thosegeneral principles of excellence on which the G reeks worked,and which are observable in all their undertakings in this art,whether erected for the purposes of ornament or of utility.Still less can these observations have any tendency to depreciatea style of architecture, the principles of which have recentlybeen laid down with singular feeling and accuracy of taste 2 ;—a style, which aims chiefly at picturesque effect, whichseeks to harmonise and connect the building with thelandscape around it, and in which 1 ho eye of a painter is,perhaps, not less indispensable than the science of thearchitect ;—which is recommended not only by the intricacy
2 Price. Essay on Architecture and Buildings as connected with Scenery.