Architectural Reveries.

ness" is not possessed , the absence of "taste " may be inferred as a natural and , in fact , inevitable consequence . In speaking of architectural features , and their expression , the AvindoAVS of a building may aptly be called the eyes ; for although a humourist might

urge that , at all events , they are but glass eyes , the thrust need not disturb an analogy Avhich it is not sought to make a very close one , as many other and more cogent objections might be made to the accuracy of the analogy ; for instance , the 'number of this architectural feature , ever varying *¦ ' O

, according to the necessities of the building , might nfc once appear an all-sufficient objection . And yet it is not altogether fatal ; for the single ej-e of the Cyclops might find its architectural analogy in tho solitary Avindow in the vaulted dome . of the Pantheon , destined to light the entire building ;

and the hundred eyes of Argus might find their parallel in as many different palaces . And then , it is not absolutely necessary to call in fable to our aid , for among the loAvcr orders of animals the number of eyes is exceedingly various , according to the nature of their organisation and its

requirements . The larv £ e of the telcphoroides , a genus of beetles , are only furnished Avith a single eye ; while those of the genus cassida have three ; and those of stapliilides four . The laiwoe of lepidopiera ( the butterfly class of insects ) have almost in variably six ; while iu other types of lower

animal life tho eyes are often exceedingly numerous . And so the creator of architectural eyes may make their number ever varying' , according to the exigences of the Avovkhe is constructing , Avithout utterly destroying the analogy Avhich it has been sought to establish .

Let us , therefore , call the AvindoAVS of a building its eyes ; for those features certainly seem to look forth upon us , like living eyes , with more or less of Avelcomo or repulsion , according to their expression , the result of their design , position , and proportion . The gracefully-designed window ,

Avith its superincumbent lines of architrave or pediment , serving as tho architectural eye-broA \ , beams upon us Avith a bright and pleasing glance ; while the ill-formed opening , Avithout a single line of moulding , like an eye Avithout lids , glares towards us with a broad uncomfortable stare . Iu

still ruder forms of structure the offensive expression is still more marked . And Avhen accidental defects are superadded—in the shape , for instance , of broken panes patched with , rag or paper—the effect of a human eye damaged by vulgar conflict or loathsome disease , and ivearing its squalid

bandage , seems so graphically reproduced that AVO gladly turn away . And thus , both in beauty , and at the other extreme of the scale of art , the analogies between the architectural eye and the human eye seem to persist in asserting themselves . finch are a few of the considerations which seem to invito us to look upon the Avindows of a building as its eyes so long as Ave regard its exterior ;

aud when once inside the structure the windows actually become our OAAUI secondary eyes , through the medium of which ive are alone able to distinguish external objects . This architectural feature appears , then , to be a most important one , and it may be Avell to devote a few lines to the

consideration of its artistic treatment Avith reference to the functions ivhich it has to perform and the expression it ought to Avear . To a certain extent , indeed , this effect has ever been produced , almost unconsciously , by the architect , forced by the necessities and general character of the Avork

in hand to the acceptance of certain uncscapable conditions ; but this is not sufficient—an architec tural feature should be something more than a tolerable and unavoidable accordance Avith the purpose of the building of Avhich it forms a part . The effect of the most perfect possible accordance should be achieved , especially in a window , by the

most careful aud even caressing treatment ; Avhich . ought to result in imparting to the feature a character so unmistakeably appropriate , and so felicitously expressive as to invite , or rather command , immediate remark and approbation on that especial account . . To produce this effect there is no

occasion to resort to exaggeration , nor to become in any way over-emphatic ; it is only required that the emphasis , strong 0 r slight , should bo in the right place . In seeking for this expression , this emphasis , the student should aboA r e all tilings take cave not to be led aAvay by the fascinations of any

Avell-marked style belonging to a former epoch ; for in this AA ay he may be led to impart to his design a form and character Avhich , hoAvever beautiful in themselves , and from a certain point of view , Avill yet be inconsistent ivith the manners and the spirit of the period in Avhich he lives . This is an aberration toivards Avhich there are

stronotemptations , as so many are to be found anion " the public Avho honestly admire modern Gothic buildings Avithout having advanced so far in the culture of their taste as to ask themselves Avhefcher it is right to admire a slavish readaptation of the styles of the past to the works of the present .

Let the architect beAvare of servile reproductions ; an " architectural eye" of one period may have been very beautiful in its OAVU age , when instinct Avith the artistic life of its epoch ; but galvanised into an unnatural existence in the present day , it cannot legitimately possess tho same charm . It

is as the bird of beautiful plumage Avhen stuffed by the naturalist aud placed in a glass case , compared Avith the same creature full of life and motion , gorgeous ' colours glistening with the chequerings of alternate shade and sunlight in its native forest .

At all eA ^ ents , it may be safely stated , that the forced introduction of an obsolete style is sure to carry Avifcli it more or less of inconsistency . For instance , at the period Avhen the finest of the Italian palaces of Florence and Rome Avere erected , it Avas a necessaiy condition in the residences of