bound to avoid high roofs. I have before advocated liberty in this respect; but there is no question that a high roof adds greatly to the dignity of a building, and is more consistent with Northern architecture. A low roof to a building facing a street is, architecturally, equivalent to no roof at all, inasmuch as it is utterly invisible. A lofty roof rising boldly from behind the parapet, and relieved or not by dormer-windows, will give individuality to our building, and, while not making it discordant with its apparently roofless neighbours, will give it a predominance and dignity as compared with them.

A palatial street-front, such as I am imagining, should have a certain degree of preciousness given to it by the choiceness of its sculpture and the richness of its materials. It would be lowering my subject to say that no shams or imitations should be admitted; they are happily already banished from the exterior of our public buildings; but I would go further, and say that no inferior or second-rate materials should be used. I would use no Bath stone, which a year or two of London smoke brings to the colour of the ground; nor would I use Caen stone, which in the same time will begin to decay, and in a few more years will utterly perish; but I would use, without hesitation, the most durable stone, or, if the money will not be allowed, would rather leave my plain surfaces of brick than use bad stone.

I would further, if possible, endeavour to give warmth and richness to the architecture by the introduction, to a limited extent, of materials of varied colour. I would, for instance, for my window-shafts and mullion-pillars use polished red granite. I would carry out the same idea by the use of a warm-coloured

stone (as, for instance, the red Mansfield stone, one of the best stones in England,) for the alternate voussoirs of arches, and elsewhere as the design might suggest, and in some places might go to the length of introducing a kind of simple mosaic of coloured materials, to heighten and brighten the effects. All these accessories, however, must be in moderation, and be rigorously subjected to the design.

For buildings of a second class brick may be advantageously used; but, as already urged, a brick differing from any yet in use, and one which will not become saturated with smoky moisture, and thus be speedily assimilated to the mud of a London street. In such buildings, the dressings might be either of stone or of a non-absorbent terra-cotta. I need hardly repeat what I have before stated, that I always use this term in the sense of the highest development of ornamental brick, not in that of artificial stone; indeed, I should decidedly object to it as misused if it even accidentally looked like stone; for its conditions are so different, that if truthfully and constructively used, it could scarcely resemble it. Enamelled terracotta, tile-mosaic and encaustic tiles, might also enter into the decoration of such a building, as has been before suggested.

In the above suggestions I have supposed our public building, in scale and position, to be not independent of those which surround it,-just as a building under the shadow of a great cathedral should be strongly influenced by its predominant neighbour. Others may be influenced in a less degree by the preponderating number of its Italian neighbours. A public structure may, for example, be equally surrounded with buildings in a particular style with that

I have been imagining, yet be on so vast a scale as to rule its neighbourhood, instead of being governed by it. It may be so far detached as to have a full right to independent and individual treatment, or it may have near neighbours in contrary styles, so that claims on this ground are neutralized. In such cases, the treatment should be more or less unbiassed, according to the circumstances, and the architect must rely upon his own judgment as to how far, if at all, he allows his design to be affected by them.

I suppose it will hardly be argued that we have been so successful in our public buildings in the classic styles, as to render it at all sacrilegious to entertain a wish to disturb their time-honoured character. The sepulchral Bank, the chilly Post-Office, the insignificant National Gallery, and that most unpalatial of buildings, Buckingham Palace, do not, I think, awaken in our breasts any very warm feeling for the style which has produced them. And if a few other buildings have been more happy, they have certainly not been so pre-eminently successful as to lead us, so very religiously as is the fashion, to adhere to their worn-out style, as if it were as much part and parcel of us as Magna Charta or the Thirty-nine Articles.

When we get, then, to such a case as I am now supposing, in which the claims of locality and neighbourship cannot be urged against us, I really do think we may at least be allowed to advocate another style without being considered visionaries or revolutionists.

There are many classes of public buildings to which few would dispute the applicability and appropriateness of Gothic architecture.

Schools and colleges of all classes stand, perhaps, in the foremost rank; indeed, they are made over to our

style almost as much as churches themselves. Public libraries might have been expected to have been similarly conceded, yet the two Universities have refused to do so. I must say that I think it would be difficult to conceive anything more noble than an extensive library, carried out with true feeling, and in a style founded on that of the best period of our art. Hospitals and other charitable institutions are occasionally made over to us, and few will dispute the immense superiority of our style for such purposes.

Few things surprise me more than the neglect which pointed architecture has met with among the builders of town-halls. Next to churches, the finest of medieval structures existing are, perhaps, the town-halls of Flanders, Germany, France, and some of the free cities of Italy; yet scarcely an attempt has been made to revive these noble buildings in England, and town-halls are continually being erected in our provincial towns in styles as thoroughly unsuitable as can be conceived, and at a cost which would, in good hands and in a right style, have enabled them to vie with the glories of Brussels, Louvain or Ypres. Nothing can be more grievous than to see magnificent opportunities thus thrown away, and structures erected which can never be looked upon with pleasure or satisfaction. What character would a fine Hotel de Ville give to one of our great seats of manufacture or commerce! Conceive for one moment what a glorious structure might have been erected at Leeds, and how perfectly magnificent a one at Liverpool! I the less regret the latter, because it was commenced before we could have done it justice in our own style; yet I cannot but marvel, whenever I pass it, to think of that dead outline being considered a fair result of the enormous

outlay; and at a building in which the great study has been (on the show side, at least,) to conceal its windows, being the subject of such unbounded exultation. Nevertheless, it is one of the best buildings of its class; and its lamented architect was, unquestionably, one of the choice spirits of our day, and one who, like him whose lot it has been to complete his work, pursued his art with the most noble and enthusiastic love.

Even the little market-house of a country town, with the hall in its upper story, would in our style become a very charming building. I have often thought, while looking at the queer structures one sees of this kind, how sweetly their essentials could be translated into a really national style, and what an ornament they would become to the towns which they now disfigure. The same is the case with that modern class of structure the corn-exchange: they are mostly large halls, with or without columns, and assume so naturally a Gothic form, that it seems to have cost their architects quite an effort to avoid it. Exchanges, cloth-halls, and all that class of buildings, are, in fact, of medieval origin, and their ideal leads most naturally to the style of their first erection.

The same may be said of public markets, which would fall in beautifully with our style, and for which we should find many ancient types more or less direct. In every one of these structures, however, I would endeavour to strike out in a new line, and to make their character the creation (in some degree, at least,) of our own day, though founded upon the tradition of the architecture which alone belongs to our race and country, and which alone claims any part in our historical associations.