d necessary work, and their
conformity with universal and divine canons of loveliness: respecting
these there can be no doubt, no ambiguity. I would have the reader
discern them so quickly that, as he passes along a street, he may, by a
glance of the eye, distinguish the noble from the ignoble work. He can
do this, if he permit free play to his natural instincts; and all that I
have to do for him is to remove from those instincts the artificial
restraints which prevent their action, and to encourage them to an
unaffected and unbiassed choice between right and wrong.

Sec. IV. We have, then, two qualities of buildings for subjects of
separate inquiry: their action, and aspect, and the sources of virtue
in both; that is to say, Strength and Beauty, both of these being
less admired in themselves, than as testifying the intelligence or
imagination of the builder.

For we have a worthier way of looking at human than at divine
architecture: much of the value both of construction and decoration, in
the edifices of men, depends upon our being led by the thing produced or
adorned, to some contemplation of the powers of mind concerned in its
creation or adornment. We are not so led by divine work, but are content
to rest in the contemplation of the thing created. I wish the reader to
note this especially: we take pleasure, or _should_ take pleasure, in
architectural construction altogether as the manifestation of an
admirable human intelligence; it is not the strength, not the size, not
the finish of the work which we are to venerate: rocks are always
stronger, mountains always larger, all natural objects more finished;
but it is the intelligence and resolution of man in overcoming physical
difficulty which are to be the source of our pleasure and subject of our
praise. And again, in decoration or beauty, it is less the actual
loveliness of the thing produced, than the choice and invention
concerned in the production, which are to delight us; the love and the
thoughts of the workman more than his work: his work must always be
imperfect, but his thoughts and affections may be true and deep.

Sec. V. This origin of our pleasure in architecture I must insist upon
at somewhat greater length, for I would fain do away with some of the
ungrateful coldness which we show towards the good builders of old time.
In no art is there closer connection between our delight in the work,
and our admiration of the workman's mind, than in architect