Page:Notes on the State of Virginia (1802).djvu/224

ing of ſcantling and boards, plaiſtered with lime. It is impoſſible to deviſe things more ugly, uncomfortable, and happily more periſhable. There are two or three plans, on one of which, according to its ſize, moſt of the houſes in the ſtate are built. The pooreſt people build huts of logs, laid horizontally in pens, ſtopping the intereſtices with mud. Theſe are warmer in winter and cooler in ſummer, than the more expenſive conſtruction of ſcantling and plank. The wealthy are attentive to the raiſing of vegetables, but very little ſo to fruits. The poorer people attend to neither, living principally on milk and animal diet. This is the more inexcuſable, as the climate requires indiſpenſably a free uſe of vegetable food, for health as well as comfort, and is very friendly to the raiſing of fruits. The only public buildings worthy mention are the capitol, the palace, the college, and the hoſpital for lunatics, all of them in Williamſburgh, heretofore the ſeat of our government. The capitol is a light and airy ſtructure, with a portico in front of two orders, the lower of which, being Doric, is tolerably juſt in its proportions and ornaments, ſave only that the intocolonations are too large. The upper is Ionic, much too ſmall for that on which it is mounted, its ornaments not proper to the order, nor proportioned within themſelves. It is crowned with a pediment, which is too high for its ſpan. Yet, on the whole, it is the moll pleaſing piece of architecture we have. The palace is not handſome without: but it is ſpacious and commodious within, is prettily ſituated, and with the grounds annexed to it, is capable of being made an elegant ſeat. The college and hoſpital are rude, miſ-ſhapen piles, which, but that