Page:Notes on the State of Virginia (1802).djvu/225

they have roofs would be taken for brick-kilns. There are no other public buildings but churches and court-houſes, in which no attempts are made at elegance. Indeed it would not be eaſy to execute ſuch an attempt, as a workman could ſcarcely be found here capable of drawing an order. The genius of architecture ſeems to have ſhed its maledictions over this land. Buildings are often erected by individuals of conſiderable expence. To give theſe ſymmetry and taſte would not increaſe their coſt. It would only change the arrangement of the materials, the form and combination of the members. This would often coſt leſs than the burthen of barbarous ornoments with which theſe buildings are ſometimes charged. But the firſt principles of the art are unknown, and there exiſts ſcarcely a model among us ſufficiently chaſte to give an idea of them. Architecture being one of the fine arts, and as ſuch within the department of a profeſſor of the college, according to the new arrangement, perhaps a ſpark may fall on ſome young ſubjects of natural taſte, kindle up their genius, and produce a reformation in this elegant and uſeful art. But all we ſhall do in this way will produce no permanent improvement to our country while the unhappy prejudice prevails that houſes of brick or ſtone are leſs wholeſome than thoſe of wood. A dew is often obſerved on the walls of the former in rainy weather, and the moſt obvious ſolution is, that the rain has penetrated through theſe walls. The following facts however are ſufficient to prove the error of this ſolution. 1. This dew upon the walls appears when there is no rain, if the ſtate of the atmoſphere be moiſt. 2. It appears on the partition as well as the exte-