An arched gateway at the entrance of a place is never used with so much apparent propriety as when it forms a part of a town or village, at least, it should be so flanked by lofty walls as to mark the separation between the public and the park, and increase the contrast; but when seen in contact with a low park-pale, or even an iron palisade, it appears to want connexion; it looks too ostentatious for its utility, and I doubt whether it would not lessen the pleasure we derive from viewing the magnificent Grecian arches at Burlington House and at Blenheim, if the side-walls were lower *.
*[This remark is less applicable to a Gothic entrance, because, if it is correct, it may be supposed a fragment of some more extensive building; but a Grecian arch, in this country, must be modern, and cannot properly be a ruin, except by design.]
