In this miscellaneous chapter may properly be inserted some specimens of various buildings, to elucidate the truth of an observation, which hardly seems to require enforcing; yet the frequent introduction of ornamental buildings, copied from books, without reference to the character and situation of the scenery, is not less fatal to the good taste of the country, than it would be to the life of individuals, to use medical prescriptions without inquiring into the nature and cause of diseases. The facility with which a country carpenter can erect small buildings intended for ornament, may, perhaps, account for their frequency; but I am not ashamed to confess, that I have often experienced more difficulty in determining the form and size of a hovel, or a park entrance, than in arranging the several apartments of a large mansion; indeed, there is no subject on which I have so seldom satisfied my own judgment, as in that of an entrance to a park.
