II. THE VIRTUES OF ARCHITECTURE 69

they like, truly; and, in the second place, to teach them which of their likings are ill set, and which justly. If a man is cold in his likings and dislikings, or if he will not tell you what he likes, you can make nothing of him. Only get him to feel quickly and to speak plainly, and you may set him right. And the fact is, that the great evil of all recent architectural effort has not been that men liked wrong things; but that they either cared nothing about any, or pretended to like what they did not. Do you suppose that any modern architect likes what he builds, or enjoys it? Not in the least. He builds it because he has been told that such and such things are fine, and that he should like them. He pretends to like them, and gives them a false relish of vanity. Do you seriously imagine, reader, that any living soul in London likes triglyphs?*-or gets any hearty enjoyment out of pediments?† You are much mistaken. Greeks did: English people never did,-never will. Do you fancy that the architect of old Burlington Mews, in Regent Street,¹ had any particular satisfaction in putting the blank triangle over the archway, instead of a useful garret window? By no manner of means. He had been told it was right to do so, and thought he should be admired for doing it. Very few faults of architecture are mistakes of honest choice: they are almost always hypocrisies.

§ 13. So, then, the first thing we have to ask of the decoration is that it should indicate strong liking, and that honestly.

* Triglyph. Literally, “Three Cut.” The awkward upright ornament with two notches in it, and a cut at each side, to be seen everywhere at the tops of Doric colonnades, ancient and modern.²

† Pediment. The triangular space above Greek porticoes, as on the Mansion House or Royal Exchange.

¹ [The entrance to the Mews (now called New Burlington Place) is between Nos. 183 and 185 Regent Street (west side). In the MS. Ruskin gave a different illustration, thus:-

“Do you fancy that the architect of the Bank had any particular satisfaction in ruling straight lines along the walls?”

For the lines on the Bank, see below, ch. xxvi. § 2, p. 348.]

² [For an earlier reference to triglyphs, see Poetry of Architecture, § 126, note on p. 99 of Vol. I.]

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