Viewing page 52 of 75

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

in sustaining them; and if the proper spirit can be awakened to which the Fine Arts are entitled, perhaps the saying may be verified that the most difficult half in [[thus?]] beginning is already accomplished.
But a few years have elapsed since the first attempt was made, in the old Bank of the United States, to introduce some Grandeur of Architectural display. The novelty of its ornamented [[masses?]] surprised the town & perplexed the simplicity of our richest merchants, who had only been extravagant enough to support the [[crossed out]] miniature pediments at their front doors on ten inch columns. But gradually the towering Portico was tolerated - then, by degrees, its magnitude & its sculpture were admired - and, before long, that which is now the Girard Bank became the boast of the city. The Pennsylvania Bank soon [[strikethrough]] succeeded [[strikethrough]] followed, to enrich a more ample space, and to gratify the pride of its accomplished Architect, notwithstanding the mortification he often experienced,- & especially from an eminent Merchant, who would not comment [[strikethrough]] it [[strikethrough]] the building, saying, that he was no friend to the Fine-Arts - he was a friend to the Coarse Arts. This Latrobe very justly thought a very [[coarse?]] idea.
Since that period, a taste for Architecture, which began in Philadelphia, has been rapidly spreading over the whole United States - and Latrobe's Capitol, Strickland's Colossal Bank, Haviland's Municipal Palace, Walter's exquisite Girard College, [[crossed out]], and [[crossed out]] other [[strikethrough]]buildings [[strikethrough]] splendid edifices, are nobly calculated to diffuse & establish principles of the purest taste.
It is a pleasant & patriotic reflection that the whole community are participators in the enjoyments which are afforded by these munificent works - Donations to the people! by which their love & pride of country are daily encreased. This taste for Architecture is the natural precursor of Sculpture & Painting.
Greece derived her knowledge of Sculpture from the Egyptians, among whom the art was practiced to a great extent, but devoted to a few objects required by their Religion, & suited to their taste for grandeur & durability. The Statues of their Divinities were always made according to one unchangeable set of patterns; so that, in cases where expedition was necessary, one half of a Statue could be sculptured in one City, and the other half

Transcription Notes:
Unsure on "masses", "coarse"