Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/10

 vi PREFACE. mankind. No art or profession will then be a mystery ; but, each being reduced to the comprehension of youth, forming a part of that general education which will ultimately be every where established, and being consequently subject to the criticism of the whole of society, the improvement in it will be great, in proportion to the demand which there may be for its exercise and for its productions. Though scarcely any country has arrived at this stage in social progress, even in any one of the arts or pro- fessions, yet all countries are advancing towards it with different degrees of rapidity, according to the circumstances in which they are placed, geographical and political. In accordance with these views, our intention, in producing the work now submitted to the reader, is, to prepare the way for rendering general, a knowledge of Domestic Architecture ; for the immediate purpose of increasing the comforts of the great mass of society ; and for the more remote objects of improving the knowledge and the taste of the public in Architecture, and of inducing Architects to study their art on general principles, and on a theory formed on the nature of the human mind, and on the changing condition of .society, rather than on the precedents and rules of former ages, or on any hypothesis whatever. The means by which we have endeavoured to effect these objects will be found explained at length in our Introduction, to which we refer the reader. We have only been enabled to accomplish our purpose by the cooperation of a number of Architects, of scientific men, and of men of taste. Several of these we are proud to call our personal friends ; and others, who, before we received their contributions to this work, were known to us only by name, have proved themselves friends by tlieir actions. Before proceeding to return our sincere acknowledgments to the various artists and others, whose names will be found in the list, p. xix., it may be advisable to reply to an objection which has been made to us by some Architects, viz. that, by laying their profession open to the world, we were acting so as to injure their pecuniary interests. The same objection was made to Dr. Buchan many years ago, when he first published his Z)o?nes<«c Medicine; and to John Abercrombie, when he wrote his book entitled Every Man his own Gardener. Now, without going into details, we shall only ask, what have been the progress of medicine and gardening, and the prosperity of medical men and gardeners, since the time these works appeared, compared to what they were for a similar period previous to their publication? The answer, undoubtedly, is, that their improvement has been great beyond all former example. To what can this be owing, but to the more general diffusion of knowledge on these subjects ? The truth is, that public attention can never be turned to any art or science, without benefiting all its professors. A little knowledge of any given subject makes us desire to know more ; and, though we first apply to books to acquire this further knowledge, we must ulti- mately have recourse to living professors to carry it into effect. No book can be framed so as to suit the exigencies of every particular case : all that can be done by any author is, to lay down general principles, and to deduce rules from them. The application of these rules must be learned from experience : and it is evident that a knowledge of the principles from which they are deduced wili enable the amateur more thoroughly to appreciate and profit by the skill of the professor. Among the important uses of this work will be that of pointing out the various capa- cities for improvement in comfort and beauty, of which each class of building, and each kind of furniture, is susceptible. Now, so far fioni this having a tendency to injure Architects, it will not only enable those who wish either to build or to furnish, to express more clearly, to the Architect or upholsterer, those wants which they already have ; but it will elicit new ones, of which they had previously no idea, and which the Architect, the builder, and the upholsterer will be called upon to supply. In expressing our acknowledgments to our contributors, it was originally our in- tention to thank, in an especial manner, those who, by their early contributions, when the work was commenced in monthly parts, in April, 1832, encouraged us to proceed with it ; but, on due consideration, lest we might inadvertently ajjpear partial in our acknowledgments, we think it best to return our sincere thanks generally to the whole of our contributors as enumerated in the list, p. xix. to xx. How much we feel indebted to the Architects and others, whose names are included in that list, can be only understood by those who are duly aware that the value of a work consisting principally of graphic designs, depends upon those designs being the production of a number of different minds. For the liber lity which has been thus shown us, we have made the best return in our power, by publishing this work at such an unpreccdentedly low price, as must insure, to the names and talents of our contributors, an extensive circulation ; and, for our own labour, we have earned the consciousness of having produced a book, which miist inevitably have an important influence on the rural Architecture of the temperate regions of both hemispheres. Bayswater, June I. 18.'53. J. C. I