Page:Speeches and addresses by the late Thomas E Ellis M P.pdf/80

 the freehold peasant of the Pyrenees, of Switzerland or the Tyrol, or the Dutchman of Holland or of South Africa build his house, nothing is more striking than the thought and care which he gives to its position, to the adapting of his plan and his construction, not only to his domestic needs, but to the possibilities of sunshine and 'comfort and shelter from avalanche and storm. But is there any serious endeavour in the building of Welsh farmsteads and cottages nowadays to adapt them to character, to scenery, to climate, and to give them such form and colour and adornment as shall delight the mind?

The Architectural need of Wales is, therefore, indubitable. The question arises, Is there a latent capacity in the Welsh people for the elevation of taste and for growing excellence in Architecture, as there undoubtedly is in Music? I have no hesitation in affirming that there is. There is practical unanimity that the finest and most fruitful epoch of building was the rise of what is called Gothic Architecture in the 12th and 13th centuries.