Vivian, George: A letter to W. R. Hamilton, Esq., with remarks on some passages in his second letter to the Earl of Elgin, on the propriety of adopting the Greek style of architecture, in the new Houses of Parliament (London, 1837)

A LETTER,

ETC. ETC.

Albemarle Street, 31st Dec.
Dear Hamilton,

I have read the pamphlet you had the
goodness to send me, and willingly acknowledge
the justness of your views on the abstract beauty of
Athenian Architecture. You fairly state your prin-
ciples, and they are more determined, more rational,
than those your Gothic opponents are on their side
able to produce. You are prepared, I have no
doubt, to be considered by the majority of your
readers, an ultra-Grecian; and of that number I
confess myself to be one. If my object was to
answer the arguments of your letter on this head,
and not merely to justify myself and colleagues,
where your remarks directly, or indirectly, point
at our judgment in the decision on the Plans for a
New Parliament House, there are passages which
are not unassailable. I will merely observe, that
there can be no dispute as to the excellence of the
parent stock of modern architecture ; but we differ
in our views of its capability. You appear to think
" the trabeated system" sufficient for modern exi-
gencies, without the addition of the arch. You