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230,
In -this plan: there is no pretension to ornament in any
respect that may incur unnecessary-expense, except perhapsin
the small Cupola for the Bell; and this appendage, trifling as it
is, gives to the whole that characteristic feature which dis-
tinguishes it as a public building.
To you, my dear Edward, it is'unnecessary to remark oe
circumstance which you may perhaps find an        opportunityf
inculcating to your Parishioners; that in providing for the
future comforts of the Poor, they may possibly be anticipating
the future happiness of themselves or' their descendants; since
we too often see the hard-hearted opulent oppressor, in the
vicissitudes of life, reduced to look for support to those public
institutions to which he has reluctantly contributed.*
It may perhaps be objected to the design; that something
more ornamental might have been proposed, perhaps adopting
the Gothic style, but the answer is obvious; the first considera-
tion in a Poor-house is economy.
The prevailing'Taste for fragments of Gothic Architecture
is 'apt to display itself in the doors and windows of a Dairy, for
which, there can be no plausible reason assigned; but if 'the
Gothic character be introduced in any small building, there is
This Plan was at first highly approved by the leading persons in the Parish,
till it was discovered that the Situation proposed was so desirable, that the Site
occupied in private houses would produce more profit, and therefore the'Poor for the
present continue in their former unwholesome abode ; but, as a late Orator observed
of Negro Slaves, compared with Eels flayed alive-" they are used to it."