Ossian Collection > Journal of a tour in Scotland in

xxviii INTRODUCTION
Apart from engineering works, Southey
had a keen eye for buildings of every kind.
The poor bothies and " black houses " of the
West Highlands offend him both as homes
for men and as features of scenery. On the
other hand, he is impressed by Scotland's
stone - built towns, especially by the fine
granite architecture of Aberdeen ; and finds
that the possession of such materials has
stimulated taste and ambition in building.
"The Scotch regard architectural beauty
in their private houses as well as in their
public edifices much more than we do." But
Southey betrays his ignorance of much noble
architecture in the Baltic Hanse towns and
elsewhere, when he adds that to make fine
buildings of brick is like " making a silk purse
out of a sow's ear."^ On the other hand, he
notes with disgust that a town of the size
and pretensions of Dundee was not paved. ^
Of the kirks, new and old, he has little
good to say ; but frankly admires, as " a great
ornament to the City," a "new Episcopal
Church, with a rich Gothic front," at
Aberdeen. The praise is, in our ears,
equivocal, for these were anterior to the days
even of " Brother Pugin," the redoubtable
1 P. 77. 2 p. 59,