]
146. You will find, on consideration, the ultimate fact to be that to
which I have just referred you;--my statement in "Aratra," that the
idea of a construction originally useful is retained in good
architecture, through all the amusement of its ornamentation; as the
idea of the proper function of any piece of dress ought to be retained
through its changes in form or embroidery. A good spire or porch
retains the first idea of a roof usefully covering a space, as a Norman
high cap or elongated Quaker's bonnet retains the original idea of a
simple covering for the head; and any extravagance of subsequent fancy
may be permitted, so long as the notion of use is not altogether lost.
A girl begins by wearing a plain round hat to shade her from the sun;
she ties it down over her ears on a windy day; presently she decorates
the edge of it, so bent, with flowers in front, or the riband that ties
it with a bouquet at the side, and it becomes a bonnet. This decorated
construction may be discreetly changed, by endless fashion, so long as
it does not become a clearly useless riband round the middle of the
head, or a clearly useless saucer on the top of it.
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