451. ARCHITECTURE, Virginia Capitol.—[further continued].
I shall send them a plan
taken from the best morsel of ancient architecture
now remaining. It has obtained the
approbation of fifteen or sixteen centuries, and
is, therefore, preferable to any design which
might be newly contrived. It will give more
room, be more convenient and cost less than
the plan they sent me. Pray encourage them
to wait for it, and to execute it. It will be
superior in beauty to anything in America, and
not inferior to anything in the world. It is
very simple.—
To James Madison. Washington ed. i, 415.
(P.
1785)
