A Satisfactory Reason


MR. ALEXANDER, the architect of several fine buildings in the county of

Kent, was under cross-examination at Maidstone, by Serjeant (afterwards

Baron) Garrow, who wished to detract from the weight of his testimony.

You are a builder, I believe?--No, sir: I am not a builder; I am an

architect!--Ah, well! architect or builder, builder or architect, they

are much the same, I suppose?--I beg your pardon, sir; I cannot admit

that: I consider them to be totally different!--O, indeed! perhaps you

will state wherein this great difference consists?--An architect, sir,

prepares the plans, conceives the design, draws out the

specifications,--in short, supplies the mind. The builder is merely the

bricklayer or the carpenter: the builder, in fact, is the machine,--the

architect the power that puts the machine together, and sets it

going!--O, very well, Mr. Architect, that will do! And now, after your

very ingenious distinction without a difference, perhaps you can inform

the court who was the architect for the Tower of Babel!--There was

no architect, sir, and hence the confusion!



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