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!