This power of sketching is considered by some architects as a luxury of the art, rather than as essential to the perfection of the artist; but it appears to me of the greatest importance. The geometrical designs, the measures both of the parts, and of the whole, he may obtain from books; what he is particularly to study is the relation between these, and the effect produced on his mind by the use of these measures; his sketches are records of his own feelings, and therefore engravings would not supply their place; even if we had good views, which is notoriously not the case, of most of the admired buildings of Europe; nor is it enough to consider a design merely from one point of view; it should be examined from many points, and compared, mentally at least, with the geometrical drawing. It is exactly that relation of cause and effect which is the proper object of his study. As for figures, if he is making drawings on a large scale, it will be better to apply to an artist, but he cannot always do this, and ought to be able to supply them tolerably well of himself. I do not in either case require that he should be a finished artist, but merely that he should be able to express himself in this language with intelligence and feeling. Some of these acquirements are perhaps better attained in Paris than in London; and in consequence, some of our artists, before travelling into Italy, have put themselves for a year under the direction of a French architect, and frequented the academy. The plan is a good one on many accounts, although perhaps many parents might tremble, at leaving a young man, at an age when the passions are strong, and reason weak, exposed without any shelter, to the temptations of Paris. The propriety of this will depend very much on the character and circumstances of the student, nor can I pretend to give any advice on the subject. In point of architecture, every nation has a manner of its own. Some peculiar defects would probably be avoided by free intercourse with the artists of other countries, and the instructions at the French academy are very good.