If our beautiful old English style (which is the most suitable for the
climate and everything else) cannot be again restored, the next best is
the Venetian, which may be defined as the Saracenic (or what the French
call the Grec-Arab) engrafted on the Italian. The Venetian, like our
old English (or domestic Gothic, if you will), admits of great
irregularity, and of great variety in the ornamentation. French
architects have shown their appreciation of the peculiar suitableness
of this variety for irregular and comparatively narrow streets, from
their having adopted it in many of the old narrow streets abutting on
the Seine, as may have been noted by some of our townsmen, who have
recently visited the Exhibition and the gay capital generally.