(82.) An ingenious author on this fubject has the following remark: "To fee, on a confiderable eminence, the length of a front trifling, and the height difproportioned, would be as abfurd as to behold a front in a vale long and extended, and elevated only one storey. Proportion (fays he) requires our niceft choice, which must be dependent upon rules; for as the jarring of inftruments by blind chance cannot poffibly please the ear, fo the difproportion of the parts of any object must naturally shock the eye; and in both, unerring rules must fo proportion the founds, and difpofe the parts as the whole may be in complete harmony. Nature has taught manki d, in music, certain rules for proportion of founds; fo architecture has its rules dependent on those proportions, or at least such proportions as are in arithmetical harmony; and thofe we take to be dependent on nature. The fquare in geometry, the unifon or circle in mufic, and the cube in building, have all an infeparable proportion, the parts being equal, and the fides and angles, &c. give the eye and ear harmonic pleasure." (83.) Yet even this theory, when applied to the whole fabric, gives way to exceptions; for the cube must not exceed 50 feet; the cube and half 60 feet; and the double cube 80 feet front. The general rule is as follows: If the cube be 50 feet front, the depth and height will be the fame. The cube and half is when the front is 60 feet long; the depth and height each 40 feet. The double cube of 60 feet will be 30 feet deep and 30 feet high. In the country where gentlemen's houfes are detached, and are easily viewed in front and depth by an approaching traveller, a ftrict regard to proportion becomes neceffary; for if the cube form be adopted in very large houfes, it will ap. pear uncouth and heavy; whilft, on the other hand, it is equally disagreeable to see a dwelling houfe approach to the appearance of a lofty tower. (84.) Very high dwelling houfes prove exceedingly inconvenient; and therefore, where beauty of proportion is connected with utility, they ought rather to affume the figure of a parallelopipedon refting on its larger bafe. Hence that form of building which rather spreads upon the ground than rifes in height, is always preferred. In towns the houses being generally attached to each other, they unitedly compofe a regular street or fquare; in which afe the proportions of an individual front are lefs obvious and their depth in this refpe&t immaterial. The great object of concern is the uniformity of the whole, when completed; or of one individual houfe with the whole. In these fituations, the proportions of houfes, and VOL. II. PART II. the length and extent of streets, are rather subject to acts of parliament than to architectural laws. (85.) There are four different rates into which the proportions of houfes in town are divided or claffed by the legislature. The first rate or houses of the largest fize, are fuch as exceed nine fquares of buildings; thofe of the fecond rate are from 5 to 9 fquares; thofe of the 3d from three and a half to 5 fquares; and of the 4th not exceeding 3 like manner, and the thickness of their walls and fquares and an half Their height is regulated in chimneys. Under such restrictions the architect muft often proceed under great difadvantages, and muft occafionally call forth the good quality of docility recommended by Vitruvius. SECT. IV. Of the SITUATION and INTERNAL DIVISION of HOUSES. (86.) A proper fituation for building, where a choice can be had, is highly worthy of the attention of an architect. It must be obvious that a rifing ground is much better fuited for a magnificent palace than a concealed valley; and that it would be incongruous and abfurd to erect a fumptuous building on a wild, uncultivated, and barren ground, deftitute of water, woods, hills, or other natural beauties, which nature has affigned to various and even extenfive portions of the earth. Where fuch situations are left to the choice of the architect, it becomes him to apply his tafte in fixing the precife fituation or bearings of his intended work, in the execution of which he must attend to the four cardinal points. (87) In the first place he muft obferve, that every internal division or room may receive a due degree of light and heat, fuited to its intended ufe, and the different feafons in which it is more particularly to be occupied. Here the skilful architect muft exercise several of thofe qualifications enumerated by Vitruvius, as effentially requifite to the formation of his character. And indeed whatever qualifications are abfolutely neceffary in the proper choice of the fituation and plan of a town or city, the fame will be wanted to complete a country refidence. (88.) The chief objects of human concern being health, pleasure, and convenience, whatever contribute to thefe must be studied with attention. Hence the neceffity of a fituation beft adopted for good air, a fufficient fupply of wholefome water at a convenient diftance for a family ufe and fertile grounds, whofe produce in fummer may render falubrious the element in which we breathe. For the fame reafons, marthy, low, and barren lands, (where even brutes will fearcely thrive) and more efpecially ftagnant waters fhould be avoided. 89.) One infallible mark of a good fituation for health, is thriving cattle and healthy inhabitants. In fixing on the precife fpot of ground, that which is moderately elevated, if it be contiguous to fome river, will be beft adapted for health, pleasure, and convenience. In fuch a 6tuation, the air has a conftant motion and free circulation, by which it purifies itself, water does by a current, and becomes more falutary to the huinan frame. And nothing can to much contribute to the excellence of a prospect as a river, Gg8 especially efpecially a winding one; the beauty of which will, in idea, be heightened by its utility as the means of fupplying water. (90.) Thefe effential preliminaries being fettled, the architect proceeds to confider in what direction bis front and flank are to be placed with refpect to the fouth or north points. This, in many inftances, will be clofely connected with the internal divifion of the houfe, which affigns to each room its particular use and feafon. Cool drawing-rooms are fuitable for fummer; and for this purpose they should be large, and fituated toward the north, fo as to be fcreened from the fcorching beams of the fun. Warm drawingrooms are adapted for winter; and therefore thefe fhould be small, and have a place towards the fouth, or where the reviving rays of the fun have free intercourfe. Rooms appropriated for spring and autumn may be in a medium fituation to thefe, and should have their windows to look into the different gardens or green walks. Libraries, ftudies and morning rooms, fhould have the fame fort of profpect, as being moft conformable to morning exercifes. If the house be built on fo large and magnificent a scale, as to admit the fame variety in all the difierent apartments, the dining parlours, bed-rooms, &c. will be subject to the fame laws of fituation, and anfwerable to the different feafons of the year. (91.) It has been doubted whether the principal rooms fhould lie neareft the grand entrance, as being beft fuited to give them their full effect. The following reafons have been urged for the negative. A large and spacious room, which is generally the first that receives us, is a bad contrivance in feveral refpects. 1. When, immediately from the open air, we step into fuch a room, its fize is apparently diminished by contraft; and looks little compared with the great canopy of the fky. 2. When it recovers its grandeur, as it foon does, it gives a diminutive appearance to the reft of the houfe; paffing from it, every apartment looks little. 3. By its fituation it ferves only for a waiting room, and a paffage to the principal apartments. Rejecting therefore this form, a hint may be taken, from the climax in writing, for another that appears more fuitable: a handfome portico, proportioned to the size and fashion of the front, leads into a waiting room of a larger fize, and this to the great room, all by a progreffion of from fmall to great. (92.) The different offices fhould be fo arranged as to appear to compofe an inferior part of the whole building, not totally detached, yet in fuch order as to keep the more offenfive ones as remote as poffible from the principal parts of the houfe. This indeed is the arrangement of nature; for if we compare the feveral parts of a building to the various members which compofe an animal frame, we see that the most beautiful parts are the moft confpicuous, whilft thofe that are lefs comely are but fuch as are useful, or at least have the appear ance of being fo. But confidering architecture no lefs as a fine than an useful art, both kinds may be properly introduced. A private houfe, and other edifices, where ufe is the chief aim, admit not indeed of any ornaments but fuch as have the appearance of utility. But temples, triumphal arches, and fuch buildings as are chiefly intended for fhow, may be highly ornamented without day regard to their feeming ufefulnefs. Hence a threefold divifion of ornaments has been fugge"ed, viz. (94.) 1ft, Ornaments that are beautiful without relation to ufe; fuch as ftatues, vafes, &c.— ad, Objects in themfelves not beautiful, but posfeffing the beauty of utility, by impofing on the fpectator, and appearing to be useful; fuch as blind windows. 3d, Where things are beautiful in themselves, and at the fame time affume the appearance of ufe; fuch as pilafters. With regard to the firft, a ftatue fhould be so placed, thit it may be seen in every direction, and at various diftances, either in receding or advancing. Sta tues ought not to be placed in the niches of fronts of houfes, or on the tops of walls and roofs.— Their proper places are in large halls, ard in paffages that lead to a grand stair cafe, &c. To adorn the top of the wall with vafes, is an abfurd conceit, by placing a thing, whese natural deftination is utility, where it cannot have even the leaft appearance of it. Firmnefs and folidity being the proper expreffions of a pedestal, and, on the contrary, lightnefs, and delicacy of carved work, the pedeftal, whether of a column or of a ftatue, ought to be fparingly ornamented. The ancients never ventured on any bolder ornament than the baffo relievo. (95.) As for ornaments of the ad kind, it is a great blunder to contrive them fo as to make them appear ufelefs. A blind window, therefore, when neceflary for regularity, ought to be fo dif guifed as to appear a real window: when it appears without difguife, it is disgustrul, as a vain attempt to fupply the want of invention; it fhows the irregularity in a ftronger light, by fignifying that a window ought to be there in point of regularity, but that the architect had not skill føfficient to connect external regularity with internal convenience. (96.) With regard to the 3d species of ora ments, it is an error to fink pilafters so far into the wall, as to remove totally, or moitly the appearance of ufe. They fhould always project fo much from the wall, as to have the appearance of fupporting the entablature over them. (97.) Of all the ornaments in great buildings, pillars are the chief. The deftination of a pillar is to fupport, either in appearance or reality, the entablature. With regard to the form of a pi lar, it must be obferved, that a circle is a more agreeable figure than a fquare, a globe than a cube, and a cylinder than a parallelopipedon.This laft, in the language of architecture, is ty SECT. V. Of the VARIOUS ORNAMENTS, which ing, that a column is a more agreeable figure than a pilafter; and for that reafon it ought to be precontribute to give a PECULIAR EXPRESSION, or ferred, when all other circumftances are equal an APPARENT USEFULNESS to BUILDINGS. Another reafon concurs, that a column annexed (93.) Some writers on architecture have doubt-, to a wall, which is a plain furface, makes a greated whether a building can admit of any ornaments er variety than a pilafter. Befides, pikanters at a concealed. distance are apt to be mistaken for pillars; and safe, a brick or flat fquare ftone, on which cothe fpectator is difappointed when, on a nearer lumns in the most early ftate of architecture are approach, he difcovers them to be only pilares. fuppofed to have flood. 2. The DADO, or DYE, (98.) It is a queftion, among architects, whether is fo called because it is of a cubic form. 3. The any new order can be added to the Doric, Ionic, CORNICE is derived from coronis, a top or fummit; and the Corinthian. Some hold the affirmative, because the cornice is the extreme end or finishing and give for instances the Tuican and compofite; of the pedeftal. 4. The BASE of the column is others maintain, that thefe properly are not dif- from us, a foundation or footing for the column. tinct orders, but only the original orders, with 5. The SHAFT, that long and ftraight part of a fome flight variations. The only circumftances, column comprehended between the bafe and capithat can ferve to diftinguith one order from ano- tal, is fo named from exa, to dig, in the manther, are the form of the column, and its deftina- ner of a well, round and deep, whofe infide retion To make the firft a diftinguishing mark, fembles the shape of a pillar. 6. The CAPITAL, without regard to the other, would be to multiply from xiqaλn, or caput, the head, which the capital orders without end. Deflination is more limited, is to a column. 7. The ARCHITRAVE, from and it leads us to distinguish three kinds of or- a, chief or principal, and trabs a beam, because ders; one plain and ftrong, for the purpose of fap- the architrave is the chief support to the whole porting plain and matiy buildings; one delicate entablature. 8. The FRIEZE is fo called from :and graceful, for the purpose of fupporting build-, a border or fringe, which fome of the ancients ings of the oppofite character; and between these used to call ps; because their friezes were usua third, for fupporting buildings of a mixed na- ally enriched with the figures of animals. 9. The ture. So that, if deftination alone is to be regard- CORNICE of the entablature, or the crowning part ed, the Tufcan is of the fame order with the Do- of the entire border, is explained above. ric, and the Compofite with the Corinthian. (99.) The ornaments of these three orders ought to be fuited to the purposes for which they are intended. Plain and ruftic ornaments would not a little difcord, with the elegance of the Corinthian order, and fweet and delicate ornaments no lefs with the ftrength of the Doric. (roo.) There are two gene.. rules with refpect to buildings of every kind. One rule, dictated by utility, is, that they be firm and ftable. Another, dictated by beauty, is, that they also appear fo to the eye; for every thing that appears tottering, and in hazard of tumbling down, produces in the fpectator the painful emotion of fear, instead of the pleasing emotion of beauty; and accordingly it should be the great care of the artift, that every part of his edifice not only be well fupported, but likewife appear to be fo. Some have introduced a conceit in architecture, by giving parts of buildings the appearance of falling; of this kind is the church of St Sophia in Conftantinople: the round towers in the uppermoft ftories of Gothic buildings are in the fame falfe taste. (101.) The most confiderable ornaments used in architecture are the five orders of columns, pediments, arches, balusters, &c. which we fhall now proceed to defcribe. PART II. OF THE FIVE ORDERS OF ARCHITEC- SECT. I. Of the SEVERAL PARTS and MEMBERS (102.) The principal parts of an entire order are three; the pedestal, fhaft, and entablature.Each of thefe are again fubdivided into three fmaller parts: The pedestal contains the plinth, (fee Tufcan order, Pi. X.) the dado, and the cornice. The column includes the bafe, the fhaft, and the capital. The entablature confifts of an architrave, a frieze, and a cornice. The names require illuftration. (103.) 1. The PLINTH takes its appellation from (104.) Thefe nine principal parts of a complete order, the dado and thaft excepted, are compofed of fmall members, which constitute all that fimple and pleafing variety of mouldings which adorned the works of the ancients The names of thefe mouldings allude to their forms, and their forms are adapted to the purposes for which they were intended. See Plate XX. fig. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. (105.) The names of the members, with their origin and ufe, are as follows. The figures refer to the parts numbered in the Doric Order, Pl. X. Fig. 1. The FILLET, from the French word fil, thread, 2. The CYMATIUM, or cyma recta, from xvμarin, a wave; because this member resembles the fwelling and concavity of a wave. 3. The CYMA REVERSA, the preceding member inverted. 4. The CORONA, or crown, because it is the principal member of the cornice, and ferves as a thelter to the fmaller mouldings of the entablature. 5. The ovOLO, from ovum an egg; because this member by the ancients was frequently carved in the form of an egg. 6. The CAVETTO, from cavus hollow. 7. The CAPITAL, or upper fillet of the triglyph. 8. The TRIGLYPH, from gyλupes, three engra. vings, compounded of g, three, and yup, to carve or engrave; in conformity to which the triglyph has two entire channels, and two half ones, with three fpaces between. 9. The METOPE, from on, the space between ing fuppofed to be joifts that fill the apertures: one aperture or hole to another; the triglyphs behence the space between the triglyphs, which forms an exact square, is termed the metope. 10. The FRIEZE is explained above, § 103. 11. The BAND is the fame as the fillet. 12. The GUTTÆ, or the DROPS, are of a conie figure. See the explanation, 13. The ARCHITRAVE. or, as fome fuppofe, a tile, on which the ancient Greek mathematicians ftrewed duft, to draw their geometrical schemes on The word feems to have been introduced into architecture on the invention of the Corinthian capital, which took its rise from an acanthus growing round a basket. See ABACUs. See alfo Plate XX. 16. The ovOLO of the capital, which in this fituation must be confidered as the basket round which the acanthus grew. 17. The ANNULETS, fo called because these fmall fillets encompass the capital, like rings joined to each other. The moderns, in place of these, generally have a small cavetto. 18. The COLORINO, the collar, or neck of the capital, 19. The ASTRAGAL, from asgayaños, a bone of the heel; or the curvature of the heel, which this member resembles. The hollow which follows is termed agpuyn, the ESCAPE, because this part of the column appears to fly off. 20 and 22. The upper and lower TORUS, from ogos, a cable, which this moulding somewhat refembles. 21. The SCOTIA, from oriz, darknefs; because of the strong fhadow which its concavity produces, and which is increased by the projecting torus above, (10%) In fome of the Doric entablatures, (fce Pl. XXI.) are MUTULES, from mutuli modillions, which are placed perpendicularly over each triglyph, and are of the fame width; and whofe projection in the corona is the fame, forming a perfect square. In others are DENTILES, as in the theatre of Marcellus at Rome, These are so nam ed from dentes, teeth, which they resemble; and the flat members on which thefe dentiles are placed is termed denticulus. The capitals of the fonic, Corinthian, and Compofite, (fee Plate X.) have each of them VOLUTES, fo called from volutum, to roll round, as on a staff. Some call the volutes the HORNS of the capital, because they resemble the twisting of rams horns. (107.) Thofe parts of the different orders which are termed MOULDINGS are only 8 in number. (See Pl. XX.) viz. The fillet or cincture to bind the parts. The aftragal alfo and torus, refembling ropes or cables, are ftrong builders and fortifiers of the parts with which ty are connected. The ovolo is ftrong at its extremities, and is therefore fit to fupport projecting parts. The cymą recta, inverfa, and cavetto, are covering mouldings, which ferve to fhelter the other fmaller members. There are various methods of defcribing the contours of thefe; but the fimpleft and perhaps the beft, is to form them of quadrants of circles, as is fhewn in the plate. (108) An affemblage of what are called effential parts and mouldings is termed a PROFILE. The most perfect profiles are fuch as are compofed of few mouldings varied in form and fize; and fo difpofed, that the straight and curved ones fucceed each other alternately. When ornaments are employed in mouldings, fome of them fhould be left plain, in order to give a proper repose: for when all are ornamented, the figure of the profile is loft, SECT. II. Of the DIMINUTION of COLUMNS. (109.) The ancients, in effecting the diminution of the fhaft of a column, adopted a variety of me. thods; beginning fometimes from the foot of the fhaft, and at others from one quarter, or one third of its height; the lower part being perfectly cylindrical. The former of thefe was most in use amongst the ancients, and, being the moft natural and graceful, ought to have the preference, though the latter has been more univerfally practifed by modern artists. (110.) M. AUZOULT is of opinion, that the first architects probably made their columns in ftraight lines, in imitation of trees; fo that their fhaft was a iruftum of a cone; but finding this form abrupt and difagreeable, they made ufe of fome curve, which, fpringing from the extremities of the faperior and inferior diameters of the column, fwelled beyond the fides of the cone, and by that means gave a more pleafing figure to the contour. (111.) VITRUVIUS mentions this practice, but in fo obfcure and curfory a manner, that his mean. ing has not been understood; and feveral of the modern architects, intending to conform themfelves to his doctrine, have made the diameters of their columns greater in the middle than at the foot of the shaft. (112) LEON BAPTISTA, Alberti, and others of the Florentine and oman architects, have carried this to a very great excefs; for which they have been juftly blamed, as it is neither natural, reafonable, nor beautiful. M. Auzoult obferves that a column, fuppofing its fhafts to be the fruftum of a cone, may have an additional thickness in the middle, without being fwelled there beyond the bulk of its inferior parts; and fuppofes the addi tion mentioned by Vitruvius to fignify nothing but the increase towards the middle of the column, occafioned by changing the flraight line, which at first was in ufe, for a curve, (113.) This fuppofition is extremely juft, and founded on what is obferved in the works of antiquity; where there is no inftance of columns thicker in the middle than at the bottom, though all have the fwelling hinted at by Vitruvius, all of them being terminated by curves; fome granite columns excepted, which are bounded by ftraight lines; a proof, perhaps, of their antiquity, or of their having been wrought in the quarries of Egypt by bungling and unskilful workmen. (114.) M. BLONDEL, in his work intitled Refo lution des quatre privcipaux Problemes d' Archite ture, teaches various manners of diminishing cơ lumns; the beft and fimpleft of which is by means of the inftrument which Nicomedes invented to defcribe the first conchoid: for this, being applied at the bottom of the shaft, performs at one fweep both the fwelling and the diminution; giving fuch a graceful form to the column, that it is univer fally allowed to be the most perfect practice his therto difcovered. The columus in the Pantheon, accounted the most beautiful among the antiques, are made in this manner; as appears by the exact meafures of one of them to be found in Desgodetz's Antiquities of Rome. (115.) To give an accurate idea of the opera |