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THE 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 OF 
 
 ARC HITECTURE; 
 
 EMBRACING, 
 
 I. The Orders of Architecture ; 
 
 II. Architectural Styles of various Countries ; 
 
 III. The Nature and Principles of Design in Archi- 
 
 tecture ; AND, 
 
 IV. An accurate and complete Glossary of Archi- 
 
 tectural Terms. 
 
 for the use of 
 
 §uiltrm, Jmgjrtsmm, Padpte, €nginem, 
 att& P&jjaracs. 
 
 EDITED BY JOHN BULLOCK, 
 
 ARCHITECT, CIVIL ENGINEER, MECHANICIAN, AND EDITOR OP “THE AMERICAN ARTISAN, ’> 
 
 NEW YORK : 
 
 STRINGER & TOWNSEND. PUBLISHERS, 
 
 222 BROADWAY. 
 
 1853. 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred 
 and fifty-three, by 
 
 STRINGER & TOWNSEND, 
 
 In the Clerk’s Office of the U. States Court for the Southern District of New York 
 
 STEREOTYPED BY GRIFFIN & FARNSWORTH, 
 49 JOHN STREET, NEW YORK. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 To condense, in a book of two or three hundred pages, a 
 treatise which might justly be extended to that extent in 
 any one of its branches, is a task not to be easily and satis- 
 factorily done. In our attempts to Americanize our author 
 on “ The Orders,” we have dealt freely with his fancies and 
 combative propensities, and have rejected his division of the 
 Orders into only three, and restored the old division of five. 
 American readers have generally recognized the old division. 
 While we confess that our authors’ division seems plausible, 
 yet we do not adopt it ; for any division seems to be open 
 to so many objections, that we recognize no necessity for 
 changing the old one. 
 
 It need excite no surprise that, in our sketch of Architec- 
 ture in various countries, we have not treated of that in 
 America. There is no peculiar American style or order, 
 and a treatise on that system would be simply a description 
 of samples of the various styles of architecture which are 
 described in other parts of the work. There is no paucity 
 of these examples. In America, are monuments whose 
 origin is enshrouded by the drapery of unnumbered ages. 
 Through this drapery glimmers the light of vague and 
 uncertain tradition, which provokes the belief, that once this 
 continent was inhabited by a race whose advancement in 
 the mechanic and fine arts was fully equal to our own. 
 From the date of European immigration commences the 
 introduction of architecture, as varied as the people that 
 
IV. 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 settled the country. It was not a mixture, of the various 
 styles that was produced, but there was practiced copies of 
 the various styles of the Old World. 
 
 We have dealt freely with our authors — correcting where 
 they mistook — extending where we thought they were not 
 clear — curtailing where we imagined they were too profuse 
 in their remarks — and rejecting those illustrations and allu- 
 sions which possess no interest to the American reader. 
 
 It must not be forgotten that this is a “ rudimentary ” 
 treatise, and all that it promises is to introduce the reader 
 into the porch of the temple of Artistic Science — doubting 
 not that he will be so pleased and instructed that he will go 
 in the temple, even to the sanctum sanctorum — the holy of 
 holies. 
 
 In our historical sketch, we could in but few instances 
 give more than one illustration of any one peculiar style. 
 
 JOHN BULLOCK, Editor . 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 I.— THE ORDERS. 
 
 By W. H. Leeds. 
 
 II. STYLES OF VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 
 
 By T. Bury. ~ 
 
 III. DESIGN IN ARCHITECTURE— ITS PRINCIPLES. 
 By E. L. Garbett. 
 
 IV. GLOSSARY OF ARCHITECTURAL TERMS. 
 By the Editor. 
 
HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS OF ARCHITECTURE* 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 THE ORDERS. 
 
 In its architectural meaning, the term order refers to the 
 system of columniation practised by the Greeks and Romans, 
 and is employed to denote the columns and entablature to- 
 gether; in other words, both the upright, supporting pillars 
 and the horizontal beams and roof, or trabeation, supported 
 by them. These two divisions, combined, constitute an 
 Order; and so far all Orders are alike, and might accord- 
 ingly be reduced to a single one, although for greater con- 
 venience they are divided into Five leading classes or fami- 
 lies, distinguished as the Doric, Tuscan, Ionic, Corinthian, 
 and Composite. This is the general division, but many 
 writers adopt only three — the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian, 
 and perhaps this would have been the more proper division, 
 but it is our province to speak of the divisions as they are, 
 rather than as they ought to be. 
 
 It would be a mistake to suppose that inasmuch as the 
 Orders are divided in five classes, that there is for each of 
 them one fixed, uniform character, for such a belief has led 
 to a plodding mechanical treatment of the respective Orders 
 themselves, nothing being left for the Architect to do, so 
 far as the Order which he employs is concerned, than mere- 
 ly to follow the example which he has selected, — in other 
 words, merely to copy instead of designing, by imitating his 
 model with freedom and spirit. 
 
 Each of the leading classes are distinct from the others, 
 yet comprise many varieties or species , — which, however much 
 they may differ with respect to minor considerations, all evi- 
 
8 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 dently belong to one and the same style, which we call Order. 
 We have now to consider their constituent parts, that is, 
 those which apply to every order alike. Hitherto it has 
 been usual with most writers, to treat of an Order as con- 
 sisting of three principal parts or divisions, viz., pedestal, 
 column, and entablature. The first of these, however, can- 
 not by any means be regarded as an integral part of an 
 Order. So far from being an essential, it is only an acci- 
 dental one, — one, moreover, of Roman invention, and appli- 
 cable only under particular circumstances. The pedestal 
 no more belongs to an Order than an attic or podium placed 
 above the entablature. In the idea of an Order we do not 
 include what is extraneous to the Order itself; it makes no 
 difference whether the columns stand immediately upon the 
 ground or floor, or are raised above it. They almost invari- 
 ably are so raised, because, were the columns to stand im- 
 mediately upon the ground or a mere pavement, the effect 
 would be comparatively mean and unsatisfactory ; the edifice 
 would hardly seem to stand firmly, and, for want of apparent 
 footing, would look as if it had sunk in the ground, or the 
 soil had accumulated around it. With the view, therefore, 
 of increasing height for the whole structure, and otherwise 
 enhancing its effect, the Greeks placed their temples upon a 
 hold substructure, composed of gradini, or deep steps, or 
 upon some sort of continuous stylobate ; either of which modes 
 is altogether different from, and affords no precedent for, the 
 pedestal of modern writers. Essential as some form of sty- 
 lobate is to the edifice itself, it does not properly belong to 
 it, any more than that equally essential — in fact, more indis- 
 pensable part — the roof. 
 
 The pedestal being discarded as something apart from the 
 Order itself, the latter is reduced to the two grand divisions 
 of column and entablature , each of which is subdivided in- 
 to three distinct parts or members, viz., the column , into 
 base, shaft, and capital; the entablature , into architrave, 
 frieze, and cornice; so that the latter is to the entablature 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 9 
 
 what the capital is to the column, namely, its crowning mem- 
 ber — that which completes it to the eye. Yet, although the 
 above divisions of column and entablature hold good with re- 
 gard to the general idea of an order, the primitive Greek or 
 Doric one does not answer to what has just been said, inas- 
 much as it has no base — that is, no mouldings which distinctly 
 mark the foot of the column as a separate and ornamented 
 member. Hence, it will, perhaps, be thought that this Order 
 is not so complete as the others, since it wants that member 
 below which corresponds with the capital above. Still, the 
 Grecian Doric is complete in itself — it needs no base: in fact, 
 does not admit of such addition, without forfeiting much of 
 its present character, and thus becoming something different. 
 Were there a distinct base, the mouldings composing it could 
 not very well exceed what is now the lower diameter or ac- 
 tual foot of the column ; because, were it to do so, either the 
 base would become too bulky, in proportion to the capital, 
 or the latter must be increased, so as to make it correspond in 
 size with the enlarged lower extremity. Even then, that 
 closeness of inter columnation (spacing of columns) which con- 
 tributes so much to the majestic solidity that characterizes 
 the genuine Doric, could not be observed: unless the columns 
 were put considerably further apart, the bases would scarcely 
 allow sufficient passage between them. The only way of 
 escaping from these objections and difficulties, is by making 
 the shaft of the column considerably more slender ; so that 
 what was before the measure of the lower diameter of the 
 shaft itself, becomes that of the base. That can be done — - 
 has been done — at least something like it; but the result is 
 an attenuated Roman or Italian Doric, differing altogether 
 in proportions from the original type, or order. The shaft 
 no longer tapers visibly upwards, or, what is the same thing, 
 expands below. 
 
 Before we come to speak of the orders severally and more 
 in detail, there are some matters which require to be noticed ; 
 one of which is the origin of the Greek system of columnation, 
 
10 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 or the prototype upon which it was modelled. Following 
 Yitruyius, nearly all writers have agreed to recognize in the 
 columnar style of the ancients the primitive timber hut, as 
 furnishing the first hints for, and rudiments of, it. Such 
 theory, it must be admitted, is sufficiently plausible, if only 
 because it can account very cleverly for many minor circum- 
 stances. Unfortunately, it does not account at all for, or 
 rather is in strong contradiction to, the character of the 
 earliest extant monuments of Greek architecture. Timber 
 construction would have led to very different proportions, and 
 different tastes. Had the prototype or model been of that 
 material, slenderness and lightness, rather than ponderosity 
 and solidity, would have been aimed at; and the progressive 
 changes in the character of the Orders would have been re- 
 versed, since the earliest of them all would also have been the 
 lightest of them all. The principles of stone construction have 
 so evidently dictated and determined the forms and propor- 
 tions of the original Doric style, as to render the idea of its 
 being fashioned upon a model in the other material little 
 better than an absurd, though time-honored fiction. Infi- 
 nitely more probable is it, that the Greeks derived their 
 system of architecture from the Egyptians ; because, much 
 as it differs from that of the latter people with regard to 
 taste and matters of ornamentation, it partakes very largely 
 of the same constitutional character. At any rate, the doc- 
 trine of the timber origin applies as well to the Egyptian as 
 to the Hellenic or Grecian style. Indeed, if there be any- 
 thing at all that favors such doctrine, it is, that construction 
 with blocks of stone would naturally have suggested square 
 pillars, instead of round ones; the latter requiring much 
 greater labor and skill to prepare them than the others. 
 But, as their pyramids and obelisks sufficiently testify, the 
 most prodigal expenditure of labor was not at all regarded 
 by the Egyptians. That, it will perhaps be said, does not 
 account for the adoption of the circular or cylindrical form 
 for columns. We have therefore to' look for some sufficiently 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 11 
 
 probable motive for the adoption of that form ; and we think 
 we find it in convenience. In order to afford due support 
 to the massive blocks of stones placed upon them, the 
 columns were not only very bulky in proportion to their 
 length, but were placed so closely together, not only in the 
 fronts of porticos, but also within them, that they would 
 scarcely have left any open space. Such inconvenience was 
 accordingly remedied by making the pillars round instead of 
 square. Should such conjectural reason for the adoption of 
 circular columns be rejected, it is left to others to propound 
 a more satisfactory one, or to abide, as many probably will 
 do, by the old notion of columns being so shaped in order to 
 imitate the stems of trees. It is enough that whatever 
 accounts for the columns being round in Egyptian architect 
 ture, accounts also for their being the same in that of the 
 Greeks. 
 
 Among other fanciful notions entertained with regard to 
 columns and their proportions, is that of the different orders 
 of columns being proportioned in accordance with the human 
 figure. Thus the Doric is said to represent a robust male 
 figure, and those of the Ionic and Corinthian, female ones, 
 — the Ionic, a matron; the Corinthian, a less portly speci- 
 men of feminality. Now, so far from there being any gen- 
 eral similitude between a Grecian Doric column and a ro- 
 bust man, their proportions are directly opposite, — the 
 greater diameter of the column being at its foot, while that 
 of the man is at his shoulders. The one tapers upwards, the 
 other downwards. If the human figure and its proportions 
 had been considered, columns would, in conformity with such 
 type, have been wider at the top of their shafts than below, 
 and would have assumed the shape of a terminus of a mummy 
 chest. With regard to the other orders mentioned, it is 
 sufficient to observe, that if so borrowed at all, the idea 
 must have been preposterous. We happen to have a well 
 known example of statues or human figures, and those, more- 
 over, female ones, being substituted for columns beneath an 
 
2 
 
 HISTORY AKD RUDIMENTS 
 
 entablature ; and so far are they from confirming the pre- 
 tended analogy between the Ionic column and the propor- 
 tions of a female, that they decidedly contradict it, those 
 figures being greatly bulkier in their general mass than the 
 bulkiest and stoutest columns of the Doric Order. At any 
 rate, one hypothesis might satisfy those who will not be sat- 
 isfied without some fancy of the kind, because two together 
 do not agree ; if columns originated in the imitation of stems 
 of trees, we can dispense with the imitation of men and women, 
 and vice versa. 
 
 Some may think it scarcely worth while to notice such 
 fancies, yet they are a part of architecture as generally taught 
 and usually understood^ at least, in this country. 
 
 We do not pretend to explain and trace, step by step, the 
 progress of the Doric Order, and of the column or system of 
 the Greeks, from their first rudiments and formation. We 
 have only the results of such progressive formation or devel- 
 opement; of the actual formation itself we neither know nor 
 can we know anything. The utmost that can now be done 
 is to take the results themselves, and from them reason back- 
 wards to causes and motives. Adopting such a course, we 
 may first observe, that there is a very striking and charac- 
 teristic difference between Egyptian and Grecian taste and 
 practice in one respect: in the former style the columns are 
 invariably cylindrical , or nearly so, — in the other they are 
 conical, that is, taper upwards, and in some instances so much 
 so, that were they prolonged to double their height, they 
 would be almost perfect cones, and terminate like a spire. 
 This tapering greatly exceeds that of the stems of trees, 
 taking from their stem the trunk, from above which the 
 branches begin to shoot out. It appears to have been adopted 
 for purely artistic reasons, certainly not for the sake of any 
 positive advantage, since the diminution of the shaft, and the 
 great contraction of the diameter just below the capital, 
 must rather decrease than at all add to the strength of the 
 column. 
 
OP ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 13 
 
 Wliat then are the artistic qualities so obtained ? We 
 reply, — variety and contrast and the expression of strength 
 without offensive heaviness. The sudden or very perceptible 
 diminution of the shaft,— it must be borne in mind that our 
 remarks refer exclusively to the original Greek Style or 
 Doric Order, — produces a double effect ; it gives the column 
 an expression of greater stability than it otherwise would, 
 combined with comparative lightness. What is diminution 
 upwards, is expansion downwards ; and similar difference 
 and contrast take place with respect to the intercolumns, 
 although in a reverse manner, such intercolumns being wider 
 at top than at bottom. So far the principle of contrast here 
 may be said to be two-fold, although one of the two sorts 
 of contrast inevitably results from the other. ' Were it not 
 for the great diminution of the shaft, the columns would 
 appear to be too closely put together, and the intercolumns 
 much too narrow — that is, according,at least, to the mode of 
 intercolumnation practised by the Greeks in most of their 
 structures in the Doric Style ; whereas such offensive appear- 
 ance was avoided by the shaft being made considerably 
 smaller at the top than at the bottom, — consequently the 
 intercolumns wider above than below, in the same ratio ; so 
 that columns which at their bases were little more than one 
 diameter apart, became more than two — that is, two upper 
 diameters apart at the top of their shafts, or the neckings 
 of their capitals. In this style everything was calculated to 
 produce a character of majestic simplicity, — varying, how- 
 ever, or rather progressing, from heaviness and stern severity 
 to comparative lightness of proportions, — for examples differ 
 greatly in this respect : in some of the earlier ones the 
 columns are not more than four diameters in height, while in 
 some of the later they are upwards of six, which last men- 
 tioned proportions not only amount to slenderness, but also 
 destroy others. The capital itself may be proportioned the 
 same as before relatively to the diameter of the column, but 
 it cannot possibly bear the same ratio as before to its height. 
 
14 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 The average proportions for that member are one diameter 
 for its width at its abacus, and half a diameter for its depth ; 
 consequently, if the entire column be only four diameters in 
 height, the capital is one-eighth of it, or equal to one-seventh 
 of the shaft ; whereas, if the column be six or more diame- 
 ters, the capital becomes only one-twelfth of the column, or 
 even less, so that the latter appears thin and attenuated, and 
 the other member too small and insignificant. Yet though 
 the original Greek Order or style exhibits considerable diver- 
 sity with respect to mere proportions, it was otherwise very 
 limited in its powers of expression, and moreover something 
 quite distinct from the nominal Doric of the Romans and 
 Italians, as will be evident when we compare the latter with it 
 Before we enter upon this part of our subject, and pre- 
 vious to an examination of the details of the several orders, 
 it should be observed that the diameter, that is the lower 
 diameter of the column, is the standard by which all the 
 other parts and members of an order are measured. The 
 diameter is divided into 60 minutes , or into two halves or 
 modules of 30 minutes each ; and those minutes are again 
 subdivided into parts or seconds when extreme accuracy of 
 measurement is required ; which two last are noticed : 4'. 
 10 », for instance, meaning four minutes and ten seconds. 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 15 
 
 DORIC ORDER. Cymatium 
 
 Fillet 
 
 It has been already 
 observed, that in the 
 genuine Doric the col- 
 umn consists of one shaft 
 and capital, which latter 
 is composed of merely 
 an echinus and abacus, the 
 first being a circular con- 
 vex moulding, spreading 
 out beneath the other 
 member, which, although 
 a very important one, is 
 no more than a plain 
 and shallow square block 
 upon which the archi- 
 trave rests, not only firm- 
 ly and safely, but so that 
 the utmost expression of 
 security is obtained, and 
 pronounced emphatically 
 to the eye. Such expres- 
 sion arises from the aba- 
 cus being larger than the 
 soffit, or under surface of 
 the architrave itself ; 
 and as the former corres- 
 ponds, or nearly so, with 
 the lower diameter of 
 the shaft, it serves to 
 
 Architrave 
 
 Abacus 
 
 Echinus 
 
 Amulets 
 
 make evident at a glance 
 that the foot of the col- 
 umn is greater than the 
 soffit of the architrave 
 
 placed upon the columns. U 1—1 J — 1— 
 
 Thus, as measured at either extremity, the column is 
 
16 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 greater tlian the depth or thickness of the architrave, 
 and projects beyond the architrave and general plane of the 
 entablatuure. Now this would produce a most unsightly effect 
 were the columns of the same or nearly the same diameter 
 throughout. In such case they would appear not only too 
 large, but most clumsily so, and the entablature would have 
 the look of being set back in the most awkward and most 
 unaccountable manner. Instead of which, the architrave, 
 and consequently the general plane of the whole entablature, 
 actually overhangs the upper part of the whole shaft, in a 
 plane about midway between the smallest diameter of the 
 column, just below the capital and the face of the abacus. 
 Even this, the overhanging of the entablature, would be not 
 a little offensive to the eye, were the abacus no larger than 
 the architrave is deep; whereas, being larger, it projects 
 forward farther than the face of the architrave, thereby pro- 
 ducing a powerful degree of one species of artistic effect, 
 namely, contrast,- — and if contrast, of variety also; for 
 though there may be variety without contrast, there cannot 
 be contrast without variety. Another circumstance to be 
 considered is, that were not such projection beyond the fkce 
 of the architrave given to the abacus, that and the rest of 
 the capital could not correspond with the foot of the shaft, 
 and thus equalize the two extremities of the entire column. 
 As now managed, all contradictions are reconciled, and the 
 different sorts of contrast are made to contribute to and 
 greatly enhance general harmony. In the outline of the 
 column we perceive, first contraction, — Ihen expansion, and 
 that in both directions, — for in like manner as the column 
 diminishes upwards and the capital expands from it, its 
 shaft may be said to expand and increase in bulk down- 
 wards, so as to agree with the abacus or upper extremity. 
 
 The Doric column was generally fluted — that is, cut into a 
 series of ridges upon its surfaces. The generally-received 
 theory is, that this fluting represents cracks or crevices in 
 the stems of trees, or from the streaking of rain on the shafts 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 n 
 
 of columns. It is unnecessary to discuss the truth or falsity 
 of that theory. It is sufficient that there are good artistic 
 reasons why it should be so: with the same, or very nearly 
 the same solidity as before, it causes the columns to appear 
 much less heavy than it otherwise would do, and contributes 
 to a pleasing diversity of light and shade. Being upon a 
 curved surface, the channels serve to render the circularity 
 of the columns more apparent, since, though they are all 
 of the same width, they show narrower and narrower to the 
 eye on each side of the centre one, no matter in what direc- 
 tion the column is viewed. Here, then, we have variety, 
 combined with uniformity, and a certain apparent or. optical 
 irregularity, with what we know to be perfect regularity. 
 
 In the Doric Order the number of channels is either sixteen 
 or twenty, afterwards increased in the other Orders to twenty- 
 four, for they are invariably of an even number, capable of 
 being divided by four, so that there shall always-be a centre 
 flute on each side of the column, that is, in a line with the 
 middle of each side of the abacus. Doric flutings are much 
 broader and shallower than those of the other Orders. The 
 mode of fluting Doric columns with mere arrises between the 
 channels, instead of fillets , has been retained by the moderns, 
 as characteristic of the order. On the original Doric, almost 
 every part is marked by breadth, or by flatness, or by sharp- 
 ness. There are no curved mouldings or surfaces, except the 
 cymatium of the cornice or the echinus of the capital, which 
 last is generally kept exceedingly flat. All of the parts are in 
 perfect keeping with the style. The horizontal, annular, nar- 
 row channels, or incisions beneath the echinus of the capital, are 
 probably merely for the sake of effect — of producing shadow, 
 and increasing the proportions of the capital, to which they 
 seem to belong. The lowermost groove may give the capi- 
 tal the appearance of being a separate piece, merely joined 
 on to the shaft, without such joining being concealed. It 
 marks the commencement of the capital, the portion above it 
 of the shaft being thereby converted into the hyjpotrachelium 
 
18 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 or necking of the capital itself, which is thus enlarged in 
 appearance, without having actually increased, and ren- 
 dered unduly heavy. In some examples of the order, this 
 groove is a mere line, and in others it is omitted altogether. 
 The office of the echinus, by expanding out, to connect the 
 diminished upper end of the column with the overhanging 
 abacus, and the former being circular, *and the latter square, 
 but adapted to each other in size, a beautiful combination is 
 produced of a circle inscribed within a square ; and the result 
 is variety, contrast, and harmony. In its profile, or section, 
 by which latter term is understood the contour of any mould- 
 ing, or other member, it is usually very flat — little more than 
 a portion of a cone (turned downwards), with scarcely any 
 perceptible degree of convexity, except just beneath the aba- 
 cus, where it is suddenly rounded and diminished, so that the 
 abacus does not seem to press upon or compress it too much. 
 
 The epistylium, or architrave, is the first or lowest division 
 of the entablature. It is no more than a plain surface, 
 whose standard height, including the taenia, or fillet, which 
 finishes it, and separates it from the frieze, is equal to the 
 upper diameter of the column. The middle division of the 
 entablature is the frieze, which is a very characteristic feature 
 of this Order, being invariably distinguished by its tryglyphs 
 and metopes. The triglyphs are upright channelled blocks, 
 affixed to, or projecting from, the frieze, and are supposed to 
 have been originally intended to represent the ends of inner 
 beams, laid upon the architrave transversely. The metopes, 
 on the contrary, are not architectural members, but merely 
 the intervals or spaces between the triglyphs ; so that, with- 
 out the latter, there could not be the others, because it is 
 triglyphs which produce the metopes. With slight varia- 
 tions in different examples, the frieze is about the same 
 height as the architrave — a trifle less, rather than more; 
 and the average proportion for the breadth of the triglyphs 
 is the mean diameter of the column, or that taken midway 
 of the shaft. The face of the triglyph has two glyphs, or 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 19 
 
 channels, carved upon it, and its edges beveled off into a 
 half channel, thus making what is equal to a third glyph — 
 whence the name triglyph, or thru-channelled. The fillet and 
 guttae attached to the taenia of the architrave immediately 
 beneath each triglyph, and corresponding with it in width, 
 belongs to the triglyph, although it shows itself upon the 
 architrave. These small conical guttae, or drops, are sup- 
 posed by some to represent drops of rain that have trickled 
 down the channels of the triglyph, and settled beneath the 
 ledge of the architrave. Others suppose them to have been 
 intended to indicate the heads of nails, screws, or studs. 
 The artistic intention would seem to be to impart somewhat 
 of decoration to the architrave, to break the monotony of the 
 otherwise uninterrupted line of the taenia, and to connect to 
 the eye, at least, the architrave and frieze together. The 
 architrave thus exhibits, in a fainter degree, the same system 
 of placing ornamental members at regular distances from 
 each other, as is so energetically pronounced in the frieze 
 itself. 
 
 One triglyph is placed over every column, and one or 
 more intermediately over every inter-column (or space be- 
 tween two columns), at such distance from each other, that 
 the metopes are square; in other words, the height of the 
 triglyph is the measure for the distance between it and the 
 next one. In the best Greek examples of the Order, there 
 is only a single triglypli over each inter-column, which is the 
 closest of all, the distance from axis to axis of the columns 
 being limited to the space occupied above by two metopes 
 and two triglyphs, i. e., one whole tryglyph and two halves 
 of triglyphs. The width of the inter-columns cannot be at 
 all less than the proportion above mentioned ; neither can it 
 be increased without a second tryglyph — and if a second tri- 
 glyph, a second metope also, over each inter-column, thus 
 augmenting the distance between the columns half as much 
 again, which becomes,, perhaps too much, the difference 
 between that and the other modes, being considerably more 
 
20 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMEMTS 
 
 than the diameter of the column; whereas, in the other 
 Orders, the inter-columns may be made, at pleasure, either 
 a little wider or narrower than usual. The end triglyphs 
 of the Grecian Doric are placed quite up to the edge, O' 
 outer angle of the frieze. 
 
 The Doric cornice is the last division of the entablature. 
 It is about a third or even more than a third less than the 
 others, and may itself be divided into three principal parts 
 or members, viz., the corona , with the mutules and other bed 
 mouldings beneath it, and the epitithetas above it. The mu- 
 tales are thin plates or shallow blocks attached to the under 
 side or soffit of the corona, over each triglyph and each me- 
 tope, with the former of which they correspond in breadth, 
 and their soffits or und.er-surfaces are wrought with three 
 rows of guttae or drops, conical or otherwise shaped, each 
 row consisting of six guttae, or the same number as those 
 beneath each triglyph. Nothing can be more artistically 
 disposed ; in like manner, as an intermediate triglyph is placed 
 over every two columns, so is an intermediate mutale over 
 every two triglyphs. The smaller members increase in num- 
 ber as they decrease in size; and in the upper and finishing 
 part of the Order, the eye is led on horizontally, instead of 
 being confined vertically to the lines indicated by the columns 
 below. The corona is merely a boldly projecting flat mem- 
 ber, not greatly exceeding in its depth the abacus of the 
 capital; and in some examples it is even less. The epitithe- 
 tas, or uppermost member of the cornice, is sometimes a 
 cymnatium, or wavy mouldering, convex below and concave 
 above; sometimes an echinus mouldering, similar in profile 
 to the echinus of the capital. The cornice may be said to 
 be to the entablature, and indeed to the whole Order, what 
 the capital is to the column, — completing and concluding it 
 in a very artistic manner. By its projection and the shadow 
 which it casts, the cornice gives great spirit and relief to the 
 entablature, which would else appear both heavy and unfin- 
 ished. In the horizontal cornice beneath a pediment, tbe 
 
OP ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 21 
 
 epitithetas is omitted, and shows itself only in the sloping, 
 or racking cornices, as they are called, along the sides of the 
 pediment. 
 
 Antce. — Pilasters, as well as columns, belong to an Order, 
 and in modern practice are frequently substituted indiffer- 
 ently for columns, where the latter would be engaged or at- 
 tached to a wall. In Grecian architecture, however, the 
 antce , — as they are thus termed, to distinguish them from 
 other pilasters, — are never employed. They are never placed 
 consecutively, or in any series, but merely as a facing at the 
 end of a projecting wall, as where a portico is enclosed at 
 each end by the walls forming the sides of the structure, in 
 which case it is described as a portico in antis. Although 
 they accompany columns, and in the case just mentioned, 
 range in the same line with them, antae differ from them in- 
 asmuch as their shafts are not diminished; for which reason 
 their faces are not made so wide as the diameter of the col- 
 umns, neither are their capitals treated in the same manner, 
 and both shaft and capital would be exceedingly clumsy. 
 The expanding echinus of the column capital is therefore 
 suppressed, and one or more very slightly projecting facice , 
 the uppermost of which is frequently hollowed out below, so 
 as to form in section what is called the “bird’s nest” mould- 
 ing. In a portico in antis the want of 
 greater congruity between the antae and 
 the columns is made up for by various con- 
 trasts. Flatness of surface is opposed to ro- 
 tundity, vertical lines to inclined ones (those 
 of the outline and flutings, of the column) 
 and uniformity, in regard to light, to the 
 mingled play of light and shade on the shafts of the columns. 
 
 The Greeks never channelled the faces of their antce , 
 whereas the moderns flute their pilasters as well as columns. 
 The artistic reason for such a distinction would seem to have 
 been t ^ prevent harshnesss and dryness of effect — all the 
 lines being parallel to each other, while in the columns all 
 
22 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 the lines approach each other towards the top and would 
 meet if the column were extended far enough. 
 
 Pediment. — The pediment may properly be considered as 
 no part of the Order, but it serves to illustrate how a figure 
 which, considered merely in itself, is generally regarded as 
 neither beautiful nor applicable to architectural purposes, 
 may be rendered eminently beautiful and satisfactory to the 
 eye. The pediment must, when it does appear, be in accord- 
 ance with the order itself, or that front of the building which 
 is beneath the pediment ; consequently the pitch of the latter 
 must be regarded by circumstances, — must be either greater 
 or less according to the proportions of the front itself. So 
 far from being increased in the same ratio, the wider the 
 front, — the greater the number of columns at the end of the 
 building, — the lower must the pediment be kept, because the 
 front itself becomes of low proportions in the same degree as 
 it is extended or widened. Under all circumstances, the 
 height of the pediment must remain pretty nearly the same, 
 and be determined, not by width or horizontal extent, but 
 by the height of what is beneath it. The height of the 
 pediment or its tympanum (the triangular surface included 
 between the horizontal cornice of the Order, and the two 
 racking cornices of the pediment) never greatly exceeds the 
 depth or height of the entablature ; for were it to do so, the 
 pediment would become too large and heavy, would take off 
 from the importance of the Order, and appear to load its 
 entablature with an extraneous mass which it was never cal- 
 culated to bear. It was a very usual practice among the 
 ancients to fill the whole of the tympanum of the pediment 
 with sculpture, and also the metopes of the frieze, by which 
 the latter instead of being mere blank spaces between the 
 triglyphs, were converted into ornamental features. 
 
 MODERN DORIC. 
 
 The Modern Doric resembles the original one in tjie mode 
 of fluting the arrises instead of fillet — the general form of 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 28 
 
 capital composed of echinus and abacus, and the triglyphs 
 upon the frieze. The differences are : the column is increased 
 from six to eight diameters. The sunk annulets beneath the 
 capital were omitted or converted into fillets ; the capital 
 was increased in depth by a distinct necking being given to 
 it, divided from the shaft by a projecting moulding, which in 
 that situation is called an astragal. The greatest change is 
 the addition of a base to the column. The base best adapted 
 to the Order, as being the most simple, though not uni- 
 formly made use of, is that which consists merely of a torus, 
 or large circular and convex-sided block, and two shallow 
 fillets above it. It may here further be noticed, that beside 
 the base itself, or the base proper, the moderns have, for all 
 the Orders alike, adapted an additional member, namely, 
 a rather deep and square block, which, when so applied, is 
 termed a plinth ; and beneath this is frequently placed another 
 and deeper one called a sub-plinth. 
 
 Though greatly altered, not to say corrupted, from its 
 primitive character, the Doric Order, as treated by the 
 moderns, has been assimilated to the other Orders, — so much 
 so as, though still differing from them in details, to belong 
 to the same general style. One advantage, if no other, of 
 which is, that it may, should occasion require, be used along 
 with the other Orders ; whereas the original Doric is so ob- 
 stinately inflexible that it cannot be made to combine with 
 anything else, or to bend to modern purposes. 
 
24 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 TUSCAN ORDER. 
 
 Gavetto . 
 
 This Order is derived 
 froDi the Doric. No au- 
 thentic examples of it exist; it 
 is known only from what Vi- 
 truvius says of it, following 
 whose account, modern archi- 
 tects have endeavored, not 
 fruitlessly, to make some thing 
 out of it. The shafts are not 
 fluted and the frieze is quite 
 plain. The Tuscan Order has 
 been differently treated by dif- 
 ferent Architects, some of them 
 having given it what is merely 
 a modification of the Doric cor- 
 nice/without its mutales. One 
 thing which the moderns have 
 done, both in their Doric and 
 their Tuscan, is to assimilate 
 pilasters to columns, giving to 
 the former precisely the same 
 bases and capitals as the others 
 have, and also generally dimin- 
 ishing their shafts in the same 
 manner. The proportions usu- 
 ally adopted for this order are 
 as follows: — the height of the 
 column seven diameters; that 
 is, considering the order as a 
 kind of Doric, fourteen modu- 
 les; and the entablature, three 
 modules and a half. The entab- 
 lature may then be divided 
 
 Corona 
 
 Astragal. 
 
 \ 
 
 7 
 
 1 
 
 [ 
 
 • c 
 
 
 Torus . 
 Plinth. 
 
 into ten equal parts, three of which are to be appropriated 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 25 
 
 for the height of the architrave, . three for the frieze, and 
 the remaining four for the cornice. The capital of the co- 
 lumn has the height of one module, and the base has the 
 same;, so that the height of the shaft, including the ring 
 or fillet, which separates the shaft and capital, must be 
 twelve modules. 
 
 2 
 
26 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 IONIC ORDER. 
 
 The capital is the indical 
 mark of the Order, — that by 
 which the eye immediately re- 
 cognizes and distinguishes it. 
 
 The entire column is of quite 
 a different character from the 
 Doric. Besides having the 
 addition of a base, the shaft is 
 of more slender or taller pro- 
 proportions, and consequent- 
 ly much less visibly taper- 
 ing ; for if it diminishes in the 
 same degree as the Doric shaft 
 does, — the Ionic being about 
 two diameters longer, — the 
 upper one would, in conse- 
 quence of such tapering, be- 
 come too small ; and a further 
 consequence would be that the 
 foot and base of the column 
 would appear too large, — per- 
 haps clumsily so. It must be 
 allowed that the swelling con- 
 tours of the base are admirably 
 in keeping, and harmonize 
 with the play of curves in the 
 volutes much better than it 
 would were the shaft to stand 
 immediately upon the floor or 
 pavement without any base, as 
 in the Doric Order. 
 
 Concerning the origin and 
 progress of the development of 
 this order to perfection, our 
 present lipiits will not permit us to speak. The number of 
 
 Capital Architrave Frieze Cornice 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 27 
 
 fillets is twenty-four. The Ionic capital is far more irregular 
 and complex than that of the Doric. 
 
 Instead of showing, like the other, four equal sides, 
 it exhibits two faces or fronts parallel to the architrave 
 above it, and two narrower baluster sides, as they are 
 termed, beneath the architrave. Some consider this 
 irregularity a defect, which, if such it be, is to be got over 
 only by either turning the volutes diagonally, as in some 
 Roman and modern examples, or by curving concavely the 
 faces of the capital, instead of making them planes, so as to 
 obtain four equal faces or sides, as is done in the capitals of 
 the inner Order of the Temple of Apollo at Bassae. At 
 least that method and the other one of turning the volutes 
 diagonally, are the only methods that have been practised 
 for giving perfect regularity to the Ionic capital by means of 
 four equal faces ; for, though difficult, it is possible to 
 accomplish the same purpose differently, by making the aba- 
 cus quite square, as in the Doric Order, and letting the 
 volutes grow out of it on each side or face, their curvature 
 commencing not at the upper horizontal edge, but descend- 
 ing from the vertical edges of the abacus. The capitals 
 could not be square without appearing of excessive bulk, 
 and out of proportion with the other parts, and inconsistent 
 with the delicacy aimed at in all respects. This arises from 
 the great extent of the two flat voluted faces. It is objected 
 against the Ionic capital that in the end columns of a portico 
 the form occasioned obvious, if not offensive irregularity, 
 because on the return side of the building the baluster side 
 showed itself beneath the face of the architrave : yet even 
 this was of little consequence if there was merely a single 
 row of columns in front ; but where the colonade was con- 
 tinued along the flanks of the building also, a very unsightly 
 sort of irregularity was produced ; for while all the other 
 columns on those flanks showed the faces of their capitals, 
 the end one would show its baluster side. To obviate this 
 objection the volute was placed at the angle, diaganolly, 
 
28 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 & a 
 
 so as to obtain these two voluted surfaces placed immediately 
 back to back. In the British Museum and some other 
 modern edifices this objection is attempted to be obviated by 
 arranging the corner volutes as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, in 
 which / indicates the face or voluted side 
 of the capital, and b the baluster side. In 
 an external angle, or the return of a por- 
 tico, the faces and sides are arranged thus, 
 so that b b b b come opposite each other; 
 but in an internal or re-entering angle, 
 the reverse takes place ; for we have then 
 this disposition of the faces and sides of the capitals, in 
 which a voluted face comes opposite to the baluster side of 
 the next capital, — a most unsightly irregularity, and an 
 objection that would be far better got over i- — ? ^ 
 
 
 O 
 
 by making the column [a ] into a square 
 pillar, which would besides give strength, 
 or the expression of it, where such expres- .j. 
 sion is very desirable. The capital some- 
 times has and sometimes has not a necking 
 to it, which may be either plain or decorated. The capital 
 is capable of infinite modifications in its proportion to the 
 column, and as regards the size of the volutes compared 
 with the width of the face. In the best Greek examples 
 the volutes are much bolder and larger than in those of the 
 Roman and Italian, in some of which they are so greatly 
 reduced in size, and become consequently so far apart from 
 each other, as to be insignificant in themselves, and give the 
 whole capital an expression of meanness and meagreness. 
 The spirals forming the volute supply another source of 
 variety, since they may be either single or manifold. In 
 what is called the Ilissus Ionic capital there is only a single 
 spiral, or hem, whose revolutions form the volute, which 
 mode, indeed, prevails in all the Roman and modern Ionics; 
 but in the capitals of the Temple of Erecthus, at Athens, 
 there are, besides that principal spiral, either intermediate 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 29 
 
 ones which follow the course of its revolutions. Again, the 
 cathetus , or eye of the volute, where the spiral or spirals ter- 
 minate, admits of being made smaller or larger. It is, 
 besides, sometimes flat, sometimes convex, and occasionally 
 carved as a rosette. All these variations are independent of 
 the general composition of the capital, and though not all 
 equally good, they both suggest and authorize other modifi- 
 cations of the Ionic type, and fresh combinations. 
 
 Fig. 6 shows the internal order of the Temple of Apollo 
 at Bassae. It has four similar faces; yet if it so far agrees 
 
30 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 with many Roman and Modern Ionic capitals, it differs from 
 them totally in every other respect. The base is peculiar on 
 account of its great simplicity and its expansion, spreading 
 out below to considerable more than the upper diameters of 
 the shaft. This differs from the proper Ionic base, which 
 is greatly contracted in its lower moulding. Another pecu- 
 liarity of the Temple at Bassae is the mode in which the 
 shafts are fluted ; the fillets are exceedingly narrow, and the 
 channels shallow and very slightly curved, which gives the 
 shaft altogether a different character from that attending 
 the usual mode of fluting practiced for this Order. In 
 G reek examples the baluster side of the column had a series 
 of wide channels with broad fillets between them, and where 
 great richness was affected, as in the Ionic of the Temple of 
 Erechtheus, at Athens, the fillets had an additional mould- 
 ing upon them, carved into heads. In the Asiatic examples, 
 on the contrary, and Roman ones also, the baluster side is 
 usually cut into the form of leaves, bound together, as it 
 were, in the centre, by a broad grin. 
 
 The base usually given to this order by the Greeks was 
 the Attic one, consisting of two tori, divided by a scotia. 
 The upper torus was sometimes fluted horizontally ; at others, 
 cut to resemble an interlaced chain-like ornament, now called 
 a guilloche. Modern architects, however, invariably leave 
 the upper torus of the base quite plain. 
 
 Ionic Ant;e. — Without exactly agreeing with that of the 
 column, the base does not differ from it very materially, ex- 
 cept, indeed, in the Ilisus example, where it is lower than 
 the other, and consists only of a shallow scotia, with a chan- 
 neled torus above it. In the Erechtheum example, it is dis- 
 tinguished from the column-base chiefly by both the lower 
 and upper torus being channeled. The capital, or, as it is 
 more commonly termed, anta-cap, on the contrary, is differ- 
 ently shaped from that of the column, in consequence of hav- 
 ing no volutes; wherefore, it is not by any means so wide, 
 neither is it so deep. The mouldings, too, though of the 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 81 
 
 same character, are differently disposed. Still, the anta-cap 
 corresponds with the capital as to plainness or enrichment, 
 being either carved or not, as those of the latter happen to 
 be; and, if the capital has an ornamented necking, so also 
 has the anta. One singularity in the treatment of some an- 
 tse is that of the face of the anta, a slight break having been 
 made down the middle of it, which causes it to appear com- 
 posed of two very narrow faces, put together side by side, 
 but not exactly flush with each other. 
 
 Ionic Entablature. — As expressed in the terms of the 
 diameter of the column, that is, measured by it, the entabla- 
 ture exceeds that of the Doric Order. In the Parthenon, 
 the entire height of the entablature is not more than two 
 diameters ; while in both the Ionic and Erechtheum, it is two 
 diameters and seventeen parts, or two-thirds of a diameter 
 more; whereas, it would seem that the Ionic column, being 
 much more slender, the entablature ought to be less than two 
 diameters in height, instead of being more. And so it is, 
 and less in a considerable degree: it is the height of the en- 
 tablature; in other words, the height of the latter must be in 
 proportion to that of the former. Now, two and one-third 
 diameters for the entablature is less in proportion to a column 
 eight or nine diameters high. In the latter case, the entab- 
 lature is equal to one-third of the column, and one-fourth of 
 the whole order; but in the other two and one-third diame- 
 ters, amount to only a fourth, or thereabouts, of the height 
 of the column, and, consequently, to only about a fifth of the 
 entire Order. 
 
 The Ionic Archit ave does not differ materially from that 
 of the Doric. Its average or standard height is the upper 
 diameter of the column. In the plainer examples of Ionic, 
 such as the Ilissus one, the face of the architrave is quite 
 plain, and distinguished from it only by the Doric tenia being 
 converted into a moulding of a plain bead and small echinus, 
 surmounted by a narrow tenia or broad fillet. In more de- 
 corated examples, as that of the Erechtheum, the face of the 
 
32 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 architrave is divided into three surfaces or courses, called 
 faciae, which very slightly project beyond or over-hang each 
 other, and the moulding between the architrave and frieze is 
 increased in depth; there is a greater number of mouldings, 
 and some of them are enriched by being carved, or, as it is 
 termed, cut. 
 
 As to the Ionic frieze, triglyphs being discarded for it, and 
 no other characteristic members substituted for them, it be- 
 comes no more than a plain surface interposed between the 
 architrave and cornice, unless, as is now never done, although 
 it was, in all probability, generally done by the Ancients, it 
 is enriched with figures in bas-relief, or other sculpture. 
 
 The Ionic cornice affords but little scope for further obser- 
 vation, more particularly in the Athenian examples, in which 
 it consists of little more than the corona and cymatium above 
 it, and some narrow bed-mouldings beneath the former mem- 
 ber, partly got out of its hallowed soffit, or under-surface. 
 
 If the frieze is to be left plain, the best way would be to 
 reduce its height a little, and perhaps that of the architrave 
 also, and enlarge the cornice by introducing dentels into it. 
 These dentels consist of a series of narrow, upright blocks 
 (supposed to represent the end of joists), placed closely 
 together; so that the spaces between them, which are only 
 about half as wide as the blocks themselves, appear to indent 
 that portion of the cornice, which, when introduced without 
 being so ornamented, is called an uncut dentel band. 
 
 The Temple of Jupiter at Aizani, in Asia Minor, exhibits 
 a remarkable example of the Ionic order, the details of which 
 were recently published, for the first time, by M. Texier. In 
 its general conformation, the base resembles the Priene 
 example; but the entablature is quite different. The archi- 
 trave is divided into three facise, separated by a cut mould- 
 ing; and the upper facise is surmounted by an exceedingly 
 deep and highly enriched course of mouldings. The frieze', 
 too, is placed upon it at intervals, somewhat after the manner 
 of the triglyphs, and connected with scrolls. The comic© 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 33 
 
 has both dentels and modillions, and a narrow corona, but 
 a deep cymatium, enriched with carving. 
 
 Notwithstanding the superiority of the Greek Ionic to the 
 Roman, it has not been adopted by the French and Italian 
 architects of the present day. In England, the Greek Ionic 
 has been employed almost to the entire exclusion of the 
 other. 
 
 ROMAN AND MODERN IONIC. 
 
 As treated by the Romans, the Ionic capital was not only 
 greatly impoverished, but deformed also, — impoverished by 
 the volutes being greatly reduced in size, and consequently 
 in importance also, as characteristic marks of the order, — • 
 and deformed owing to the tasteless treatment of it in other 
 respects. Instead of the gracefully-flowing festoon-hem , or 
 mouldings over the echinus, which seems to connect the two 
 volutes, or sides of the face of the capital together, there is 
 a straight line without any moulding to it; and the echinus, 
 projecting before it, produces an appearance of clumsiness — 
 of the several members not being properly adjusted to each 
 other. As in all the Greek examples, the echinus of the 
 capital, which passes behind the volutes, is invariably carved 
 with that sort of pattern which workmen call “ eggs and 
 darts v — ova, or egg-shaped ornaments, almost naturally 
 resulting from the contour of the moulding before it is cut; 
 and the echinus of the Ionic, being always so carved, is on 
 that account distinguished by the name ovolo — not because 
 its section, or profile, is any portion of an oval or elliptic 
 curve; for, among other things the Roman style differs from 
 the Greek in having all its mouldings, both convex and con- 
 cave, formed of portions of circles, by which its details 
 become less elegant in contour. 
 
 There are but three accredited examples of the Roman 
 Ionic Order as a whole, viz: — the Theatre of Marcellus, the 
 Temple of Fortuna Yirilis, and the Temple of Concord. Of 
 
34 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 the first of these, the capital is the simplest and plainest, and 
 also the smallest in its proportions ; that of the second is by 
 far the best, its volutes retaining most of the Greek charac- 
 ter ; and that of the third is remarkable, if not for its ugli- 
 ness in other respects, for its volutes being turned outwards 
 diagonally, so as to present four equal spaces, — a mode af- 
 terwards re-invented and brought up as a novelty, by Sca- 
 mozzi, in honor of whom it has since been distinguished by 
 the name of the Scamozzi capital. There are in addition to 
 these three examples numerous detached specimens of the 
 Order in antique, concerning which our limits will not permit 
 us to speak. The only other variety of, or invention for, the 
 Ionic capital that we can notice is one that has been prac- 
 ticed by Italian Architects, and which may be distinguished 
 as the festoon or festooned capital, the volutes being turned 
 diagonally, and a festoon being suspended from the eye of one 
 volute to that of the other beneath each face. This not only 
 gives variety and richness to the capital, but by increasing 
 its volume or bulk, increases its importance also, and produces 
 great play of light and shade; there is harmony together 
 with diversity in the combination of forms, the curve of the 
 festoon being, though dissimilar, in agreement with the out- 
 line of the volutes. At present there is no proportion ob- 
 served — that is with regard to decoration; for the same 
 entablature or cornice at least is not equally adapted to large 
 and small capitals. To obviate the meagreness and insig- 
 nificance of the usual Italian Ionic capital, Sangovino and 
 some others have frequently given it a necking, either plain 
 or enriched, which even when plain, greatly improves the 
 general appearance of the column by increasing the depth of 
 the capital and reducing the height of the shaft. To make 
 this clearer, without pretending at all to exactness, call the 
 column nine diameters high, and the capital either half a 
 diameter, or a whole one, accordingly as it is with or without 
 a necking; now, in the first case, the capital will be to the 
 shaft (base included) only as one to seventeen, whereas in the 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE, 
 
 35 
 
 other It becomes as one to eight, which is not at all too 
 much, while the other way the shaft is much too lanky, and 
 the capital too low, — -as is probably felt by those who cannot 
 explain the cause of such disagreement and disproportion. 
 
 Entablature. — The Theatre of Marcellus seems to have 
 been the entablature which has guided the Moderns in the 
 composition of their entablature, although they have greatly 
 diminished the proportions of the cornice, which is there 
 nearly equal to both architrave and frieze together. In the 
 Athenian Ionic we may set down the architrave, frieze, and 
 cornice as about 50 — 50, and 35 minutes respectively, making 
 altogether two diameters and fifteen minutes (2J diameters) ; 
 therefore the cornice is to each of the other two divisions of 
 the entablature only as 35 to 50. In the Roman Ionic, on 
 the contrary, the cornice is by much the largest division; in 
 the Fortuna Yirilis example, the measures are — architrave 
 38', frieze 19', cornice 10'; in that of the Theatre of Mar- 
 cellus 43' — 36' — 66', making the entire entablature 121', or 
 2 diameters 1 minutes. Although modern Architects vary 
 from these proportions, and some of them make the frieze 
 equal to, or more than the architrave, they all agree — in 
 doctrine, at least, if not in practice — in making the cornice 
 the largest division of the entablature. Either dentels or 
 larger plain blocks, placed rather wide apart from each other, 
 are considered the proper characteristic marks of the Ionic 
 cornice. 
 
 The moderns have frequently given this Order, by way of 
 distinction, a convex frieze, technically termed a pulvinated 
 one, from its fancied resemblance to a cushion ( pwlvinar ), 
 whose slides swell out by compression when sat upon. 
 
80 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 CORINTHIAbf ORDERCymatium. % 
 
 The distinguishing feat- 
 ure of this Order is its 
 deep and foliaged capital. 
 
 The story usually related 
 of the origin of the 
 Corinthian capital is ; 
 the sculptor Callicrates 
 was so struck by the 
 graceful forms into which 
 the leaves of the acanthus 
 plant had grown up around a 
 tall basked covered by a square 
 slab, that he sketched it, and 
 conceived the idea of fashioning 
 the capital after it. The fact 
 is, the Corinthian Order does 
 not appear to have been ever 
 matured into a distinct style 
 and complete system by the 
 Greeks. There is, indeed, one 
 solitary Athenian example of 
 Corinthian, which exhibits the 
 utmost refinement of exquisite 
 richness attempered by exquisite 
 delicacy. In the Lysicrates 
 capital — as we will for conve- 
 nience call it (the example 
 alluded to being that of the 
 monument of Lysicrates, other- 
 wise called the Lantern of 
 Demosthenes, at Athens) — 
 foliation may be said to have 
 attained its culminating point; 
 rivalled, it may be, but hardly 
 surpassed. Still, it must ^3 confessed* as a whole, that 
 
 Torus 
 
 Scotia. 
 
 Torus. 
 
 Plinth. 
 
 shaf t. Capital, Architrave, Cornice, 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 37 
 
 Order leaves much to be desired for it, there being nothing 
 of corresponding beauty and luxuriance in the rest of it. 
 The cornice, for instance, is only a simple dentelled Ionic 
 one; nor are any of the mouldings of the entablature cut. 
 There was, however, in that particular case, above the 
 entablature, what fully counterbalances and carries out the 
 idea and expression of the capitals, namely, the ornamental 
 roofing, and the matchless finial which crowns the structure, 
 and produces a full climax of beauty and grace. Charming 
 as the original itself is, or, more correctly, was , it has been 
 copied and altered more than any other structure — often in 
 a bungling manner. 
 
 The ^Corinthian Order may be thus described: the body 
 of the capital is surrounded by two rows of leaves, eight in 
 each row; besides which, there are four leaves, which, with 
 the volutes over them, serve to support the four angles of 
 the abacus. Although the Order itself is the most delicate 
 and lightest of the three, the capital is the largest, being 
 considerably more than a diameter in height, — upon the 
 average about a diameter and a quarter. This, however, 
 will cause the reader no surprise, if he bears in mind what 
 has before been said as to the proportion to be observed 
 between the column and its capital. The taller the former is, 
 the taller must the latter be also, and so, far bulkier; although, 
 while actually increasing in bulk, its tallness corrects the 
 appearance of heaviness, by giving the proportion of slender- 
 ness. A capital whose height is only half a diameter, is, 
 of course, by no means positively so bulky as one which is 
 upwards of an entire diameter in height, — whereas the other 
 is much higher than it is wide. The abacus is differently 
 shaped from what it is in either of the other four Orders. 
 In the Doric it is, as we have seen, merely a thick, square 
 slab, fitting the echinus beneath it, and left perfectly plain. 
 In the Ionic, it is square; but its sides are moulded, whether 
 it is square or not. The Corinthian abacus, on the contrary, is 
 not, properly speaking, a square; although it may be said to 
 
38 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 be so in its general form, inasmuch as it possesses squareness , 
 having four equal sides. Instead of being straight, the sides 
 of the abacus are concave in plan, being curved outwards, 
 so as to produce a sharp point at each corner, which is 
 accordingly cut off. Thus we find that the abacus here 
 assumes a very different shape from its original one. The 
 height of the capital varies from 60 ' to nearly half as much 
 again. 
 
 The proper Corinthian base differs from that of the usual 
 Ionic or Attic, in having no smaller scotise, separated by two 
 astragals ; however, both kinds are employed indiscriminately, 
 and the Attic is that which is generally used, except a greater 
 degree of delicacy and richness than ordinary be required. 
 As the shaft is fluted similarly to that of the Ionic column, 
 viz., with twenty-four channels, there is nothing for notice or 
 remark there, unless it be that the flutes are sometimes 
 called , as it is called, that is, the channels are hollowed out 
 for only about two-thirds of the upper part of the shaft, and 
 the remainder cut, so that each channel has the appear- 
 ance of being partly filled up by a round staff, or piece of 
 rope, whence the term calling. 
 
 Entablature. — The architrave is generally divided into 
 three facise (the lower one much narrower than the others, 
 which is rather contrary to architectonic principle, the weaker 
 member being placed under heavier ones), with the mouldings 
 between them, which, though frequently left plain, are prop- 
 erly enriched in the best and most consistently finished-up 
 examples. We pass over the frieze, that being merely a sin- 
 gle surface, either plain or sculptured. The cornice is larger 
 than in the other Orders, larger as to height, and, conse- 
 quently, as to projection also; which increased height and 
 projection, and, we may add, increased richness, are demanded 
 by the greatly enlarged bulk of the capital, and its more ela- 
 borate decoration. Examples vary so greatly, that we can 
 give only approximating mean and average proportions, 
 which may be set down at 2 diameters 12 minutes for the 
 
OP ARCHITECTURE, 
 
 39 
 
 whole entablature, and 54', or something less than a diame- 
 ter, for the cornice; but it is in many instances more, and, 
 in others, as much less. As may be supposed from this 
 greatly-increased depth of the cornice, it consists of a greater 
 number of mouldings beneath the corona, for that and the 
 cymatium over it invariably retain their places as the crown- 
 ing members of the whole series of mouldings. To the den- 
 tels of the Ionic cornice is added a row of modillions, imme- 
 diately beneath and supporting the corona. These modil- 
 lions are ornamented blocks, curved in their under surface, 
 after the manner of the letter S turned thus, ui\ and between 
 them and the dentels, and also below the latter, are other 
 mouldings sometimes cut, at others, left plain. Sometimes a 
 plain, uncut dentel-band is substituted for dentels ; sometimes, 
 in simpler cornices, that is omitted altogether, and plainer 
 blocks are employed instead of modillions; or else both den- 
 tels and modillions are omitted, as in the Temple of Antonius 
 and Faustina, notwithstanding that it is considerably enriched 
 — even the face of the corona being fluted. 
 
40 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 COMPOSITE ORDER 
 This Order is Dot con- 
 sidered by some modern 
 writers as an Order. The vo- 
 lutes at the angles of the capi- 
 tal are expanded into the pro- 
 portions of those in the Roman 
 Ionic capital. The Order is 
 without doubt derived from the 
 Ionic and Corinthian; it was 
 first used by the Romans in 
 their triumphal arches. The 
 very dissimilar varieties to be- 
 met with, all belonging to one' 
 and the same Order, show 
 plainly enough that the Archi- 
 tects of antiquity considered 
 themselves at liberty to design 
 their own detail, and to treat 
 an Order as a composition 
 marked out for them in its 
 leading forms and general pro- 
 portions, but which they might 
 fashion nearly ad libitum in 
 other respects. Modern archi- 
 tects are more apt to study 
 mere convenience, and violate 
 architectural orthodoxy. Such 
 architecture may not be strictly 
 classical; but it does not follow 
 that hence they are not artistic 
 or beautiful. If our limits would 
 permit, we could instance hun- 
 dreds of examples of this Order, 
 each of which might be some- 
 what different from the other 
 
 Cymatium 
 
 Modillions. 
 
 Dentals. 
 Frieze. 
 
 Architrave, 
 
 
 Volutes. 
 
 Upper \ 
 leaves, j 
 Lower > 
 leaves. J 
 
 and perhaps it might lead 
 
 Shaft. Capital. 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 41 
 
 the reader to the conclusion, that the Composite should be 
 considered not as a separate Order, but as a modification 
 of the Corinthian. 
 
 COLUMNIATION. 
 
 Columns and entablatures, in themselves, do not, properly 
 speaking, constitute an Order, although they serve as speci- 
 mens of it. They must enter into, and regulate the organiza- 
 tion of a structure, before they can become, by composition, 
 what is strictly termed an Order. As exhibited in their 
 temples, the system of columniation practised by the ancients 
 was strictly organic and natural. Instead of being something 
 accessory, supplementary to, and independent of, the fabric, 
 that might be either omitted or applied at pleasure, as 
 commonly practised in Italian and modern composition, the 
 Order itself constituted the exterior of the building, at least 
 of that side or front of it where it was introduced, when it 
 was not continued throughout; so that the Order and its 
 dimensions, once established, and the mode of inter-columnia- 
 tion determined, the edifice shaped itself. Before we enter 
 upon the subject of inter-columniation, it will be desirable to 
 explain the various forms of temples, and the technical terms 
 by which they are distinguished. 
 
 The naos, or cella, as it is more usually called, or temple 
 itself, was comparatively small, even where the entire mass 
 was of considerable size, gradual extension of size being 
 produced not so much by any great enlargement of the in- 
 terior as by external columniation and its gradual develop- 
 ment. It is probable that the earliest Greek temples con- 
 sisted of the naos only, and were accordingly plain Astylar 
 buildings, or without columns, except in front or at the 
 entrance end, where an enclosed porch was formed by intro- 
 ducing columns, by continuing the side walls, and placing 
 columns between them in antis, that is, between the two 
 antae or pilasters forming the ends of those walls. The next 
 step seems to have been to advance the porch before the 
 
42 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 main building, instead of* keeping it recessed within the side 
 walls, thereby converting in form a portico in antis into a 
 prostyle, or projecting line of columns; thus a distyle in antis, 
 or a portico consisting of two columns between antae, con- 
 sequently of three intercolumns, or open spaces between the 
 antae and columns, would become a tetrastyle, or projecting 
 portico of four columns. By the other end of the building 
 being similarly treated, the temple became amphiprostyle, or 
 prostyle at both ends, in rear as well as in front, the sides 
 still remaining astylar. The next and last style of advance- 
 ment was to continue columniation all round, enclosing the 
 cella within colonnades along its sides as well as at its ends, 
 which disposition of plan is expressed by the terms peristyle 
 or peristylar, and peripteral, which of necessity produces two 
 columns and two intercolumns more in front ; for what would 
 otherwise be merely a tetrastyle prostyle, with four columns 
 and three intercolumns, (the number of the latter being 
 always one less than of the others,) becomes by the colon- 
 nades being continued along the side, a hexastyle (six 
 columns and five intercolumns) ; or if originally a prostyle 
 hexastyle, it would be rendered an octastyle , (eight columns 
 and seven intercolumns,) and so on. It should be observed, 
 too, that a building cannot at the same time be peristylar 
 and have a prostyle portico, the latter being merged in the 
 general columniation, instead of projecting from the rest of 
 the edifice as a distinct feature. Of peristylar temples there 
 were two sorts, viz. : those with a single row of columns on 
 each side, and those which have two, which last are distin- 
 guished by the term dipteral, i. e. having two wings or aisles 
 on each side. Although it did not at all affect the general 
 appearance, notwithstanding that it extended the plan by 
 adding two more columns and intercolumns to the front, this 
 last-mentioned mode was attended with greater richness of 
 columniation, and the intercolumns contributed not a little 
 to variety of effect and play of perspective; besides which, 
 greater sheltered space was gained for ambulatories; whereas 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 43 
 
 in the usual simple peristyle, where the space between the 
 outer columns and the walls of the cella was limited to the 
 width of a single intercolumn, the side colonnades were mere 
 narrow passages,- very little wider — at least in Doric tem- 
 ples — than the diameter of the columns themselves, conse- 
 quently of very little actual service. In what is called the 
 jpseudo-dipteral mode, more of clear space between the colon- 
 nades was provided by omitting the inner columns, which 
 mode reduced the plan to that of simple peristyle, the only 
 difference being, that instead of the width of a single inter- 
 column, a clear space, equal to two intercolumns and one 
 column, was gained for the ambulatories. The Temple of 
 Jupiter at Silenus was of this description, and being only 
 octastyle in front,— the least possible width for a dipteral or 
 pseudo-dipteral plan, — of the seven front intercolumns, for 
 four (■ i . e., two on each side) were given to the lateral colon- 
 nades, and only three left for the breadth of the czlla , which 
 must have looked like a smaller edifice standing within a 
 colonnaded and covered enclosure. 
 
 The above few and simple arrangements of plan are nearly 
 all the varieties that the G reek temple style offers ; and some 
 of them are little better than distinctions without differences, 
 inasmuch as the differences do not affect general external 
 appearance. Peripteral, dipteral and pseudo-dipteral, all 
 agree in the main point, and the two latter answer to the 
 name of peripteral as well as to the first, being merely modi- 
 fications of it. Great as were its aesthetic beauties, Greek 
 Architecture was — why should we scruple to confess it? — 
 exceedingly limited in its compass and power of expression: 
 what it did, it did admirably, but it confined itself too much 
 to one idea. “ When you have seen one green field,” says 
 Johnson, “you have seen all green fields;” and so we may 
 say of Greek temples, — when you have seen one of them, 
 you have seen all of them. However they may differ from 
 one another as to the treatment of the Order adopted for 
 them, the number of their columns and mere particulars of 
 
44 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 that kind, they resemble each other very nearly in all lead- 
 ing points. Not only were their plans invariably parallelo- 
 grams, but alike also to proportion, forming a double square, 
 or being about twice as much in length as in breadth ; for so 
 exceedingly methodical was the Greek system, that the num- 
 bers of columns on the flanks or sides of a peripteral temple 
 was regulated and determined by the number of those in 
 front. The number of those in front was invariably an even 
 one, as otherwise there would be no middle intercolumn ; but 
 on the flanks of the edifice, where there was no entrance, 
 the number of the intercolumns was an even, and that o,. 
 the columns an uneven one, so that a column came in the cen- 
 tre of these side elevations. 
 
 As to the mode in which the front influenced the sides by 
 determining the number of columns for them, the established 
 rule seems to have been to give the flanks twice as many inter- 
 columns as there were columns at each end: thus, the Parthe- 
 non, which is octastyle, has sixteen intercolumns; consequently, 
 seventeen columns on each flank. In like manner, a hexa- 
 style temple would have twelve intercolumns, and thirteen 
 columns on its sides. There are, however, exceptions; for 
 instance, the temple at Selinus, which has been mentioned as 
 an instance of the pseudo-dipteral mode of columniation in an 
 octastyle, with sixteen, or just twice as many columns on its 
 sides as in front; consequently, the intercolumns are only fif- 
 teen, and being uneven in number, there is a middle one, as 
 in the front itself. After all, the difference caused by there 
 being an intercolumn more or legs than usual, is but a very 
 slight one, such as is to be ascertained only by counting the 
 columns, and such as not to cause any perceptible difference 
 in the general physiognomy of building. 
 
 Besides the restriction as to general proportion of plan, 
 namely, the fixed relationship between the length and the 
 breadth of the building, proportion with regard to height 
 was limited in a different way, and in such manner that 
 the character of increased richness and importance derived 
 
OP ARCHITECTURE 
 
 45 
 
 from a greater number of columns was attended not, indeed, 
 by decreased height, but by decreased lofti'/iess , or proportional 
 height, that is, height as measured by either breadth or 
 length. Paradoxical as this may sound at first, nothing can 
 be more plain when once explained. Discarding nicety in 
 measurement, we will call a tetrastyle portico about a square 
 in height — that is, about as high as wide ; but add four more 
 columns, extend it from a tetrastyle to an octastyle, so that 
 it becomes about a double square in breadth, or twice as 
 wide again, and the inevitable consequence is, that it is then 
 only twice as wide as high; that is, as to proportion, only 
 half as lofty as it was before. The expression of loftiness, in 
 which altitude greatly predominates over breadth, was quite 
 beyond the reach of the Greek system. Their temples might 
 be planted on lofty eminences, but the structures themselves 
 never towered upwards. As far as it went, their system 
 was perfect — so complete, indeed, in itself as to be unfit for 
 almost any other purposes than that for which it was ex- 
 pressly framed. 
 
 If the Romans corrupted the Doric and Ionic, they devel- 
 oped and matured the Corinthian Order, and also worked 
 out a freer and more complex and comprehensive system of 
 Architecture. To say nothing of their introduction and ap- 
 plication of those important elements of both construction 
 and design, the arch and vault, which hardly belong to a 
 mere treatise on the Orders, it is to the Romans that we are 
 indebted for varieties and combinations of plan that will be 
 sought for in vain among Grecian structures. Of the 
 Romans it may be said, 11 Mutant quadrata rotuadisnP 
 
 Circular forms, and curves displaying themselves not only 
 in elevation and section, but in plan; and while, among the 
 Greeks, Architecture was confined almost exclusively to ex- 
 ternal appearance and effect, in the hands of the Romans it 
 was made to minister to internal display of the most enchant- 
 ingly picturesque kind, as would be amply attested by the 
 Pantheon alone. In that edifice, and Hadrian’s Mausoleum 
 
46 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 (now barbarized into the Castello di S. Angelo), the cylin- 
 drical form was exhibited upon an imposing scale; in the 
 temple at Tivoli, in far less dimensions, but with the most 
 captivating taste ; and again in the tomb of Cecilia Meletta, 
 we have a fine example of an unbroken astylar circular mass. 
 
 In such structures as the Colosseum and other Roman 
 amphitheatres, a different form of curvature, namely, the 
 ellipses, was employed with admirable propriety and effect. 
 In the interior, again, we find the hemicycle or concave 
 semi-circular form, both frequently and variously applied by 
 Romans in such edifices as their Baths, which afford many 
 excellent studies for combination of plan. 
 
 To enter into the system of Roman Architecture as the 
 subject would require, would very far exceed our present 
 limits and purpose ; much less can we pretend to treat here 
 of the still more varied and complex Italian, or Modern 
 European system, into which fenestration so largely enters, 
 columniation being, more frequently than not, subordinate. 
 Were we to touch upon the last mentioned style and its 
 various elements, it could be only so superficially as to be 
 more disappointing than instructive. Better that our reader 
 should admire our forbearance, than complain of our unsat- 
 isfactory jejuneness. We may, however, permit ourselves to 
 throw out one or two general remarks ; the first of which is 
 that it is a great error to confound with the Italian the two 
 Ancient Classical styles, applying to them alike the epithet 
 “ Grecian,” merely in contradistinction to Gothic, or Medi- 
 eval Architecture. It is absurd to pretend to test by the 
 Greek style, one so totally differently constructed as the 
 Italian ; an error that could hardly have been fallen into 
 but for the practice of applying the same names to very dif- 
 ferent things. The term Order has quite a different mean- 
 ing as applied to the original classical mode of the Art, 
 from what it has in the other. In Italian composition, an 
 Order is more frequently , than not, mere decoration in the 
 shape of columns and entablatures, fashioned secundum artem } 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 47 
 
 (a very different thing from artistically,) so as to resemble 
 in detail, and certain conventional distinctions, those of the 
 Ancients. Infinitely better would it have been, if, instead 
 of allowing themselves to be misled by the pedantry of Vi- 
 truvius, the Architects of the so-called Revival, who showed 
 much happiness of invention in other respects, had treated 
 the Orders freely; or perhaps still better, had they worked 
 out ideas of their own for columns and entablatures, when- 
 ever they had occasion for them, either as matters of neces- 
 sity, or as mere decoration. Had Italians allowed them- 
 selves greater latitude in that respect, they would, in all 
 probability, have been far less licentious upon the whole 
 than they frequently were, and their buildings would have 
 been more homogeneous — more of a piece. But they, for- 
 sooth, be one of the Orders or all of them at once, and a 
 great deal else in the bargain. Therefore the affecting to 
 retain the Ancient Orders in their purity, served no other 
 purpose than that of making all the more evident how com- 
 pletely their first intention and character had been lost 
 sight of. 
 
 The clinging with scrupulous punctilio to what had 
 become dead-letter forms, after the system which they had 
 produced had been abandoned, and exchanged for another 
 and widely different one, was merely superstition and ped- 
 antry. It might show acquaintance with traditional learn- 
 ing and the writings of Vitruvius ; but it also showed dulness 
 of aesthetic feeling, or, what is not much better, deficiency 
 of aesthetic power. There was, however, one mode of apply- 
 ing columns, which, although generally regarded as the most 
 licentious and un-orthodox, nay, even preposterous, 
 because quite contrary to all classical practice and prece- 
 dent, has at least one propriety, that of being rational, since 
 columns there officiate as columns — as real support ; 
 whereas in a great deal of Modern Architecture, that is 
 admired for the correct taste it displays, columns and their 
 entablatures are mere expletives, instead of actual compo- 
 
48 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 nent parts of the fabric, and simulate a mode of construction 
 neither required for nor practiced in the fabric itself. 
 
 The particular mode here alluded to is that in which 
 arches are not introduced together with columns, but 
 the arches are not only introduced together with colums, but 
 the arches and columns are so indissolubly married together 
 that they cannot be divorced, inasmuch as the arches are 
 supported by the columns themselves, the former springing 
 immediately from the capitals of the latter. Such combi- 
 nation, it might be supposed, would be gladly admitted as 
 sufficiently legitimate, both because in accordance with 
 rational architectoric principles, and because it greatly ex- 
 tends the resources of the Art ; nevertheless such is the 
 omnipotence of prejudice, that instead of being welcomed 
 and adopted by us, it has been decried as a barbarism. As 
 an irresistible and crushing argument against it, we are told 
 that columns were not originally intended to be so applied; 
 —admirable logic, truly ! There are a great many other 
 things besides columns which have in course of time come to 
 be applied to uses not originally contemplated. In regard 
 to that combination of columns and arches according to 
 which the latter spring immediately from the others, and 
 are supported by them, there are two questions : the first 
 and practical one, Do the columns afford sufficient support? 
 the second and aesthetic one is, Is there also sufficient 
 appearance of support ; or is there anything contradictory 
 to principle, to judgment and good taste ? The first ques- 
 tion needs no answer, since it answers itself ; it being an 
 indisputable fact that columns so employed do answer the 
 purpose to which they are turned. The other question is 
 not so easily answered : the prejudiced will of course answer 
 it according to their own contracted taste and narrow 
 notions, condemning the mode alluded to, without any 
 inquiry into its merits and advantages, merely on the ground 
 of its being quite at variance with the classical system of 
 trabmted columniation, that is, with columns supporting a 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 49 
 
 horizontal architrave and entablature, or general horizontal 
 trabeation. That by the substitution of arches for archi- 
 traves, the character of the Greek system is forfeited, cannot 
 be denied ; but then another character is established whose 
 difference from the original one ought not to be made its 
 condemnation. To demand of a different mode that it 
 should resemble and conform to the laws of that from which 
 it differs, is absurdity in the extreme, for it is requiring at 
 once that it shall be a different one and the same. To 
 compare different styles is a very useful sort of study ; but 
 to make any one style the criterion or standard by which 
 others are to be judged, is preposterous. 
 
 The style in which the arch and column enter into direct 
 combination with each other, and for which there is no spe- 
 cific name, has at all events some economical recommenda- 
 tions, inasmuch as shorter columns, and fewer of them, are re- 
 quired, than would be necessary for the same height and 
 length according to the trabeated mode. In itself, too, it 
 possesses much capability ; yet as is the case with every 
 other style, the merit of the works produced in it depends 
 upon the manner in which it is treated, and the talent 
 brought to it. There is no style of the Art so poetical that 
 the flattest prose may not be made out of it ; and hardly 
 any so utterly prosaic as to be incapable of being kindled 
 into poetry by the Promethean torch of generality — artistic 
 treatment, and con amort aesthetic feeling. 
 
 INTERCOLUJfNIATION. 
 
 Although Intercolumniation consists only in regulating 
 and determining the spaces between the columns, and con- 
 sequently does not affect the nature of the composition, for a 
 tetrastyle, hexastyle, Ac., would still be such, no matter how 
 narrow or wide the intercolumniaticns or intervals between the 
 columns may be, very much depends upon it with regard to 
 expression and effect. How intercolumniation is regulated 
 
 5 
 
50 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 in the Doric Order, has already been explained: in that the 
 distances between the columns is generally governed entirely 
 by the triglyphs of the frieze, so that there can be no medium 
 between monotriglyphic and ditriglyphic in intercolumniation, 
 accordingly as there is either one or two triglyphs over each 
 intercolumn. But in the other orders there are no such re- 
 strictions: in them the intercolumns may be made wider or 
 narrower, as circumstances require, but, of course, under 
 the guidance of judgment and good taste; for what is left 
 a discretion is not always very discreetly used. Vitruvius 
 and his followers, however, have not cared to trust to discre- 
 tion or indiscretion, but have fixed certain positive or distinct 
 modes of intercolumniation, viz., five, to wit: 
 
 Pycnostyle, or closely set, in which the intercolumns are 
 one diameter and a quarter or a half in width. 
 
 Systyle, in which they are two diameters wide. 
 
 Eustyle, or well spaced, in which they are two diameters 
 and a half. 
 
 Dyastyle, in which they are three diameters. 
 
 Araeostyle, or thinly set, in which they are four diameters. 
 
 Let us repudiate for Architecture all such formal, Act of 
 of Congress legislation, and take pycnostyle and aerostyle as 
 the greatest allowable degree of distance or closeness at which 
 the columns can be placed, and it follows, that between such 
 maximum and minimum, any intermediate measure is admis- 
 sible, and that there is no occasion to fix it positively and 
 arithmetically, and make distinctions which are, after all, 
 only arbitrary. There are a great many matters in design 
 which must be left to the architect, and intercolumniation is 
 one of them. It is impossible to have precise rules for every 
 thing, neither is it desirable; for, if everything in it could be 
 done by rule, Architecture would forfeit its nature as one of 
 the fine arts, and be reduced to one of the mechanical. What 
 is done by rule can be done just as well as by one as another. 
 
 Excepting the terms pycnostyle and arseostyle, which are 
 useful as expressing the greatest degree of closeness or of 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 51 
 
 openness of inter-eolumniation consistent with well-propor- 
 tioned arrangement, the others may be dispensed with. To 
 designate one mode as eustyle , par excelence, is very much like 
 saying that the proportions assigned to it, viz., 2 - 30', or 2| 
 diameters, are the very best, and all the rest comparatively 
 defective; according to which doctrine, the monotriglyphic 
 mode of inter-columniation usually employed by the Greeks 
 in their Doric temples, and which answers to the character 
 of pycnostyle, is not so well-proportioned as what is emphati- 
 cally called eustyle. Let it be whatever it may, as expressed 
 in terms of the diameter of the columns, inter-columniation 
 should always deserve the name of eustyle, or well-propor- 
 tioned , by being such as satisfies the eye, and contributes to 
 the particular character that befits the occasion, and har- 
 monizes with the other proportions of the structure. Pyc- 
 nostyle, or close spacing, carries with it the expression of 
 both richness and strength, the solids, or columns, being 
 very little less than the voids or inter-columns. Areeostyle, 
 or wide spacing — and ditriglyphic Doric inter-columniation 
 may be called such — produces an effect of openness and 
 lightness, but also partakes of meagreness and weakness, 
 owing to the waut of sufficient apparent support for the 
 entablature — a very frequent fault in modern architecture, 
 where frugality as to columniation has often been allowed to 
 produce a degree of poverty, which contrasts very disagree- 
 ably with that of the decoration affected by the Order itself. 
 Inter-columniation ought to be made to depend, in some 
 measure, upon the nature of the composition: a tetrastyle 
 portico, for instance, or a distyle in antis, admits of wider 
 inter-columniation than would be suitable for an octrastyle; 
 because pycnostyle, where there are only three inter-columns, 
 would produce too great narrowness of general proportions 
 for a portico. 
 
 Hardly is there need for observing, that, be their propor- 
 tions what they may, the inter-columns in a colonade or 
 portico must be all alike; nevertheless, in a Grecian Doric 
 
52 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 portico there is, as we have seen, some difference, the two 
 extreme inter-columns being there narrower by the width of 
 half a triglyph. There is, besides, another exception from 
 the general principle ; for the centre inter-column of a portico 
 was frequently made somewhat wider than the others, in 
 order to mark the entrance, and the better to display and 
 afford greater space for access to the door within. 
 
 One mode of columniation and inter-columniation which 
 remains to be spoken of, is that which has been sometimes 
 practised by modern architects, and combines the two ex- 
 tremes of pycnostyle, or still closer inter-columniation and 
 arseostyle. This consists in coupling the columns, and mak- 
 ing a wide inter-column between every pair of columns; so 
 that, as regards the average proportion between solids and 
 voids, that disposition does not differ from what it would be 
 were the columns placed singly. 
 
 Although denounced by some critics, more especially Alga- 
 ratti, as altogether licentious and indefensible, and although 
 it is not to be specially recommended or indeed practicable 
 on every occasion, the coupling of columns may, under some 
 circumstances, be not only excusable, but advisable and 
 proper. As is the case with almost everything else in mat- 
 ters of art, all depends upon hov: it is done, and whether 
 with or without sufficient reason. That there is no classical 
 authority for it, is no valid reason against it; in the consti- 
 tution of the ancient temples there was nothing to require or 
 motive, it. It may be conceded, however, that coupled 
 columns, forming a prostyle surmounted by a pediment, are 
 objectionable; because where so strong a resemblance to the 
 antique model is preserved in other respects, a departure from 
 it in regard to the disposition of the columns has a disturb- 
 ing effect. 
 
 Having gone through the Classical Orders, and explained 
 their elements and constitution, we have performed as much 
 as we purposed or as we promised. Within the same com- 
 pass we might, no doubt, have touched upon a great deal 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 53 
 
 besides that to the study of Greek and Roman Architecture, 
 by restricting ourselves to bare matter-of-fact, and suppress- 
 ing all comment, and so treating the subject drily and super- 
 ficially. Proceeding upon the principle multum hand multa , 
 we have aimed at nothing more than to initiate the reader in 
 such a manner as to excite interest in the subject and stimu- 
 late further inquiry. Should we have effected that, we shall 
 have gained our purpose. Although the Orders have been 
 classified according to the old division, the reader must re- 
 member that it is not expected that he shall be a plodder 
 who works by rate and routine. Much, very much indeed, 
 will have been learned by the reader, should he have learned, 
 or have been put in the way of learning, to look upon those 
 various compositions in the several Orders, not merely with 
 eyes of a Builder or a Mechanic, but with the intuition and 
 the feeling of an Artist; in short, to look upon them as 
 general types to be diligently studied, and then imitated with 
 congenial gusto 
 
54 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 SKETCHES OF THE HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF THE STYLES OF 
 ARCHITECTURE OF VARIOUS COUNTRIES, FROM THE EARLIEST TO THE 
 PRESENT TIME. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Architecture cf various Countries. 
 
 In an attempt to trace the origin of Architecture, with a 
 view to a history of the Styles that prevailed in this and 
 other countries, it will be quite unnecessary to give any ac- 
 count of the different kinds of tents, huts, and other timber 
 erections used as the early habitations of mankind, resulting 
 from the necessity of protection from the inclemency of the 
 seasons, and which required little skill or knowledge of con- 
 struction. Our purpose is to refer only to such ancient erec- 
 tions of durable materials as evince a knowledge of some sys- 
 tematic construction, or were the source from which pro- 
 ceeded all that can properly be called Architecture. 
 
 Nineveh, Babylon, and Egypt. 
 
 The first city that contained solid and durable edifices was 
 Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire and the residence 
 of the Assyrian kings, founded by Asshur, the great-grandson 
 of Noah.* Jonah speaks of it as an exceeding great city of 
 three days’ journey :”f it is described by Strabo as larger 
 than Babylon: the walls, according to Diodorus, were 100 
 feet high, and so broad that three chariots might be driven on 
 them abreast: upon the walls stood 1500 towers, each 200 feet 
 in height; and the whole was so strong as to be deemed im- 
 pregnable. That this city must have been one of great gran- 
 deur at a very early period, there can be little doubt. It is 
 mentioned as a place of great commercial importance, and 
 
 * Genesis x. 11. “ Out of that land went Asshur, and builded Nineveh, 
 
 t Chap. iii. 3. 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE, 
 
 65 
 
 “ its merchants as more than the stars of heaven.” Nineveh 
 was taken by the Medes under Arbaces, in the eighth century 
 b.c., when it was nearly destroyed; and quite so, when taken 
 by Cyaxeres, 625 b. c. All that now remains on each side 
 of the Tigris of this once splendid city, has the appearance 
 of a range of hills, from which large stones and bricks con- 
 nected with bitumen, on which are inscriptions, are frequently 
 dug up. 
 
 The next city noted for its early origin was Babylon, 
 founded by Nimrod, son of Cush, and grandson of Ham.* It 
 is described by the ancient writers, Strabo and Quintus Cur- 
 tius, as a city of great strength and magnificence. So great 
 was the circuit of its walls that there was pasture and arable 
 - land within them sufficient to support the whole population 
 during a long siege. According to Herodotus, the walls 
 were 50 cubits thick and 200 in height, built of bricks made 
 from the earth which was dug out of the ditch that surrounded 
 the city. In the walls were 100 gates made of brass, as 
 well as the jambs and lintels. It has been said, that if there 
 was a city which seemed to bid defiance to any predictions 
 of its fall, that city was Babylon, for a long time the most 
 famous city of the old world, whose walls were reckoned 
 amongst its wonders. 
 
 The ruins that have been discovered on each side of the 
 Euphrates confirm the accounts which have descended to us 
 of its splendor, although nothing now remains but large mass- 
 es of brick-work laid on lime mortar of good quality. On 
 the eastern side, it is supposed, are the remains of the great 
 temple of Belus,f which, according to Diodorus, was higher 
 than the largest pyramid. Among the ruins are to be found 
 fragments of alabaster vessels, fine earthenware, marble, and 
 great quantities of varnished tiles, whose glazing and coloring 
 are still fresh 
 
 * Genesis x. 10. “And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel.” 
 f The temple of Belas, as described by Herodotus, was of a pyramidal form, simi- 
 lar to the Hindoo temple at Tanjore, and the great Mexican temples. It was 
 founded by Semiramis, 1650 RC. 
 
56 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 Of what date these are, it is impossible to conjecture, as 
 so little information exists on this interesting subject. We 
 are told that in the time of Semiramis, Queen of Assyria, 
 1665 b. c., an extensive and splendid palace existed on each 
 side of the Euphrates, connected by a tunnel under the river, 
 and likewise that a bridge was built by Nitocris to connect 
 the two parts of the city divided by the Euphrates. The 
 piers were of large hewn stones, in order to erect which the 
 course of the river was diverted, and its bed left dry. 
 
 The city was brought to its highest degree of perfection 
 by Nebuchadnezzar, about the year 600 b. c.; but its splen- 
 dor must have been of short duration, as about 60 years 
 after the death of that monarch, and during the reign of 
 Belshazzar, it was taken by Cyrus. From that time it 
 gradually declined, and afterwards became a part of the 
 great Persian monarchy. 
 
 The Egyptian Thebes,* * situated near the southern extrem- 
 ity of that empire, is the most ancient city of whose buildings 
 any remains exist at the present time. The period of its 
 foundation ascends, probably, to the same antiquity as that 
 of Nineveh and Babylon. It was the first seat of the 
 Egyptian government, j* which, at an early period, was 
 transferred to Memphis, near the northern extremity of the 
 empire. From this time, its importance declined: but the 
 imperishable nature of the materials, and the immensity of 
 its masses, have preserved the buildings for more than three 
 thousand years. Memphis, less fortunately situated, by 
 being nearer the line of communication between Asia and 
 Africa, has been more subject to the destructive caprices of 
 man, and has disappeared from the face of the earth.* At 
 
 * The mast ancient name of Thebes is Pathros, and it was so called from Path- 
 yuism, son of Mizraim and son of Ham. Mizraim was the first occupier ©f the 
 country of Egypt. 
 
 f The first king mentioned is Menes, who is supposed to have lived 2600 a .e. , and 
 contemporary with the era of the Chinese emperor Gao, with whom the historical 
 period of China begins. 
 
 * Egypt was conquered by Cambyses, 525 years B» C. j after which time it became 
 & province of Persia. 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 57 
 
 present the site of the city of Thebes is occupied by four 
 principal villages,— Luxor and Karnac on the eastern side, 
 Gournah and Medinet-Abou on the western side of the 
 river. The buildings and sculpture of this gigantic “city 
 of a hundred gates,” still extant, are the most ancient that 
 exist in Egypt, and are the best and most genuine specimens 
 of Egyptian art and architecture ; for there is every reason 
 to believe that by far the greater part were executed before 
 Egypt had yet experienced the influence of the Greeks, and 
 long before the Persian invasion. 
 
 The ruins, chiefly consisting of temples, colossi, sphinxes, 
 and obelisks, occupy nearly the whole extent of the valley 
 of the Nile, a space of six miles from east to west. On the 
 western side, where the ruins of this vast city terminate, 
 those of the “city of the dead” commence, among which 
 there are tombs excavated in the rocks, and decorated with 
 paintings — still as fresh as though the artist’s hand had been 
 engaged upon them but a few weeks past. 
 
 The principal remains of Egyptian architecture (chiefly 
 temples) are to be found on the banks of the Nile, and 
 extend from Cairo to Nubia, a distance of 500 miles. The 
 peculiarity observable in all, is the great sublimity of the 
 masses, the grandeur and severity of every line, by which 
 their buildings bear the stamp of that sentiment of eternal 
 duration which they were always so anxious to realize in 
 their monuments. 
 
 At a very early period the Egyptians were extremely 
 skilful in working stone, an art in which they have never 
 been surpassed. The large blocks of stone of which their 
 temples are composed are well squared, and so laid that the 
 joints are scarcely visible. 
 
 The most interesting and complete temple in the whole 
 valley of the Nile is that of Edfou, about 25 miles above 
 Thebes. This great and magnificent temple is one of the 
 largest in Egypt, and is in comparatively good preservation. 
 Its form is rectangular, and its general dimensions 450 feet 
 
58 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 by 140 feet. In the centre of one of the sides is the entrance 
 between two sloping towers, 100 feet in length by 32 feet in 
 width, on the surface of which are represented some colossal 
 figures; and above these are two rows of smaller ones, sup- 
 posed to be the divinities of the temple, receiving the offer- 
 ings of the Ptolemies. Within is a court, surrounded by a 
 colonnade on three sides, and on the side facing the entrance 
 is a beautiful pronaos or portico, of eighteen columns: beyond 
 this is another of smaller dimensions ; and further on are the 
 walls which protect the sanctuary and its dependencies: these 
 are so completely filled up with sand and soil, that it is nearly 
 impossible to reach them. All the columns, friezes, and cor- 
 nices, and the whole surfaces of the walls, inside as well as 
 out, both of the pronaos and court, are covered with symboli- 
 cal sculptures, hieroglyphical inscriptions, and representations 
 of offerings to their divinities. 
 
 Of all the works of the ancient Egyptians, those which have 
 caused the greatest wonder to the world at large are the 
 Pyramids of Gizeh, supposed by Sir Gardner Wilkinson to 
 have been erected 2120 years b. c.* Herodotus dates the 
 Great Pyramid about 900 years b.c., or about 450 years 
 before he visited Egypt. Chevalier Bunsen places them 
 about 2000 years before that period; and this is confirmed 
 by the opinions of Champollion and Rosellini. 
 
 The Great Pyramid, said to have been built by Cheops, f is 
 TOO feet square at the base, and 410 feet in height; the second 
 is 650 feet square, and 160 feet in height; the third, 400 feet 
 square, and 160 feet in height. About 300 paces from the 
 second pyramid stands the gigantic statue of the Sphinx, 
 whose length, from the forepart to the tail, has been found to 
 be 125 feet. Belzoni cleared away the sand, and found a 
 temple between its legs, and another in one of its paws. 
 
 The mechanical skill of the Egyptians is shown in their 
 quarrying and working stone ; and the means that must have 
 
 * And attributed by him to Suphis and Sen-suphia. 
 f The other two by Cophrenes and Mycerinue. 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 69 
 
 been used to convey such immense blocks of stone as we find 
 in their works, from quarries situated at a distance from them, 
 naturally surprise us. 
 
 The obelisks of Thebes and Heliopolis vary in size from 7 0 
 to 93 feet in length,* and are built of one stone. The largest 
 in Egypt, which is at the great temple at Karnac, is calculated 
 to weigh 297 tons, and was brought about 138 miles from 
 the quarry. Those at Heliopolis passed over a space of 800 
 miles. 
 
 The two colossal statues in a sitting attitude (one of which 
 is the vocal Memnon), are each of a single block, 47 feet in 
 height, and contain 11,500 cubic feet: they are carved from 
 stone not known within several days’ journey from the place 
 where the statues are found; and at Memnonium is a colossal 
 statue, which, when entire, weighed 887 tons. The raising 
 of the obelisks is considered a far greater test of mechanical 
 skill than the transport of these prodigious weights ; but into 
 the mode that was adopted we have no insight from any re- 
 presentations yet discovered. 
 
 Of the taste, style, and character of Egyptian Architecture, 
 little can be said beyond admiration at the immensity of the 
 works, and the patience with which they must have been 
 accomplished. 
 
 The masses of material which the country produced 
 measured their efforts and conceptions, and their inven- 
 tion was exhausted by a very restricted number of combi- 
 nations. 
 
 Their monuments are admirable for grandeur and solidity, 
 and they have a truly imposing effect; but we can only con- 
 sider them as part of the history of Architecture and Art, 
 because the ornaments and sculpture, originating from a sym- 
 bolical religion peculiar to the Egyptians, admit of no revival, 
 even were art more immediately connected with them. 
 
 The columns are evidently a representation of a bundle 
 of reeds or lotus-stems, tied together at the top and base, the 
 
 * Sir Gardner Wilkinson’s “ Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians.” 
 
m 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 leaves of which, as well as those of the palm, are chiefly used 
 in ornamenting the capitals* 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Grecian Architecture . 
 
 Architecture and Art have been always progressive, and 
 have not appeared at once in full perfection ; yet, in our ad- 
 miration of their perfection, we do not always consider the 
 history of their progression, or the sources from whence they 
 sprang, No style, with the exception of the Egyptian, was 
 the spontaneous growth of the soil on which it flourished, or 
 proceeded directly from the nations that practised it; the 
 the germs of all other styles were borrowed from people 
 whose habits and religious customs were totally dissimilar; 
 and its advances or improvements were the natural results 
 of civilization, caused by intercourse with other nations in 
 times of peace, or by the adoption of all that was worthy 
 of imitation in conquered states, during the incessant wars 
 that were carried on in the eastern parts of the world. 
 
 Thus was it with the much-admired Architecture and Arts 
 of Greece and Rome, so that centuries elapsed ere any thing 
 worthy of those terms was to be found in either empire. 
 
 Greece was divided into a number of petty states, which, in- 
 dependent of each other, and, therefore, necessarily rivals, sur- 
 rounded themselves, as a means of protection, with thick walls, 
 long before they had learned the art of building temples, and 
 when their huts or houses were of the rudest character. The 
 first erections were their acropoles, invariably situated on 
 eminences which were converted into citadels, and served for 
 places of security when the population became too numerous 
 to remain in them, and had spread themselves over the sur- 
 rounding plains. The acropoles usually contained all things 
 of the greatest value to the community, such as the public 
 treasures, the archives, and the temples of the tutelary 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 61 
 
 divinities; indeed, they were to the Greeks what the capitol 
 was to the Romans. 
 
 The oldest remains of walls and acropoles exist at Tiryns, 
 or Tyrinthus, and Mycenae, near Argus, in the Morea, and are 
 said to have been built by the Cyclopes, a tribe which is sup- 
 posed to have arrived from Thrace or Phoenicia, and settled 
 in Asia Minor. The date uf the masonry is supposed to be 
 coeval with the time of Abraham, who arrived in Canaan b. c. 
 1917.* Sir William Gell makes the date of the buildings b. c. 
 1379. All that at present exists of Tiryns consists of portions 
 of the walls of the acropolis, which are from 21 to 25 feet in 
 thickness, aud 45 feet in height, built of tremendous blocks 
 of stone, from 10 to 13 feet long, and 4 feet 4 inches thick. In 
 the thickness of these walls are two ranges of galleries, each 5 
 feet broad and about 12 feet high: the shape of these passages 
 is triangular, the sides sloping upward until they meet. This 
 form was obtained by making the horizontal courses of mason- 
 ry project one beyond the other, the edge of each course being 
 splayed off so as to give, from the interior, very much the 
 apppearance of a kind of arch having been constructed. They 
 probably conducted round the whole of the citadel, and were 
 used as shelters for the garrison during the night or bad 
 weather. Mr. W oodsf says, that no tool seems to have been 
 applied to the stone, but that the rude masses are merely 
 heaped on one another, taking care in the position of each suc- 
 cessive block to place it where it would most exactly fit into- 
 the work, and most probably keeping the smoothest side out- 
 wards to form the face of the work. The workmanship 
 of these walls is nothing more than that of the modern fencing 
 without mortar, the interstices between the larger stones being 
 filled up with others of smaller size, unworked, and merely 
 heaped on one another. Pausanias informs us, that when the 
 Argives attempted to destroy Tiryns, the walls were so strong 
 that they could not throw them down: he also describes them 
 
 * Fosbroke. 
 
 t “ Letters on Architecture, ” 2 vols. 4to. 
 
62 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMEMTS 
 
 to be equally worthy of admiration with the Pyramids of 
 Egypt, f 
 
 The next city connected with Greece that demands our 
 notice, on account of its early fortifications and acropolis, 
 of which parts exist at the present time, is Mycenae, near 
 Argos, likewise built by the Cyclopes, or by Mycenaeus, 
 b. c. It 00, and considerably enlarged by Perseus about 
 b. c. 1390. The walls of this city, like those of Tiryns, are 
 in some places built of rough stones, from 8 to 9 feet in 
 length: when entire, they must have been 60 feet high, 
 although at present, in the most perfect part, their height is 
 only 43 feet. The general thickness is 21 feet, but in some 
 places 25 feet, and they are mostly constructed of well- 
 jointed polygonal stone. Some remains of towers are dis- 
 cernible. 
 
 “ The Gate of the Lions” owes its celebrity to the basso- 
 relievo by which it is surmounted, the subject of which is 
 two lions, with their fore-paws resting on a pedestal: from 
 this the gateway takes its name. This sculpture (on a 
 triangular stone over the architrave) is the most ancient 
 specimen of this kind of Grecian art; it is 10 feet 6 inches 
 wide at the base, and 9 feet in height: between the lions is 
 a semi-circular pillar, bearing some resemblance to the Doric 
 Order, although, contrary to the general usage, it increases 
 in size from the bottom to the top. The date of this sculp- 
 ture is supposed by some to be nearly coeval with the other 
 part. Pausanias mentions, that in his day it was reported 
 to be the work of the Cyclopes: however this may be, there 
 can be little doubt but that it is the oldest specimen of Gre- 
 cian sculpture now existing. The architrave over this gate 
 is of one stone, 15 feet long, and 4 feet 4 inches in height, 
 and in it are visible sockets of about 3 inches in diameter, 
 which received the pivots upon which the gates turned. 
 
 f Sir WiUiam Gell states, that on the centre of the architrave of the gates are 
 holes, which leads him to suppose that the gates were hung from large central 
 pivots, so that one side opened inwards, while the others advanced. 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 63 
 
 We may here mention a subterranean building at Mycenae, 
 known as the Treasury of Atreus, the father of Agamemnon:* 
 the priucipal chamber is of a circular form, 48 feet in diam- 
 eter, and about 49 feet in height. The covering of this 
 building has the appearance of the inside of a dome, which 
 has led some authors to suppose that the arch was known 
 in Greece at a very early period ; but it is now ascertained 
 that the principle of the arch does not exist in it, as the 
 construction is the same as in the arched passages at Tiryns : 
 the courses are horizontal, each projecting beyond the other, 
 with the lower angles cut away until they meet at the apex, 
 which consists of one very large stone. Beyond this is a 
 vault or inner chamber, in the w r alls of which, as well as 
 those of the larger chamber, are a number of bronze nails, 
 which in all probability were used to fasten plate of metal 
 to the walls ; a custom doubtless resorted to on some 
 occasions, as we read of “ brazen chambers” and “ bra- 
 zen temples.”f The courses of stone in this build- 
 
 * Atreus came to tlie throne of Argos 927 B. c. 
 
 f There are other instances of subterraneous chambei-s being lined with thin 
 plates of metal ; that at Argos, in which Acrisius confined his daughter, was prob- 
 ably similar to those of the adjacent rival city.— Vide Donaldson’s ‘ Description of 
 the Subterranean Chamber at My cense. ’ 
 
64 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 ing are regular, 
 although of un- 
 equal size, and 
 laid without ce- 
 ment : the lintel 
 of the door is of 
 one piece of 
 stone, of about 
 27 feet long, 17 
 feet wide, and 
 3 feet 9 inches 
 thick, and is 
 calculated to 
 weigh about 133 
 tons ; a mass of 
 stone to which 
 none can be 
 compared, ex- 
 cepting those 
 used in Egypt.* 
 Notwithstand- 
 ing the magni- 
 tude of these 
 works, the sci- 
 ence of Mechan- 
 ics was in its in- 
 fancy, and the 
 
 * Mr Donaldson states that “ there are numerous buildings and excavations 
 in Egypt, Sicily, and Italy, constructed in a manner similar to this subterraneous 
 chamber. In the Memnonium at Thebes is an oblong chamber, covered by a semi- 
 circular vaulting, the stones of which have horizontal courses projecting beyond 
 each other as they advance in height, so as to produce that curvilinear form. 
 Near Noto in Sicily, in the district of Falconara, on the road from Mititello to Vizzi; 
 also in Sardinia, where these chambers are known by the name of Norages ; and at 
 Tusculum, near Rome, the same construction exists ; but in none of these do we 
 possess such correct dates as Pausanias and history itself furnish of those of 
 Orcomenus and Myceme.” — Vide supplementary volume to the ‘Antiquities of 
 Athens. ’ 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 65 
 
 Greeks bestowed but little attention on their private houses: 
 all the splendor and magnificence of art was reserved for the 
 embellishment of their temples and other public buildings.* 
 The most splendid period of the Grecian history was be- 
 tween the sixth and fourth centuries before the Christian 
 tra, during the time of the wars that were carried on be- 
 tween the Persians and the principal states of Greece, and 
 to which the greatest prosperity of the Athenians may be 
 attributed: literature was cultivated, and the arts of archi- 
 tecture and sculpture, which were employed to ornament the 
 city, were carried to a degree of excellence that has never 
 been surpassed. Greece was conquered by the Romans 146 
 b. c., and became a Roman province, although Athens and 
 Delphi were declared as free towns. Its history from this 
 period is without interest to us in our inquiry into the pro- 
 gress of art. It was overrun by the Goths in 261 a. d., 
 and again in 398 a. d. under Alaric; and after being occu- 
 pied by the Crusaders and Venetians, at last fell into the 
 power of the Turks, on the conquest of Constantinople. f 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Roman Architecture . 
 
 The Architecture of the Romans can scarcely be said to 
 be original ; it was unquestionably borrowed from the 
 Etruscans. Etruria, a city of Italy now called Tuscany, is 
 supposed to have been a colony of Greece. This opinion has 
 been formed by the great solidity of the walls that surround 
 their cities, consisting of enormous blocks of stone, similar 
 
 * One remark may not be out of place here, which will explain the mode of 
 deciding on the date of the temples, viz., that in the earliest the diameter of the 
 columns was greater in proportion to their height, and the intercolumniations 
 were less, than those of a later period. 
 
 f The cloacae, or sewers, which extended under the whole of Rome, were a work 
 on which time and expense were not spared ; they were of wrought stone, and in 
 height and breadth were so considerable that a cart loaded with hay could pass 
 through them. How insignificant must our own drainage appear, iu comparison 
 with this stupendous work I 
 
66 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 to the masonry of the Cyclopes, and said to be coeval with 
 the walls of Tiryns, Eycenae, and other works of a very early 
 age. The instruction in the art of building that the Romans 
 received from the Etruscans was not probably before the 
 time of the Tarquins, 540 b. c., when their edifices began 
 to be constructed on fixed principles. The first Tarquin, 
 who was a native of Etruria, did much towards the improve- 
 ment of Rome, and brought from his native country a taste 
 for that grandeur and solidity which prevailed in the Etrus- 
 can works. Under his reign the city was fortified, and the 
 walls built of hewn stone. The reign of the second Tarquin 
 was distinguised by the erection of temples, schools for both 
 sexes, and halls for the administration of justice : this was 
 about 508 b. c. : but to Tarquinius Superbus, the seventh 
 and last king, Rome was indebted for its greatest improve- 
 _ments ; he continued the building of the temple of Jupiter 
 Capitolinus, finished the Circus and other public buildings, 
 and made a regular drainage of the city to the Tiber.* 
 
 It will be impossible to trace the Architecture of the 
 Romans through its various stages between the time of the 
 last king, 508 b. c., and the subjugation of Greece by that 
 people in 145 b. c., a period of 363 years. The disputes 
 in which they were continually engaged left little leisure for 
 the arts of peace. During the time that Appius Claudius 
 was Censor, about 309 b. c., the earliest paved road was 
 made by the Romans ; it was first carried to Capua, and 
 afterwards continued a length altogether of 350 miles : it 
 was paved with the hardest stone, and it remains entire at 
 the present day. To Appius Claudius belongs the honor of 
 raising the first aqueduct : the water with which it supplied 
 the city was collected from the neighborhood of Frascati, 
 about 100 feet above the level of Rome. 
 
 The materials for carrying on a continuous investigation 
 
 * We have been compelled to go into the general history of the nations in which 
 Architecture has originated, as it is nearly impossible to give the history of one 
 without the other An improvement in art has invariably been caused by some 
 great change in the policy or religion of nations. 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 67 
 
 of the styles of the Roman buildings are so scanty, that we 
 will not detain the reader with useless speculations, but at 
 once proceed to that period when Greece was reduced to a 
 Roman province, 145 b. c. Art, in the strict application 
 of that word, was not properly understood by the victorious 
 Romans at this time; but after a succession of triumphant 
 wars, when immense treasure was brought to Rome, and 
 they wished to celebrate their victories, there became a 
 necessity for erections to record them, and the riches that 
 were amassed were expended in the adornment of Rome. 
 
 The Greek Architects who settled in Italy executed works 
 of great beauty; they founded a school of art, and modified 
 that which were practised in their own country, to suit the 
 habits, taste, and climate of the Romans. The Romans 
 were at all times anxious to subjugate, for their own purposes, 
 those nations that successfully cultivated the arts; a motive 
 which, joined to the desire of aggrandizement, induced them 
 at a very early period to carry their arms against the Etrus- 
 cans, who were in a far higher state of civilization than them- 
 selves. We find that they drew supplies of artists from Sicily, 
 Asia Minor, and Greece, instead of employing their own 
 citizens. Although, in Rome, Architecture lost its simplicity, 
 it gained in magnificence: it there took a deeper root than 
 the other arts, from its affording, by the dimensions of its 
 monuments, more splendor to the character of so dominating 
 a nation. 
 
 The first effort of Architecture was shown in the temple 
 reared to Minerva at Rome, by Pompey the Great, about 
 60 years b. c. The villas of the Romans were at this period 
 of considerable extent : the statues of Greece had been 
 required for their decoration, besides a plentiful supply of 
 all that Greek art afforded. We find that Cicero was in the 
 habit of employing two Greek ..architects, Chrysippus and 
 Clautius, on his buildings. 
 
 The first permanent theatre that existed in Rome was 
 
68 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 built by Pompey, 54 b. c., and was capable of containing 
 40,000 persons. 
 
 In the time of Augustus (from 30 b. c. to 14 a. d.) we 
 find that the Italian buildings attained a point of magnifi- 
 cence far beyond all that preceded. The conquest of nearly 
 the whole of the then known world, added to a general 
 peace, allowed the sovereign to turn his thoughts to the 
 improvement of his country; and a constellation of illustrious 
 philosophers and poets, who shone at this time in the metrop- 
 olis of the empire, gave the minds of the people an inclination 
 towards subjects more useful and honorable than the conquest 
 of remote and unoffending nations. The patronage of litera- 
 ture with the fine arts by Augustus produced the most 
 brilliant results, and has caused a veneration for the age in 
 which he lived. The perfection which literature and archi- 
 tecture attained during his dominion effected more towards 
 immortalizing Rome than all the conquests of its emperors, 
 and raised its inhabitants to a state of civilization never 
 before equalled. By him was .erected the temple and forum 
 of Mars the Avenger, the theatre of Marcellus, and a large 
 number of other public buildings. His boast was not a vain 
 one, when he asserted that he found his capital built of brick, 
 and he left it of marble. 
 
 Nero was the next emperor (with the exception of Clau- 
 dius*) who seemed to have given his attention to Architec- 
 ture; but his buildings must be considered more as monu- 
 ments of his prodigality and expenditure than of correct 
 taste. A palace was erected for him, than which nothing 
 could be more gorgeous, nor could the pomp of decoration 
 be carried further. 
 
 The reigns of Vespasian and Titus are justly celebrated 
 by the erection of baths and amphitheatres of such magni- 
 tude as to astonish the world, and to which nothing of their 
 
 * During the reign of Claudius, one of the finest aqueducts of Rome was com- 
 pleted, whose length is 46 miles, and the water passes over arches raised more 
 than 100 feet from the surface of the ground for nearly 10 miles of it. 
 
©F ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 (59 
 
 kind, either before or since, will bear comparison. The Co- 
 liseum, so named from its gigantic dimensions, was com- 
 menced and finished by Yespasian and Titus: it was capable 
 of containing 109,000 spectators, who could view the sports 
 and combats in the arena. The baths of Titus w r ere among 
 the wonders of the age ; but their remains are not so perfect 
 as those of others, although they are still majestic.* The 
 Temple of Peace, the largest covered building of antiquity, 
 and another temple dedicated to Minerva, of the richest and 
 most exquisite workmanship, were erected at this time, from 
 TO to 81 A.D. 
 
 To give a further description of the buildings of ancient 
 Home would be unnecessary, as our object is only to treat 
 of the history of the Styles of Architecture, to show the 
 periods at which they attained their greatest excellence, and 
 to trace, as far as possible, the connection of one with the 
 other. We therefore pass over the reigns of Trajan and 
 Hadrian, celebrated for some fine architectural works, and 
 proceed to the styles that sprung up, on the decline of the 
 empire, among those nations that borrowed their first prin- 
 ciples of art from the Romans. 
 
 CHAPTER IY. 
 
 Byzantium and Romanesque. 
 
 Prom the time of Hadrian, 111 a.d., to that of Constan- 
 tine, a general decline in the Arts took place, which, how- 
 ever, seemed to revive in the reign of the emperor, and many 
 proofs are still extant. The churches that were built imme- 
 diately after Constantine’s espousal of the Christian faith. 
 The basilic®, or halls of justice of the ancient Romans, were 
 undoubtedly the types from which these churches were taken; 
 and the ruins of these buildings were often the materials 
 used. The columns that divide the centre of the church 
 
 * The baths of Diocletian, erected 294 A. n., were of great extent and magnifi- 
 cence, and are in a better state of preservation than those of Titus. 
 
70 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 were often taken from old buildings — some were reduced in 
 height, others were mounted on pedestals to suit the pur- 
 poses to which they were applied. 
 
 Among the edifices demanding 
 notice are: the basilicia of St. 
 
 Clement at Rome, said to be 
 built on the spot occupied by St. 
 
 Clement, the immediate successor 
 of St. Peter. This is the only 
 edifice of this style which we can 
 describe in this work. It is en- 
 tered by a court, which is sur- 
 rounded by porticoes and sup- 
 ported by columns and piers; on 
 the sides parallel to the front of 
 the church arches spring from 
 the columns, but on the others 
 there are only architraves. Un- 
 der the portico nearest the tem- 
 ple were placed the holy-water- 
 vases, until in after times they 
 were removed in the body of the 
 church at the western door. The 
 centre part of the atrium was then 
 used for burial purposes. The 
 sacristy, like all Christian 
 churches then, was semicircular 
 
 in plan, and the altar, the throne for the bishop, and exedra, 
 or benches for the priests. It was surmounted by a half- 
 cupola, the front of which is richly ornamented with 
 marble and paintings of Christ and the Saints. The 
 cupola is covered with paintings of foliage on a gold ground; 
 the remainder of this semicircular part, known by the name 
 of “apsis,” is richly ornamented with figures of the Saints. 
 On each side of the apsis were small apis sides. One of 
 them was called the vestiarium, and contained the priests’ 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 n 
 
 robes and the consecrated vessels; the other, the evangelium, 
 received the sacred books, charters, &c. &c. This arrange- 
 ment still exists in Greece. The chancel, which was used by 
 the inferior ecclesiastics, and contained the pulpit and am- 
 bones, was situated in front of the apsis, and enclosed by a 
 low partition of marble; it is raised one step from the level 
 of the church. The floor is decorated with mosaics. 
 
 The Church of St. Sophia was consecrated May 330. It 
 is built like a Grecian cross. It cost one million dollars. 
 Besides this, Constantine built 25 churches. The cathedral 
 at Pisa, in Italy, was built TOO years after that of St. So- 
 phia. Its plan is the Latin cross. The length is 304 feet, 
 and the width 10T ; the transverse branch is 234 feet by 55 
 feet in width. A detailed account we cannot give — a mere 
 sketch is all we promised. 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 The Architecture of Germany, France, and Normandy. 
 
 The sacredness of religious edifices seems to have protected 
 them from demolition and the hand of the destroyer. 
 
 Germany lays claim to churches of antiquity superior to 
 those of any other country this side of the Alps: those exist- 
 ing of the tenth and eleventh centuries are very important 
 in the history of the art, and testify extraordinary solidity 
 and magnificence. Such are the churches of Spire, Mentz, 
 and Worms. That of Spire was founded by Conrad, in 1030 ; 
 the east end of that at Worms, still earlier, was commenced 
 in 996, and the building was consecrated in 1016; the oldest 
 part of the cathedral of Mentz is said to be of the date 
 of Archbishop Willigris, between 978 and 1009. 
 
 One of the most instructive as well as the most ancient 
 of these churches is that at W orms, now in a very perfect state 
 of preservation. The plan is strongly distinguished by the 
 cross; the piers separating the nave from the aisles are square. 
 
72 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 with columns at alternate piers, to carry the stone vaulting, 
 which embraces two compartments of the lateral arches be- 
 tween each groin or rib. The east end is square on the face 
 externally, but semicircular inside ; thus retaining one of the 
 principal features of the Romanesque basilicse. On each side 
 are circular turrets containing staircases, and corresponding 
 with two at the west end, although of somewhat larger 
 dimensions. The entrances are in the north and south sides, 
 and nearer the transepts than the west end. This arrange- 
 ment is quite at variance with all preceding buildings; as 
 instead of the three doorways at the west front, there is an 
 apsis of the form of three sides of an octagon, which is used 
 as a chapel. At the intersection of the nave and transepts 
 springs an octagonal tower, which is scarcely higher than the 
 nave roof, and covered with a cupola : the turrets are carried to 
 a great height, and terminate conically. This church, as well 
 as those of the same date, is vaulted with stone throughout, 
 which caused the introduction of the shaft on the face of the 
 piers, and is one great deviation from the arrangement of the 
 Roman basilicas, which were covered with horizontal ceilings; 
 or else the wooden roofs were left exposed, which rested on the 
 walls, having no relation vertically to the substructure. 
 
 The church of St. Castor, at Coblentz, part of which was 
 built in the eleventh century, is likewise executed with semi- 
 circular arches, which spring from square piers, to each face 
 of which a square column is attached. This may be considered 
 as one of the steps leading towards the clustered columns, 
 which gradually were introduced into the naves of all churches 
 throughout the western part of Europe. 
 
 The early German churches, although differing considerably 
 from each other in their general plan, still retain peculiarities 
 that are not to be seen in those of other countries, though 
 erected about the same period, or rather later. The octa- 
 gonal form of the apsides and turrets, and their enrichments 
 generally retaining a primitive character, made their Lom- 
 bardic origin perceptible. The square piers which support the 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 73 
 
 nave arches evince a direct departure from the Italian types; 
 there is likewise a prevalence of rectangular faces and square- 
 edged projections. This general simplicity may be well ac- 
 counted for, when we consider that the chief impressions were 
 received from Romanesque examples, which were simplified 
 from necessity, as there was great deficiency in knowledge 
 of art, although no inferiority in mechanical skill. 
 
 In the cathedral of Worms we find the pointed arch, which 
 was not introduced generally until a century after the erection 
 of that building ; therefore, if this was not added subsequently, 
 it confutes many of the theories as to the causes and dates 
 of its introduction. 
 
 The church of Gelnhausen, in Suabia, which was built in 
 the beginning of the thirteenth century, is one of the earliest 
 German churches in which a positive change of style is per- 
 ceptible throughout ; although in many of those of the eleventh 
 and twelfth centuries there exists deviations from the unity 
 of the designs which are difficult to be accounted for. 
 
 The heads of the windows, instead of being semicircular, 
 are of the lancet form, with cusps, and differ from the pro- 
 portions before adopted by being long and narrow. The 
 arches and windows in the nave have trefoiled heads, and 
 the windows of the central tower possess a marked distinc- 
 tion from the earlier arrangements, having the three aper- 
 tures with trefoils inscribed in a semicircular top, and sepa- 
 rated by mullions. 
 
 The church of St. Catherine at Oppenheim, commenced 
 in 1262, resembles in plan that of Worms, being in the form 
 of a Latin cross, and having semi-octagonal chancels at the 
 east and west ends. The latter is of a subsequent date, and 
 was not consecrated before 1439. This peculiarity is ob- 
 servable in several other churches in Germany: the entrances 
 are on the north and south sides. 
 
 The cathedral of Strasburg, which was begun in 1227, 
 and brought to its present state in 1439, holds the first 
 rank among the Gothic churches of the Continent, in point 
 
 7 
 
HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 U 
 
 of the high degree of enrichment which prevails throughout. 
 The length of the body of the church is 324 feet, and the 
 height of the nave vault is 98 feet. The western facade 
 is divided into three parts, vertically, by buttresses richly 
 ornamented with canopies and statues. The three entrances 
 are crowned by crocketed gables, and the diverging sides of 
 the doorways are completely filled with niches and statues. 
 
 This cathedral has but one of its spires completed, which 
 is at the north-west angle: it is perforated in the richest 
 manner, and in height it exceeds any other church in Europe, 
 being 414 feet from the ground. 
 
 The cathedral of Cologne was one of magnificent design, 
 and of a symmetry not surpassed by any of the best works 
 of Greece or Rome. The site was the ruins of a church 
 built by Charlemagne. Archbishop Conrad commenced the 
 church in 1249. The length was over 500 feet; the width 
 of the aisles 180 feet; the roofs more than 200 feet high. 
 The western towers were to be 500 feet high, and 100 feet 
 wide at the base. For three centuries the work, by spas- 
 modic efforts, was extended ; but the building was never 
 entirely completed. All that is now done is to keep it in 
 repair. 
 
 The German cathedral at Ulm was commenced in 1311. 
 Its length is 416; width, 166; height, 141. 
 
 Ratisbone cathedral was built in 1480. 
 
 The greatest variety of forms, both in traceries and orna- 
 ments, prevails throughout most of the larger churches of 
 Germany that were built in the latter part of the Gothic 
 era. 
 
 The buildings of France of the ninth and tenth centuries 
 were like those of Germany, in the Byzantine or Romanesque 
 styles, and decorated with a profusion of mosaic and other 
 ornamental work. 
 
 The invasion of the Normans, in the ninth and tenth cen- 
 turies, caused the destruction of most of the ecclesiastical 
 edifices, After Rollo had become Duke of Normandy, and 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 75 
 
 embraced the Christian faith, he vied with France in the 
 erection of churches. The principles of the architecture 
 that prevailed in both countries were identical, being modi- 
 fications of the Lombardic styles, and were characterized 
 by the general use of the semi-circular forms in arches or 
 windows. 
 
 One of the earliest French churches that presents any 
 features that require our notice, is that of St. Germain des 
 Pres, which was built by Abbot Morard, in 1014. The 
 nave of the church still remains in its primitive state. The 
 capitals of the columns possess much of the character of the 
 Corinthian Order; whilst others are composed of birds and 
 griffins. In the churches of Normandy, the capitals of the 
 columns are direct imitations of the Corinthian Order, with 
 the exception of the abaci. 
 
 About 800 years ago the large cathedral of Chartres and 
 the abbey of Cluny of France were built. The plan is cru- 
 ciform. 
 
 Towards the end of the twelfth century an important 
 change took place in the architecture of the western parts of 
 Europe, by the introduction of the pointed arch, which was 
 used instead of the semicircular. 
 
 Concerning the origin of the pointed arch we cannot 
 treat. By some it is supposed that it was used in Noah’s 
 Ark — and some buildings of great antiquity in the east, at 
 Jerusalem and Cairo, are of a pointed form. 
 
 Dr. Milner supposes that it 
 arose from the intersection of 
 semicircular arches, which were 
 frequently introduced on the 
 surface of the walls in the Nor- 
 man Styles, but placed there 
 solely for ornament, as in St.Botolph’s, Colchester, (England.) 
 
 At Castle Acre Priory the transition is apparent; and at 
 Bristol Cathedral it is still further developed. 
 
IQ 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 At St. J ames’s, 
 
 Bristol, within the 
 interlacing mould- 
 ings, there is a lancet 
 window, the arch of 
 which is struck from, 
 the same centres, and 
 follows the inside lines. In the above instances referred to, 
 the intersecting semicircular windows are not detached from 
 the wall. 
 
 In Christ Church, Oxford, 
 erected 1180, there is an in- 
 stance of an interlacing arcade 
 supported by columns entirely 
 disengaged from the wall, and 
 from its construction as well 
 as its form may be considered 
 as a transition between the 
 semicircular and the pointed 
 styles. 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 n 
 
 The pointed form suggests a greater loftiness and elegance 
 in composition, and to a certain extent the principles of 
 arrangement are different: these again, in their turn, gradu- 
 ally gave place to others, apparently as much at variance 
 with them as they were from the parent source. 
 
 The Editor differs from his Author and agrees with Sir 
 Christopher Wren, that the Saracens of the East, or the 
 Moors of Spain were the originators of the pointed style of 
 Architecture. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 • Syrian , Persian, and Persepolitan Architecture. 
 
 The ancient edifices of Syria were undoubtedly of a cha- 
 racter very similar to the Egyptians, if we may judge from 
 the intercourse that existed between these nations. There 
 are no monuments left us of Phoenician architecture. 
 
 Solomon’s Temple was built by an architect and work- 
 men from Tyre. The plan was a paralellogram of about 
 109 \ feet by 36 feet; in front was a pronaos or portico ex- 
 tending along the whole width of the temple, the depth of 
 which was half its extent. The cell or main body of the 
 building was 54 J feet deep, and the sanctuary beyond 36J. 
 The height of the sanctuary was 36J feet, the middle part 
 or cell 54 J, and the portico 36J. The body temple was sur- 
 rounded by three tiers of Chambers, to which there was an 
 ascent by stairs, and the central space was a court open to 
 the sky. Bells were suspended about the temple and were 
 probably intended by the sound they produced on being 
 agitated by the wind, to keep off the birds from the conse- 
 crated edifice. The ends of the beams of the upper floors 
 rested on stone corbels, and were'not inserted into the walls, 
 which were lined with cedar, on which were figures of che- 
 rubim made of wood and covered with gold; these were ten 
 cubits high, and their expanded wings extended across the 
 
HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 18 
 
 width of the temple. In front of the portico were two pil- 
 lars of brass, each five cubits high, and nearly four cubits in 
 diameter. The chapiters or capitals, also of brass, were five 
 cubits high ; one was ornamented with lilies on a net-work 
 ground, the other with pomegranates. 
 
 The “ House of the Forest of Lebanon” was larger still 
 than the temple. 
 
 Persia was the seat of one of the most powerful empires 
 of Asia from a very early period until the invasion of the 
 country by Alexander the Great, 330 b.c., during which 
 time the art of building must have been practised to a great 
 extent. But alas! “ time the destroyer” has left nothing but 
 ruins from which we may judge of its former splendor. On 
 the great fertile plain of Merdasht or Istaker, in the pro- 
 vince of Farisistan, are the ruins of the city of Persepolis. 
 The ruins are 1,200 feet from north to south, and 600 feet 
 from east to west. It is undoubtedly the site of a palace. 
 There are other ruins, and all seem to indicate that some 
 intimate connection must have existed between the architects 
 of Persia and Egypt. 
 
 A great resemblance exists between the present architec- 
 ture of Persia and other Mahommedan countries, and it 
 therefore requires no description of its peculiarities. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The Ancient Architecture of India. 
 
 Of all the remains of ancient buildings that have attracted 
 the curiosity or attention of the traveller devoted to anti- 
 quarian research, none have been investigated with less 
 satisfaction as regards their history or chronology than those 
 of India. 
 
 The ancient monuments of India are of two kinds, the 
 excavated and the structural ; the one being cut out of the 
 rocks, while the others are erected of different materials in 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE 
 
 19 
 
 the usual way. The former were made by the Buddhists, 
 a sect whose earliest existence dates 600 b.c. 
 
 The caves consist of three classes: the first of these are 
 Yihara, or monastery caves, the earliest of which are natural 
 caverns slightly improved by art, appropriated to religious 
 purposes: those which followed had a verandah opening into 
 the cells for the abodes of the priests, but without sanctu- 
 aries or images of any kind. The simplest form of these 
 consists of merely one square cell and a porch, sometimes 
 nearly 30 feet in length; in others the arrangement is ex- 
 tended by the verandah opening into a square hall, on three 
 sides of which the cells are placed. Another subdivision of 
 the Yihara caves consists in the enlargement of the hall and 
 the consequent necessity for the use of pillars. In these, 
 besides the cells there was always a deep recess facing the 
 entrance, in which the statue of Buddah, with his attendants, 
 was usually placed; thus making the cave not only an abode 
 for the priests, but a place of worship. To this division by 
 far the greater number of Buddhist excavations belong; 
 those at Ajunta are the finest, though good specimens exist 
 at Ellora and Salsette. 
 
 The second class consists of Buddhist Chaitya caves: these 
 must be considered as the temples or churches, and one or 
 more of them is attached to every set of caves in the west of 
 India: the plan and arrangement of them are exactly the 
 same, though the details and sculpture vary with the age in 
 which they were erected. These, unlike the Yiharas, seem 
 to have taken the same form at once, as is seen in that of 
 Karli, which is the most perfect, and believed to be the oldest 
 in India. It has been supposed from this circumstance that 
 they were copies of the interiors of structural buildings, 
 though no traces of such buildings exist in India, Ceylon, or 
 beyond the Ganges. In all these caves there is an external 
 porch, or music-gallery, and an internal gallery over the 
 entrance; the centre part of the temple is surrounded by cir- 
 cular or octagonal pillars that divide it from the aisles, and 
 
80 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 are carried round the semicircular part at the farthest end, 
 and which may be considered as an apsis: the whole bears a 
 strong resemblance to the arrangement of the early Norman 
 churches. The nave or centre part is twice its width, and is 
 roofed by a wagon vault; the roof of the aisles is generally 
 flat. In the centre of the semicircular part stands the 
 Daghopa, in part of which there is always a sculptured niche 
 containing a figure of Buddha and his attendants. The third 
 class consists of Brahmanical caves, many of which have a 
 great resemblance to the Yihara, though the arrangement of 
 the pillars and the position of the sanctuary are in no instance 
 the same. The walls are nearly always covered with sculp- 
 ture, while the Yiharas are generally decorated with painting 
 and inscriptions. The finest specimens are at Elephanta and 
 Ellora ; others are to be found in the island of Salsette, near 
 Bombay. The excavated temple at Elephanta is 130 feet 
 long by 110 feet wide, and 14 J in height. The ceiling is 
 flat and supported by four rows of columns connected by a 
 fascia, or simple architrave: the columns are 9 feet high, 
 standing on pedestals ; they are reeded or ribbed, and have 
 projecting capitals of a semicircular form in profile, from 
 which spring the brackets of the ceiling. Against the walls 
 are sculptured colossal human figures in high relief, which 
 differ from each other by a variety of symbols, representing 
 the attributes of the deities whom they worshipped. At the 
 farthest end there is a square recess, supposed to be the sanc- 
 tuary ; on either side of the door by which it is entered there 
 are large figures. There are 100 of these caves three stories 
 high cut out of the rock. Some are 150 feet high. The 
 Buddhists nearly always adopted the Arch form in their 
 Chaitya temples. 
 
 There is still another class of excavations cut out of rock ; 
 they are of one block of stone. These temples have the 
 appearance of standing in pits, as all the surrounding parts 
 have been cut away. The most remarkable of this class is 
 the Kylas and Ellora, which is one of the most modern spe- 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 81 
 
 cimens of excavations in India, built about 900 a. d. It is 
 400 feet long by 241 wide, and is at the north-east angle 
 104 feet deep; round the sides of this area is a cloister sup- 
 ported on square pillars, which are covered with subjects 
 from the Indian mythology. The centre part is occupied 
 with the entrance pavilion, the chapel of Nandi and the 
 grand temple and sanctuary, round which are balconies sup- 
 posed to have been used by the musicians on solemn occa- 
 sions. The approach to it is by a bridge, from which you 
 descend to the chapel by nine steps; and, on passing on over 
 another bridge, you arrive at staircases on either side, which 
 lead to the inner court, the temple and cloisters. On each 
 side of the bridge are gigantic representations of elephants, 
 and beyond are two richly carved pillars or obelisks. 
 
 The upper parts of the buildings were supported on square 
 piers or pillars, and from all sides of their capitals brackets 
 projected equal to their width, and leaving generally a space 
 equal to three diameters between their greatest projection, 
 thus leaving only one-half of the whole length of the archi- 
 trave unsupported; but when a greater space was required, 
 a succession of projecting brackets placed above each other 
 was adopted, sometimes meeting in the centre, thus having 
 the effect of a horizontal arch. The effect of this is un- 
 doubtedly pleasing, as the projecting brackets on all sides of 
 the square capital produce in perspective a variety of lines, 
 and great play of light and shade. 
 
 One of the oldest structural monuments or temples is that 
 of Bobaneswar, which is 60 feet square at the base and 180 
 feet in height. 
 
 In plan the Indian temples or pagodas are square; the only 
 light that is admitted is by the door. 
 
 One of the largest Hindoo temples is that at Chidamba- 
 ram, on the Coromandel coast, which from its dimensions 
 and antiquity is held in high veneration. This cluster of 
 temples is a rectangular space 1332 feet in length by 936 in 
 width, by walls 30 feet in height. This area contains a 
 
82 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 variety of temples, much decorated with sculpture of figures 
 and ornaments more curious than beautiful; these are con- 
 nected by extensive colonnades and porticoes. Pyramids 
 stand over the entrance of the outer enclosures, and consist 
 of several floors. 
 
 There are many other pagodas of large dimensions. 
 
 Among the interesting works of the Hindoos are the 
 Bunds or dams, which are made for the purpose of intercept- 
 ing the course of small rivers, so as to form an artificial lake 
 for the purpose of irrigation: on these dams, which are con- 
 structed of stone, palaces and temples are generally placed, 
 and between them are very broad flights of steps leading 
 down to the water, which are ornamented frequently with 
 figures of elephants, and were used as fountains. That at 
 Raj-Sing, at Oddypore, is 386 paces in length, and was built 
 in 1653. 
 
 The Indian styles, whatever their defects may be, have 
 the merit of being original ; for there can be little doubt but 
 that they were invented in the country where we now find 
 them. 
 
 CHAPTER Till. 
 
 Chinese Architecture . 
 
 The architecture of China, unlike that of other nations, 
 has retained its particular character during all times without 
 any mutation. Their native historians ascribe the origin of 
 building to their Emperor Fou-Hi, who first taught his sub- 
 jects that art about 368 b.c. In the year 246 a.d., the Em- 
 peror Tsin-Chi-Hoang-Ti demolished all the buildings of im- 
 portance, so as to remove all records of the grandeur and 
 power of his predecessors: except a few temples and tombs 
 in the mountains, which are supposed to be of a prior date, 
 nothing remains of a higher antiquity. 
 
 The type of all Chinese buildings, whether they are used 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 83 
 
 for tlie purposes of religion, or as residences, is undoubtedly 
 a tent ; and the convex form of their roofs shows that they 
 are a copy of those made of more pliant materials, sustained 
 at different points from brackets at the top of vertical sup- 
 ports. The material generally employed is wood ; that most 
 in use is the nan-mon, which is said to last more than a 
 thousand years : stone, marble, bricks, bamboo, and porce- 
 lain tiles, are also used. 
 
 In China, improvement seems to have been considered an 
 innovation and direct breach of the laws, which are looked 
 upon as something more than human ordinances, from their 
 supposed perfection and antiquity. 
 
 One great hindrance to any advance in architecture is 
 caused by the construction of their private houses and 
 public buildings being subject to the restrictions of public 
 functionaries (who may be properly designated district sur- 
 veyors), backed by most arbitrary laws : under their super- 
 vision every one is obliged to build according to his rank, 
 and for every house a certain size as well as details are fixed. 
 These officers seem to govern the arts in China, and the laws 
 regulate the magnitude and arrangement of residences of the 
 various degrees, — for a noble family, for a president of a 
 tribune, for a mandarin, and for all classes who can afford 
 the luxury of a house. The size of public buildings likewise 
 comes under their management. The merchant, whatever 
 the amount of his wealth may be, is compelled by this 
 regulation to restrict the dimensions and decorations of his 
 house to his exact grade or standing : this refers only to the 
 external part of his dwelling ; the interior arrangements are 
 unfettered. According to these prohibitions (for they cannot 
 be considered in any other light), the level of the ground 
 floor, the length of the frontage of the building, and the 
 height of the roofs, are in an advancing scale from the citizen 
 to the emperor, and their limits must be attended to without 
 appeal. 
 
 The buildings generally are only of one story ; and in Pekin 
 
84 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 the shopkeepers are obliged to sleep under their pent-houses 
 in the open air in summer. One reason perhaps justifies 
 their houses generally being only of one story, which is the 
 slightness of their construction, and which renders them 
 incapable of bearing any thing above them. The general 
 character and arrangement of the Chinese houses is so well 
 understood, that no object will be gained by enlarging on the 
 subject. In every part, nothing is seen but a succession of 
 combinations of frame-work and trellises painted in all the 
 primitive colors, which has caused the impression that the 
 Chinese houses bear a greater affinity to bird-cages than to 
 any thing under the sun : the form of some of their doors is 
 sometimes circular or octagonal, and tends to strengthen it, 
 as in no other country are apertures of that form used for 
 entrances. 
 
 The palaces resemble a number of tents united ; and the 
 highest pagodas are nothing else than a succession of them 
 piled on one another, instead of side by side : in short, from 
 the smallest village to the imperial residence at Pekin, no 
 other form but that of a permanent encampment prevails. 
 Lord Macartney, who travelled the whole empire from the 
 farthest part of the great wall to Canton, observed that there 
 was but very little variation in the buildings to be seen. 
 
 Amidst the substantial works of the Chinese the most 
 remarkable are the bridges : that at Loyau, in the province 
 of Fod-Kien, is composed of 250 piers built with very large 
 stones, which support enormous granite lintels, or stones 
 placed horizontally ; these are crowned by a balustrade. A 
 considerable number of bridges have been constructed in 
 China, and they are considered to be works of great magni- 
 tude and importance. To the Chinese is attributed the earliest 
 application of the suspension bridge, which has been so much 
 adopted in modern times in situations where no other means 
 of passage could have been applied. 
 
 The temples of the Chinese are generally small, and 
 consist of only one chamber, which is the sanctuary of their 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 85 
 
 Idols ; on the outside is a gallery : others stand in a court 
 surrounded by corridors. In some instances the interior is 
 spacious : that at Ho-Nang, near Canton, is 590 feet in 
 length by 250 in width ; the temple is constructed of wood, 
 and covered with painted and varnished porcelain. It has 
 been estimated that Pekin and its environs contain nearly 
 10,000 mido or idol temples, some of which are superior in 
 decoration to those at Canton. 
 
 Amongst the buildings that are peculiar to China are the 
 pagodas, or towers of from six to ten stories, diminishing 
 upwards : the projecting top of each story presents the con- 
 cave form before referred to ; and the plan of those buildings 
 is generally an octagon. The most celebrated is that of 
 Nang-King, which is called “ the tower of porcelain it is 
 40 feet in diameter at the base and 200 feet in height ; in the 
 centre is a staircase connecting each stage, and which is 
 lighted by windows on four sides : the openings do not occur 
 over each other, but in alternate stories ; the whole is cased 
 with porcelain. The age of this pagoda is little more than 
 three centuries. 
 
 Commemorative buildings and triumphal arches or doors 
 are very numerous throughout China : they are placed at the 
 entrances of streets as well as before principal buildings ; 
 the better class of which consist of a central and two side 
 openings : the lower part is generally of stone, without any 
 mouldings ; the upper part is of wood, and supported on 
 horizontal lintels, the constructive arch being as little known 
 in China as in other Eastern nations. 
 
 The great wall, which extends for 1500 miles, has perhaps 
 caused a much higher opinion to be formed of the monuments 
 of the Chinese than a careful survey justifies. It is (with an 
 exception in favor of their bridges) the only work of any 
 importance that can give the Chinese any position as a con- 
 structive people.* It consists of an earthen mound faced by 
 
 * From the architecture as well as the ornamental works, the impression is con- 
 veyed that mechanical skill and imitation are the only faculties that are possessed 
 
 8 
 
86 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 walls of brick and masonry ; its total height is 20 feet. The 
 platform on the top is 15 feet broad, and increases to 25 feet 
 at the base of the wall ; at intervals of 200 paces are towers 
 of 40 feet square, which diminish to 30 feet at the top ; their 
 height in some places is 31 feet, in others 48. This wall, 
 which commences in the sea to the east of Pekin, extends 
 along the frontiers of their provinces, over rivers, mountains, 
 villages, and often in places that are of themselves protections 
 from any hostile invasion : it engaged a million of persons 
 for ten years in its erection.* * 
 
 CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 Arabian , Saracenic , or Moorish Architecture . 
 
 In consequence of the very few examples remaining, we 
 have little evidence of the ancient architecture of the Ara- 
 bians. The Caaba at Mecca is the only existing temple in 
 which the Arabians worshiped their idols : this was so much 
 altered by Mahommed, that it is difficult to trace the portions 
 of the prior erections. 
 
 From the appearance of Mahommed, a.d. 600, commenced 
 a style of architecture which extended from the Indus along 
 the northern coasts of Africa, and to a considerable portion 
 
 by the Chinese, as their arts seem to be confined to servile copies of the works of 
 Nature, without any feeling of composition or invention. The ancient people 
 must indeed have been widely different in their composition, as they have credit 
 for the discovery of the magnetic compass before 121 a.d.; the art of printing in 
 the tenth century ; the earliest manufacture of silk and poreclain ; and last, 
 though not least, the composition of gunpowder, which their descendants of the 
 present day use to so little purpose. 
 
 * The first emperor of the Tsin dynasty caused this wall to be built as a protec- 
 tion against the Tartars, though it has been supposed that the employment of a 
 large mass of people, who were in a state of excitement at his tyranny, was the 
 more direct cause of its erection, or it would not have been carried over places 
 that were quite inaccessible to an enemy, and therefore in these situations useless. 
 It has now stood nearly sixteen hundred years. He ordered all the books of the 
 learned, including the writings of Confucius, to be cast into the flames, for the 
 same reason that caused the destruction of all the principal existing buildings. 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 87 
 
 of Spain. In the latter country it attained its greatest 
 excellence. 
 
 The mosque which was built at Jerusalem by Omar, the 
 second caliph, about a.d. 640, is suppoted to have been the 
 first of their erections beyond the limits of Arabia. Of the 
 nature of this edifice we are ignorant, in consequence of the 
 numerous additions made to it at subsequent periods. When 
 Damascus became the seat of the empire, it w T as considerably 
 improved; and among its splendid buildings was the cele- 
 brated mosque founded by Alwalid II. In the year a. d. 
 762, the foundations of Bagdad were laid; and this city 
 remained the imperial seat for 500 years. The magnifi- 
 cence of the palace of the caliphs could only be exceeded by 
 that of the Persian kings; and the pious and charitable 
 works of those days have never been equalled, as water cis- 
 terns and caravanseras were built along several hundred 
 miles of road. 
 
 Nearly all the remains of the ancient architecture of the 
 Eastern Saracens are the mosques at Mecca and Jerusalem: 
 to these may be added the castle of Cairo, and the ruins of 
 the hall of Joseph. 
 
 The most splendid specimens of Arabian or Saracenic 
 architecture are to be found in Spain, of which the most 
 ancient is the mosque at Cordova, begun in 780 by Abd-el- 
 rahman, then king of this part of the Moorish dominions. 
 It was erected within the first century after the Moors had 
 established themselves in Spain.* It is an insulated paral- 
 lelogram of 620 feet in length by 420 in breadth, and is 
 divided into two parts; one of them is an open court, in 
 which worshipers performed their ablutions before entering 
 into the body of the temple: on three sides theje is a colon- 
 nade 25 feet wide, and on the other are the several doors 
 
 * The Moors, under Musa Ibn Nosseyr, the viceroy of the northern part of Africa, 
 landed in the south of Spain a.d. 711, a. h. 89; and within two months, Cordova, 
 Granada, Jaen, Malaga, and Toledo, then the capital of Spain, were reduced, or 
 opened their gates to the conquerors. The mosque of Cordova was finished by 
 Hisham, a.d. 791. 
 
88 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 communicating with the mosque. This consists of nineteen 
 naves divided by seventeen rows of columns : thus the interior 
 presents an appearance of a forest of columns composed of 
 jasper and other marbles; they are 18 inches in diameter, 
 and surmounted by capitals which bear a strong resemblance 
 to the Corinthian and composite orders;* these are connected 
 by segmental arches. The ceilings are of wood, painted ; the 
 enrichments are of stucco, also painted in various colors, 
 decorated with legends and occasionally gilt. After the 
 conquest of the city by San Ferdinand, in 1238, the mosque 
 was converted into a cathedral; and the character has since 
 been gratly injured by erections that were necessary for its 
 adaptation to the service of the Christian religion. 
 
 The most perfect example existing, that can convey an idea 
 of the extent to which sumptuousness of ornament and en- 
 richment can be carried, is to be found in the Alhambra, the 
 residence of the Moorish kings of Granada, erected between 
 the years a.d. 1240 and 1348. In this there are no traces 
 of art peculiar to any other nation; the composition and dis- 
 tribution of the ornaments being arranged with consummate 
 skill. To attempt a short description of this model of pure 
 Arabian architecture would only be an injustice to it, as no 
 notion would thereby be conveyed of this extraordinary 
 work ; we therefore can only remark, that every part of the 
 walls and ceilings is covered with a mass of ornament en- 
 riched with gold and the most brilliant colors, and which 
 bears the strongest evidence of the high degree of refinement 
 and luxury at which the Moors had arrived prior to their 
 overthrow. f The whole of the ornaments are composed of 
 
 * These were probably obtained from some Roman buildings that existed in the 
 neighbourhood, as some of them have bases, so as to bring them to the required 
 height, while others, which were too short, were lengthened by giving them taU 
 capitals. In this building there are upwards of 900 columns. 
 
 ■j- For a full description, with views and the details represented in their original 
 colors, the reader is referred to the work published by Mr. Owen Jones, which is 
 truly worthy of the magnificence that it illustrates; and it is to be regretted lhat 
 it has not received sufficient 'patronage to reimburse him. His primr'pal remune- 
 ration must be the conviction that he has produced that which is unequalled in 
 execution by any thing that has preceded it. 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 89 
 
 stucco; and it has been observed, that no nation has con- 
 structed so many magnificent buildings without having 
 recourse to the quarry. 
 
 Moorish architecture has several kinds of arches: the 
 horse-shoe form, having the centre raised above the spring of 
 the curve, which likewise diminishes in width ; the pointed 
 arch, in which, likewise, the greatest width is above the im- 
 post or spring from which the curve commences. Some of 
 these arches contain on the inside a succession of small cusps 
 of a segmental form. The next example is that of the 
 cuspid arch, strictly so termed, the outline being produced 
 by intersecting semicircles, very similar to the trefoil heads 
 of Gothic windows, wdth the exception that they are not 
 circumscribed by a continuous arch. Another example in 
 the Court of Lions in the Alhambra, it being circle headed 
 and stilted and considerably more than a semicircle : the part 
 below the centre of the curve is vertical, and rests on small 
 corbels that are fixed against panels wider than the slender 
 pillars that support them. 
 
 The style is noted for its extremely slender proportions 
 and for its fanciful and diverse character. 
 
 Among the features of this style is the honeycomb, fret- 
 work, or pendants, which compose the ceilings of the build- 
 ings of the later dates. It is a cone-shaped covering, but 
 ornated with a multiplicity of projecting forms, which ren- 
 der its appearance at first perplexing ; but, like the mosaics, 
 it is extremely simple in principle. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Druidical, Celtic, and Anglo-Roman Architecture. 
 
 The earliest remains of a structural nature are the un- 
 hewn stones which, in various forms, are fojind in different 
 parts of the island. The introduction of those in the south- 
 ern parts are chiefly attributed to the Phoenicians, or Ca- 
 
90 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 naanites of Tyre and Sidon, who were the most expert 
 sailors of antiquity, and maintained a commerce with the 
 southern parts of England. 
 
 It is quite certain that their frequent voyages suggested 
 the idea of planting a colony in this part of Britain, and 
 that they then introduced the custom of erecting gigantic 
 stones, which had been practised in Asia. These erections 
 are varied, and may be classed as follows: 1, the single stone 
 or obelisk; 2, circles of stones of different numbers; 3, sa- 
 crificial stones; 4, cromlechs and cairns; 5, logan stones; 6, 
 tolmen, or colossal stones. 
 
 The most remarkable of these monuments is on Salisbury 
 Plain, in Wiltshire, which has been generally considered as 
 a Druidical-or Celtic work. It consists of concentric circles 
 of large stones, placed upright in the ground like pillars, 
 with another large stone resting upon them as an architrave 
 or lintel, which is secured by mortices and tenons; thus 
 indicating a regular principle of construction, although the 
 stones themselves are not squared. 
 
 The earliest habitations of the Britons were of a circular 
 form, and composed of wicker filled in with clay, and some- 
 times placed upon foundations of stone ; although caves were 
 much used at the same time. 
 
 The erection of solid buildings in England dates from the 
 invasion of Julius Caesar, in the year 55 b. c. Quite an impe- 
 tus was given to the building propensities of the people, and 
 in the third century Britain was noted for the number and 
 skill of its artificers. After the departure of the Homans, 
 a. d. 410, architecture declined. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Architecture in England, 
 
 The History of Agriculture in England commences with 
 structures of unhewn stone, the remains of which, in various 
 forms, are found in different parts of the island. Their in- 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 91 
 
 troduction is chiefly attributed to the Phoenicians or Canaan- 
 ites of Tyre and Sidon, who were expert sailors and main- 
 tained a commerce with the southern parts of England. 
 
 The most remarkable of their monuments is Stonehenge, 
 on Salisbury Plain, in Wiltshire. It consists of concentric 
 circles of large stones, placed upright in the ground like 
 pillars, with another large stone resting upon them as an 
 architrave or lintel, which is secured by mortices and tenons ; 
 thus indicating a regular principle of construction, although 
 the stones themselves are not squared. The remains at Are- 
 bury, near Silsbury Hill, are merely rude masses of stone 
 work in the form of a circle, with smaller detached circles of 
 unhewn stones within its other area. 
 
 The earliest habitations of the Britons were of a circular 
 form, and composed of wicker filled in with clay, and some- 
 times placed upon foundations of stone. 
 
 Prom the invasion of Julius Caesar, in the year 55 b. c., 
 may be dated the erection of solid buildings — temples, the- 
 atres and public edifices were erected, and the art of archi- 
 tecture advanced till the departure of the Romans in 410 
 a. d. This is the “ Druidical, Celtic, and Anglo-Roman 
 Architecture” of England. 
 
 The “ Anglo-Saxon” Architecture commenced with the 
 arrival of the Saxons in 449 a. d. What little remained 
 of the art was shortly extinguished, for the Saxons, like 
 the inhabitants of the other parts of Germany, were to- 
 tally ignorant of all civilized modes of living, being accus- 
 tomed to dwell only in hovels, built in the rudest manner 
 with branches of trees and reeds; all knowledge of build- 
 ing, therefore, seems to have been lost for nearly two cen- 
 turies afterwards. 
 
 In the latter part of the Tth century the art of building 
 stone edifices was revived, and many churches were built 
 “ after the Roman manner,” or debased Roman style then 
 prevalent in Prance and Germany. This style has received 
 the title of Anglo-Saxon. The plans of the churches dif- 
 
92 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 fered considerably, and must have been regulated by their 
 size. Some were cruciform — in fact a goodly portion were. 
 The builders used to ... construct crypts beneath their most 
 celebrated churches. The plans of the smaller churches were 
 generally oblong. The towers were usually placed at the 
 west end. The quoins are of a description known as the 
 Anglo-Saxon style, and called long and short work, from 
 their being arranged with stones of equal size, placed alter- 
 nately in a vertical and horizontal position upon each other, 
 thus bearing resemblance to debased rustic work. 
 
 The heads of the doorway of the Anglo-Saxon style are 
 either triangular or semicircular; the latter were more gene- 
 rally used, and those which are more ancient were con- 
 structed of large flat bricks or tiles placed on end, and the 
 spaces between, which are nearly equal to them in width, 
 filled in with coarse rubble-work; the jambs or imposts of 
 the arches were generally of stone. The mode of forming 
 these arches, as well as the walls in which tiles were intro- 
 duced, either in horizontal layers, or arranged herring-bone 
 fashion, was undoubtedly copied from the later works of the 
 Romans. 
 
 The triangular-arched head is of a later date, and pos- 
 sesses little constructive merit; the extreme of the triangle 
 rests on a plain abacus, the impost in some cases projecting 
 from the wall. The prevailing character of the Anglo- 
 Saxon style is massiveness, with only the occasional intro- 
 duction of a moulding, which in most cases consists simply 
 of a square-faced projection with a chamfer or splay on the 
 upper or lower edge; the sculpture of that period was ex- 
 tremely rude, and rarely introduced. 
 
 The principal religious edifices were destroyed on the sub- 
 jugation of the country by the Danes, 1012 a. d. 
 
 The commencement of the “ Anglo-Norman Style ” is dated 
 from the Conquest by William, in 1066 a. d. Churches were 
 built so rapidly that 10 years afterwards, on the compilation 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 93 
 
 of the Doomsday Book, It 00 were recorded as then being 
 in existence. 
 
 The Anglo-Norman conventual churches were cruciform in 
 plan, with a low tower rising at the intersection of the choir 
 and nave with the transepts: the former, as in the case of 
 some churches in Germany, terminated with a semicircular 
 apse. Apsidal eastern terminations were frequently appended 
 to the chapels attached to the churches. The aisles were 
 continuous throughout the choir as well as the nave, so that 
 on solemn occasions the whole church might be traversed in 
 ' processions. The altar was generally affixed to a low rere- 
 dos screen or wall, which was placed between the eastern- 
 most piers. Above the aisles that extended round the nave 
 and choir was a triform which communicated with chapels 
 similar to those below. The west or principal front was 
 sometimes flanked with towers, in addition to that before 
 named; at the angles of the transepts and porches were 
 generally placed massive buttresses, or else turrets termi- 
 nated by conical or polygonical-shaped cappings or pinnacles. 
 In the smaller churches, the plans were similar to those of 
 the Anglo-Saxons, and consisted only of a nave and chancel, 
 with a low square tower at the junction, supported by bold 
 semicircular arches : in these the apse at the east end is very 
 frequently introduced; indeed it is a distinctive feature of 
 that style which bears the name of Norman or Romanesque 
 (derived from ancient basilicas), and never introduced after 
 the style ‘which we immediately received from the Continent, 
 namely, the semicircular-arched, had passed away. 
 
 The Anglo-Norman style of architecture might be divided 
 into three classes, — the Primitive, the Enriched, and the 
 Transition : in the two former kinds, the principles are 
 identical, although the mode of ornamentation that is used, 
 unless considered in its various stages, appears to be the 
 result of fresh impressions derived from some foreign source : 
 as regards the latter, it explains itself, having features of a 
 
94 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 somewhat different character, which were the germs of a 
 style totally dissimilar in principle. 
 
 The Norman style embraces the very plainest as well as 
 the richest specimens of work, from that characterized by 
 the low square and circular piers, so numerously distributed 
 about the country, to the florid decoration with which many 
 of our cathedrals and abbeys are embellished. The former 
 of these exhibit but massive and clumsy remains of the 
 classical principles, but they display a grandeur and solemnity 
 of appearance from the solidity of masonry and smallness of 
 the openings. The piers in the earlier buildings were either 
 entirely square, or else a succession of receding faces crowned 
 by a plain square abacus, the lower edge of which was cham- 
 fered. Isolated circular columns were likewise used in this 
 country shortly after the Conquest, as at the chapel of the 
 White Tower, London, Great Malvern church, and the 
 cathedrals of Gloucester, Peterborough, Durham, and Here- 
 ford, * besides several conventual and collegiate churches. At 
 the later periods, portions of columns were attached to the 
 square piers ; those facing the nave or choir were carried up 
 to the clerestory windows, and from their capitals sprung the 
 ribs of the groining of the roof ; the others carried a part 
 of the mouldings of the nave arches, as in Norwich and 
 Peterborough cathedrals. In the latest instances, the square 
 pier is entirely discontinued, and the columns are connected 
 together without the angular pieces. 
 
 The arrangement of the interior compartments of the 
 Norman cathedrals and larger churches is that from which 
 nearly all others of subsequent dates were copied ; it consisted 
 of three tiers or stages. The lower or larger opening was 
 spanned by a simicircular arch, which rested on the piers 
 before described, above which was a horizontal string-course : 
 in the second story, or triforium, were two smaller arches, 
 supported in the centre by a slender column ; these were 
 
 * Fifteen of the twenty-two English cathedrals retain parts of their Norman 
 erection, either in the crypts or superstructure. 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 95 
 
 enclosed in a larger arch, the span of which was rather less 
 than that below it ; above this was another string-course : 
 in the third, or clerestory, there were generally three arched 
 openings divided by columns, that in the centre being higher 
 and wider than the others, and forming either the window, 
 or an opening before it, in the thickness of the wall. These 
 three arches generally occupied a space equal to the arch 
 below them, and were enclosed in the arch springing from the 
 shaft which formed part of the semi-circular stone groining 
 with which the larger churches were usually vaulted. 
 
 In all the Anglo-Norman Churches, the western and 
 southern doorway seems to have been decorated with a profu- 
 sion of ornamental mouldings and sculpture. Many of the 
 Norman doorways have the arch heads filled up, forming 
 what is called the tympanum ; this is frequently adorned by 
 sculpture of the Savior, angels, saints or animals. 
 
 Another peculiarity of this style is, that the arch is the 
 feature on which the greatest amount of ornament and 
 enrichment was bestowed. The decorative details and 
 moulding of this style, although numerous are of a peculiar 
 description, and appear to have been worked on the originally 
 plain surface of the mason ary, and, in many cases, re-worked 
 at an after period to a greater degree of richness than they 
 originally possessed. The cherson or zig-zag, for instance is 
 the most common ; in the earlier instances its form is little 
 more than indented on the plain face of the projection or 
 w'all ; afterwards we find it partially beaded ; then double 
 beaded with hollow ; and in the latest examples it was com- 
 pletely cut away, and standing out in full relief, with a 
 second series of mouldings carved on the backing. There is 
 also the billet — the pellet, — the star — the nail-head — and the 
 emballted frette mouldings. 
 
 The windows of this style were usually small and extremely 
 simple, having no mouldings round them, but only a receding 
 face on the outside, the inside being splayed. Towards the 
 beginning of the twelfth century, mouldings and columns 
 
96 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 were introduced in the jambs, and the semi-circular heads 
 were carved with the zig-zag and other enrichments ; about 
 the year 1180 the highest degree of ornamentation ever 
 applied to Norman art was arrived at. 
 
 The Norman style, which had been gradually advancing, 
 in the richness of its arrangement and ornaments, from the 
 period of its introduction into this country up to the middle 
 of the twelfth century, began from that time to evince the 
 germs of different combinations and features, which were 
 characterized by the verticality of its principles, and a change 
 from the semi-circular to the pointed form of the arch. This 
 has been called the Transition, or Semi-Norman style, as in 
 it we find the pointed arch in its incipient state, formed by 
 the intersections of portions of a circle, whilst the details 
 and accessories remained unaltered : thus was the pointed 
 arch, for nearly fifty years, completely intermixed, more or 
 less, in conjunction with the pure Norman style, without 
 entirely superseding it, until the close of the twelfth century. 
 "We have already drawn the attention of our readers to some 
 of the various theories respecting the direct origin of the 
 pointed arch, and shall therefore offer no further observations 
 on them, but merely consider this prominent feature as we 
 find it introduced in our buildings, apparently resulting from 
 new combinations, and as being the consequence, and not the 
 cause, of a new style. 
 
 The Transition, or Semi-Norman style, which lasted during 
 the reigns of Henry the Second and Richard the First, 
 evinced, in its early stages, no other deviation from the 
 Norman than that of the arches being pointed ; but these 
 were frequently introduced in situations where the old form 
 was actually built with and even surmounting them. Thus 
 we find them in the choir of the church of St. Cross Hamp- 
 shire : the lower arches here are pointed, whilst the arcade 
 above, as well as the clerestory, is strictly Norman : the same 
 arrangement exists at Malmsbury abbey church, with the 
 exception of the upper story having been built nearly two 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 91 
 
 centuries afterwards. In the transept of Romsey church, at 
 the west end of Croyland abbey church, Lincolnshire, and 
 in many other instances, the pointed arch is placed beneath 
 the semi-circular ; and this has not been an after alteration, 
 but Is really the original work. The span of the arches at 
 this time became greater, the columns higher and less 
 massive, and the capitals began to be ornamented with a 
 kind of foliage terminating in a volute or bulbous leaf.* The 
 columns were frequently octagonal in form, and the bases 
 had additional mouldings with an overl aping ornament at 
 the angles, and were placed upon square plinths. 
 
 Although the alteration of the arch and diminution in the 
 massiveness of the columns were at first the only indications 
 of a transition from the style of the Normans, yet other pecu- 
 liarities, which followed in gradual succession, bear testimony 
 to the certain progress that was being made towards a more 
 ornate and lighter style of architecture. The mouldings were 
 more generally beaded and less massive, yet the use of the 
 zig-zag, of- various forms, was still retained. The columns 
 of the doorways were frequently banded in the centre, and 
 placed quite free in the receding angles and splays. 
 
 Examples of this period may be instanced in many of the 
 Norman, as well as Early Pointed buildings : the great west 
 Tower and south wing of Ely cathedral are especially 
 deserving of attention. Perhaps no finer specimen than this 
 exists in the kingdom : the pointed arch, the trefoiled head, 
 and other features of the next period in this example, here 
 just begin to appear, although the whole aspect is decidedly 
 Norman. The vastness of the surfaces, which are completely 
 covered by arcading and sculpture, both within and without, 
 from the ground to the very roofs, is almost bewildering to 
 the eye : the date is about lltO.f Buildwas abbey, Shrop- 
 shire ; Malmsbury, Kirkstall, Fountains, and Croyland 
 abbeys ; the churches of New Shoreham ; Rutland, North- 
 
 * The eastern part of Canterbury cathedral illustrates these peculiarities. 
 
 f Paley’s ‘Manual of Gothic,’ p. 68. 
 
 9 
 
98 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 amptonshire ; Walsoken, Norfolk ; Ketton, Rutland; Blox- 
 ham, Oxfordshire ; Little Snoring, Norfolk ; retain portions 
 of the work of this date. Trinity chapel, and the circular 
 part called Becket’s Crown, Canterbury cathedral, built a. 
 d. lit 5, are very interesting : St. Joseph’s chapel, Glaston- 
 bury, erected at this period, is perhaps the richest specimen 
 now remaining of the Semi-Norman, or Transition style, and 
 remarkable for the profusion and beauty of its sculptured 
 detail, as well as the close resemblance it presents in many 
 parts to the succeeding styles.* 
 
 It has been usual to date the introduction of the Pointed, 
 or what has been denominated the Early English style,*}' to 
 about a. d. 1200, although the vertical principles from which 
 it sprung were not fully developed for thirty years afterwards. 
 
 The lancet, as well as the equilateral shaped arch, were 
 used at this period. The mouldings in general consist of 
 alternate rounds and deep cut-hollows, producing a strong 
 effect of light and shade' : the tooth ornament is of frequent 
 occurrence and used only in architecture at this date. 
 
 The features of this style which principally distinguish it 
 from all others are, the lancet windows, the thin isolated and 
 clustered shafts, the buttresses and pinnacles, the foliage, the 
 mouldings, and the sculptured ornaments and figures ; all of 
 which must be studied with care in order to understand and 
 appreciate fully its peculiarities, and will be found generally 
 to determine the dates of the churches. The windows are 
 of various kinds in the early period : the lancet windows, 
 long and narrow, of one light, were most frequently used, 
 with merely a small splay on the outside, and without any 
 label moulding ; afterwards they were surmounted by labels, 
 which, being continued horizontally from window to window, 
 formed a string-course between them. Two lancet windows 
 under a single drip-stone are sometimes met with, but in the 
 most beautiful specimens of this arrangement the jambs and 
 
 * Bloxam’s Gothic. 
 
 f Tfois, as well as the Perpendicular, or Late Pointed, is peculiar to our country, 
 ms nothing similar is to be found in any buildings abroad* 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 99 
 
 the pier between the openings are ornamented with slender 
 shafts, crowned by moulded capitals, and surmounted by the 
 mouldings of the arches, over which are moulded double 
 labels. The next arrangement is that of a triplet, or a 
 combination of three windows together, that in the centre 
 being higher, and in some cases larger than those at the 
 side : the arrangement of columns in front of the piers and 
 on the jambs, as well as the arch and label mouldings, is 
 similar to the last noticed. These windows, in the smaller 
 parochial churches, are most frequently placed at the east 
 end of the chancels, and are only splayed, or very slightly 
 decorated with mouldings. The combination that next 
 demands our attention, in consequence of its evincing the 
 germs of another class of Gothic architecture, and by its 
 being the first approximation towards the introduction of 
 tracery in the heads of windows, is that in which a part is 
 pierced over a double lancet window, comprised within a 
 single drip-stone. Circular windows were frequently intro- 
 duced during the prevalence of this style, and were inserted 
 above other windows within the angular part of gables. 
 
 The doorways of this style vary considerably both in form 
 and in the arrangements of the arch mouldings and the sup- 
 porting columns : in some cases the columns are single de- 
 tached shafts, placed in a receding angle 4 whilst in others we 
 find them in three or four receding spaces, and sometimes 
 connected by bands or otherwise moulded : the upper mould- 
 ings of the capitals were mostly continuous, and from them 
 sprung assemblages of small bead and hollow mouldings, in 
 which the tooth ornament was frequently introduced. In the 
 cathedrals and large conventual churches we meet with double 
 doorways, divided by clustered columns or ornamented piers, 
 and enclosed by a two-centred arch ; the space above the 
 openings being filled either with sculptured figures and 
 ornaments, or else by moulded quatrefoiled tracery. In some 
 of these the heads of the openings are cinquefoiled, and 
 richly decorated with mouldings and sculpture. 
 
100 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 The pillars usually consist of small shafts (often of Purbeck 
 marble), arranged round a circular pier, and connected by a 
 band of mouldings at half the height of the shafts, and at 
 the capitals and bases : others of different kinds are to be 
 found ; a circular or octagonal pillar is common in country 
 churches, which is crowned by moulded capitals, in which the 
 nail-head and tooth ornaments, and also the rich flowing 
 foliage of that style, are used. The buttresses of this date 
 were often very prominent, and are frequently carried, with 
 occasional weatherings, to the tops of the parapets, and 
 terminated either by high pyramidical cappings, or else by 
 acutely pointed pediments. Buttresses at this period were 
 seldom placed diaganolly at the angles of the buildings, 
 although such disposition in the succeeding style was very 
 general. The angles of the buttresses were frequently 
 chamfered, or else small shafts, not projecting beyond the 
 face, were introduced. The carved foliage is very remarka- 
 ble for boldness of effect, and was much used in capitals, 
 brackets, bosses, crockets, and spandrils; it was often so 
 much undercut as to be connected with the mouldings and 
 backings only by the stalks and edges of the leaves. There 
 is generally a stiffness and mannerism in the combinations of 
 the sculpture of this era, but the effect of it is almost always 
 so beautiful, that we overlook its unreality in the great flex- 
 ibility and freedom both of the conception and execution. 
 The prevailing leaf is a trefoil; this was also used to form 
 the crockets, which had their origin in this style. 
 
 “The Decorated, or Geometric Middle pointed- style,” 
 dates from a. d. 1214 to 131 1, during the reign of the three 
 Edwards. 
 
 The Decorated style is of two characters, which can be 
 easily defined by the nature of the traceries of the windows, 
 and should be denominated “ early and late decorated.” In 
 the former, the geometrical figures prevail, consisting of 
 combinations of circles, trefoils, quatrefoils, cinquefoils, and 
 triangles. It is remarkable for the harmony of its forms. 
 
OF ARCHITECT ORE. 
 
 101 
 
 The tracery and cuspings were fully developed; and the 
 uniting of several openings as a whole under one arch, or a 
 succession of concentric mouldings, marked an evident devi- 
 ation from the arrangement and principles of the Early Eng- 
 lish architecture. This Geometric Middle Pointed style may 
 be considered to have been in use until about a. d. 1321, or 
 the beginning of the reign of Edward the Third, when the 
 compositions of the windows seem to have undergone a 
 change, and the flowing or wavy lines succeeded, producing 
 an almost endless variety of combinations. At the period 
 to which we now refer, viz., from 1321 to 1311, the archi- 
 tecture of this country may justly be considered to have 
 attained its greatest excellence, both as regards graceful 
 proportion and a luxuriant profusion of beautiful ornament 
 and mouldings. By very gradual progression, and almost 
 imperceptible changes, had these principles of graceful de- 
 sign and unequalled beauty of execution been arrived at; 
 and it cannot be denied but that the architectural art of this 
 period was neither equalled nor surpassed in any other coun- 
 try or in any age. 
 
 The general plan of ecclesiastical and monastic buildings 
 of this era was little marked by any deviation from that 
 which preceded it : any change in the arrangement is to be 
 attributed more to the requirements of the situation than to 
 any alteration in the principles. To the details and parts 
 of the combinations we must look for the distinguishing pe- 
 culiarities. Throughout the century during which this style 
 prevailed, the same kind of arch was generally used, and was 
 either equilateral, obtuse-angled triangles, or segmental in 
 form. The mouldings consisted chiefly of quarter or three- 
 quarter rounds, with fillets, and in small churches double 
 recessed splays alone were used: the deep hollows and unfil- 
 leted beads of the former style were quite discontinued. 
 
 The piers of this period, on which the nave arches rested, 
 were frequently composed of half or three-quarter cylindrical 
 shafts, which in some instances had small fillets at their 
 
102 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 greatest projection, and in others smaller shafts or filleted 
 mouldings were placed at the junction of the large shafts : 
 this arrangement differs from the Early English in the col- 
 umns being more closely united. The octagonal, cylindrical 
 and circular pier is more generally to be found in small 
 churches. The capitals are more frequently bell-shaped, 
 crowned by quarter-rounds, fillets, and other mouldings, and 
 having at the lower part a beaded or chamfered astragal. 
 In the richer instances, or in large churches, the capitals 
 were either numerously moulded, or ornamented with light 
 elegant foliage, distributed completely over all parts of the 
 capital but the abacus and the astragal ; figures, battlements, 
 and the ball-fiower were frequently introduced on it. The 
 bases of the piers differ from those of the preceding style, in 
 their being composed of two or more small round mouldings, 
 with either a quarter-round or hollow below, and beneath it 
 a splay or curved moulding was sometimes introduced. The 
 ogee form was in some cases used, but it more frequently 
 denoted a later period. In plan, the base mouldings take 
 various forms, not always following that of the shaft, but 
 changing from the circular to the octagonal, and from the 
 octagonal to the square. 
 
 The windows of this style, as we have before stated, differ 
 from those of the Early English style, in having their open- 
 ings connected and blended together either by geometrical 
 or flowering tracery comprised under two-centered arch 
 mouldings. They are generally large and of good propor- 
 tion: those which were placed either at the east or west 
 fonts, or at the transepts, varied from three to seven lights 
 each, and were divided by mullions, which at the springing 
 of the arch branched out either into geometrical or flowing 
 combinations. The great variety of the traceries in windows 
 of this style renders their description extremely difficult. 
 In the best and most perfect instances, we find a principal 
 and subordinate arrangement ; the extreme mouldings bound- 
 ing the general forms, whilst the secondary or inside mould- 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 103 
 
 ings mark the disposition and form of the lights. It is 
 scarcely necessary to observe, that these harmonious arrange- 
 ments of flowing lines were not produced solely from a cor- 
 rect perception of beautiful forms, but were grounded on 
 that consummate skill and mathematical knowledge for which 
 the freemasons of this country were so eminent. Square- 
 headed windows were very frequently employed, both in the 
 aisles of the smaller churches and in the clerestories ; in many 
 of them the ball-flower is inserted into the hollows of the 
 jambs and along the top mouldings, and sometimes it is 
 introduced into the under mouldings of the label. Seg- 
 mental, flat-headed and circular windows were likewise used. 
 Windows of triangular form, having the sides curved and 
 filled in with tracery, are likewise peculiar to this date, and 
 either used to fill up the angle of the gable or in clerestories. 
 Square and diamond-shaped windows are sometimes intro- 
 duced in churches of this period. 
 
 The buttresses of this style are more varied in form and 
 disposition than those which preceded: in the smaller build- 
 ings they are generally of two stages, and frequently finished 
 by gable-headed terminations, sometimes adorned with 
 crockets and finials. A gable is sometimes introduced at 
 the middle weathering, and at the top there is only a succes- 
 sion of weatherings or moulded water tables, with a splay 
 and half round moulding at the nosing or greater projection. 
 Traceries and panels are frequently sunk within the faces of 
 the buttresses of the large ecclesiastical buildings. Niches 
 were likewise made in some of those attached to parochial 
 churches. Except in large buildings, where the buttresses 
 have pyramidical terminations, the gable heads are not car- 
 ried above the parapets. In many cases both the heads and 
 set-offs are weathered and splayed without enrichment: the 
 buttresses of this date were placed at the angles, or diagon- 
 ally with the faces of the walls. Flying buttresses were also 
 used. 
 
 The niches of this period were generally surmounted by 
 
104 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 canopies of a pedimental or ogee form. The parapets were 
 pierced with trefoil and quatrefoil openings. Gurgoyls, or 
 grotesque figures projecting from the walls, were first em- 
 ployed to conduct the waters from the gutters. Concerning 
 the other minor details, we .cannot now speak. 
 
 We have now reached the “ third period of the pointed 
 style ,” which may be dated from the latter part of the four- 
 teenth century to the commencement of the sixteenth, or 
 early in the times of Henry the Eighth. The general pecu- 
 liarities of the fully developed style of the fifteenth century 
 are chiefly, visible in the increased expansion of the upright 
 and square tendency of the tracery of the windows, the 
 gorgeous, fan-like tracery of the groinings, the four-centered 
 arches and horizontal lines of the doorways, the excessive 
 decoration of the wooden roofs, and in the decoration of 
 heraldric enrichments and color. 
 
 The next class is 16 The Castellated and Domestic Buildings 
 of England , from the Norman to the Tudor Times ” The 
 buildings of the Anglo-Saxon nobility, as well as those of 
 the burgesses and common people of England, were of a very 
 humble character, and consisted of timber covered with reeds 
 and straw: the former, says William of Malmsbury, “squan- 
 dered their ample means in low, mean dwellings.” On the 
 settlement of the Normans after the Conquest, the kings, 
 nobility and prelates erected large and magnificent palaces 
 or castles; and the barons were equally jealous in raising 
 fortified castles, as were the priests in erecting fortified 
 buildings. This change, like all others in the art of 
 building, was the result of necessity: the Normans found, 
 that although they had conquered, and intended to retain 
 possession of the country, yet they were surrounded by vas- 
 sals by whom they were detested, on account of the plunder 
 and subjugation to which they were compelled to submit. 
 During the reign of Stephen, from 1135 to 1154, no less 
 than 1115 castles were raised from their foundations. An 
 eminence near a river was the situation usually chosen: the 
 boundary walls were often of great extent, and in plan very 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 105 
 
 irregular, their form being regulated by the nature of the 
 position, or levels of the ground: the whole was surrounded 
 by a broad ditch, called the fosse, which could be filled with 
 water when required. The most advanced work beyond the 
 fosse was the barbican or watch-tower ; it was placed before 
 the drawbridge and principal entrance, as a protection from 
 sudden assaults: these outworks were of great strength, and 
 so planned, that if the gate was forced, those within could 
 still annoy the assailants from the turrets and embrasures 
 during their attack on the drawbridge entrance. Within 
 the ditch was a wall of great strength, frequently from 8 to 
 9 feet in thickness, and as much as 30 feet in height; towers 
 were placed at the most commanding or principal positions 
 of it, in which the principal officers of the castle resided: 
 inside of the wall were the apartments for the retainers, ser- 
 vants, as well as storehouses and necessary offices. On the 
 top of the wall was a platform extending the whole length 
 and over the towers: the side towards the ditch was pro- 
 tected by battlements. The great gate was flanked on each 
 side with a square or circular tower, and above the gateway 
 were rooms which communicated with those in the towers. 
 The mode of protecting this entrance was by a portcullis, or 
 framework of wood faced with iron; it was fixed in a groove, 
 and was raised or lowered by machinery ; behind this were 
 massive oak double doors, which were either covered with 
 iron or large nail-heads. Within the external wall was a 
 large open space or court, containing the chapel: in some 
 instances another ditch or wall enclosed an inner court or 
 ballium, where the dungeon or keep was placed. This great 
 tower, the principal stronghold of the castle, was built on 
 the most elevated spot, sometimes on an artificial mound, 
 and varied from four to five stories in height. The walls 
 were of great thickness, and in them the passages or stairs 
 were, built: the openings were small, and admitted but little 
 light into the apartments. This building was used as the 
 residence of the owner, or constable of the castle, and was 
 
106 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 provided with underground vaults for the confinement of 
 prisoners. On the second floor was the state room or hall for 
 entertainment, as well as a chapel. This mass of masonry 
 was made to contain provisions and ammunition for a long de- 
 fence, in the event of the rest of the castle being taken: the 
 well was usually in the centre of the tower, and had openings 
 to each floor.* The only admission to this tower was by a door 
 at from 15 to 20 feet from the ground, approached by a steep 
 external staircase. The whole of this strong building w T as 
 surmounted by projecting .battlements and machicolations, 
 through the openings of which arrows, stones and other mis- 
 siles were thrown on the assailants. In the beginning of the 
 fourteenth century, the habitable began to change into the 
 castellated mansion. 
 
 The Domestic and Civil Architecture of England of the 
 Tudor and Elizabethan periods, differ from the preceding in 
 its applicability to domestic as well as ecclesiastical structures. 
 
 In the ornamental domestic architecture of the fifteenth 
 and sixteenth centuries, generally designated Tudor, (there 
 are very few examples before that period,) we perceive the 
 same style as that of the ecclesiastical buildings applied to 
 another class, where, although the parts are somewhat differ- 
 ently composed, the style of ornament and detail is essen- 
 tially the same. Some features, such as doorways and 
 porches, are very little altered from those of churches; while 
 others, unknown to the latter class of buildings, such as 
 chimneys and projecting windows, became highly character- 
 istic and decorative in this. Oriel and bay windows are 
 peculiar to this style: these terms are often used indiscrimi- 
 nately; — the former of these project out in the upper part 
 of the building, and overhang that below, being corbelled 
 upon mouldings splaying downwards on every side: the latter 
 may be similar in openings and ornament, but they rise imme- 
 diately from the ground, and are connected with the building 
 by the base and string-course mouldings. Oriels are both 
 
 * Those at Rochester and Conisburg are still existing. 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 107 
 
 single and compound, that is, are either confined to one of 
 the upper floors of the building, or carried up through all 
 its stories. 
 
 Although chimneys had been long invented, and were 
 much in use for other rooms, our ancestors do not appear to 
 have introduced them generally into their halls until the 
 end of the fifteenth or the early part of the sixteenth cen- 
 tury. The previously open hearth, on which the fire was 
 made, was in the centre of the hall, and the smoke escaped 
 through the louvre lantern in the roof: about this period 
 they were added to many halls of an older date. 
 
 The general plan, as we have before observed, of the 
 larger mansions of the Tudor period was quadrangular, con- 
 sisting of an inner and base court, between which stood the 
 gate-house: on the side of the inner court facing the en- 
 trance, the principal apartments were placed ; these consisted 
 of the hall, the chapel, the great chamber and dining-room, 
 and were connected with a gallery for amusements, running 
 the whole length of another side of the quadrangle. 
 
 The great halls in the palaces, mansions and colleges of 
 this period were extremely lofty, frequently predominating 
 over the surrounding buildings: the ceilings and roofs were 
 very boldly constructed and elaborately ornamented. 
 
 The reign of Elizabeth is remarkable for the introduction 
 of a style of domestic architecture more systematic in plan, 
 more commodious in its arrangements, and imposing in its 
 effects, than any preceding. Up to this period the mansions 
 of the nobles were only one story in height, and in plan 
 greatly deficient in the requirements incidental to the im- 
 proved social condition. Indeed, the domestic architecture 
 under Elizabeth had assumed a more scientific character, and 
 we have ample evidence that no building was now undertaken 
 without the previous arrangement of a well considered plan. 
 Books on the arts of design and construction were now pub- 
 lished, and architects had begun to act upon a system in the 
 construction of the palatial houses of the aristocracy. The 
 
108 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 principal deviation from the plans of the Tudor houses was 
 in the frequent introduction of bay windows; the improve- 
 ment in the galleries, which were now generally lofty, wide, 
 and more than 100 feet in length; that of staircases,, from 
 being small and inconvenient, to occupying a considerable 
 portion of the mansion, and communicating with the entrance 
 or staircase halls of spacious dimensions. The exteriors of 
 the porticoes were greatly enriched with carved entablatures, 
 columns, pilasters, figures, armorial bearings, and every 
 variety of device which the most fantastic imagination could 
 supply. 
 
 To houses of this date, terraces of great grandeur were 
 generally attached, connected with each other by broad 
 flights of steps ; — they were bounded by richly perforated 
 parapets or balustrades. The windows retain more of the 
 Gothic character than any other feature; they were divided 
 by mullions and transoms, although their height, as well as 
 width, was generally much increased: in some examples there 
 are three or four tiers of openings, diminishing in height as 
 they ascend. 
 
 The Italian Orders are much introduced, but their classic 
 proportions not attended to : the columns, pilasters, and piers 
 are usually banded in several courses by square blocks, which 
 are constantly decorated with diamond or jewel-shaped pro- 
 jections: this ornament is of very frequent occurrence, and 
 may be considered as a distinct characteristic of this style. 
 The entablatures are more usually broken, either by project- 
 ing profiles or scrolled and voluted ornaments. The bay 
 windows, parapets, and gables are terminated in general by 
 perforated ornaments of either a square, circular, or scroll 
 form. 
 
 This singular manner of designing must be examined to 
 be well understood; no description can possibly convey a 
 just idea of its complex forms and elaborate ornaments. 
 There is perhaps no class of English architecture more com- 
 pounded of inconsistencies, defects, and beauties, than this 
 
Or ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 109 
 
 mixture of Gothic and Italian; but to be properly appre- 
 ciated, it should be studied with a mind unbiased alike by 
 the tendencies of a previous education and the indiscriminat- 
 ing caprices of fashion. The application of this style to 
 country mansions is unquestionably not to be equalled by 
 any other, as its varied forms of plan and outline will either 
 harmonize or contrast beautifully with scenery of any 
 description. 
 
 One of the most celebrated architects of the reigns of 
 Elizabeth and her successor was John Thorpe, who designed 
 and erected most of the principal palatial edifices of the 
 time. The general form of his plans is that of three sides 
 of a quadrangle, and the portico in the centre. # When the 
 quadrangles were used, they are surrounded by an open 
 arcade or corridor. Bernard Adams and Lawrence Brad- 
 shaw, Bobert and Huntingdon Smithson, were also eminent 
 architects of this period. 
 
 The plaster ceilings of the Elizabethan date are particu- 
 larly deserving of attention, on account of their richness and 
 beautiful arrangement : the fire-places, paneling, cornices, 
 friezes, and ornaments of the principal apartments, were ex- 
 tremely varied, and generally good in design. 
 
 The early part of the seventeenth century, during the 
 reign of James the First, is the period of the introduction of 
 unmixed Italian architecture into England: it is to be attri- 
 buted to the genius of Inigo Jones, who, in the early part 
 of his professional career, had erected and altered several 
 large buildings in the mixed style, which continued to pre- 
 vail until his masterly designs of the Venetian school caused 
 a general admiration and adoption of this class of art. Lit- 
 tle is known of Inigo Jones or his works as an architect pre- 
 vious to 1605, when James the First visited the university 
 of Oxford, at v T hich time he was employed on the quadrangle 
 at St. John’s college, and had been to Italy: from that time 
 until his second visit, the buildings on which he was engaged 
 were of a mixed or transition character; when, by a careful 
 
 10 
 
no 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 study of the works of Palladio, he perfected his taste, ripened 
 his judgment, and laid the foundation for his future well- 
 merited reputation. On his return to England he was appoint- 
 ed to the office of Surveyor of Public Buildings, and from 
 that time his fame and practice rapidly increased. 
 
 The numerous works executed by J ones have received, at 
 different times, both praise and severe criticism : it must be 
 admitted that his admiration of Palladian architecture some- 
 times led him to adopt plans and arrangements for houses 
 not altogether suited to our climate or habits, and to aim at 
 a splendor of design, which, under the circumstances, could 
 not be accomplished. The combination of his windows was 
 Italian, and. the piers between them were frequently so large 
 as to offer too much obstruction to the admission of suffi- 
 cient light. Objections have been offered to the height of 
 his roofs, and the unmeaning, as well as useless, introduction 
 of porticoes in the centres of his faqades. The encourage- 
 ment received by Inigo Jones was brought to a close by the 
 misfortunes of his royal patron: art or artists found so little 
 favor or encouragement during the time of the Common- 
 wealth, that, unmindful of his talents, he had to pay £545 
 as a penalty for being a Homan Catholic. Disappointment 
 and trouble accelerated his death, which took place in 
 1651. 
 
 The fire of 1666, which destroyed nearly the whole of 
 London, was the occasion to which Sir Christopher Wren 
 was indebted for the opportunities of displaying his skill in 
 architecture and constructive science. One of his first de- 
 signs was that for the rebuilding the city on a regular plan, 
 which unfortunately was never carried wholly into effect, — 
 and is the more to be regreted, as we then should have been 
 spared the inconvenience resulting from our present bad 
 arrangement. The task of re-erecting the cathedral of St. 
 Paul and the greater part of the churches in the city was 
 intrusted to Wren, whose distinguished talents were fully 
 equal to the stupendous undertaking. No architect, before 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 Ill 
 
 or since his time, has possessed such a variety of knowledge, 
 both in design and construction: the multiplicity and mag- 
 nitude of his works proclaim the universality of his genius. 
 The same hand produced the noblest of modern cathedrals, 
 the largest palace, hospitals, and numberless public and pri- 
 vate buildings, besides twenty-five churches in the city of 
 London. Great length of days were bestowed on him; — 
 11 he lived to enrich the reigns of several princes, and dis- 
 graced the last of them;” — (at the advanced age of 86 he 
 was removed by George I. from the office of Surveyor Gen- 
 eral;) — “he restored London, and recorded its fall;” — he 
 designed and lived to complete a building which is the boast 
 of England and the admiration of the world, of which a gen- 
 eral description is all that we can give. 
 
 The cathedral church of St. Paul stands on a greater por- 
 tion of the site of the old one : the designs were approved by 
 Charles II., and the warrant issued for the execution of the 
 works on the 1st of May, 1615. The first stone was laid on 
 the 21st of June, 1615: within ten years the walls of the 
 choir and aisles and the north and south porticoes w~ere fin- 
 ished, and the piers of the dome were brought up to the 
 same height. The highest stone on the top of the lantern, 
 which was the last, was laid by the son of the architect, in 
 1110. The whole edifice was completed in thirty-five years, 
 having only one architect, one master-mason, and the see 
 being occupied the whole time by one bishop. 
 
 The plan of St. Paul’s is a Latin cross, measuring from 
 east to west 480 feet; its general breadth on the exterior is 
 125 feet, and from the north to the south ends of the tran- 
 septs 280 feet. The western end of the edifice is flanked by 
 towers on the same plan as the walls, but projecting 21 feet 
 beyond the north and south walls, thus making the whole 
 width of the fagade 180 feet. The exterior of the building 
 consists of two Orders; — the lower, or Corinthian, stands on 
 a basement 10 feet above the ground, which is the level of 
 the church, which on the western side is approached by a 
 
112 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 magnificent flight of marble steps, extending nearly the whole 
 breadth of the front. From this level to the top of the 
 entablature, or the whole height of the Order, is 50 feet ; 
 and from this to the upper part of the second Order, which 
 is Composite, is 40 feet ; thus making the whole height of 
 the body of the church 100 feet from the ground. A mag- 
 nificent portico, of the two Orders in height, ornaments the 
 western front; the lower story consists of twelve coupled 
 columns, and the upper of eight, besides four pilasters ; this 
 portico is surmounted by a pediment, on whose tympanum 
 the subject of the conversion of St. Paul is sculptured in 
 high relief. At the ends of the transepts are porticoes, iiT 
 form of a segment of a circle, round which are six fluted Co- 
 rinthian columns; this is crowned by a half-dome, resting 
 against the wall of the building. 
 
 In the absence of an elevation and section of the dome 
 and lantern, it would be nearly impossible to give a satisfac- 
 tory description of the constructive peculiarities of this and 
 other portions of the building; we must therefore content 
 ourselves with only giving the dimensions. The height from 
 the pavement to the opening of the inner dome (which is of 
 ’brick-work) is 168 feet, and its diameter 100 feet. On the 
 haunches of this dome, at 200 feet from the pavement, rests 
 the base of a cone of brick-work, the top of which is 285 feet 
 from the level of the church: this carries a stone lantern 55 
 feet high, terminating in a dome, and above this is a ball 
 and cross. The external dome is of oak, covered with lead, 
 and is supported by horizontal and vertical timbers resting 
 on corbels fixed in the brick cone. The lateral thrust of the 
 cone and the interior dome is restrained by four tiers of strong 
 iron chains, bedded with lead in grooves cut in the masonry 
 at the base and at different heights on the exterior of the 
 . dome. The towers at the extremities of the western front 
 are 220 feet high, and ornamented with Corinthian pilasters, 
 terminating above the roof of the church in open lanterns, 
 and covered with domes. On the exterior of the building, 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 113 
 
 the intervals of the columns and pilasters are occupied by 
 niches or windows with semi-circular or horizontal heads, 
 and crowned by pediments. In the upper Order of the 
 north and south sides there are no windows, as it is merely a 
 screening wall to the nave. 
 
 This edifice may, for elegance of design, bear comparison 
 with any in Europe, not even excepting St. Peter’s at Rome, 
 though it is far from being so large. It must be admitted, 
 however, that the interior faces of the walls present a naked 
 appearance, and require much embellishment from ornament- 
 al sculpture before they will harmonize with the richness of 
 the exterior. A great defect also arises, in the interior, 
 from the want of connection, which is caused by the arcades 
 interrupting the entablatures. Sir Christopher Wren ap- 
 pears to have surpassed all those who preceded him in the 
 skill required for raising a building on the minimum of foun- 
 dation. Some criterion may be drawn of the comparative 
 skill employed in the construction of other buildings some- 
 what similar, by comparing the ratio between the area of 
 the whole plan and that of the sum of the areas of the whole 
 of the piers, walls, and pillars which serve to support the 
 superincumbent mass. To produce the greatest effect by the 
 smallest means is one of the first qualifications of an archi- 
 tect, and the similarity of four churches affords a criterion of 
 their respective merits as to the least amount of solid for 
 area. 
 
 Wren lived to complete St. Paul’s (which cost £136,152, 
 exclusive of the stone and iron enclosures round it, which 
 cost £11,202): he died in 1123, at the age of 91, and was 
 buried under the fabric, — with four words — 
 
 SI QUJERAS MONUMENTUM CIRCU^ISPICE. 
 
 At the commencement of the eighteenth century flourished 
 Sir John Yanburgh, who built edifices after fashions of his 
 own. 
 
 After N hhn came James Gibbs, who built many churches 
 and other buildings; then came Sir William Chambers, the 
 
114 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 architect of Somerset House and the author of an excellent 
 work on civil architecture. 
 
 England to-day practises all sorts, and has no distinctive 
 style of its own. 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 115 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Definition of Architecture — Its Necessity, Uses and Requirements. 
 
 “ Well building hath three conditions : Commodity, Firmness and Delight.” 
 
 Sir Henry Wotton. 
 
 Architecture is the art of well building; in other words, 
 the perfect adaptation of a building to each of its parts, and 
 to the purposes of its building. There is a wide difference 
 between the art of Building, and Architecture — but none 
 between Architecture and ^/-Building. No building is 
 well built which does not, in addition to all its utilitarian 
 purposes, evince the greatest beauty capable under the cir- 
 cumstances, to attract the attention, to exercise the fancy, 
 to subdue the passions, to call forth the aspirations, or to 
 dazzle with its imposing majesty, as may be most appropriate. 
 
 The contemplation of perfection is always the contempla- 
 tion of a thing of Beauty. Perfection is always beautiful, 
 and truly has it been said of Architecture, or well-building, 
 that it is “the art of the beautiful in building.” 
 
 The contemplation of “ a thing of beauty is a joy forever,” 
 and rightly has Sir Henry Wotton said that “Delight” is 
 an inseparable condition of Architecture. That building 
 which awakens not in the human breast feelings of pleasure 
 or delight, is not well-building, or Architecture. 
 
 In no civilized country is the art of true Architecture less 
 understood or practiced than in the United States. True, 
 we have buildings which are perfect samples of nearly every 
 style, character, and order of architecture, which has ever 
 been known in any portion of the globe. But there is a 
 prevailing sentiment too common among our people, that if 
 
116 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 it be “ firm or stable,” and commodious or convenient, that 
 all that is required is had. This sentiment was never learn- 
 ed by man' from nature, nor does he act upon it in his other 
 occupations and pursuits. The rain that descends from the 
 heavens to moisten the earth and to nourish vegetation, fails 
 not while doing its work to paint the beauteous rainbow to 
 please and gladden the hearts of all observers. Our coun- 
 trymen should have it impressed upon them that even though 
 their buildings be convenient and stable, unless they show all 
 the beauteous perfection which the circumstances admit, they 
 are neither architectural or well-built. Buildings may be 
 sometimes perfectly fitted to their purpose, and yet not only 
 devoid of beauty, but positively hideous and disgusting to 
 the eye. There are four points quite necessary to be kept in 
 view in Architecture — Politeness, Beauty, Expression and 
 Poetry. 
 
 1st. Politeness. Erom the time that selfish Cain, the 
 first-born, beat down as an enemy and destroyed his brother 
 Abel, the second-born, to the present day, selfishness has 
 been a dominant and degrading principle of manhood. As 
 manhood grew in the human breast, so selfishness began to 
 die. Step by step may we see man’s exclusiveness expand- 
 ing from self to the family, from the family to the tribe, from 
 the tribe to the nation, till to-day we see manhood owning 
 man for his brother. He even does not now consider that 
 edifice or structure well-built which does not, in addition to 
 its purposes of utility, possess that beauty which will awa- 
 ken manly pleasure and delight in the breast of every brother 
 man who contemplates it. That selfishness which erects 
 buildings with a single eye to the convenience of him who 
 builds them, has died out. The fraternity of manhood 
 requires that it must be adorned with beauty, built with pro- 
 priety, fitness and order, so as not to offend to the sense or 
 taste of men, but to please, to amaze, or to compliment 
 them. 
 
 2d. Beauty is ever associated with perfection, not ornament. 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 lit 
 
 The beauty of simplicity far exceeds the mock beauty of 
 gaudy, showy ornamentation. The beauty of simplicity 
 never fails to call forth admiration. Beauty is not capable 
 of division into its constituent parts — its very essence con- 
 sists in its wholeness. We think it a profitless pursuit to 
 follow our author in his attempt to divide under general 
 heads the various parts of beauty. 
 
 3d. j Expression. Education is not required to feel the ex- 
 pressiveness of art ; give us the mind wholly uneducated in 
 it ; give us the rustic or the child unused to cities, uncorrupt- 
 ed by the sight of abused architecture, and he shall imme- 
 diately feel in the true art all its intended effects, — shall be 
 awed by the sublime majesty of the Doric, or raised by the 
 heavenward aspiration of the Gothic temple ; soothed by 
 the mild repose of Palladio, and enlivened by the playful 
 fancy of Scammozzi; sobered by the severe purity of the 
 Greeks, and relaxed by the picturesque riot of Vamburgh; 
 attracted by the inviting urbanity of the Yicentine villa, and 
 repelled by the gloomy frown of the Florentine castle. 
 Among pieces of true architecture he shall not need to ask 
 which is the temple, and which is the forum. lie shall 
 know at a glance the festive theatre and the stern hall of 
 hoodwinked justice, the modest hospital and the patrician 
 palace. He shall not mistake what is public for what is 
 private, nor fail to distinguish which buildings are dedicated 
 to business, which to pleasure or to repose. All this is ex- 
 pressed by art, not conventionalism, and is intelligible to the 
 perfectly artless, as well or better than to him of cultivated 
 taste — and why? Because the cultivation required does not 
 consist in learning, but in unlearning the prejudices of a life, 
 — in getting rid of the mass of falsehood imbibed during 
 years passed in the presence of an indiscriminate mixture 
 and misapplication of every thing that is expressive in archi- 
 tecture; the abuse of employing it all alike, for the sake of 
 ornament instead of propriety, fancy instead of discretion. In 
 the culture required to feel rightly the effects of this art, 
 
118 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 there is nothing to be learnt, but every thing to be unlearnt. 
 The savage and the highly cultivated are alike in this 
 respect ; or rather, the acme of this cultivation is to approach 
 as near as possible to the feelings of the totally ignorant, — 
 of one to whom all architecture is new. But to those 
 brought up in modern English cities this is perhaps impossi- 
 ble, (I do not mean in its perfection, but in such degree as 
 to be useful,) so completely must their natural sense of right 
 and wrong become in this respect deadened and subverted, 
 by the time their education is complete. 
 
 If there be no differences of expression in architecture, 
 then is it no fine art, but a trifle beneath the notice of an 
 educated man, and which must soon find its level, by sink- 
 ing into the hands of mere constructors and decorators. 
 
 Definite expression, though almost forgotten and become 
 a dead letter, in modern English architecture — though 
 almost above the reach of the art in its present state — is yet 
 not the highest aim of that art, in its complete form. It is 
 ' acknowledged that this, in common with all the arts of ex- 
 pression, presents in its most excellent works a merit or 
 merits not to be described or conveyed in any other medium 
 than the art itself, — moreover, a degree of excellence supe- 
 rior to mere expression, because capable not only, like that, 
 of reaching and affecting the mind, but also of elevating, re- 
 fining, or improving it. 
 
 In the want of a better term, this portion of each art has 
 been called its poetry, — a very questionable application of 
 the name of one art to express a particular portion of an- 
 other. However, we must take words as we find them, and 
 content ourselves with distinguishing the things to which 
 they have been applied. 
 
 Poetry, in its ordinary and strict acceptation, cannot exist 
 where there is no language — no assertion made — no story 
 told — no idea stated. Now, we have denied to architecture 
 the power of doing this. The phonetic arts, viz., historical 
 painting and historical sculpture, may do it : they speak a 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 119 
 
 language — a natural and universal language — and therefore 
 may be poetical, in the strictest sense of the word. But 
 architecture, like music, has no natural language, and is 
 only degraded when it attempts to speak an artificial one 
 by means of conventional signs. Nothing can be pushed out 
 of its proper sphere without being degraded; in a lower 
 sphere it is cramped, and its highest qualities stifled; in a 
 higher, it is equally degraded, because its inability to do 
 what is required of it, is exposed. Architecture is not ex- 
 alted by attempts to render it phonetic, — to make it serve 
 the purpose of a language. 
 
 Where there is no language, there can be no poetry, in its 
 strict sense ; yet we hear of the poetry of music and of arch- 
 itecture; hence this term must here be taken in a more ex- 
 tended sense. It may be understood in three ways : first , as 
 applying to the untaught portion, or that portion which 
 transcends the rules and theory of the art in their present 
 state; secondly , as including those beauties or perfections in 
 each art, which are not, or have not been, conveyed in any 
 other, — consequently, not in words ; or thirdly, as applying 
 to those qualities by which its highest productions are cal- 
 culated to produce, not only a transient emotion, but a per- 
 manent effect on the beholder. In either case, the precise 
 limit of the application of the word must be vague: the 
 lowest production in which any poetry may be considered to 
 exist, cannot be exactly pointed out; but of its existence in 
 the highest efforts of the art, there is no difference of opinion. 
 
 Whoever wanders among the hundred columns of the 
 great hall of the temple of Karnac ; whoever, by the assist- 
 ance of designs or models, and of the fragments in the Brit- 
 ish Museum, restores and rebuilds in his mind’s eye, the 
 small but glorious temple of the Athenian goddess ; whoever 
 climbs the ruined stairs of the Colosseum, to the edge of its 
 artificial crater ; whoever enters the cathedral of Amiens, or 
 walks round the exterior of that of Salisbury; whoever 
 views any one of these works of architecture, and finds no 
 
120 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 poetry in it, must be incapable of discovering it in any thing 
 else— in nature or in art. 
 
 There is, then, or rather there has leen, such a thing as a 
 poetry of architecture ; and we may therefore, including this, 
 consider the whole aim of “ architecture proper / 7 apart from 
 building, under four heads, — politeness, beauty, expression, 
 and poetry. It has been the object of the present chapter 
 to point out to the reader this fourfold use of architecture : 
 first, as a courtesy due, from every one who builds, to hu- 
 manity, on whose ground and in whose sight he builds; 
 secondly , as a further refinement of this courtesy into positive 
 beauty, by attention to whatever may please the mind; and 
 preference of what may please its higher faculties, before 
 that which may please the lower, when they are incompati- 
 ble; (the justice of this preference constituting the difference 
 between right and wrong in art, commonly called good and 
 bad taste ; ) thirdly , as a mode of conveying to the mind defi- 
 nite emotions, suited to, and even indicative of, the character 
 and" general destination of the work ; lastly , as a means not 
 only of affecting, but of exalting or improving. The archi- 
 tecture which attains only the first of these objects is no 
 more than a polite art; when it reaches the second, it be- 
 comes an ornamental art; by attaining the third, (and not 
 otherwise,) it gains a title to be considered a fine , that is, 
 an expressive art: in those very few of its productions in 
 which the last purpose has been accomplished, does it de- 
 serve to be called a high, a poetic art. As the first, its aim 
 is to conciliate; as the second, to please; as the third, to 
 touch; and as the last, to teach. 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 121 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Occular and Formal Beauty — First Generalization thereon — Unity 
 and Variety — Graduation and Contrast . 
 
 It is the natural progress of instruction to teach first what is obvious and per- 
 ceptible to the senses, and from hence proceed gradually to notions large, liberal, 
 and complete, such as comprise the more refined and higher excellences in art. 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds. 
 
 Great difference exists among writers with respect to 
 occular and mental pleasure — some contending that such a 
 distinction in fact exists, while others deny it, and assert 
 that the eye experiences no more pleasure in contemplating 
 one thing than another — that is, considered apart from men- 
 tal inferences and associations. 
 
 It would seem, however, that the eye has its choice of 
 color , for children and savages, in the choice of colors, con- 
 sulting nothing beyond the immediate gratification of the 
 eye, invariably prefer a certain class of colors — those termed 
 crude or positive — to another class, those which we term 
 dull colors or tones. This is a mere sensuous preference, 
 like that of sound or flavor. 
 
 The discovery of a physical reason for the preferences of 
 the eye must be considered one of the greatest triumphs of 
 inductive science. It is perfectly known that the difference 
 is the same in the senses of sight and hearing. The most 
 pleasurable sensations are produced by the inconceivably 
 rapid repetition of vibrations or pulsations very regularly 
 or even timed. The dead or duller colors are caused by the 
 irregular vibrations. 
 
 The harmony of colors, that is, the preference given to a 
 juxtaposition of colors, rather than to that of any other two, 
 though equally bright or pleasing when seen separately, 
 must be wholly an occular beauty; for the mind cannot (by 
 the direct evidence of unaided sense) discover any relation 
 
 11 
 
122 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 between red and green, for instance, which does not exist 
 between bine and green. We can only say that the former 
 harmonize, and the latter do not. As the mind knows 
 nothing, in general, about this harmony, the mind can have 
 nothing to do with the appreciation of it. The cause of this 
 harmony is : two sets of vibrations which are each regular 
 in itself, and which bear a simple ratio to each other, by 
 uniting together, form a vibration which is therefore regu- 
 lar and musical ; but two vibrations which, however regular 
 each may be alone, bear no commensurable ratio to each 
 other, will, by their union, produce a totally irregular vibra- 
 tion: that is, a noise. There are many nice discoveries — 
 perhaps nothing more than theories — concerning the cause 
 of harmony of colors. On the whole, it would appear that 
 the laws of coloring, as a gratification of the eye only, are 
 simply these: 
 
 1. That the more regular the vibrations of any given color 
 may be, the more pleasing will it be in itself, apart from fit- 
 ness or association with others. 
 
 2. That, as these isochoranous colors — (colors caused by 
 regular vibration) — have a more exciting effect on the reti- 
 na than those which are of the same brightness but not iso- 
 choranous, the repose afforded by a change from the former 
 to the latter is also grateful ; so that we should follow the 
 example of nature’s works, throughout which the sober, 
 mixed or subdued tones are the rule, and the pure or isocho- 
 ranous colors the exception; for it is a less evil to be able 
 to find excitement, than to be able to find repose. 
 
 3. That variety of coloring is abstractly (without refer- 
 ence to fitness, &c.,) more pleasing than monotony, especi- 
 ally when the colors that adjoin each other have their vibra- 
 tions in a harmonic ratio; that is, when they form contrasts, 
 and still more when they are varied in intensity or brillian- 
 cy, or both, as well as contrasted in quality. 
 
 4. That, as variety is an exciting quality, owing to the 
 rapid changes which each point of the retina undergoes, 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 123 
 
 the change from variety to sameness of color is required 
 for repose; so that here, again, we should imitate nature, in 
 which sameness of coloring is the rule, and variety the excep- 
 tion; the former being found in all large and grand objects, 
 and the latter only in small and scattered organisms. 
 
 Many writers have attempted to apply “ the harmonious” 
 theory of proportion to the dimensions of buildings, without 
 any satisfactory result. 
 
 Equal-timed or equal-spaced repetition is confessedly beau- 
 teous. It is adopted in all the higher arts, and leads to the 
 rhythm of poetry, or the equal spacing of the windows of a 
 palace. 
 
 I believe the chief charm of this quality of architecture is 
 to be traced to its expression of courtesy and consideration 
 for the spectator. There is another kind of beauty in visi- 
 ble objects, which is commonly, but perhaps falsely, supposed 
 to speak to the eye ; this is that kind of symmetry or unifor- 
 mity which consists in an exact correspondence of form be- 
 tween the two halves of an object. To distinguish it from 
 other kinds of uniformity we will call it the uniformity of 
 halves. We need hardly observe that it is the most univer- 
 sal in its nature, pervading all ranks of organic life, from 
 the leaf and the flower up to man; and all separate and dis- 
 tinct creatures, even when inorganic, from a crystal to a 
 world. It is to the minor ornaments of architecture that 
 we must look for its illustration, and not to general forms, 
 principal members, or any constructive features, because fit- 
 ness of destination, definite expression, and other higher ex- 
 cellences, will always, in them, interfere with and should 
 prevail over mere formal beauty. 
 
 In analyzing such examples of ornamental forms we 
 shall find the chief properties common to them in all styles, 
 to be those which are here mentioned, viz : — 
 
 1. Equal-spaced repetition , exemplified in all description of 
 diaper patterns. 
 
 2. Uniformity of halves; which sometimes has place not 
 
124 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 only in one direction, or on each side of one axis or plane of 
 division, but is related to two such planes at right angles to 
 each other, or to three, intersecting each other in a single 
 axle, and dividing the object into six equal sectors, or to 
 four, five, or any number of such planes, subject to the same 
 condition; all which practices are evidently founded on na- 
 ture, in which a single plane of uniform division is charac- 
 teristic of all the higher classes of animals, and of numerous 
 classes of flowers and fruits (the leguminosae, papilionaceae, 
 &c.,): two such planes, or a double uniformity, though a 
 rather uncommon arrangement, is not without example in 
 many vegetable objects; a division by three planes, or into 
 six sectors, pervades the flowers of monocotyledonous plants ; 
 a fourfold uniformity, or eightfold division, runs through 
 those of the cruciferae, &c.; and a fivefold belongs to the 
 great majority of dicotyledonous flowers, and to the lowest 
 or radiate class of animals. 
 
 3. Preference of curves to straight lines. — Every eye pre- 
 fers the patterns composed of curves to those composed of 
 straight lines, abstractedly, without reference to their situa- 
 tion, &c. ; and though every complete style of architecture 
 presents ornament or tracery of both descriptions, it is easily 
 seen that the rectilinear is introduced always from other 
 considerations, abstract beauty, considerations of fitness, 
 construction, consistency of character, &c., — or else to give 
 value to the more pleasing forms. 
 
 To these principles we may add, 
 
 4. Preference of curves of contrary flexure to those which 
 have no such contrariety; the flowing tracery of the four- 
 teenth century, for instance, to the (so called) geometrical 
 tracery of the thirteenth, which is equally composed of 
 curves, but without points of contrary flexure. Every one 
 has heard of Hogarth’s ‘ line of beauty.’ 
 
 5. Preference of curves of varying curvature to circular 
 ones. The main difference between Greek mouldings and 
 Roman ones, between Greek vases and Chinese, is that the 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE 
 
 125 
 
 former are composed with outlines of continually varying 
 curvature, and the latter with circular arcs. 
 
 6. Unity or consistency of character .- — Mixtilinear form or 
 ornament is, in general, less beautiful than either that which 
 is composed entirely of straight lines or entirely of curves. 
 This will be especially the case when several straight lines 
 fall together in one place, and several curves in another, be- 
 cause then the mixture of incongruous principles is most 
 obvious. The defect is best counteracted when the straight 
 and curved lines are equally distributed throughout, and 
 especially when a general principle is seen to govern their 
 use, that is, when all the straight parts have something in 
 common besides straightness , and all the curved parts some 
 common quality besides their curvature. The same remarks 
 apply to the mixture of circular with variable curves, and, in 
 general, to every attempt at mixing different styles of form. 
 It can succeed only when some new law, that did not apply 
 to either of the styles separately, is introduced and made to 
 govern their respective use, and thus restore that consistency 
 which has been violated by the mixture; and this law must 
 be so extensively applied and strictly observed, as to be 
 quite obvious to the spectator at a glance. Thus those 
 ingenious decorators, the Arabs, wishing to combine the 
 beauties and richness of two kinds of ornament, often did so 
 without inconsistency by placing them on the same surface, 
 but giving them different degrees of relief, or different colors, 
 so that one appears superposed in front of the other, without 
 interfering with it. The eye can follow each separately, as 
 the ear follows the base or treble of a complex piece of 
 music. 
 
 It is hardly possible to state collectively these proximate 
 principles of beauty in form, without being led a step higher, 
 to a generalization, which reduces them all to a broader 
 principle, though still only a proximate one. This has com- 
 monly been stated as the combination of unity with variety. 
 It is best explained, perhaps, in the words of Dr. Hutcheson, 
 
126 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 who states as an axiom, (with regard to mere formal beau- 
 ty,) that where the uniformity is equal, the beauty of forms 
 is in proportion to their variety; and when their variety is 
 equal, their beauty is in proportion to their uniformity. 
 
 Unity or uniformity is here taken in its widest sense, as 
 meaning oneness of any thing , of size, of form, of number, of 
 ratio, of succession, of any quality, or any principle what- 
 ever ; it is, in fact, synonymous with method, order, law, or 
 consistency. It is so far opposed to variety, that they can- 
 not exist together in regard to any one quality. Yet the 
 beauty, of which we are now speaking, consists not as some 
 most erroneously suppose, in keeping a “ happy medium” be- 
 tween these two opposite principles. Such a rule, being 
 merely negative, can lead to no positive beauty. This con- 
 sists not in the avoidance of both the opposite qualities, but 
 in just the reverse of this, in combining both in their great- 
 est possible perfection, — in reconciling the extremes of both. 
 Of course, this can only be done by the maintenance in all 
 the parts of the composition, of perfect unity in regard to 
 some one quality or circumstance, with the utmost variety 
 in some other quality or circumstance. This is necessary to 
 the display of any beauty, however slight; but its degree 
 will be increased in proportion to the number of points of 
 correspondence or unity, and of points of variety. Hence 
 the designer examines and analyses the various qualities or 
 circumstances of the parts of his design, in order to find as 
 many points as possible in which they may be made to 
 resemble each other, or to differ. Moreover, the number of 
 points of resemblance, and of points of difference, must be 
 about equal. If the former preponderate in number, we say 
 the design is monotonous , or wanting in variety. If, on the 
 other hand, the points of variety are greatly more numerous 
 than those of unity, we call it confused , or wanting in char- 
 acter (i. e., self-consistency.) These faults do not imply an 
 absolute excess of unity in one case, or variety in the other, 
 but only an excess relatively to the other quality — in fact, a 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 12 ? 
 
 deficiency of that other quality. And it would be well if 
 these faults were always so understood, and remedied not by 
 removing a point of resemblance in the one case, or of differ- 
 ence in the other, but by adding the contrary, — by hunting 
 out some new point of difference or resemblance, instead of 
 abandoning an old one. 
 
 Neither unity nor variety can ever be carried too far, if, 
 for every instance of the one, an instance of the other be 
 also found. It is an error to say that, in any composition, 
 one of these qualities is in excess: it can never be in abso- 
 lute excess: it is the other quality which is in relative defi- 
 ciency. 
 
 Let us now illustrate this principle by its application to 
 the simplest cases of abstract beauty in nature and in art, 
 leaving the reader to apply it to more complex examples. 
 
 It is extremely doubtful whether absolute unity, without 
 any point of variety, can constitute beauty in any object. 
 We have an instance of such a kind in a straight line of 
 equal thickness and intensity throughout its length. There 
 seem to be cases where this is admired, as in the sea-horizon, 
 in a stratiform cloud, &c. ; but we shall presently show that 
 they would not be considered beautiful by themselves, and 
 only become so by a relation with their accompaniments. 
 
 The case is very different when the line regularly dimin- 
 ishes in strength from one end to the other, as in the per- 
 spective image of a railway bar, a distant glimpse of a lake, 
 or the sea-horizon in many cases. Here the unity of direc- 
 tion, in all parts of the line, is accompanied by a variation 
 in strength, and, again, by an unity in the law of this varia- 
 tion. 
 
 Even without this latter kind of unity, a straight line, 
 varying in thickness irregularly , as the angle of an old but 
 firm building, is allowed to possess a beauty which it had not 
 when new. How different is the edge of a warped brick, 
 or an ill-founded building, which wants the unity of straight- 
 ness. 
 
128 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 An irregularly curved line is destitute of beauty because 
 the variety (of direction) is obtained only at the expense of 
 unity: not so with a circular arc; though the unity of direc- 
 tion is abandoned, there is a substitute for it in the unity of 
 curvature. It is the simplest of lines that can be beautiful 
 in itself without the aid of varying thickness ; for, while its 
 parts all vary in one respect — direction, they all agree in 
 the rate of this variation, i. e., in curvature. The beauty is 
 doubled, however, by a regular variation in thickness; for 
 there are now two points of variety, viz., in direction and in 
 thickness, and also tvjo points of unity, a constant rate of 
 curvature, and a constant law of diminution. 
 
 But the circular curve is the least beautiful of all regular 
 curves; for, in all others, an additional kind of variety is in- 
 troduced, in the variation of curvature; and an additional 
 kind of unity, in the constancy of the law of this variation. 
 Without the latter circumstance, no increase of beauty, but 
 the very reverse, would accrue from the mere variety ; for it 
 would be obtained at the expense of the unity of curvature. 
 Thus the varied curvature in the haunches of the Tudor arch 
 is generally considered a defect. When similar lawless va- 
 riations occur more than once, they produce what is called a 
 crippled curve, the ugliest of all lines. 
 
 The circle, then, is excelled in beauty by all other simple 
 curves; but, fortunately, perspective remedies its defect, by 
 rendering its ocular image almost always elliptical or hyper- 
 bolic.* It is a very rare case for the eye to be exactly in 
 the axis where the circle can be seen as a circle, and in such 
 a case we never hear its beauty admired. 
 
 All other curves besides the circle resemble each other as 
 regards the exhibition of unity and variety; and, accord- 
 ingly, we never hear of any preference given to one more 
 
 * Circles give a parabolic or hyperbolic perspective image when we view the 
 interior of a domed building from a point perpendicularly under the eircumfereBC# 
 ©f one of its horizontal circles. The visible portion of this circle will then be prei» 
 jected as a parabola, and all larger horizontal circles as hyperbolas ; only thee* 
 which are smalUrr than this, being seen in the usual manner as ellipses. 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE, 
 
 129 
 
 than another, on account of abstract beauty. Hay has 
 shown that the most perfect forms of Greek pottery and or- 
 nament may be imitated by combinations of elliptic arcs. 
 So they might, doubtless, by arcs of any curve of varying 
 curvature. The parabola is admired in cascades and foun- 
 tains; the catenary , in drapery and festoons; the trochoid and 
 epitrochoid , in penmanship ; the logarithmic spiral, in shells and 
 volutes; and various kinds of elastic curves, in vegetation. 
 
 It may be doubted whether the repetition of similar ob- 
 jects at equal distances has any beauty except when seen 
 perspectively. It is hardly ever possible (indeed impossible, 
 if they be in a straight line) so to view them as to have 
 their images formed on the retina, similar and equi-distant. 
 Against unity of form and of direction, then, we have to set 
 off variety of apparent size and apparent distance apart ; this 
 variety being still, in each case, subject to an uniform law 
 of increase or decrease. There are thus more points of 
 unity than of variety; and, accordingly, a series of this kind 
 requires but little extension to render it monotonous. 
 
 If the series be arranged in a regular curve, this deficiency 
 of variety is supplied without diminishing the points of unity, 
 the unity of direction being replaced by that of curvature, 
 &c., and thus the beauty is greatly augmented. 
 
 We may illustrate these principles by a figure (a) com- 
 posed of concentric circles placed at random, and varying 
 irregularly in every thing except their unity of form and 
 concentricity. This can hardly be said to possess any posi- 
 tive beauty, though it would be beautiful by comparison 
 with a figure in which they were either crippled or not con- 
 
ISO 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 and the spaces between them (as at b,) because this is sim- 
 ply substituting (in both alterations) unity for variety, 
 which, in both cases, we abandon. But in c, the two prin- 
 ciples are reconciled, the variety in the intervals being ac- 
 companied by the unity of a law regulating them all: thus a 
 certain degree of beauty is produced, which is augmented by 
 the introduction of another source of variety in the unequal 
 thicknesses, and of unity in the regulation of these also, by 
 an uniform law. The example d is added to show that it 
 matters not how the variations occur, provided there be as 
 many points of resemblance as of difference. 
 
 A series of quantities or dimensions, forming a progres- 
 sion of any sort, is thus always beautiful, however complex 
 may be the law of the series. But the arithmetical progres- 
 sion is less beautiful than any other, for the same reason 
 that the circular curve is less beautiful than any other. In 
 this , the direction is indeed continually varying, but always 
 at the same rate; and in that , the successive terms of the 
 series increase or diminish always by the same increment or 
 decrement. Both are improved, therefore, by exchanging 
 this sameness (of the curvature in one case, and the incre- 
 ment in the other) for variety, provided this be regulated by 
 one uniform law. 
 
 Hence the arithmeti- _ Fig - 2 - 
 
 cal spiral is the least 
 beautiful curve of its 
 kind, as any one will 
 probably admit who 
 compares these two examples, a being the ordinary form 
 of the Greek Ionic volute, viz., a geometrical or loga- 
 rithmic spiral, and b an imitation thereof, as it appears 
 in the temple of a “ mixed order, v at the Greek colony 
 of Selinus, in Sicily. This is the only instance I know 
 of an arithmetical volute, a form well worthy of the bun- 
 gler who could design such a piece of inconsistency as 
 Ionic columns supporting a Doric entablature. Nature 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 131 
 
 affords instances of the geometrical spiral in every uni- 
 valve shell, — of the arithmetical spiral in none. 
 
 A kind of iron fence has lately been introduced, in which 
 the horizontal bars are placed at progressively increasing 
 distances from the ground upwards. It shows how much 
 beauty may be added to an object without adding anything 
 else, except (in this case) stability and mechanical fitness. 
 
 Serial progressions, however, have little place in archi- 
 tecture, at least in the dimensions of principal parts, because 
 equality always answers the same purpose, the equal divi- 
 sions being reduced by perspective to a progressional series. 
 We have an instance of an actual series of this kind, how- 
 ever, in the stories of St. Bride’s steeple, which form four 
 terms of a geometrical progression ; and any one may easily 
 convince himself that the smallest perceptible alteration in 
 the height of any one of them would destroy the beauty of 
 the whole ; — a very different effect from any that is observed 
 in deviations from the “harmonic proportions,” on which 
 some insist and place such reliance. 
 
 All the modes of combining unity with variety hitherto 
 noticed, may be included under the term Gradation. There 
 is, however, another mode of effecting this object, on a 
 totally different principle. Where there are only two ob- 
 jects or parts of one object considered, they may be made to 
 correspond in certain respects, and vary greatly, or even as 
 much as possible, in other respects ; and this mode of recon- 
 ciling unity with variety is termed Contrast. It is evidently 
 opposed to gradation , since the two extremes are here 
 brought together without any intermediate softening or pre- 
 paration. Consequently there can be no compromise between 
 the two modes of treatment. Whichever the designer 
 adopts in any particular case, that principle and that alone 
 must be carried out. In a curved line there is gradation 
 (of direction), — in the meeting of two lines at an angle, 
 there is contrast. So also in a curved surface there will be 
 gradation of light and shade, — in the meeting of two planes, 
 
m 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 contrast of tlie same qualities. In either case, the rounding 
 off the angle would be an attempt to compromise between 
 these opposite principles of beauty, and would lead to a 
 sacrifice of both, without an equivalent ; so that we need 
 not wonder at this practice never having found favor in any 
 style or in any age, however depraved in taste. To this, 
 also, we may attribute the absence of the hyperbola from the 
 extensive list of ornamental curves. It seems the only sim- 
 ple or well-known curve that is banished from decorative 
 design, probably from its too near approach to the character 
 of an angle rounded off, affording neither the beauty of con- 
 trast nor of gradation. 
 
 Contrast, then, consists in a perfect similitude between two 
 adjacent objects in certain respects, accompanied by a wide 
 difference in some other respect, or sometimes in two or 
 three other respects, (in which cases we may term it double 
 or treble contrast,) but the simple is more common. Resem- 
 blances are quite as necessary as differences, and indeed must 
 be more numerous. There can be no such thing as contrast 
 between two things that are altogether different. In most 
 contrasts, they differ only in one point, and are alike in 
 every other. 
 
 The uniformity of halves derives its beauty from a single 
 contrast of the most perfect kind. In the case of a plane 
 figure, the two parts are alike in every respect except posi- 
 tion. They are repetitions of the same identical form, but 
 so placed that we see the front of the one and the back of 
 the other. In a solid body they are contrasted also in their 
 mode of receiving the light, yet perfectly similar in form. 
 
 How much the beauty of such forms depends on the first 
 mentioned contrast will appear by regarding those few cases 
 of uniformity of halves, in which this contrast (of front and 
 back) is omitted, as in the letters s and z, in which, however, 
 the halves have still a contrast of position. But I know of 
 no natural form composed on this principle. 
 
 lu cases of uniformity related to several planes of division, 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 133 
 
 i.e. in starlike forms, the number of repetitions, or sectors, of 
 ►similar form, is always even, and they are alternately re- 
 versed, front for back, in every natural example. Art, how- 
 ever, in times of depraved taste, introduced as a novelty, 
 forms of this kind in which contrast is neglected, all the sec- 
 tors presenting the same side to the spectator. This gives 
 always the idea of rotation, whence the expression, a turn- 
 ing star or flower. This kind of form, of course, is proper 
 for a wheel, but highly improper for any part of a fixed 
 structure. Its non-occurrence in nature is sufficient to 
 prove its inferiority also as regards abstract beauty. 
 
 Whenever Nature has repeated sectors of similar form, in 
 this manner, without alternate opposition, she has supplied 
 its place by introducing another element of variation, viz., 
 in size. In this way, the whole class of univalve shells are 
 composed, by a number of sectors round an axis, all alike in 
 form, but whose sizes form a geometrical progression. 
 
 The beauty of curves of contrary flexure (Hogarth’s prin- 
 ciple) generally arises also from contrast. Hence it is a mis- 
 take to suppose that the passage from convexity to conca- 
 vity should be gradual ; that is to say, to say, that the curva- 
 ture should continually diminish up to that point of flexure, 
 become evanescent at that point, and then increase, as in the 
 long italic /. This is what necessarily occurs in all curves, 
 that have naturally a contrary flexure: but though these 
 are appropriate to many purposes, and have a beauty of their 
 own, this is quite distinct from that of the flexures which arise 
 from the combination of two curves, and is much less frequently 
 applicable. The former beauty is one of gradation; the lat- 
 ter, one of contrast : for as the change from one law of 
 curvature to the other must take place at some definite 
 point, it must be sudden , and partake of the nature of 
 contrast. 
 
 In examining instances of this kind of flexure, it will be 
 observed that the mere identity of direction in the two curves, 
 at the point of contact, is not always sufficient to prevent 
 
 12 
 
134 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 their appearing disjointed, — that is, . deficient in unity. 
 Hence some additional kind of unity should be sought to 
 connect them, and this we may find in equality of curvature; 
 besides which, the most perfect contrast requires similitude in 
 all points except those which are contrasted: whence the con- 
 trast of two opposite and positive* qualities (as convexity 
 and concavity) will be most perfect when they are both 
 equally removed from the mean (which in this case is 
 straightness) ; whence we may infer that the deflexions of 
 the two curves from their common tangent should be ini- 
 tially equal, — that is, their curvatures equal at the point of 
 junction. Accordingly, in examining forms of this kind, it 
 will be found that when faulty, their fault arises from the 
 radii of the two curves, at their junction being too unequal; 
 and in the Grecian forms composed of elliptic arcs, by Mr. 
 Hay, it will be found that the most graceful bends are those 
 in which the two ellipses touch ^t two points having the 
 greatest equality of curvature. 
 
 As the change from one law of curvature to another must 
 always have the nature of contrast, there appears no reason 
 why we should seek to diminish this contrast without the 
 possibility of gaining the opposite beauty — that of gradation, 
 or continuity; for this can exist only where the law is con- 
 tinuous; or, in other words, where the whole is one curve. 
 There appears, therefore, no foundation for the rule main- 
 tained by an eminent architect, that wherever two curves 
 unite (not by an angle) it should be by a contact of the 
 second order. To explain this, we must observe that lines 
 may meet in an infinity of different ways. When they coin- 
 cide at a point, and have at that point different directions , the 
 meeting is not called a contact, but a finite angle. When 
 they have at their meeting the same direction, but different 
 curvatures, it is called a contact of the first order. Of this 
 kind is the contact of one circle with another, and of a circle 
 
 * This does not, of course, apply to qualities of which one is only the negation 
 of the other ; as light and shadow, of curvature and straightness. 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 135 
 
 (or any conic section) with a straight tangent; for the cur- 
 vature of this is 0. Contacts of this kind between two 
 curves must be either external , (where their curvatures are 
 in contrary directions, that is, one convex towards the same 
 side that the other is concave, or one -f- and the other — , ) 
 or internal , when both are curved the same way. 
 
 But a contact of the second order requires that the two 
 lines shall, at their meeting point, coincide not only in di- 
 rection , but in curvature. Hence there can be no contact of 
 this kind between two circles, (for if their curvatures were 
 equal and turned the same way, they would coincide alto- 
 gether,) nor between any conic section and its tangent, be- 
 cause there is no point, in any conic section, that is desti- 
 tute of curvature. But a curve that naturally has contrary 
 flexure may form this kind of contact with a straight line 
 drawn through its point of flexure (for at that point the cur- 
 vature is 0, being at its transition from -j- to — .) Such 
 contact may also be formed between two conic sections, as, 
 for instance, between any point of an ellipse (not upon one 
 of its axis) and its osculatory circle, or the circle which both 
 touches and has equal curvature with that point of the 
 ellipse. Contacts of the second order are neither external 
 nor internal, but always mixed; the curve which is the outer 
 one before contact, becoming the inner one afterwards. 
 
 But if the circle osculate the ellipse at the end of one of 
 its axes, the contact is entirely exterior to the ellipse if 
 made on its side , and entirely interior if made on its end , and 
 in either case it is that kind of contact which we have called 
 internal , one curve being within the other. This is a case of 
 contact of the third order, which consists in the two curves 
 coinciding not only in direction and in curvature , but also in 
 the rate of variation of that curvature. This rate is in the 
 present case 0; for the curvature of the circle is unvarying, 
 and that of the ellipse is, at these points, at its maximum or 
 minimum, and therefore neither increasing nor decreasing, 
 but in the act of passing from one state into the other. 
 
186 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 So, also, when the curvatures are not only equal and vary- 
 ing at the same rate, but this rate of variation is also fixed 
 in both, or varying at the same rate in both, the contact 
 will be of the fourth order; and it is obvious that these 
 orders may be extended ad infinitum. We may add, that 
 all contacts of an even order must be mixed , and all those of 
 an odd order must be internal or external. Hence, in so 
 uniting two curves as to form a tl line of beauty,” or contrary 
 flexure, the contact can never be of the second or any even 
 order. 
 
 The abandonment in architecture, therefore, of contacts 
 of the first order, would lead to no little complexity in the 
 curves. Even in the simplest case, — that of the junction of 
 a curve with a straight line, (as at the springing of an arch 
 from its pier, — we should have to banish not only the circle, 
 but every conic section, and use some more complex curve, 
 such as should have a point of infinite radius ( i . e., of con- 
 trary flexure, if continued) at the springing. These are not 
 only unnecessary , but, I will venture to say, false refinements. 
 By attempting to conceal the change from one line to an- 
 other, as if it were a fault, they tend to make it appear one. 
 Now, if it be a fault, it can never be obviated in this way ; 
 for if the contact were even of the hundredth order, it would 
 still be an abrupt change from one law of curvature to an- 
 other, or to straightness. That which must be abrupt, is 
 better made as perfect a contrast as possible, and not as im- 
 perfect as possible. The error has arisen from inattention 
 to the fact that there are two kinds of contrary flexures, the 
 one owing its beauty to gradation, the other to contrast ; 
 that the first can only exist where there is an unbroken con- 
 tinuity of law,— that is, where the curve on both sides of 
 the flexure is one curve ; and that, whenever there are two , 
 as there must be some contrast, it should be made as com- 
 plete a contrast as possible, by making the contact always 
 of the first order ; always external ; and the contrary curva- 
 tures, at their junction, equal. 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 131 
 
 If these views of curvilinear form be right, it will follow 
 that all internal contacts, and all osculations (or contacts 
 of any order above the first,) are to be excluded from orna- 
 mental design. This would condemn the Tudor arch ; for in 
 that form the change of curvature is always made by an 
 internal contact of two circles: and though it was a capital 
 invention for its purpose, as we shall see in a future chapter, 
 and the best that could be expected of a school of masons 
 who appear to have been acquainted with no curve besides 
 the circle; yet its obstinate retention at the present day, (to 
 the exclusion of the far more fit and perfectly graceful curve 
 of the parabola, ) only shows architecture, whether as an art 
 or a science, to be at least three centuries behind the rest of 
 the world. 
 
 The object of this chapter has been to consider the nature 
 and laws of those kinds of beauty in architecture which be- 
 long to colors and to forms abstractedly ; or regarded apart 
 from the things to which they may be applied, and conse- 
 quently without reference to their destinations; or to the 
 beauties of expression, definite character, or fitness. The 
 beauties here treated of are those to which Mr. Fergusson 
 gives the term aesthetic, or sensuous, but it has been here 
 attempted to be shown that this term applies, in strictness, 
 only to the beauties of color, and that those of form are 
 always addressed to the mind, though they constitute the 
 lowest class of excellences so addressed ; ana in as far as 
 they make no attempt at definite expression, or the excite- 
 ment of a definite emotion, do not, according to the views 
 explained in our former chapter, entitle the art in which 
 they are found to the appellation of a Fine Art. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Different hinds of Beauty , of Sublimity , and of Picturesqueness — 
 « Their Characteristics. 
 
 It is the business of good taste to estimate each kind of 
 beauty or excellence in its true relative value, so as never to 
 
138 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 sacrifice a higher beauty to a lower, or one more nearly ap- 
 proaching to the merely sensual, but always the reverse. 
 
 As the merely sensuous must always give place to the 
 intellectual, where they are incompatible; so must all the 
 beauties mentioned in our last chapter, not merely those of 
 color, but those of unmeaning form, gradated and contrasted 
 curvature, give way, when necessary, to those of definite 
 character and fitness. 
 
 The first and most obvious distinction of character in 
 beauty of every kind, is into what may be called the bold or 
 powerful, and the gentle or delicate styles of beauty. The 
 bull and the stag, the oak and the palm, the rocky mountains 
 and the swelling hills, the heroic and the pastoral poem, the 
 Hercules and the Apollo, the painting of M. Angelo and that 
 of Titian, — these are a few examples from the different de- 
 partments of nature and art, that will illustrate the distinc- 
 tion here alluded to. 
 
 It is hardly possible not to observe that these two oppo- 
 site kinds of beauty in visible objects are connected with two 
 opposite qualities of outline, or rather two principles in the 
 composion of forms. With regard to the former or more 
 partial view of the subject, Alison says, “ Simple forms, then, 
 may be considered as described either by angular or winding 
 lines. These different forms seem to me to be connected in 
 our minds with very different associations, or to be expressive 
 to us of very different qualities. I shall beg leave to men- 
 tion some of these, without pretending to a complete enume- 
 ration. 
 
 “ 1. The greater part of those bodies in nature, which 
 possess hardness, strength, or durability, are distinguished 
 by angular forms. The greater part of those bodies, on the 
 contrary, which possess weakness, fragility, or delicacy, are 
 distinguished by winding or curvilinear forms. In the mineral 
 kingdom, all rocks, stones, and metals, the hardest and most 
 durable bodies we know, assume universally angular forms. 
 In the vegetable kingdom, all strong and durable plants are, 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 139 
 
 in general, distinguished by similar forms.” [He might have 
 said always, in their principal or structural parts.] “The 
 feebler and more delicate race of vegetables, on the contrary, 
 are mostly distinguished by winding forms. In the animal 
 kingdom, in the same manner, strong and powerful animals 
 are generally distinguished by angular forms ; feeble and 
 delicate animals, by forms of the contrary kind.” To this 
 might be added the example of the human figure, in 
 which, as every beginner in drawing knows, the masculine 
 outlines are those which always present the nearest approach 
 to angularity, — the feminine, most roundness and contrary 
 flexures. 
 
 The same author continues — “ 2. In all those bodies which 
 have a progress, or which grow and decay within our ob- 
 servation, the same character of form is observable. In the 
 vegetable kingdom, the infancy or youth of plants is, in 
 general, distinguished by winding forms. The infancy and 
 youth of animals is, in the same manner, distinguished by 
 winding or serpentine forms ; their nature and perfect age, 
 by forms more direct and angular. In consequence of this 
 connexion, forms of the first kind become, in such cases, ex- 
 pressive to us of infancy and tenderness and delicacy ; and 
 those of the second kind, of maturity and strength and vigor. 
 
 “ 3. Besides these very obvious associations, it is also to 
 be observed, that from the sense of touch, angular forms are 
 expressive to us of roughness, sharpness, harshness ; winding 
 forms, on the contrary, of softness, smoothness, delicacy, and 
 fineness ; and this connexion is so permanent, that we imme- 
 diately infer the existence of these qualities when the bodies 
 are only perceived by the eye. There is a very strong analogy 
 between such qualities, as perceived by the sense of touch, 
 and certain qualities of mind, as, in all languages, such quali- 
 ties are expressed by terms drawn from the perceptions of 
 the external sense. Such forms, therefore, when presented 
 to the eye, not only lead us to infer those material qualities 
 which are perceived by the sense of touch, but, along with 
 
140 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 these, to infer also those qualities of mind which from analogy 
 are signified by such qualities of matter, and to feel from 
 them some degree of that emotion which these dispositions 
 of mind themselves are fitted to produce. In all languages, 
 figurative expressions of a similar kind will be found ; and 
 whoever attends either to his own feelings, or to the mean- 
 ing which men in general annex to such words in applying 
 them to forms, will, I believe, be convinced, that the emo- 
 tion which they signify, and are intended to signify, is found- 
 ed upon the associated qualities, and very different from the 
 mere agreeable or disagreeable sensation which the material 
 qualities alone convey. 
 
 “4. The observations which I have now made relate prin- 
 cipally to simple curves, or to forms in which a single curva- 
 ture takes place, as the curve of the weeping willow, of the 
 young shoots of trees, of the stem of the tulip, and the lily 
 of the valley. There is another species of form, commonly 
 distinguished by the name of the winding or serpentine 
 form, in which different curves take place, or in which a 
 continued line winds into several curvatures. With this 
 form I apprehend we have another and a very important as- 
 sociation, I mean that of ease. From what cause this asso- 
 ciation arises, I will not now stop to inquire ; but I conceive 
 every one must have observed, that wherever we find vege- 
 tables or any other delicate or attenuated body assume such 
 a form, we are impressed with the conviction of its being 
 easy, agreeable to their nature, and free from force or con- 
 straint. On the contrary, when such bodies, in the line of 
 their progress, assume angular forms, we have a strong im- 
 pression of the operation of force, of something that either 
 prevents them from their natural direction, or that constrains 
 them to assume an unnatural one. That winding forms are 
 thus expressive to us of volition and ease, and angular forms 
 of the operation of force or constraint, appears from a singu- 
 lar circumstance in language, viz., that, in general, all the 
 former directions are expressed by verbs in the active voice, 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 141 
 
 — a river winds, a vine wreaths itself about the elm, a flower 
 bends, &c.; while on the other hand, all directions of the 
 latter kind are expressed in general by the passive voice of 
 verbs.” [The oak is gnarned, the river is suddenly deflected, 
 the stem is contorted, &c.] “ I believe, also, I may appeal 
 
 to the observation of the reader, whether from the winding 
 of a river, of the ivy, or of the tendrils of the vine, he has 
 not an impression of ease, of freedom, of something agree- 
 able to the object; and whether in the contrary forms, in 
 such cases, he has not an impression of uneasiness from the 
 conviction of force having been applied, or some obstacle 
 having occurred to constrain them to assume a direction 
 unnatural to them. In general, therefore, I apprehend that 
 winding or serpentine forms are expressive to us of ease, and 
 angular forms, of force or constraint.” 
 
 Nature’s general mode of expressing strength and the more 
 exciting qualities being by angularity ; and her general mode 
 of expressing delicacy and the soothing qualities, by curva- 
 ture ; we may conclude that there must be a reason for this, 
 — that these qualities of form must, in themselves, have a 
 connexion with these characters and emotions of mind, inde- 
 pendently of all association with natural objects; so that we 
 should perceive the difference even if we had never seen 
 natural objects. This I conceive to be the case, for the 
 following reason : Angles are instances of the most abrupt 
 contrast between the directions of their component lines, 
 while curves owe their beauty to gradation. Of these two 
 qualities, contrast is certainly that calculated to excite ; and 
 gradation, that calculated to soothe. 
 
 If this view of the case be correct, it will follow, that all 
 other kinds of contrast, to whatever sense addressed, will 
 partake of the same general character of severe beauty, as 
 angularity in form ; and that gradation or modulation, wher- 
 ever found, will express the gentler qualities, as well as cur- 
 vature. Now let us see how this holds good in the other 
 departments of nature and art, apart from form 
 
142 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 And first, of light and shade ; it is plain that those solids 
 which possess straight and angular outlines will generally 
 possess plane surfaces, meeeing in edges or nooks. Here, 
 then, the two planes that meet at any edge or nook will 
 rarely receive equal degrees of illumination, — often will one 
 be in broad sunshine, and the other in its own shadow. In 
 no case, however, whether the difference of luminosity be 
 great or little, will there be any softening or gradation from 
 one into the other, but always an abrupt contrast. Bodies 
 of curved outline, on the other hand, will generally possess 
 curved surface, every point of which, being differently in- 
 clined to the incident rays, receives a degree of light inter- 
 mediate between that of the points on either side of it, so 
 that the whole surface glows with continued gradations pass- 
 ing from the brightest point through all intermediate tints 
 into complete shade, but without any line of division, or any 
 contrast. Thus the same qualities of figure which most con- 
 duce to angularity of outline, conduce also to contrasts of 
 light and shade on the surface; and those which accompany 
 curvature of outline lead to gradated shadowing. 
 
 The simple cone, and the cylinder with flat ends, are two 
 of the most unpleasing forms in building, (as may be seen by 
 most of the hideous additions with which we crowd the tops 
 of our finest buildings, because Architecture has not, since 
 the time of the Greeks, found time to discover how to build 
 chimneys.) This want of character in the two forms in ques- 
 tion, I attribute to the incongruity existing between an 
 angular outline and a modulated light and shade. The con- 
 vex roofs on angular plans, common in France during the 
 seventeenth century, are generally disliked, probably from 
 the opposite kind of inconsistency — curvature of outline with 
 contrasted light and shade. 
 
 Bocky scenery commonly owes its severe and grand cha- 
 racter less to angularity of outline than to the sharply con- 
 trasted light and shade arising from the prevalence of plane 
 surfaces and cuboidal nooks and edges. How opposite in 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 143 
 
 character is the beauty of curved undulating hills, which 
 even when magnified to the scale of the Pyrenees, are rather 
 beautiful than grand; and this also is due more to the sha- 
 dowing than to the outline, since it is conspicuous even when 
 the sky-line is straight, angular, or absent from the view, 
 but can hardly be rendered in an outline drawing only. 
 
 Next, with regard to color, the great philosopher of 
 painting says — “ Grandeur of effect is produced by two dif- 
 ferent ways, which seem entirely opposed to each other. 
 One is, by reducing the colors to little more than chiaro- 
 scuro, which was often the practice of the Bolognian schools; 
 and the other, by making the colors very distinct and forcible, 
 such as we see in those of Rome and Florence; but still the 
 presiding principle of both those manners is simplicity. Cer- 
 tainly nothing can be more simple than monotony ; and the 
 distinct blue, red, and yellow colors, which are seen in the 
 draperies of the Roman and Florentine schools, though they 
 have not that kind of harmony which is produced by a 
 variety of broken and transparent colors, have that effect of 
 grandeur which was intended. Perhaps these distinct colors 
 strike the mind more forcibly, from there not being any great 
 union between them ; as martial music, which is intended to 
 rouse the nobler passions, has its effect from the sudden and 
 strongly marked transitions from one note to another, which 
 that style of music requires ; whilst in that which is required 
 to move the softer passions, the notes imperceptibly melt into 
 one another.”* 
 
 It may be observed that the term broken seems applied 
 by painters chiefly to colors that are made, at their junc- 
 tion, to melt gradually one into the other, or to glow with 
 a rainbow-like gradation of tints, the effect of supposed 
 reflections of colored light from neighboring objects, as in the 
 ornamental style of painting of the Yenetians, of whom the 
 same admirable critic observes, “ Though in this respect the 
 Yenetians must be allowed extraordinary skill, yet even 
 
 * Reynolds, Discourse iv. 
 
144 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 that skill, as they have employed it, will but ill correspond 
 with the great style. Their coloring is not only too brilliant, 
 but, I will venture to say, too harmonious to produce that 
 solidity, steadiness, and simplicity of effect, which heroic 
 subjects require.” 
 
 The beautiful analogy, above pointed out by this master, 
 between the forcible and gentle styles of coloring, and those 
 of music, will convince the reader that in this latter art also, 
 though addressed to us through a different sense, the oppo- 
 site principles of contrast and gradation retain the same 
 distinctive qualities. I doubt not that numerous passages 
 will occur to the reader to prove that in poetry also the 
 grander styles abound in contrasted ideas, antitheses, and 
 truths set forth in apparent verbal contradictions ; while in 
 the softer and more fascinating compositions, such contrasts 
 are avoided, and the transition from one image to another 
 is made gradually and with preparation. 
 
 We may conclude on the whole that the distinction of 
 character between angular and curvilinear forms is only a 
 particular case of the general distinction between things that 
 combine order and variety by the principle of contrast, and 
 those which combine them by the principle of gradation. 
 It must be observed that the general neglect of this source 
 of different expressions in abstract form, must be attributed 
 to the fact that architecture is the only art to which it ap- 
 plies. Neither the sculptor nor the painter has to study the 
 differences of character belonging to the differences of form, 
 in general, but only in the particular species or class of ob- 
 jects which he is representing. He has to discover not what 
 varieties of form most conduce to a particular expression ; 
 but what varieties of human form are most associated there- 
 with, because most frequently accompanied by the quality or 
 emotion he would depict. His discriminations of form must 
 doubtless be incomparably nicer than the architect requires, 
 simply because they are all comprised within such incompa- 
 rably narrower limits. Instead of being free to range 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 145 
 
 through universal nature, not only through all existing but 
 all possible forms, this choice is confined to the limits to 
 which Nature has confined herself in a single species; so 
 that, compared to the architect, he resembles a musician 
 composing for an instrument whose range is exceedingly 
 small ; or to a draughtsman who is prohibited the use of 
 white or black, and confined to a limited scale of tints : of 
 course he must compensate for this limitation of range by 
 a more nice discrimination. But, besides this, the varieties 
 of expression in animated forms depend on other principles 
 than those applying to forms in general. As the chemist 
 and physicist find the laws they have deduced from dead mat- 
 ter, all applicable, indeed, to living organisms, but so modi- 
 fied by the superaddition of new and special laws as to be 
 sometimes hardly recognised; .so we should err in applying 
 the laws of expression, in abstract form, to imitations of 
 living forms, whose expressions arise from associations more 
 special, more narrow and concrete, but, at the same time, more 
 powerful, and generally quite overpowering those which 
 might arise from the general laws applicable to all forms 
 alike; whence it happens, that the study of these general 
 laws is, if not useless, at least unnecessary, to the professors 
 of special design (painters and sculptors), -and has thence 
 fallen into neglect with the professors of abstract design 
 (architects and decorators) ; but we shall endeavor hereafter 
 to show, that only by attention to these laws have the styles 
 w T hich we blindly admire, miscopy, and misapply, been ori- 
 ginated and perfected. 
 
 If it be granted, then, which I think admits of no doubt, 
 that in all unmeaning things, ( i.e . all those which do not af- 
 fect us by association, ) and in all the sensible qualities of 
 such things, as form, shading, color, and sound, the two 
 principles of contrast and gradation are expressive of oppo- 
 site qualities — the first being grand, forcible, and exciting; 
 the other, elegant, gentle, and soothing — it will follow, that 
 in applying this rule to the most varied and precisely definar 
 
 13 
 
146 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 ble of the above-named properties, (that of form,) we may 
 discriminate between the two extreme styles of form, or 
 those which carry out the said principle to their fullest pos- 
 sible extent, several intermediate steps, several varieties of 
 form, which, by approaching nearer and nearer to the simply 
 severe, or to the merely elegant, without going to those ex- 
 tremes, will be fitted for various purposes, to which the 
 extreme modes of treatment would be improper. 
 
 First, then, to decide what is the absolute extreme in the 
 application of the principle of contrast. All curves, being 
 instances of the contrary principle — gradation, are evidently 
 excluded; the forms, therefore, must be composed of straight 
 lines and angles. All angles are contrasts, but all are not 
 equally so. The contrast between the directions of the two 
 lines, is evidently smallest in the smallest and largest angles. 
 On the other hand, the greatest difference that can exist be- 
 tween two directions, is perpendicularity. Fight angles, 
 then, present a stranger contrast than any other angles. 
 Thus, plane figures will most powerfully carry out this prin- 
 ciple when they are entirely rectilinear and rectangular. 
 But in proceeding from plane figures, to the more compli- 
 cated case of solid bodies, we have to consider not only the 
 apparent outline, as seen from various points of view, but 
 also the light and shade, which often conduces more to the 
 general character at first sight, especially in larg« objects, 
 than the outline itself. Curved surfaces, of course, are to 
 be avoided; but what should be the prevailing angl^ of the 
 edges or nooks where two planes meet ? At first view it 
 might appear that the greatest contrast of light and shade 
 would be insured by the most acute arrises ; the greatest pos- 
 sible difference of illumination being that which occurs be- 
 tween a plane exposed perpendicularly to the sun’s rays, and 
 the lad: of the same plane, or a parallel one. But then it 
 must be remembered that it is impossible to see both these 
 planes at once, and that the smaller the angle between the 
 two planes, the smaller the chance of an eyQ being so situ- 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 m 
 
 ated as to see them both. On the other hand, the larger 
 the angle the smaller the chance of the sun being so situated 
 as to shine perpendicularly on one, without illuminating the 
 other; and when the angle is larger than 90 degrees this will 
 be impossible. An obtuse edge or nook, then, can never exhibit 
 the maximum of contrast between complete light and complete 
 shade, though every right angle and acute one may do so, and 
 the more acute the more frequently will this happen, but the 
 less frequently will it be seen. On the whole, then, it may be 
 concluded (and, indeed, might easily be mathematically 
 proved) that the greatest chance of powerful contrasts occur- 
 ring and being seen , will be in the case of a rectangular arris. 
 
 The solid figures, then, that most completely carry out the 
 principle of contrast, will have plane surfaces, and rectangular 
 edges, or nooks. This is the case with most rocks, (especially 
 the older limestones, the grandest, perhaps, of them all,) in 
 a remarkably uniform manner. The requirements of organic 
 bodies generally render planes and edges inapplicable ; but 
 yet, in their outlines, we shall perceive the grander and more 
 powerful objects, in both the vegetable and animal kingdoms, 
 to be characterized, not only (as Alison remarked) by 
 angles, but chiefly by right angles. Such are the junctions, 
 and even chief bends, of the trunk and branches in the giants 
 of the forest, — the oak, and the still mightier cotton tree. — 
 How different is the effect of generally oblique junctions ; 
 as in the elm, many pines, and most smaller trees and shrubs. 
 In the most powerful animals, and even the most sturdy 
 varieties of generally weaker species, the straight lines and 
 right angles of the outline must have struck every one. In 
 the rhinoceros, the ox, and the bull-dog, this is very obvious. 
 There is also less curvature (or, at least, less convexity) of 
 Surface in such organisms, than in the feebler and gentler 
 species ; for it may be remarked, that though all curved sur- 
 face introduces gradation of light and shade, concavity does 
 so to a much less extent than convexity, for the whole or 
 great part of a concavity may often be thrown into equable 
 
148 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 shadow, (as we often see in the plates of a Doric column,) 
 while a convexity must always present soft gradation. Con- 
 cavity also necessarily leads to the increase of edges, and 
 their consequent contrasts, but convexity to their diminution. 
 So prejudicial is smooth convexity to the kind of expression 
 now under consideration, that nature seems to avoid or 
 disguise it by all sorts of expedients ; as rugged bark, shaggy 
 coats, marked muscles, and the folds of the rhinoceros’ hide. 
 
 Rectilinear but oMique-angled form may be regarded as a 
 style one step removed from the severity and grandeur of 
 the exclusively right-angled. It is exemplified in slate rocks, 
 (less grand than those of limestone, notwithstanding their 
 greater scale and primitive character , ) also in the structural 
 parts of nearly all plants not remarkable for sturdiness and 
 durability. It may further be remarked, that the character 
 of grandeur is always diminished, and that of elegance 
 increased, by the introduction of gradated systems of lines. 
 In the rectangular style such things can hardly exist. The 
 only kind of gradation we can have, is that of a progressional 
 series of dimensions ; but when once oblique angles are 
 admitted, there can be sets of lines exhibiting a gradated 
 series, not only of dimensions, but of directions also. This 
 is the case whenever they form a series of equal or regularly 
 gradated angles, as in radiating from a centre, forming any 
 star-like or flower-like figure, or any series of equal or 
 regularly graduated bends, at equal or regularly graduated 
 distances, as in a portion of a polygon, either regular, or 
 such as might be inscribed in any curve. In fact, such 
 arrangements will always suggest the idea of a curve, and 
 we are affected by the expression, not only of what exists in 
 any form, but also of whatever is suggested to the eye by it. 
 Thus in even the most exclusively rectangular design, a step- 
 like succession of a few zig-zags, either equal or regularly 
 gradated, will immediately suggest the appearance of an 
 oblique line or surface, and will therefore lose a portion of 
 the rectangular character ; and in that proportion fall off a 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 149 
 
 little from grandeur towards elegance. So also in oblique- 
 angled design, any admission of the principle of gradation, 
 as by fan-like, polygonal, or curve-like arrangements, will so 
 far depart from the severe character, as to bring us close 
 upon the verge of curvilinear design. It may be observed 
 that whenever small, short-lived, or delicate plants are com- 
 posed of straight lines, they are made to abound in these 
 regularly gradated arrangements, either radiating or curve- 
 suggesting. The equisetum is an instance where both are 
 fully carried out. In the ferns also the straightness and 
 angularity of detail (otherwise so contradictory to the grace- 
 ful curvature of the general forms) is modified by the copious 
 introduction of the principle of gradation, not indeed in 
 directions , but in dimensions , with a degree of regularity and 
 uniformity perhaps unparalleled. 
 
 From such examples as the equisetum, the transition to 
 curvilinear design is hardly perceived. Here it is observable 
 that those curve compositions will contain most of the 
 principle of contrast and least of gradation, which contain 
 most angles and fewest contrary flexures ; for though the 
 latter must perhaps be regarded (at least when composed of 
 two curves) as extremely delicate, or infinitesimal cases of 
 contrast, yet associations drawn from natural objects have 
 so taught us to connect them with every thing soft, fragile, 
 and weak, that they are, and always must be, the variety of 
 form most removed from the severe and exciting, and most 
 completely embodying the elegant and soothing qualities. — - 
 Accordingly it appears that, the varieties of Gothic tracery 
 in which this king of form is introduced, (as the English 
 foliated and French flamboyant,) are always regarded as 
 something more light, delicate, and fanciful, than the pre- 
 ceding varieties, which do not contain less curvature, but 
 whose curves are united only by angles and cusps, instead of 
 by contrary flexures. 
 
 A further distinction must still be made between artificial 
 contrary flexures, or those composed of two curves, and 
 
150 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 natural ones, or those in which the same curve (with the 
 same equation) continues throughout. We considered this 
 distinction in our last chapter, and may now observe that 
 the former class (the artificial or contrasted) were the only 
 “ lines of beauty’ 7 known to or employed by the Gothic 
 artists, (except of course in imitative sculpture,) and that 
 the latter (the natural or gradated) were the only ones used 
 by the Greeks, or by nature, as far as we have the means of 
 tracing. To this class belong all the natural forms of the 
 animal world ; as all those of the mineral belong, on the 
 other hand, to the rectilinear and angular class. 
 
 Forms may be divided, then, as regards their inherent or 
 essential expression, (apart from association,) into at least 
 five classes, according to their degrees of contrast or 
 gradation ; from the most grand, severe, and forcible, to the 
 most elegant, fanciful, and delicate. Thus we may arrange : 
 
 I. Rectilinear and rectangular forms. 
 
 IT. Rectilinear but oblique-angled forms. 
 
 III. Curvilinear forms without contrary flexures. 
 
 IV. Curvilinear forms with artificial contrary flexures. 
 
 V. Curvilinear forms with natural contrary flexures. 
 
 In most complicated productions, whether of nature or 
 of art, we of course find several or even all these classes of 
 form united. Let us inquire, then, to what differemt parts of 
 such a composition the different classes of form are natu- 
 rally and essentially best adapted. 
 
 Alison has the following correct remarks on this subject : 
 “ The great constituent parts of every building require di- 
 rect and angular lines, because in such parts we require the 
 expression of stability and strength. * * * A 
 
 balustrade might with equal propriety be finished in waving 
 lines, but certainly would not be beautiful. A twisted co- 
 lumn, though affording very pleasant curves to the eye, is 
 acknowledged to be less beautiful than the common and 
 regular one. * * * It deserves to be remarked, 
 
 that the form of the great constituent parts of all vegeta- 
 bles, whether strong or delicate, is nearly the same; the 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 151 
 
 growth of the stem and the direction of the branches being 
 in both alike, and in both also either in straight or in angu- 
 lar lines. It is principally in the more delicate parts of the 
 first, in the young shoots, and in the foliage, that they devi- 
 ate from this form and assume winding or curvilinear direc- 
 tions. 
 
 It may be taken, then, as a principle hardly admitting of 
 question, that, as in nature, so in art, the graver and 
 more forcible varieties of form should in every case pre- 
 vail, most in the ruling and structural parts of a work, 
 and that the more elegant varieties should find their 
 place chiefly in the ornamental details. In all the most ap- 
 proved works, of whatever style, this will be found an invio- 
 lable rule. Whether a portion only, or all of the five classes 
 of form be employed, the class nearest the beginning of the 
 above list will be found in the ruling forms and divisions; 
 and that placed latest in our list will be confined to the 
 smallest and most ornamental parts ; the intermediate class or 
 classes being found in features of an intermediate degree of 
 importance. 
 
 In deciding to which of the five classes of form a given 
 feature should belong, we may consider this to be dependent 
 on three elements justly ; 1st, the graver or higher charac- 
 ter of the destination of the building ; 2dly, the greater or 
 less importance of the feature itself ; and 3dly, its height 
 above the ground. And by regarding each of these elements 
 apart from the others, we may deduce these three rules : 
 
 I. That in buildings of different destinations, features 
 which are of the same importance, and placed at the same 
 heights relatively to the whole buildings to which they be- 
 long, should never be found belonging to a graver class of 
 form in the building of the lighter destination, and vice versa. 
 
 II. That in the same building, and at the same height 
 above the ground, principal and structural members should 
 never belong to a lighter class of form than subordinate 
 features, nor these to a lighter class than ornaments. 
 
152 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 III. That in the same building, features of the same degree 
 of importance, but situated at different levels, should never 
 belong to a graver class of form at the higher level than at 
 the lower. 
 
 These rules will, I believe, be found to apply more or less 
 extensively both to styles and to individual buildings, in 
 proportion as the said styles or buildings are more or less 
 generally admired by persons of good taste. Let us examine 
 a few instances. 
 
 In the Egyptian buildings we find forms of the first, third, 
 and fifth classes. 
 
 In the Doric Temples rectangularity is strictly observed 
 In the plan and principal arrangements, up to the higher 
 part of the structure. 
 
 In the Ionic, the rectangular forms were discarded in some 
 minor matters. 
 
 In the Corinthian Order, we have forms in the second, 
 third and fifth kind— the fifth kind reigning exclusively in 
 all the minor details. 
 
 In the Roman and Gothic styles, the introduction of the 
 arch and dome constructions necessarily led to a more fre- 
 quent circularity in the principal parts of buildings, both in 
 plan and elevation, and this called for a far greater prepon- 
 derance of curved forms in the minor features and details, 
 than their servile adaptation of Grecian forms (instead of 
 Grecian principles) would admit. 
 
 It were impossible in our brief space to seek for the prin- 
 ciples of architectural manners that intervened between the 
 fall of the Roman and the rise of the Gothic systems, filling 
 up a long night of barbarism between the setting of the 
 ancient civilization, and the appearance of the first dawning 
 beams that heralded in the modem. 
 
 As the lighter classes of form are indisputably the most 
 beautiful in themselves, apart from fitness, there is generally, 
 when the art is in a progressive state, far more danger of 
 their encroaching on the domains of the graver classes* than 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 153 
 
 there is of the contrary evil. Accordingly, it was in this 
 way that the Greek, the Gothic, and the Italian systems all 
 declined and fell after their perfection had been reached, and 
 change began to be sought no longer for the sake of improve- 
 ment, but for the sake of change. To these we might add 
 the Moorish system, which seems to have culminated in the 
 Alhambra, and afterwards to have sunk under this same 
 abuse — the fourth class of forms gradually superseding the 
 third, even in so important a member as the arch. The 
 great defect of this style, however, was always want of 
 attention to this correct placing of the different classes of 
 forms; and at present, in the poor remains of it practised in 
 Mahommedan countries, the forms are jumbled together with 
 as little regard to fitness, as in our own sham architecture. 
 If we may judge from engravings, the arches are almost 
 exclusively of the reflexed (or ogee) form, while mere details 
 on them are often of a more severe class (the second), and 
 the minutest lattice-work often of the first. The confusion, 
 however, cannot be worse than that to which our own build- 
 ing is reduced, in which the gravest forms are often piled on 
 the top, if indeed there be any top — architecture having 
 generally been driven from thence — and clothing only the 
 sides to a certain height, leaving all above to the ventilator 
 and chimney-doctor. 
 
 It is now necessary to say a few words on two qualities in 
 architecture and other arts, frequently distinguished from the 
 beautiful, though at other times classed as particular divi- 
 sions thereof : these are the sublime and the picturesque. 
 
 The inquiry into the sources of the sublime in architecture 
 must on no account be passed over by the architect, as hav- 
 ing no application to his every-day practice; for the same 
 principles by which sublimity has been produced in great 
 works, are the only ones by which the opposite of this 
 quality can be avoided in small works; and, indeed, this 
 opposite (viz., meanness) is the very worst fault a building 
 can have, and its avoidance is, if possible, more important in 
 
154 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 little works, than is the attainment of true sublimity in great 
 ones; for magnitude and richness will, with the many, always 
 suffice to cover the want of the latter; while nothing can, in 
 small buildings, stand in the stead of that for which we have 
 no good name, but which would, if increased in scale, be 
 called sublimity. 
 
 We conclude that the forms or arrangements of form used 
 in the Doric order, are better suited to produce sublime 
 effects. 
 
 No Gothic building ever possessed a particle of sublimity, 
 unless at least doubling the extent, and trebling the height, 
 of an ordinary Doric temple. 
 
 This superior sublimity of square-headed openings and 
 recesses arises not only from their belonging to a graver 
 class of form than the arch, but also, very often, from their 
 greater expression of power, owing to our knowledge, or 
 mechanical perception, that they must require larger stones 
 in their construction. This somewhat vulgar consideration 
 has, I am convinced, a great deal more to do with our appre- 
 ciation of sublimity in architecture than we should be willing 
 to admit. Thus, the original Doric cornice has very little 
 projection compared with later forms of that feature, yet it 
 produces as grand an effect as many cornices that have three 
 times its projection. This arises from the absence of all 
 contrivances for supporting it by corbelling, — from our per- 
 ception that it cannot possibly be built up of little pieces. 
 Add such contrivances, ( as in the Corinthian cornice, or still 
 more obviously in the Gothic machicolations , ) and you must 
 increase the frowning mass to several times its dimensions, 
 in order to retain the same bold and noble appearance. So, 
 also, the relative effect of square and of arched coverings 
 above alluded to, is entirely reversed in Gothic architecture. 
 Here, the arched window-head, when sufficiently recessed 
 and overhanging, has some grandeur, while the flat-topped 
 Tudor form has not a particle; being propped up, and, as it 
 were, balanced on the mullions, whose apparent insufficiency 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 155 
 
 for its support only increases the intense meanness of expres- 
 sion. 
 
 Next to the prevalence of the graver classes of form, and 
 the subordination of the others to them, nothing is more 
 essential to nobleness, than a principle analogous to what 
 painters term breadth , i. e., abundance of one thing in one 
 place. On this subject, Ruskin has insisted with his usual 
 eloquence,* and, with great truth, says, “ that the relative 
 majesty of buildings depends more on the weight and vigor 
 of their masses than on any other attribute of their design; 
 mass of everything, of bulk, of light, of darkness, of color, 
 not mere sum of any of these but breadth of them; not 
 broken light nor scattered darkness, nor divided weight, but 
 solid stone, broad sunshine, starless shade.” 
 
 On the whole, it would appear that neither sublimity nor 
 satisfactory beauty in building, can be expected of a flat 
 surface with holes in it, however beautiful their forms and 
 arrangement. There must be variety and contrast of sur- 
 faces, and large ones too. There is no such thing as fine 
 architecture of only two dimensions; it must have length, 
 breadth, and depth. No building has ever been admired 
 that has not either colonnades, or arcades, or very promi- 
 nent buttresses, or a very prominent cornice, or very deeply 
 recessed openings. These are the chief means that have 
 hitherto been employed to obviate flatness (though never 
 for that purpose alone) in permanent buildings. In tempora- 
 ry ones there have been some other expedients, as the broad 
 eaves of Italy and Switzerland, the overhanging stories of 
 our half-timbered houses, and the verge-boards, best deve- 
 loped, perhaps, in northern France. When iron shall be ad- 
 mitted into architecture, perhaps a new resource of this kind 
 may be found in balconies or window-canopies, or both: but, 
 as a general rule, all horizontal masses of shadow seem to 
 require a greater and general mass of the same kind at the 
 top of the building; and this is the most general feature in 
 
 • u The Seven Lamps of Architecture,” chap. m. “ Power.” 
 
156 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 all countries, and is never, in any degree, a merely ornsmeo-. 
 tal one, since its use, to shelter the walls, will always be 
 more effectually served the more it projects; not an inch add- 
 ed to it can ever be useless. 
 
 Another mode of avoiding flatness has, indeed, been often 
 practised in rural buildings, (being inapplicable in towns,) 
 and consists in breaking the ground plan in a complicated 
 manner, and carrying up some parts higher than others. It 
 has a very specious appearance of effecting the object with- 
 out unnecessary expense ; but this is a great fallacy, as any 
 one may soon see, who makes a few calculations, that these 
 breaks and jetties add more to the material requisite to en- 
 close and cover a given space, and, in fact, are a greater 
 sacrifice to architectural beauty, than the largest features 
 ever added to such buildings, supposing them added for 
 ornament alone, which they never ought to be. When 
 fashion, however, runs mad after some style devoid of promi- 
 nent features, (as the Tudor,) there is no alternative but 
 this extravagant broken-plan system, as the late Tudor revi- 
 vers found to their cost. 
 
 Of that most highly artificial source of pleasure, called 
 the 'picturesque , there have been several explanations given, 
 all in substance the same as that of Ruskin, who regards it 
 as a “ parasitical sublimity ,” or a display, in the extraneous 
 and adventitious circumstances of a thing, of such qualities, 
 as, transferred to the thing itself, would conduce to sublimi- 
 ty: thus the same shagginess which in the lion’s mane con- 
 duces to sublimity, in the goat constitutes picturesqueness. 
 The same depth, and prevalence of contrast, in a building, 
 which, when produced by evident design, leads to nobleness, 
 or at least obviates meanness; when resulting from chance , 
 ( either by the falling of a building to ruin, or the unfore- 
 seen clustering of several buildings together , ) constitutes 
 the picturesque. The chance combinations, which, in natu- 
 ral scenery on a small scale, are most picturesque, are the 
 very same which, if magnified to a mountainous scale, would 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 15T 
 
 be the most sublime; so that an artist might often from 
 heaps of gravel or mortar, compose scenes more awful than 
 he could find in a year’s wandering among Alps. Again, 
 the picturesque in painting, or what is called “pictorial 
 effect,” consists in applying to the adventitious circumstances 
 of light and shade those same principles and rules which the 
 higher aims of the art would require to be observed with 
 regard to things and actions themselves; so that, for in- 
 stance, pictorial effect requires one principal light, just as 
 the higher excellences would require one principal action. 
 Whatever would be sublime or excellent in essentials , the 
 same is picturesque in non-essentials. “ There are thus,” 
 says this writer, “ both in sculpture and painting, two, in 
 some sort, opposite schools, of which the one follows for its 
 subject the essential forms of things, and the other the acci- 
 dental lights and shades upon them. There are various de- 
 grees of their contrariety: middle steps — as in the works of 
 Coreggio, and all degrees of nobility and of degradation in 
 their several manners ; but the one is always recognized as 
 the pure, and the other as the picturesque school.”* 
 
 It would thus appear that this quality has more affinity 
 with the sublime than with the beautiful, being probably in- 
 compatible with the latter in its strict sense, while each of 
 these opposite qualities is compatible with the sublime, at 
 least with what may be called physical sublimity, which is 
 the only kind of wffiicli we have hitherto spoken. 
 
 Consistently with this, we might expect the picturesque 
 in building to be most frequent where there is most preva- 
 lence of contrast, and the gravest or most contrasted species 
 of forms ; and perhaps the best rule that could be given for 
 its production would be the accumulation of all the physical 
 elements above mentioned as conducing to sublimity, with a 
 studied exclusion of those previously described as belonging 
 to beauty, such as uniformity of halves, equidistant repeti- 
 tion, and the principle of gradation in general. 
 
 * “ The Seven Lamps of Architecture,” chap. vi. 
 
 14 
 
158 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 We have already observed that informs, or rather compo- 
 sitions of form, of the first two for rectilinear ) classes, a dis- 
 tinction must be made between those which do, and those 
 which do not, display this principle of gradation; which can 
 occur in the first class only in one way, by a gradated series 
 of dimensions , while in the second it may be displayed in two 
 ways, either by gradation of dimensions, or of directions (i.e., 
 of lines or of angles.^ The influence of gradated dimensions, 
 in diminishing grandeur and increasing elegance, may be 
 seen by comparing the majority of Italian campaniles f which 
 contain no such gradation ) with those of Pisa, Cremona, or 
 St. Bride’s, London, [the only one of Wren’s designs in 
 which this principle reigns,] or with the Chinese towers, in 
 which it seems universally observed, and contributes not a 
 little to their want of grandeur or solemnity. In the grand- 
 er and more sturdy classes of vegetables, too, from the cotton 
 tree down to the thorn bush, this principle is nowhere to be 
 found ; while in those few plants of the minor and less dura- 
 ble kind, that contain straight and angular forms, it is car- 
 ried to extreme perfection, as in the grasses, ferns, &c. It 
 seems as if this elegance were given them as a substitute for 
 that of curvature, common to other delicate vegetable 
 forms. 
 
 Now neither these plants, nor the gradated campaniles, 
 would evmr be regarded in themselves as picturesque objects, 
 while the first-mentioned class of each is reckoned among 
 the most decided examples of this quality in nature and in 
 art. The beauty of gradation, therefore, while it is only 
 prejudicial to real sublimity, is destructive of this sort of 
 “ parasitical sublimity,” called the picturesque. Divisions, 
 when not equal, must be varied without any connecting law, 
 as in fig. 1 a, never as in c and d. To show how much a 
 prevalence of the lighter [or more gradated] classes of form 
 also militates against the picturesque, we may observe that 
 this quality was perhaps never ascribed taany natural object 
 whose forms are exclusively curvilinear; and that it is rare 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 159 
 
 in [even the ruins of] round-arched building; more frequent 
 in the pointed; and most of all in those styles which are 
 destitute of arches. The Egyptians often clustered build- 
 ings irregularly to suit peculiar sites; and the temple thus 
 built on the island of Philrn has been instanced as a very 
 complete case of picturesqueness, and will illustrate the 
 rules given above. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Imitation of Nature a?id of Models — False Imitation — Constructive 
 Truth — Constructive Unity — Three Systems thereof. 
 
 It is the highest possible aim of architecture, as of all the 
 other fine arts, to imitate nature. This has been generally 
 admitted; but the kind of nature to be imitated, and the 
 mode of imitation, seem to be very variously understood; 
 and the notions of some architectural writers on this point 
 are singularly different from each other, and from the plain, 
 ordinary sense of the expression. 
 
 The difference between copying natural objects and imita- 
 ting nature, lies in the introduction, in the latter case, of a 
 principle of generalization. To draw the likeness of a par- 
 ticular man, ever so exactly, though you excelled the da- 
 guerreotype, is not imitating nature. To discover and draw 
 all that is common to a certain class of men, omitting every 
 thing that is 'peculiar to each, this is imitating nature. The 
 same principle must run through every imitation of her, as 
 distinguished from an imitation of a natural object; and it 
 must be remembered, that with this latter imitation, archi- 
 tecture has nothing to do. A man may learn to paint or 
 carve, simply by imitating individual models, and may with 
 the vulgar pass for an artist: but in architecture, there is no 
 such thing as this copying of one thing at a time : the archi- 
 tect [I mean the designer in architecture] must learn to copy 
 several things at once , — to imitate with generalization. 
 
160 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 Here is an example : We want a column, that is, along 
 body, intended for transmitting pressure to or from a flat 
 surface. It evidently matters not whether the column be 
 pressed against the surface or the surface against it, nor in 
 what position it be placed. A strut is a column, only placed 
 horizontally or inclined. The expression we want to give is 
 that of fitness to receive this pressure. Some nations have 
 copied columns from trees, and some from men, but neither 
 of these are imitating nature ; on the contrary, they are most 
 unnatural, since nature has not made either a tree or a man 
 to serve the purpose of a column. Are there, then, no 
 columns in nature ? Certainly there are. The limbs of all 
 animals are columns according to the above definition, the 
 surface against which they press being the ground. The 
 human arm uplifted to support a weight is also a column ; 
 and when pushing horizontally against a wall, it is a 
 horizontal column or strut. 
 
 Now, in comparing these various natural columns, to dis- 
 cover what they have in common, we find 
 
 1st. That their transverse section has roundness, therefore 
 we make the artificial column round. 
 
 2d. We observe that they vary in length from four to ten 
 times their greatest diameter ; but that, in animals remark 
 able for power and majesty, they do not exceed six times the 
 said diameter. Therefore, when this character is aimed at 
 the columns are confined to a length of between four and six 
 diameters. 
 
 3d. With regard to their longitudinal outline or profile, 
 they have a general diminution from their origin to the ankle 
 or wrist, i. e. to a point near the surface against which they 
 are applied. Therefore we make the artificial column diminish 
 from its origin (the ground or stylobate) to a point near the 
 surface to be sustained. This ‘diminution is in a contrary 
 direction to that of the legs of animals or furniture, because 
 they issue from the object to which they belong, and apply 
 themselves against a surface below ; but the legs of a fixed 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 .161 
 
 structure should issue from the substructure, and apply them- 
 selves to the support of that above ; otherwise they would 
 appear to belong to the superstructure and form with it one 
 mass, distinct from that below, and made to be moved about 
 like a table.* The position, therefore, of the column, is not 
 that of the leg, but that of the uplifted arm. 
 
 4th. Another circumstance common 
 to all the models, is that the diminu- 
 tion above noticed, is not regular or 
 straight lines, but tends, in the 
 majority of cases, to convexity, i. e. 
 the diminution, at first slow, becomes 
 more rapid towards the wrist or 
 ankle ; and this is accordingly 
 imitated, the convexity (or entasis) 
 being, however, much 
 less than in the 
 human example, be- 
 cause in that ex- 
 ample it is peculiarly 
 and the object is not to 
 imitate this or any other single 
 model, not any particular limb, but 
 the general idea of limbs — their 
 central form, avoiding all peculiari- 
 ties. If their outline were, in 
 universal nature, as frequently con- 
 cave as convex, the correct imitation would be to make it 
 straight ; but this is not the case, — convexity predominates 
 over concavity, and very slight convexity predominates over 
 that which is more decided. 
 
 * An eminent architect has attempted to explain this, by asserting as a rule, that 
 bodies must diminish as they recede from th ,« eye , as a column upwards, or the leg 
 of a table downwards. He does not give any reason or foundation in nature for this 
 rule ; but it would be very desirable to do so, as it would overturn many long- 
 established prejudices in architecture, and lead to some curious novelties, such as 
 the downward diminution of balusters, pedestals, &c. 
 
162- 
 
 history AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 5th. We observe it to be a part of the nature of limbs, 
 that, after passing the smallest part, there is a rapid swelling 
 to form the extremity (hand or paw ), w r hich is what, in the 
 column, we call its capital. This protuberance is, in nature, 
 commonly eccentric with regard to the axis of the limb, pro- 
 jecting most on the side towards which the animal looks, 
 and least for often not at allj on the opposite side. But 
 this eccentricity is least in the most powerful animals, and is 
 properly omitted in the column for two reasons ; either as 
 an exaggeration of that which distinguishes the most power- 
 ful models, i. e. those most displaying a quality intended here 
 to be expressed ; or else it is omitted as having an obvious 
 relation to a property not intended to be expressed, viz., 
 locomotion : for the foot always projects most on the side 
 towards which it is to move ; and as the capital is not to 
 move, there is no natural example for its projecting on one 
 side more than another. 
 
 6th. With regard to the outline of the extremity, we find 
 it to be at first concave for a very short distance, then be- 
 coming very slightly convex, and as it spreads, the convex- 
 ity slowly increases, till, at the greatest protuberance from 
 the axis, it rapidly curves round, and returns inward to a 
 small distance. Such are the points common to the outline 
 of every animal extremity, when applied against a flat sur- 
 face; and such are those which constitute the profile of the 
 capital, in that wonderful specimen of generalized imita- 
 tion, the original Doric column; that form on which no sub- 
 sequent efforts have been able to effect any improvement in 
 fitness of expression to its particular purpose; that form 
 which when first seen, so throws into the shade everything 
 else that we have ever seen applied to the same purpose, that 
 it seems too perfect for a human invention, and we attribute 
 it to some power peculiar to the inventors, and now lost, 
 just as the Arabs attribute Palmyra to the work of genii. 
 That this pile of cut stones, which any mason could exactly 
 reproduce, and which resembles no natural form, should yet 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 163 
 
 express its destination as perfectly as the most finished statue, 
 and appear as incomplete without its entabulature, as Atlas 
 without his globe ; — that this effect should be produced ahke 
 and instantly on every spectator, may well appear, to the un- 
 taught, a sort of magic. But such effects are never the result, 
 as commonly supposed, of a happy idea, an instant stroke of 
 genius : they thus touch in an instant, because they contain 
 the work of years ; they spring from, and are proportional 
 to, the amount of thought which the object embodies, and this 
 is independent altogether of the amount of manual labor be- 
 stowed. A work of elaborate sculpture, and one of mere 
 masonry, may be exactly equal in this respect ; and when 
 either of them strikes us with this instant conviction of ex- 
 cellence, it is because they contain, as it were, concentrated 
 in them, the thought perhaps of a life, perhaps of many lives, 
 the observation and analysis and intense patient study of 
 many, directed all in one direction, and with a common ob- 
 ject, — the extraction and purification of some general idea 
 in nature, as a metal is extracted by the chemist. 
 
 In the study of nature ( without which the architect as well 
 as every other artist can do nothing — absolutely nothing^) he 
 must also study the commentaries on her, i. e., all previous 
 productions of his art. All these are so many annotations 
 on Nature’s great and most difficult book ; and he who at- 
 tempts to read her without their assistance, simply sets up 
 his own wisdom against that of all mankind ; and however 
 satisfactory his discoveries may be to himself, he may be as- 
 sured that they are as old as Adam ; and that, should he 
 have at once the greatest genius and the longest life ever 
 granted, he will still have advanced no further than the first 
 efforts of the art, which, pursued on this principle, would 
 (unlike all other human pursuits ) be never beyond its begin- 
 ning. 
 
 It is impossible for the designer to produce anything true 
 but by the study of nature, and it is impossible to produce 
 anything new but by a knowledge of what has been done al- 
 
164 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 ready by bis predecessors. The most original artists of every 
 kind are always the most extensive imitators. 
 
 In architecture the number of such is indeed infinite : and 
 while one appears to have seen no building besides the Tem- 
 ple of Ilyssus; another, nothing but the Erechtheum, or 
 Salisbury Cathedral, or Henry the Seventh’s Chapel, or the 
 Alhambra; all unite in condemning that architect in the 
 last century who drew from no source but Diocletian’s pa- 
 lace, without perceiving that they are committing the very 
 same capital error; for the fundamental fault was not the 
 drawing from a corrupt source, but the drawing from only one 
 source. 
 
 The reader must not suppose I am advising any thing so 
 utterly wrong and contemptible as the mixture of the peculi- 
 arities' of different styles. On the contrary, I am insisting 
 on the imitation of what is common to them, rather than 
 that of what distinguishes each. If you say 11 there is noth- 
 ing common to them but walls and a roof,” you betray that 
 you have not commenced the real study of the art, which, 
 like that of nature or of science, can be carried on only by 
 generalization. 
 
 As in all other arts, so in architecture, the value and cor- 
 rectness of imitation, whether of Nature directly, or of Na- 
 ture through the medium of her interpreters, — previous 
 artists, — depends entirely on the breadth of generalization 
 accompanying it; and that which simply imitates without 
 generalizing, — that which imitates only one model, though 
 even a natural one, and ever so excellent, is not art at all. 
 
 Connected with the error that imitative art consists in the 
 imitation of what is commonly called nature, i. e., of particu- 
 lar or individual nature, is also the most destructive notion 
 that its perfection is to “ deceive the eye,” which is, in fact, 
 the basest purpose to which any art, or rather any skill and 
 science originally amassed for the purposes of art, can be 
 prostituted : for it must be observed, that no manual dexteri- 
 ty can be called art; it is only the material collected for its 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 165 
 
 use, or the language in which it speaks. Now, when this is 
 used in order to deceive in any way, it is as if a man, who 
 had learned writing in order to write sermons, should employ 
 his skill in commiting forgery. 
 
 “ For want of this distinction,” says Sir Joshua, {i. e., 
 the distinction between the art and the mechanical skill,) 
 “ the world is filled with false criticism. Raffaelle is praised 
 for naturalness and deception, which he certainly has not ac- 
 complished, and as certainly never intended.” It is the same 
 error which leads the vulgar to think it a beauty when the 
 figures of a picture stand out “as if you could walk round 
 them,” or when painted decorations, or papering, or carpets, 
 are shaded to appear [in a particular light] as if carved ; or 
 when a building, or a front of a building, or any of the 
 smallest part or member thereof, appears like any thing 
 which it is not ; — a new building like an old one built in a 
 different age; several little houses like one palace; or one 
 property like several ; an essential part like an ornament, or 
 an ornament like an essential part; a buttress like a column, 
 an attic like a pediment, an arch like a lintel ; — to say noth- 
 ing of such gross frauds as making stucco look like stone, or 
 paint like wood. 
 
 The object of all real art, as of all science, is to elicit 
 truth ; but any one who, fresh from nature, or from the 
 works of other ages or nations, should arrive among the 
 works of modern English architecture, would suppose its 
 whole aim, and that of every detail in it, to be deception. 
 One. enters a building, perhaps a place of worship, that is 
 praised for unpretending plainness, and the eye seeks in vain 
 for a single object on which it can rest as something real, — 
 for a single feature that is what it appears to be. The plas- 
 tered walls pretend to be built of huge granite or marble 
 blocks ; the flimsy surface that conceals the roof, to be com- 
 posed of lacunarise, or stone coffer-work, on a more colossal 
 scale than any Egyptian ever dreamt of. A stove must re- 
 present an useless pedestal, or, perhaps, the model of a build- 
 
166 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 ing ; and the deal fittings, not content with one deception, 
 must with singular ingenuity contrive to perpetrate two at 
 once, — to appear in substance like oak, and in form like the 
 marble walls and antas of a Greek temple. Such is an un- 
 pretending building. The evil so infests everything that meets 
 us on whatever side we turn, that it is hardly possible to real- 
 ize the fact, till we turn to the works of other ages or distant 
 nations, that all this is unnecessary , that there may be, and 
 over most of the world is, and every where has been, architec- 
 ture without deception, — not without this or that kind of it, 
 but absolutely without any. Such is the atmosphere of it in 
 which we are plunged, that we can hardly fancy such a thing 
 as its absence ; and we actually, on mentioning it, are met 
 by such questions from intelligent and otherwise well-inform- 
 ed persons, as “ What is the use of paint, if not to imitate 
 other things ?” Grown-up men actually require to be told 
 that paint is a durable and smooth coating for perishable or 
 rough surfaces, either to preserve them, or by its smoothness 
 repel dirt, or to replace their natural color by one more 
 pleasing or fitter for their situation ; or lastly, to adorn their 
 surface by varied color or beautiful forms. These are the 
 uses of paint, and they give vast scopes for design and taste, 
 but have no more to do with imitation or deception than the 
 skin of an animal or plant has. Does the skin or bark imi- 
 tate flesh or wood ? What possible reason then can there 
 be for stucco or paint to represent anything but stucco or 
 paint ? They never represent anything else in the works of 
 the Greeks, Romans, Gothicists, or Arabs ; and when we 
 want more ornament than is found in their works, it will be 
 time enough to look for a method not practised by them. 
 
 Ruskin, who, though falling into my dangerous fallacies, 
 has truly treated on this subject, says — “ It is very necessary 
 in the outset to mark clearly wherein consists the essence of 
 fallacy as distinguished from supposition : for it might be at 
 first thought that the whole kingdom of imagination was one 
 of deception also. N ot so : the action of imagination is a 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 167 
 
 voluntary summoning of the conceptions of things absent or 
 impossible ; and the pleasure and nobility of the imagination 
 partly consists in its knowledge and contemplation of them 
 as such, i, e., in the knowledge of their actual absence or im- 
 possibility at the moment of their apparent presence or reali- 
 ty. When the imagination deceives, it becomes madness. 
 It is a noble faculty so long as it confesses its own ideality ; 
 when it ceases to confess this, it is insanity. All the differ- 
 ence lies in the fact of the confession, in there being no de- 
 ception It is necessary to our rank as spiritual creatures 
 that we should be able to invent and to behold what is not ; 
 and to our rank as moral creatures, that we should know and * 
 confess at the same time that it is not. 
 
 “ Again, it might be thought, and has been thought, that 
 the whole art of painting is nothing else than an endeavor to 
 deceive. Not so: it is, on the contrary, a statement of cer- 
 tain facts in the clearest possible way. I desire to give an 
 account of a mountain or of a rock: I begin by telling its 
 shape; but words will not do this distinctly, and I draw its 
 shape, and say, “ This was its shape.” Next, I would fain 
 represent its color: but words will not do this either, and I 
 dye the paper, and say, “ This was its color.” Such a pro- 
 cess may be carried on until the scene appears to exist, and 
 a high pleasure may be taken in its apparent existence. 
 This is a communicated act of imagination, but no lie: the 
 lie can consist only in an assertion of its existence, [which is 
 never for one instant made, implied, or believed,] or else in 
 false statements of forms or colors [which are indeed made 
 and believed to our great loss continually.] And observe 
 also, that so degrading a thing is deception, in even the ap- 
 proach and appearance of it, that all painting which even 
 reaches the mark of apparent realization, is degraded in so 
 doing. ******** 
 
 “ The violations of truth which dishonor poetry and paint- 
 ing are thus, for the most part, confined to the treatment of 
 their subjects : but in architecture, another and a less subtle, 
 
168 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 more contemptible violation of truth, is possible ; a direct 
 falsity of assertion respecting the nature of material, &c. ; 
 * * and this is, in the fullest sense of the word, wrong ; 
 
 it is as truly deserving of reprobation as any other moral 
 delinquency ; it is unworthy alike of architects and of 
 nations ; and it has been a sign, wherever it has widely and 
 with toleration existed, of a singular debasement of the arts : 
 that it is not a sign of worse than this, of a general want of 
 severe probity, can be accounted for only by our knowledge 
 of the strange separation which has for some centuries 
 existed between the arts and all other subjects of human 
 " intellect, as matters of conscience. This withdrawal of 
 conscientiousness from among the faculties concerned with 
 art, while it has destroyed the arts themselves , has also rendered 
 nugatory the evidence which otherwise they might have 
 presented respecting the character of the respective nations 
 among whom they have been cultivated ; otherwise it might 
 appear strange that a nation so distinguished for its general 
 uprightness and faith as the English, should admit in their 
 architecture more of pretence, concealment, and deceit, than 
 any other of this or past time.” — “ Seven Lamps of Archi- 
 tecture f II. “ TrutliP 
 
 It will be asked, perhaps, “ Must we not turn the best side, 
 outwards, then ?” Certainly, this is an important part of the 
 courtesy of building. It is a mark of respect due to all who 
 see your work, to turn them its best side ; but it is still more 
 important to do so honestly, — to proclaim at the same time 
 “ This is my best side.” Herein consists the whole difference 
 between the incrustations of mean materials with richer ones, 
 practised in times and places of good taste, and in those of 
 bad. The covering of a poor or unsightly material with a 
 better, does not necessarily lead to deception, or any thing 
 of the sort. Many churches in Italy are said to be veneered 
 with marble ; that is, thin slabs of marble are let in and 
 confined by surrounding bands of stone, as the metopes of a 
 Doric temple by the triglyphs, or as panels are confined in 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 169 
 
 joinery. There is no deception, the whole shows plainly 
 what it is, — a sound piece of construction held together not 
 by cement, but by obvious mechanical arrangement ; and the 
 marble slabs pretend to be nothing more than slabs,-— 
 beautiful natural objects placed there for ornament or clean- 
 liness, and not for deception. 
 
 When an external film is of a totally different nature from 
 the substance beneath, the form will often inform us that this 
 external substance cannot be that of which the whole is com- 
 posed, and thus there will be no deception. This is the reason 
 that gilding is no deception when not applied to metals. We 
 can no more mistake a gilded stone or plaster ornament for 
 one of gold, than a stone-colored metallic object for one of 
 stone, because the peculiar mechanical properties of a 
 malleable metal would prevent its ever being made into the 
 same form as stone or plaster (unless for deception). Metals, 
 woods, and brittle materials are known from each other, 
 independently of color, by the three characters of form to 
 which their respective properties lead. Hence gilding can 
 never deceive except upon metals ; and upon these we shall 
 accordingly never find it applied in times of good taste, — at 
 least, never as a total covering. 
 
 In colored deeoration on flat surfaces, all shadowing ( i . e., 
 representation of the effect of solidity and relief) is a direct 
 falsehood, whether it deceive or not. But observe the differ- 
 ence between decoration and picture. A picture (whether 
 with or without background ) is one thing , an independent 
 whole, distinct from all surrounding things, and therefore 
 requiring to be separated from them by a frame or border 
 ( either painted or in relief ) ; but whatever has no frame is no 
 picture ; it is decoration , and comes under a different principle 
 of design altogether, being not a whole but a part. Now, 
 decoration is of two kinds, consisting either of forms in re- 
 lief, or of colors on the flat ; but the latter is given up, and 
 loses its separate existence if it attempt to ape the former ; 
 we have no longer two kinds of decoration, but only one, 
 
 15 
 
110 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 viz. carving and sham-carving. But you say, the flowers are 
 ugly without shading, and that if they are imitated at all, 
 why may not their shades be imitated ? Here we come to 
 the root of the whole fallacy. You hum no business with 
 imitated flowers, in the vulgar acceptation of imitated, i. e., 
 copied ones. Their place is in picture, not decoration. No 
 natural flower is fit or beautiful in decoration ; if it were, it 
 would not be fit or beautiful in nature. The notion, at 
 present very common, that natural (i. e., particular^) flowers 
 should be imitated in decoration, is most false and unnatural. 
 No one thing in nature is natural enough for decorative use. 
 This art, like architecture, must generalize, — must copy not 
 a natural form, but a natural idea. Its flowers are as false, 
 when copied from single natural models, as columns would be 
 if copied from a single natural limb. In the whole of the 
 works of those who used the most ornament, and ( by universal 
 consent ) the best, viz., the Greeks, Homans, Gothicists, and 
 Arabs, we may challenge the production of one example 
 ( except in times of acknowledged debasement ) of what are 
 called natural flowers, that is, sham flowers. 
 
 If you say shadowings produce boldness and (if properly 
 treated ) breadth of effect, so do masses of dark colors, with- 
 out deception, equally well ; for proof of which, you are re- 
 ferred to all the designs of the above schools, without ex- 
 ception. Decorative designers seem to produce few forms 
 not drawn from those exhaustless sources : it is to be wished 
 they would copy some of their principles. 
 
 Much stir has been made, of late, about our inferiority, in 
 all matter of taste, to neighboring nations, who, however, are 
 rapidly descending to our level ; but this stir is utterly vain 
 among a people with whom art means deceit. Until we can 
 be taught that nothing is beautiful which is not true, we 
 shall find taste a jewel beyond the reach of all the nation’s 
 wealth to buy, and of all her power to win. 
 
 Sometimes the truth of particular numbers must be 
 sacrificed to that of the whole, as in Gothic architecture of 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 m 
 
 the purest kind ; in which the smallest coverings or heads to 
 openings,, though not constructed on the arch principle, are 
 nevertheless made to resemble arches, in order to carry out 
 the chief general truth of that style, which is arcuaticn, or the 
 exclusive use of this mode of covering openings and spaces. 
 
 Constructive Truth and Constructive Unity are the two 
 most important principles to be borne in mind, in tracing the 
 history of architecture, and are indispensable in any attempt 
 to rival, or even understand, the productions of the two 
 standard or perfected systems which the world has hitherto 
 seen, — the Greek, and that commonly called the Gothic. 
 
 Constructive Truth requires that a building shall never 
 appear to be constructed on different statical principles from 
 those really employed in its construction. The whole of modern 
 Gothic architecture is a constructive falsehood, because it will 
 presently be shown that all the peculiarities of this style 
 grew from the practice of constructing, within buildings, a 
 vaulted ceiling of stone, and were solely adapted to a build- 
 ing with such a ceiling. Consequently, when applied to a 
 building not so ceiled, the style must either be made useless 
 and meaningless, by copying only its forms without a motive; 
 or else, if correctly copied (i. e., preserving the apparent 
 motive, either externally or internally, or both ), it must then 
 appear ( either externally or internally, or bothj to have 
 a vaulted ceiling, which it has not ; and, in either case, the 
 whole must be a lie from the foundation to the finials. 
 
 Constructive Unity is a principle no less important than 
 any other unity, and bears an especial analogy to unity of 
 stye, being in fact the same thing in construction as the lat- 
 ter in decoration. I assume that no one disputes the neces- 
 sity of an uniform style of ornament throughout the same 
 building. Now, construction is a more important thing than 
 ornament, and has more relation to the higher excellences 
 of the art. Architectural beauty is not mere beauty of 
 form, mere eumorphy; if it were so, a beautiful form would 
 be beautiful wherever exhibited, in a pepper-box or a tower, 
 
m 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 a baluster or a column. In all the more important features 
 [indeed all but the merest ornaments,] the beauty of abstract 
 form is to be sacrificed to that of statical fitness ; but in or- 
 der that this may be seen or appreciated, it is necessary that 
 the various pressures be perceived, or a part of them, to 
 which part the members may be seen to be fitted. Conse- 
 quently, if it be necessary that the treatment of geometrical 
 forms be consistent throughout, it is far more necessary that 
 the treatment of these pressure, or of the displayed portions 
 of them, be consistent throughout. 
 
 Now, there are three distinct modes of treating the pres- 
 sures of a building ; or, in other words, three styles of con- 
 struction. They are all mixed indiscriminately in every mod- 
 ern building ; but it is the peculiar merit of the two hitherto 
 perfected architectural systems, the Greek and the Gothic, 
 that in the pure examples of each, only one of these modes 
 of construction was seen. This is what distinguishes those 
 two styles from all others, and the pure period of each from 
 preceding and following periods, — constructive unity. 
 
 Perhaps I should rather call it unity of statical design ; for 
 the actual construction has never, except in Egypt, been ab- 
 solutely pure throughout : but a portion of the construction 
 is unavoidably hidden in every artificial structure, as it is 
 even in every natural one. 
 
 The three styles of statical design were well pointed out 
 in the very useful work of the late A. Bartholomew.* They 
 depend on the three modes of applying force to solids, by 
 cross-strain , by compression, by tension. These are, of course, 
 familiar to the reader who has looked into the rudiments of 
 constructive science, to be found in several of the volumes 
 of this series. 
 
 The first and simplest mode of construction, that employ- 
 ed by all barbarous and infant nations, is the only one which 
 subjects materials to cross-strain, the most wasteful mode of 
 employing thek* strength. The method, however, may per- 
 
 * “ Specifi cations for Practical Architecture,” &c. 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 173 
 
 haps be described in the most general terms as that of verti- 
 cal pressure , because all the pressures throughout the build- 
 ing are wholly in their natural direction, vertically down- 
 wards; and for this purpose all the continuous joints, or 
 beds, throughout the structure are made horizontal , and all 
 the interrupted joints vertical. All openings are covered 
 without any deviation from this rule, by laying a beam, lin- 
 tel, or architrave across from pillar to pillar, resting on the 
 flat tops of both; and all ceilings, whether in stone or wood, 
 are formed by an extension of the same method: the roof 
 framing, being concealed both from the exterior and interior, 
 forms no part of the design, and by the Greeks it was prob- 
 ably constructed on the third method — that of tension. 
 
 During the prevalence of this first constructive style in 
 its purity, every ohlique pressure was excluded, as contrary to 
 the principles of sound architecture. The introduction into 
 architecture, however, by the Etruscans and Romans, of the 
 new constructions called the dome , arch , and vault, all de- 
 pending on oblique pressure, gradually destroyed the consis- 
 tency of this first architectural system, the forms of which, 
 owing to the intrinsic beauty imparted to them by the Greek 
 genius, were not readily abandoned, but continued to linger 
 on, though more and more debased in geometric beauty, and 
 forming harsher and harsher incongruities with the new con- 
 structions, till, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the 
 great extent of church building, and the desire to render 
 these structures fire-proof, led to the extension of the arch 
 principle to the covering of all openings, and the ceiling of 
 all areas, and from that moment architecture took a new 
 turn. Erom the invention of the arch till the rejection of the 
 learn (a period of about fifteen centuries,) every change had 
 been for the worse; the whole history of the art was debase- 
 ment, from the progressive loss of constructive consistency. 
 The beam was rejected , (at least in north-western Europe,) 
 and immediately all was purification and rapid return to 
 unity. 
 
174 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 The forms derived from Greece, but by this time so de- 
 crepit as to retain little vestige of their original beauty, were 
 now gradually abandoned, and everything old (except first 
 principles) sacrificed to the new idea; and so rapid was the 
 progress, that by the year 1250 in Germany, and by 1300 
 in England, the unity of the new system was established : 
 and now let us see in what consisted this unity. 
 
 The second system of t tatical design consisted in the com- 
 plete avoidance of cross - train , and in the subjecting of the 
 materials throughout the whole of the visible construction to 
 forces of compression alone. It may therefore perhaps be best 
 termed the Compressile System. In order to effect this, the 
 pressures can no longer be every where vertical ; and as it is 
 a most important point in construction that the continuous 
 joints, or beds, should be as nearly as possible perpendicular 
 to the pressures acting on them, these joints are no longer 
 universally horizontal, but inclined in various directions, and 
 should have been so to a greater extent than the Gothicists 
 practised. Indeed, there would be much room for the im- 
 provement of that system by the introduction both of mod- 
 ern science and of a larger portion of Greek taste (of which 
 it nevertheless retained a good deal in its best productions.)* 
 But imperfectly as the Gothic aim was carried out in con- 
 struction, and often also in decoration, it was completely ac- 
 complished in statical design, i. e., throughout the visible con- 
 struction there was no portion of matter subjected, as far as 
 the eye could judge, to any other force than simple compres- 
 sion. When this is the case [and not otherwise] a building 
 may be termed completely Gothic; being complete in its 
 statical design. The geometrical design is another point, 
 quite independent of this, and is reducible mainly to the cor- 
 rect positing and subordination of the five classes of forms 
 mentioned in our last chapter; a principle equally necessary in 
 every style. A building may be perfect in its statical design, 
 
 * Of coarse I do not mean Greek forms, the emancipation from which, had been 
 an essential part of the formation of the new system. 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 175 
 
 while it is extremely faulty in the geometrical, as was the 
 case with nearly all the buildings of Egypt. 
 
 The Gothicists, like the Greeks, employed a tensile con- 
 struction in the roof framing, that being in both systems in- 
 visible either from the exterior or interior. Nor was this 
 concealment any defect; for, as Ruskin has observed, “the 
 architect is not bound to exhibit construction:” still less can 
 he be bound to exhibit the whole of it, to do what nature has 
 never done. lie may conceal as much as he likes, but may 
 not disguise any. None need appear, but that which does 
 appear must be true. 
 
 After its culmination, the Gothic system gradually de- 
 clined, from the progress of a variety of falsehoods, of which 
 some were general to the whole of the>Aonntries in which it 
 flourished; others confined to France or Germany, or Eng- 
 land, or the Netherlands. It is not the place to enumerate 
 them here, but to observe that one of the chief causes, espe- 
 cially in England, was the superseding of stone by timber in 
 many parts, particularly ceilings, and the consequent exten- 
 sion of the style of construction best adapted to this mate- 
 rial, which is the third style already twice alluded to, viz., 
 the tensile. 
 
 In the compressile system, all apertures and spaces were 
 covered on the arch principle, and the oblique pressures thus 
 occasioned were transmitted down to the ground by masses 
 of material called buttresses or abutments. But this is not the 
 most economical mode of treating the said pressures when 
 we have materials of great length and strong in tension, as 
 timber and iron. The more obvious and less wasteful mode 
 is tying the two feet of the arch together by a bar of one of 
 these materials, thereby counteracting the horizontal portion 
 of the oblique pressures, and leaving only their vertical por- 
 tion to press on the two supports, as the original beam or 
 lintel of the first style did, and render all buttressing from 
 without unnecessary. Instead of the arch, an arrangement 
 of two or more bars or timbers may be substituted, and thus 
 
116 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 arise the various kinds of truss , whose perfection consists in 
 having no part subjected to cross-strain, but every part either 
 to direct compression or direct tension. 
 
 This third constructive system combines, in a certain de- 
 gree, the advantages, and avoids the defects, of both the 
 others : for all its active pressures are vertical, as in the Jirst 
 style* and yet it avoids all cross-strain, like the second. It 
 saves all the waste of material [not conducive to strength] 
 in the lintels of the former style, and, also, all the material 
 of the buttresses in the latter. 
 
 But, though there are three styles of construction, there 
 have been only two systems of architecture, — only two styles 
 possessing constructive unity — the Greek and the Gothic. The 
 third constructive principle has yet to be elaborated into a 
 system. The two systems are past and dead ; we may admire 
 the fading vestiges of their loveliness, but can never revive 
 them. The third is the destined architecture of the future. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Application of the Foregoing Principles to Trabeated or Beamed 
 Building by the Grecian Architects . 
 
 Though the first style of construction was the most un- 
 scientific and wasteful, both of material and of space, yet did 
 it produce the most durable buildings, and also the most 
 grand and noble artistic effects. The durability arose partly 
 from the great masses employed, because it required long 
 and strong lintels to span the openings, and allow those 
 openings to be as wide as possible; and thus a correspondent 
 size and massiveness of stones was needed throughout. It 
 also arose from the absence of oblique pressures, whereby 
 every stone became independent of those above or beside it 
 for support, so that no dilapidation of the upper parts could 
 [as in arched buildings] endanger any thing beneath. To 
 these reasons may be added the exact perpendicularity of 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 177 
 
 every pressure to the bed [or horizontal joint] receiving it, — - 
 an excellence that can never be perfectly attained in the in- 
 clined beds of arched buildings, however exact may be the 
 calculations of the engineer ; and, indeed, is never attempt- 
 ed. Lastly, the ambitious nations who best practised this 
 mode of building, gave it a great excess of solidity, calcula- 
 ted to withstand even earthquakes, and not without success. 
 
 The unrivalled grandeur and majesty attainable by the 
 same style of construction, when properly treated, arose 
 partly from this same excess of solidity; partly from the 
 bold projections rendered possible by the largeness of the 
 stones; partly from the sublime repose of a structure whose 
 pressures are all vertical , no side-thrusting, no action; but 
 chiefly from the redangularity of the openings or principal 
 divisions, rendering possible the most perfect subordination 
 of the other classes of form, or the omission ( or reduction to 
 any extent ) of the lighter classes, and the use of the grave 
 classes in minor details. 
 
 In the practice of this system by the Egyptains, there was 
 perfect constructive unity, not only in the visible , but in the 
 whole construction ; all of which indeed was seen, for (the 
 almost rainless climate rendering pent-roofs unnecessary ) the 
 only covering was a flat stone ceiling. But this absence of 
 hidden construction was no merit ("being, in fact, unnatural], 
 and whatever other merits the Egyptian works had were 
 counteracted by two grievous faults, — inattention to the sub - 
 ordination of the five classes of forms , and complexity, or 
 utter absence, of unity in the general design , even of temples, 
 the fabrics, of all others, requiring the most of that unity. 
 
 The unity of statical design, then, in the Greek structures, 
 was nothing new or peculiar to them. Their excellence con- 
 sisted in the addition to this of the two principles above 
 mentioned; and of these we will consider, first, theu unity of 
 general design. 
 
 The feeling which led to the use of the gravest class of 
 form, in all principal arrangements, having decided the gene- 
 
ns 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 ral plan to be rectangular, it might at first be thought that 
 a square would embody the most perfect idea of unity ; and 
 there are not wanting examples of this plan in the nave of 
 temples without peristyles, as in the great temple of Ceres, 
 at Eleusis, and the very small Ionic one existing in StuarPs 
 time, on the Ilyssus, the cell of which was a perfect cube.* 
 But when that beautiful and sublime change was made, of 
 carrying the colonnade entirely round, making all the sides 
 alike in character, all equally ornate, all equally impossible 
 to appear flat and blockish, even at the distance of miles, — 
 then the squareness of general plan was invariably given up 
 for an oblong at least twice as long as its breadth, generally 
 somewhat more. What was the reason for this ? A square 
 peripteral building would have led to a doubt, on approach- 
 ing it, which of the two visible sides was the entrance front. 
 Unless both were alike, the fourfold symmetry would be 
 sacrificed; but if both were alike, both must be entrances, oi 
 appear to be so (as in the graceful work of Palladio, above 
 mentioned ). Now the appearance of only one entrance, and 
 the instant discovery thereof, was evidently a most important 
 part in that unmatched expression of unity at which the 
 Greeks aimed, and alone, of all the nations in the world, 
 attained. Though there were often two entrances, being 
 placed at each end, only one was visible in any possible view 
 of the building. But this was not enough ; the distinct 
 statement that there was no entrance in the side, required 
 that (when it had a colonnade) there should be a column in 
 its centre, consequently an odd number of them ; while the 
 entrance front required an opening in the centre, and there- 
 fore an even number of columns. Now, if the difference had 
 been made small, (eight columns in front, and nine in flank, 
 for instance,) the whole, if not square, would have appeared 
 as though intended to be square ; and if really square, the 
 
 * Symbolic of perfection, as we see by Scriptural texts, — Kings vi. 20; Rev. xxi 
 16. In all the measurements of the temple no cube occurs but that of the “most 
 holy place.” 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 119 
 
 closer placing of the columns on one side than the other, 
 would have destroyed all the perfection and symmetry of 
 that form ; and, in either case, the idea conveyed would be 
 that of a blundering attempt at squareness. Abandoning 
 this form, therefore, the architects adopted as their funda- 
 mental form the next most perfect for regular) rectangle, 
 viz., a double square. 
 
 That every temple ( except that piece of barbaric pomp at 
 Palmyra ) should present its narrower face as the front, is 
 referred by Papworth* to the avoiding all approach to show , 
 or displaying itself to the best advantage, — -a very noble 
 idea, and one which doubtless operated both with the Greeks 
 and their nearest followers, the Gothicists. But it may be 
 observed, that there is a less, refined reason, which has led 
 all nations (probably, without exception,) to make the axis 
 of symmetry in their temples longitudinal , and in their palaces 
 transverse ; the temple being always entered from its end, and 
 the palace from its side. The latter being divided into many 
 apartments requires the entrance in that place which will 
 most readily communicate with them all, i. e. as near the 
 centre as possible; but the temple being a single room will 
 have the best effect when the eye on entering can embrace 
 the largest portion of it at once, for it is impossible ever to 
 see the whole interior even from a corner, because the eye 
 cannot receive distinct impressions over a circle of the retina 
 more than 45°, or at the utmost 60°, in diameter. Now by 
 taking -two lines fixed at this angle, a folding rule, for 
 instance, and laying it on the plan of any room, you will 
 find, by moving it about, that position in which they include 
 the greatest portion of the area; and it will be found that 
 the more an oblong room deviates from the square, the more 
 of it can you thus see at once; and that, when the room is 
 a double square, or longer, the best position for the point of 
 view is the centre of an end; and the worst is the centre of 
 
 * Tn the excellent Essay on Grecian Architecture, prefixed to his edition of Sir 
 W. Chambers, to which I owe much assistance in this inquiry 
 
180 
 
 HISTOKY AST) RUDIMENTS 
 
 a side, (m which place tlie great temple at Palmyra ur en- 
 tered .) The general use of the former place, therefore, in 
 ancient (as well as Gothic) temples, is a sacrifice of external 
 show to internal effect. 
 
 It may here be remarked, that the Bare of the Greek 
 temples was not that gloomy, naked cell that seme imagine; 
 neither was it confined to the priests, but open to all. To 
 Eergusson is due the merit of first elucidating how if was 
 roofed and lighted. His theory bears internal evidence of its 
 truth, being the most perfect mode of lighting ever employed, 
 viz., by what we call in England a clerestory, but without anf 
 ether windows Idow. There is an example of it at St. Gene- 
 vieve, Paris, The Greek clerestory did not rise above, or 
 in any way break, the simple out-planes of the roof, while it 
 varied their otherwise too monotonous surface. The notion 
 that most Greek temples were open courts, or (to use this 
 writeris words) a **a sham temple,” “a colonnade and dead 
 wall surrounding nothing,” is beneath notice. 
 
 But with all the precautions for external utility, it would 
 still have been imperfect but for the one crowning, all-includ- 
 ing feature — the roof, with its one ridge and one pediment 
 ('only one being possibly visible at once.) On this point, 
 Pap worth observes, — “ Towards obtaining this unity of 
 effect and character, the combining quality of the roof is 
 obviously necessary in the Greek temple; it combines in one 
 span the cell, the portico, and the peristyle, without which 
 they would be viewed as parts merely, and to which the steps, 
 or base supporting the whole, greatly contribute. 
 
 “ To complete this unity of effect, only one approach was 
 obvious under any view of the building; indeed, so carefully 
 was this principle attended to, that on the flanks of the edifice 
 the spaces were arranged in even numbers, so that a column 
 was placed in the middle of its length, and not an inter- 
 columniation, while the actual approach was always decidedly 
 indicated by a central opening in the portico, and by the 
 centre-marking character of the pediment,” 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE, 
 
 181 
 
 The base above alluded to was always (in the pure Greek 
 or Doric style ) equal in height to about a diameter of the 
 columns, and the architrave was the same : otherwise these 
 two principal parts would have seemed inadequate to bear 
 the pressure of those columns, concentrated on distinct 
 points of their length. The base was, moreover, for con- 
 venience subdivided into throe equal steps and no more ; for, 
 had the steps been much lower than a third of a diameter, 
 they would have seemed thin, paper-like layers, quite out of 
 place below those weighty masses. Neither could a Grecian 
 eye have tolerated the breaking of these continuous lines by 
 the introduction of smaller steps or mounting-blocks opposite 
 the entrance or elsewhere. They preferred the inconvenience 
 of ascending steps, 15, 20, and even 25 inches high ; and 
 unless we can submit to this inconvenience, all attempt to 
 copy a Grecian portico will be an absurb caricature. 
 
 In all great and complete buildings, of whatever style, the 
 basement, even to a considerable height, consists wholly of 
 horizontal lines, running 'without any interruption, rise or fall, 
 round the entire structure. Salisbury and Milan cathedrals 
 are the grand examples, but it is seen in all smaller Gothic 
 works if pure, and completed on one design. The peculiarity, 
 therefore, of the Greek basement was not the unbroken 
 horizontality of its lines, but their unbroken plan — straight 
 from corner to corner. 
 
 In the Grecian design, up to the roof, we find all principal 
 members and lines horizontal, and all secondary ones vertical 
 — a consequence of constructive truth ; the vertical-pressure 
 construction requiring all continuous joints to be horizontal, 
 and all discontinuous ones vertical. 
 
 This truth also required the continuation of the cornice 
 horizontally across the ends, ( though not there necessary to 
 throw off the wet , ) because the two inclined cornices above 
 would have given the expression of oblique pressure, unless 
 tied together into one triangle by this feature. By this 
 means the construction of the roof, though not possible to 
 
 16 
 
182 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 be displayed, was truly indicated externally. Moreover, a 
 support was afforded for the glorious ornaments iu the pedi- 
 ments, which gave life to the whole. 
 
 In descending from the general design to that of the parts, 
 we find every where * (in the Doric order) the principle of 
 contrast carried to the utmost extreme ; the opposite one of 
 gradation being as nearly as possible excluded. I am con- 
 vinced that if we really understood this principle of contrasty 
 and determined to embody it alone without compromise, in 
 a vertical-pressure building, we should be led to the complete 
 Doric order, though we had never seen it. 
 
 To begin with the most indispensable feature of Greek 
 buildings, the cornice, (for columns and architraves were not 
 of universal use,) we must observe that in all countries where 
 it rains at all (even in Egypt) this feature springs out of an 
 absolute constructive necessity : for it is impossible com- 
 pletely and durably to exclude wet at the junction of the 
 roof and walls, but by making the roof plane advance be- 
 yond and cover this junction. (Fig. a.) It is obvious to a 
 child that this must effect the object at once. But as in 
 China it is necessary that women should not walk, and in 
 Japan that teeth should be black, so it is necessary in 
 England that this natural arrangement of roof and wall 
 should be reversed, that the roof should be rather less than 
 sufficient to cover the building, and the wall raised to con- 
 ceal the junction. Of course, this requires a great waste of 
 expense in misconstruction, or rather patching, to keep out 
 the wet from season to season ; but on this, trades are said 
 to depend ; and, of course, the original falsehood has to be 
 concealed, disguised, and palliated by lie upon lie. (Fig. b.) 
 
 The tissue of errors to which we are thus led will appear 
 more clearly by the following comparison. 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 183 
 
 Junction of the roo f and wall in an 
 English building. 
 
 P, The wall-pla e. T, The tie beam. 
 R. A princi pal rafter. 
 r, One of the min nr rafters not tbd 
 by the feet but thrusting out- 
 wards, and having to be s ipported 
 by the pole-plate and a purlin (not 
 seen) which, concentrating the 
 whole weight on one p int of the 
 principal rafter R, calls for un- 
 necessary strenar’h therein. Above 
 r is seen a fourth set of supports, 
 they?cs£o1 which four se: s would 
 have sufficed if properly distri- 
 bu’ed. since it supports all the 
 o'hers besides the covering. 
 es, The sla'es or tiles made so short as 
 by their overlapping to become 
 much 1 ss inclined than the general 
 plane of the roof, and thus call for 
 unnecessary height therein. 
 
 C, The parapet or roof-hider, built 
 chiefly on roting wood 
 G, The lead gutter, capable of over- 
 flowing or leaking only within the 
 building, and immediately over 
 the chief timbers. 
 
 W, The whole weight of the roof con- 
 centrated on a point far within the 
 walls, deflectmg the tie-beam and 
 thereby thrusting the wall out- 
 ward. 
 
 Junction of the roof and wall in a 
 Grezk build ■ g. 
 
 A, The .architrave, or last wall-course 
 
 but two. 
 
 B, The frieze. 
 
 C, The cornice or salient course. 
 
 P, The wall-plate. T, The tie-beam. 
 
 R, A principal rafter. 
 
 rr, Minor horizontal rafters or purlins, 
 numerous enough to distribute 
 their weight equally throughout 
 the leng; h of tne principal rafter 
 R, and immediately receiving the 
 covering. 
 
 tt. The tiles, or marble slates, in either 
 case made long enough to have 
 nearly as much inclination as the 
 rafter R. 
 
 E, The epitithedas (overseting) or 
 stone gutter, entirely without the 
 building, and the inner brim of 
 which, being higher than the 
 outer, prevented the possibility 
 of an overflow weting the timbers. 
 
 W, Hhe weight of the roof ac’ing on 
 the exact ce/ntre of the wall’s 
 thickness, steadying and not 
 thrusting it,and not deflecting the 
 tie-beam. 
 
 But the intense ugliness of buildings without apparent 
 covers, or with covers just too small, and sliping down 
 within,* of course leads to the necessity of a sham cornice, 
 
 * The parapet fashion is derived from the Gothic system, in which this feature 
 was neither a deception, nor did it lead to faulty construction; for the walls of 
 churches thus finished were at least two feet thick, allowing room for a gutter in 
 the centre, between two little walls, of which the ou*er constitutes the parapet, 
 and the inner (often nearly or quite as high) receives the foot of the roofing ; a l 
 the timbers of which are thus raised above the level of the gutter and its outlets, 
 and thus perfectly safe from wet. Dr. Moller first noticed this excellent contrivance 
 in the minster of Freyburg ; it is the same at Winchester and other English build- 
 ings But if we want to adopt the principles on the thin walls of modern shells, 
 of course we have no means but by overhanging outwardly like the Grecian 
 cornice 
 
184 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 a huge construction of lath (or other pendent contrivances^ 
 and plaster, the burden of which, pulling on the thin outer 
 screens, is supposed further beneficial to trade. This piece 
 of scenery is sometimes continued all round, but generally 
 confined to a side or two, and returns round the angle a few 
 inches, in order to give the spectator the double pleasure of 
 being deceived when so placed as to see only one side, and 
 undeceived when he turns the corner. 
 
 THE FRIEZE OR NECKING TRACED FROM 
 
 Egyptian Greek Greek Greek Rt man 
 
 WaU. Wall. Column. Antse. Column. 
 
 Below the cornice of the Greek building we always find 
 a band called the frieze; and below the projections which 
 crown the columns, the antae, and every other principal mem- 
 ber, we recognize the same peculiarity; each has its frieze or 
 necking, the division between it and the mass below being 
 differently marked in each case, but always by a line of 
 shadow. In the general necking of the building (at least of 
 a temple) this line of shadow is cast by the projecting fillet 
 called the taenia; in antoe , and the basements of some tombs, 
 it arises from a general overhanging of the frieze before the 
 plane below ; and in columns, and the basement of Lysicra- 
 tes’ monument, it is formed by a groove, the direct reverse 
 of the first method, but agreeing with it in the production 
 of a line of shadow. This peculiar echo of the main shadow, 
 by a smaller one beneath it, seems to have been first faintly 
 developed in Egypt, seized upon and (like every thing they 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 185 
 
 touched) perfected by the Greeks, and to have descended by 
 tradition for 8000 years, through all the vicissitudes of 
 Roman, Romanesque, Gothic, and post-Gothic fashions to 
 our own day. 
 
 A hundred generations of men have now admired this pe- 
 culiarity, — have felt that it could not be omitted without de- 
 terioration of beauty. Why is this ? 
 
 Let us hazard a conjecture. We have said that there can 
 
 EGYPTIAN INTO MODERN ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 Roman Early Gothic Gothic Late Gothic Modern 
 
 Arch-pier. Shaft. Basement. Pedestal. Wall. 
 
 be no contrast between two things totally dissimilar. Con- 
 sequently, there can be none between two such things as a 
 cornice or capital, and the wall or mass below it. They 
 have no point in common. Now, if we can introduce be- 
 tween the two, something that shall have a resemblance to 
 the cornice in one respect, and a semblance to the wall or 
 mass below in another respect, it may form a contrast with 
 each. This can be done by cutting off (by a line,) from the 
 general mass, a portion about equal in height to the cap- 
 ing, or the mass of shadow cast by it. This will resemble 
 the dark band above in size,, but contrast with it in luminosi- 
 ty : it will resemble the mass beneath in 'position and lumin- 
 osity, but contrast with it in size ; and thereby increase its 
 apparent height, which, I think, any one must perceive a 
 frieze or necking to do. 
 
 In Egypt, the frieze and cornice formed one concave 
 
186 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 sweep, [though the intense sunshine of that climate casts 
 the shadow of the latter in such a way as to form a sharp 
 contrast of a dark and light band nearly equal.] But the 
 Greeks, aiming at the most unmitigated contrast, thought 
 the curved surface too light a form for the severe sublimity, 
 which was their object. They, therefore, made the soffite 
 and the f rieze two distinct planes, meeting [at first, proba- 
 bly,] with a right-angled nook. The mutules , fancied by 
 some into copies of wooden construction, have not the 
 slightest resemblance to any thing of the kind, being far too 
 thin and broad for any rafters’ feet ; moreover, the practice 
 of falsification, or copying one material in another, was to- 
 tally opposed in principle to every thing the Greeks ever 
 did. These features, together with their drops, are sup- 
 posed, by Papworth, to be intended among other purposes to 
 break up and confuse the edge of the 'shadow cast down on 
 the frieze, which edge, if straight, would most harshly cut 
 the sculptures thereon by a sharp line, besides appearing 
 like an architectural division, which, varying in place with 
 the time of day, could not always be pleasing ; and “ that 
 principle in architecture would be violated which prevents 
 the projected shadows from disturbing the adjusted propor- 
 tions.” The triple tiers of drops, it may be observed, so 
 situated as to be always seen in perspective, present the only 
 ornament consistent with severe simplicity ; owing all its 
 beauty to regular repetition of similar objects, without any 
 beauty of form in the objects themselves, or any introduc- 
 tion of the principle of gradation, except that unavoidably 
 produced by perspective. The idea of such an ornament 
 may have been taken from plants in a field, uniformly ar- 
 ranged for agricultural economy. 
 
 The triglyphs are now generally thought to have been [as 
 regards the mere idea] derived from the clusters of upright 
 reeds alternating with ciphers or monograms on the Egyp- 
 tian frieze-cornice. But it seems to me that the mere aim 
 at contrast and severe simplicity is quite sufficient to have 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 187 
 
 rendered them necessary. The mass of horizontal lines in 
 the entablature required to be contrasted by vertical ones, 
 and the frieze was the only place admitting them, the cutting 
 of the architrave vertically being such an obvious faslehood 
 as not to be entertained for a moment, while the chief plane 
 of the cornice was horizontal. But the vertical lines could 
 not be repeated all along the frieze without, not only great 
 monotony, but positive physical injury to the eye, as any one 
 may find who looks intently at a numerous set of parallel 
 lines. The alternation of a group of lines and a square of 
 sculpture more completely carried out the principle of con- 
 trast, besides giving a field for the sculptor. In Egypt, 
 each of these groups of vertical lines consisted of five or six 
 hemi-cylinders ; but the Greeks confined it to the smallest 
 number of repetitions that could exhibit equal-spacing, viz., 
 three, — and, instead of the soft rounded hemi-cylinders, they 
 adopted the graver form of octagonal prisms ; obliquity [but 
 not curvature] being admitted in these minor features, rather 
 to enhance the severe rectangularity of principal parts, than 
 from a childish search after variety. 
 
 The two planes of the frieze and the soffite being thus 
 each crossed by transverse lines, it became an object that 
 these two systems of lines should make the most intensely 
 rectangular contrast with each other, not really-— but visu- 
 ally : for this purpose, the real angle between them was di- 
 minished to less than a right angle, by making the soffite 
 slope forward, which has the effect intended in whatever 
 way viewed, as will be seen by the following sketches. 
 
 
 — ^ 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 1 
 
 J 
 
 ; 'i 
 !l; iii I 
 
 
 d 
 
 <x 
 
 a represents a Doric entablature, with the soffite sloping 
 over in the usual manner, in which it will be seen that all 
 
188 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 the angles a, d, c, & c., appear, in consequence of the perspec- 
 tive, more nearly right angles, t. e., more abruptly contrasted 
 than the corresponding angles in Fig. b, which shows the 
 appearance of a horizontal soffite. This effect will be equally 
 true in an angular view, as seen in the two figures below. 
 (a horizontal, — ^inclined soffite. 
 
 We must here, again, protest against that insolent libel 
 on the Greek architects, the wooden theory of Yitruvius and 
 Milizia, who, of all writers on architecture or building, per- 
 haps give the fewest hints at general principles. In the case 
 of the inclination of the soffite, this barbarous theory is at 
 once disproved by two facts, the inclination being observed 
 on the fronts equally with the sides of the building, and its 
 angle being wholly independent of that of the roof. To aid 
 the effect, the frieze was made to incline imperceptibly 
 backward, and the architrave also, because any want of 
 parallelism between them would have become obvious at the 
 corners. 
 
 The architrave being evidently the most important con- 
 structive member in this style, we need not comment on the 
 perfect fitness of the severe, uncompromising plainness, 
 strength-expressing squareness, and majestic breadth of 
 light and shade, on its face and soffite. The only approach 
 to decoration* appears at its very top, and so connected with 
 that of the frieze, as evidently to be intended only to recon- 
 cile the abrupt difference (not contrast, but contradiction) 
 
 * The shields and other metallic objects attached to the architrave of the Par 
 thenon, being not ajpourt of it, did not interfere with its nobly severe expression. 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 189 
 
 otherwise occurring between the completely ornate and com- 
 pletely plain member. The decoration is applied under each 
 triglyph, because the same number and quantity of horizontal 
 lines that suffice to support and bound the metope sculpture 
 would not suffice to stop and contrast these groups of strong 
 vertical lines. The principle is exactly that which led the 
 Italians, whenever they had a string-course serving as sill to 
 a tier of windows, always to attach something, it hardly 
 matters what, under each window or each window-jamb. 
 The sub-triglyphs are simply repetitions (with less projection ) 
 of the mutules ; and this repetition serves more than any- 
 thing else, except the cap and necking repetition, to give unity 
 of style. 
 
 Descending to the column, we must observe that the pro- 
 file obtained, as already explained by the generalized imita- 
 tion of limbs, though perfectly proper for the support of a 
 plane extending in every direction from the capital, fas a flat 
 ceiling,) requires an addition to fit it for placing under a 
 beam that extends on only two sides of it. Unless the archi- 
 trave were as wide as the echinus (which would render the 
 whole top-heavy), it would not press on the whole of that 
 member which is essential to preserve the analogy with an 
 animal extremity. The abacus, then, presents the simplest 
 possible way of spreading this pressure over the whole capi- 
 tal, and its thickness is regulated by what is found by 
 experience just to give the expression of sufficiency to this 
 purpose. If too thin, it is apparently useless, and if too 
 thick, unnecessarily massive. 
 
 The shaft, as already noticed, though required by con- 
 venience to be round, is, nevertheless, made to present square 
 (right-angled) edges. Nothing could be so contradictory in 
 principle, to everything else in the Doric order, as the sleek 
 fatness of a completely rounded shaft, whose mass only gives 
 it clumsiness without the slightest expression of power. A 
 Dorian entirely debarred from the use of flutings would 
 have made his columns square, at whatever sacrifice of con- 
 
190 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 venience. The first improvement on the square would be 
 by truncating its angles, to reduce it first to an octangular, 
 and then to a 16-sided prism. But the contrast between 
 two successive sides of this being very slight, and liable to 
 be counteracted by the faintest weather-stain, this contrast 
 was exaggerated to the utmost, by so hollowing out each 
 face as to reduce the arris to a right angle. The same thing 
 was done for the same reason by the Gothicists in many of 
 their octagonal features (see ninth example in the parallel 
 of neckings in p 185). There is only one case, however, of 
 the 16-sided shaft — that bold example crowning the promon- 
 tory of Sunium (Cape Colonna), evidently designed for dis- 
 tant view. Everywhere else we find the sides increased to 
 twenty, on account of the common-sense principle which 
 requires that in every structure, as solids should be over 
 solids, and voids over voids, so should projections be over 
 projections, and recesses over recesses. Let the square in 
 the annexed figure be the plan of the abacus, and aba, part 
 of that of a 16-fluted shaft. If a recess be placed as at a a , 
 beneath the most receding parts of the abacus, (or those 
 nearest the axis,) then a recess also, as at b, will come 
 under its most prominent point. 
 
 Bat by increasing the flutes to 
 twenty, one can be placed cen- 
 trally under each face of the 
 abacus, as at c c, and an arris 
 (or greatest projection) at d, 
 under the angle of that member. 
 
 This could not have been ob- 
 tained with any other number of 
 flutes, between twelve and twenty-eight, of whkfii the former 
 might probably be used with advantage in bold plain engi- 
 neering works, but the latter would introduce too much of 
 the principle of gradation, in the seven gradually diminishing 
 quantities, from the visual middle of the column to its 
 visual side. 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE 
 
 191 
 
 It might be thought that contrast would be better con- 
 sulted by making every recess or flute, a pair of planes 
 meeting in a nook, as if the plan consisted of five superposed 
 squares (as practised in some Egyptian works with a smaller 
 number) ; but not only would this introduce unnecessary 
 complexity by doubling the number of lines, but by drawing 
 the outline elevation of such a column, we shall find, in 
 going from the centre to the side, a breach of continuity — a 
 sudden change in the law of gradation, at that recess where 
 we first lose sight of the nook-line. Though gradation was 
 to be avoided, it was felt that wherever it did unavoidably 
 occur, it should be continuous. A sudden breach in any 
 gradation is ugliness, because it is neither regularity nor 
 irregularity. It is the same principle on which we condemn 
 the sudden change of curvature in the Tudor quell, and any 
 change from one curve into another, except the perfectly 
 contrasted flexure, as noticed in Chapter II. 
 
 There are obviously only three simple modes of striating 
 columns — by convexities alone ( reeding ) — by concavities 
 alone ( Doric fluting ), and by alternate concavities and con- 
 vexities ( scalloping ). The last is the mode most common in 
 
 ScaUoping. Reeding. Doric fluting. 
 
 nature, because regular striation is here confined to elegant 
 (not grand) objects, and this is abstractedly the most elegant 
 kind, being all gradation and no contrast. Of the other two 
 modes, the Doric affords most contrast, for several reasons. 
 First, all its lines (which are the only places where contrast 
 of light and shade can occur) are visible, — while in the 
 reeded column, only a few of the nook-lines can be seen at 
 once. Next, only two of these nooks in the reeded example 
 can so receive the sun as to have one side shaded and yet the 
 other not shadowed by it as at a, b. In the nook c, both 
 
192 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 sides receive light, though not equally ; and in d, one casts 
 its shadow on the other : now the edge of a cast shadow 
 can never have the sharpness of contrast that an actual edge 
 of a body has. Moreover, in concave surfaces, as already 
 remarked, the cast shadow of the edge often (in sunshine) 
 reduces great part of the concavity to equable shade, and 
 thus obviates part of the gradation that is unavoidable on 
 convexities. 
 
 The angular plan of the column ceases at the top of the 
 shaft, because its continuation throughout the swell, or 
 echinus, would introduce too maAy curved lines. It would 
 be more elegant than the present capital, but less fit in a 
 composition of which grand severity (not elegance) was the 
 aim, and in which the curves were made as few as would 
 just suffice to give greater value to the general rectangularity. 
 The long fluting lines, then, being stopped suddenly, the 
 same principle that called for the sub-triglyph, required here 
 the contrast of strong and repeated horizontal lines. One 
 was not sufficient to stop such long and strong lines as the 
 arrises; so three, four, or five of these stopping lines ( annulets ) 
 were made, according to the height of the column, and their 
 profile carefully studied to produce the strongest alternation 
 of light and shade. The Paestans trusted to intensity instead 
 of number, and substituted one deep, black hollow, but the 
 leaves introduced therein show a great decline from Doric 
 severity. Indeed, all the colonial examples are very impure. 
 
 The diminution and entasis, essential to the character of 
 limb-columns, do not, as might be thought, interfere with the 
 severe rectangularity of the style, but actually increase it 
 when seen from a near point of view. To explain this, we 
 must remember that the ocular images of objects are formed 
 on the retina, which is not a plane but a spherical surface, 
 and the most severely contrasted angle is not always an 
 actual right angle, nor yet that which appears most so in 
 perspective, but that whose image on the retina is most right- 
 angled. Every designer should understand spherical perspec- 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 193 
 
 live, i. e., projection on a spherical surface of which the eye is 
 the centre. It is by no means a difficult subject, perhaps 
 easier than ordinary perspective ; and the architect would do 
 well to consider (as the Greeks did) not only the elevation, 
 and the effects in plane perspective, but especially the 
 spherical projections of any thing, for those alone are really 
 its visual appearances. 
 
 Now, when we examine a colonnade, arcade, or any 
 similar alternation of masses and voids, we never place our- 
 selves opposite a mass or projection, (column, pier, or but- 
 tress,) but always opposite a recess, (intercolumn, arch, or 
 window. The visual outline of the column, then, is less 
 important than that of the intercolumn. Every one must 
 have observed, when opposite a Doric intercolumn, at a 
 distance about equalto its height, or rather more, the intense 
 squareness of its effect. This is because its ocular image is 
 more rectangular than if the opening were actually rectan- 
 gular, like a doorway. Let e, in the following figure, be the 
 place of the eye in a horizontal plane, x x ; and let the 
 vertical plane a. c, a c, contain the geometrical elevations of 
 two columns, c c. If the sides of the intercolumn (or a. e, 
 
 a b) were vertical, they would be projected in spherical 
 perspective as two portions of great circles* meeting in the 
 spectator’s zenith. Consequently, the image of the opening 
 would diminish upward, like a piece of one of the gores of a 
 globe ; and its top, b b., being projected, also, as a portion 
 of a great circle, would make an obtuse angle with each of 
 the sides. But let it be required to make the ocular image 
 
 * Every straight line becomes in this projection a portion of a great circle. 
 
 n 
 
194 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 as seen from e, parallel-sided and rectangular. The sides of 
 this image will then be parts of the two parallel circles, a b 
 c d, ab c d. The rays drawn from e through every point of 
 these two circles will form two very obtuse cones, whose 
 common vertex is at e, and their common axis x x ; and the 
 vertical plane c c (being parallel with their axis) will so cut 
 these two cones as to form the two hyperbolas a b, a b, 
 which will be the form that must be given to the lines that 
 are to appear parallel, as seen fjtom e. To give the opening, 
 therefore, the utmost effect of rectangularity, (as seen from 
 this distance,) the sides of the columns must be a pair of 
 opposite hyperbolas, having their common centre at s, and 
 their asymptotes, s, s, s s , making the same angle as e c, e c , 
 consequently the same as a e a ; or the angle which the 
 breadth of the intercolumn subtends from the distance chosen, 
 which distance will vary greatly of course in different designs, 
 but can never be less than the height of the order, because 
 the eye cannot see the whole of an object at once that sub- 
 tends more than 45°. 
 
 Whether this were the exact curve given to the entasis, 
 I have no means of ascertaining ; but this seems the only 
 reason that will assign any particular curve. With regard 
 to its dependence on a certain chosen- distance of sight, it 
 must be observed that, nearer than this, we - can only see 
 details, and hardly take in a whole column or intercolumn ; 
 while, at all greater distances, we take in several such 
 divisions, and estimate their form rather by the axes than the 
 outlines of the columns, so that their limb-like form does not 
 interfere with the rectangular nature of the principal 
 divisions.* The thought and provision bestowed by the 
 
 * Few things in modern Grecian caricatures are uglier than the upward expan- 
 sion in the width of a colonnade of some length, as the longest one in the front of 
 the British Museum. The columns being set with their axes upright, their inner 
 sides lean away from the wall, and (when viewed from one end of the avenue) 
 appear falling. This effect cannot happen with a short portico, whose length does 
 not much exceed its height, because the opening at the further end, (like those 
 mentioned above,) though not rectangular, will appear so. But the further it is 
 removed, the less correction qf this kind will it receive, so that the longer the colon- 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 195 
 
 Doric architects on the effect at every possible distance (from 
 miles down to inches, from their work) is most remarkable. 
 
 The optical corrections are another most admirable refine- 
 ment peculiar to the architecture of the Greeks. This effect 
 does not require the presence of more than one column, (so 
 that it cannot depend on the intercolumn,) and it disappears 
 beyond a moderate distance. It is explained perfectly by 
 the fact that when the eye is directed to the middle of the 
 column’s height, (which it must be to see the whole,) the 
 upper and lower parts being, the one more distant, and the 
 other nearer, than the part to which the eye has adjusted 
 itself ; they will both produce on the retina, indistinct images, 
 out of focus, and therefore too wide. The effect may be per- 
 fectly imitated with a model of the eye, or a camera-obscura. 
 But the entasis in Greek columns is commonly more than suf- 
 ficient to correct this illusion, and so we should expect both 
 from the treatment of the intercolumn above explained, and 
 from the generalized imitation of natural columns. 
 
 But the most general source of the illusions to which these 
 corrections were applied, was irradiation , or the spreading 
 of luminous impressions on the retina. It is this which makes 
 the angular column of a portico, seen against the sky, appear 
 narrower (unless made broader) than the others seen against 
 a ground darker than themselves. In each case, the lighter 
 image encroaches on the limits of the darker, 
 
 — the sky on the dark column, — the fight 
 columns on their back-ground. As this fact 
 (perfectly established in optics) is strangely 
 disputed by some architects, we subjoin a 
 figure that will furnish an experimental illus- 3=11 - , - -EEE 3 
 tration. Let the reader, from the distance of "" 
 
 nade, the more should the axes of the columns lean inward, though they never 
 need lean so much as to make the inner sides quite vertical. We should therefore 
 observe this proportion. The width of the passage at the floor : that at the ceil- 
 ing, : : its length : the diagonal formed by that length, and the height from the eye 
 to the ceiling. This rule would make the inward inclination of the columns on the 
 flarik, of a temple, greater than on the front ; which the latest measurements, I 
 believe, have shown to be the case 
 
196 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 a yard, estimate the relative widths of the two ends of this 
 rectangle, and then measure them. The drops under the 
 taenia, if made cylindrical, will appear to taper downwards, 
 from their tops being seen against the shadow of the fillet 
 above, and their lower ends against the bright surface. To 
 correct this, they are made slightly conical in the contrary 
 direction. So, also, columns with vertical sides seen against 
 a wall, the upper parts of wiich are shaded more than the 
 lower, (as always happens behind a colonnade,) will appear 
 to taper downwards ; and to correct this, seems the only ob- 
 ject in the slight and hardly perceptible upward diminution 
 given to antee, and perhaps that of columns in the lighter 
 orders, which are not imitated from the animal type. 
 
 Some other corrections may be called rather cesthetic than 
 optical, being directed against illusions of percejrtion rather 
 than sense ; many of which may be traced to the well-known 
 effect of contrast, always to make the difference between the 
 things contrasted appear greater than it really is. Red and 
 green placed together, appear redder and greener towards 
 their junction than at a distance therefrom ; and this I hold 
 to be applicable to all contrasts of whatever kind.* Thus, 
 angles being contrasts, the difference of direction between 
 their two lines will seem greater than it really is ; and hence, 
 except in the case of a right angle, (where this difference is 
 a maximum,) it will be increased ; i. e., every oblique angle 
 must appear less oblique than it is ; an acute angle be ap- 
 parently increased, and an obtuse angle diminished. To this 
 I attribute the fact, that the general outline of a portico, 
 with all the axes of its columns vertical, seems broader at the 
 top , — an effect not, I believe, observable when there is no 
 pediment. In the outline, we have three obtuse angles, abb, 
 each of which being apparently diminished, ('as by the 
 dotted lines at b b,) all will evidently conspire to make the 
 
 * It is very obvious in contrasted dimensions. Whenever they are not greatly 
 different, (those of the faciae of an architrave, for instance.) we shaU on measure- 
 ment always find that we have orer-estimated the difference. 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 197 
 
 sides apppear to over- 
 hang, and the effect will 
 be further increased when 
 the outline is connected 
 with the ground-line, not 
 
 by a right angle but by ^ ^ 
 
 two obtuse ones, as at d c, 
 
 (which often occurs from a flight of thin modern steps, or 
 from perspective lines of stylobates, &c.) The mere 
 diminution of the corner column is not sufficient to counter- 
 act this effect, at least not in the case of the lighter orders, 
 where the diminution is so much less than in the Doric ; and 
 hence the axis of the column should be inclined, and, to 
 equalize the spaces between the capitals, of course the axes 
 of all the columns must have a general upward convergence. 
 This agrees with the result of the latest admeasurements. 
 
 The antique orders seem to have originated in different 
 parts of the world — the Doric being the only one that can 
 properly be considered a Greek invention ; the Tuscan a 
 modification of the Doric ; the Ionic an Asiatic importation. 
 The Corinthian a refinement on the Egyptian and the com- 
 posite rather what its name would import than a separate 
 order. In all Asiatic styles, also, there is a tendency towards 
 lateral projections from two opposite sides of the capital, 
 sometimes turning upward, and serving as brackets to the 
 architrave ; sometimes pendent, and reminding one of volutes, 
 though not taking that form. The base is another Asiatic 
 feature, and regularly increases, the further east we go, till 
 in India it sometimes, with its innumerable moulded details, 
 reaches to a height exceeding that of the shaft itself. 
 
 Before its adoption in Greece, the Ionic order was carried 
 to considerable perfection in Asia Minor, in a form more 
 nearly approaching that now used, but greatly inferior to the 
 Athenian improvement, which we have already briefly men- 
 tioned as arising from an accurate feeling for the subordina- 
 tion of the five classes of form which in the Asiatic examples 
 were much misplaced. 
 
198 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 There is a fair specimen of these works in the fine tomb 
 or monument whose remains fill the Lycian Room at the 
 British Museum, and I think any one must be shocked at its 
 want of an apparent architrave, and at the huge block-like 
 dentils, fit only for an engineering work, placed above so 
 delicate an order. These features are known to have been 
 anciently practised in Asia M^ior, but never in Greece.* 
 
 * These remarks must not be misunderstood to apply to any thing bejmnd the 
 order ; the general form and arrangement of that and other Ionion tombs being 
 above criticism, for their/ grace, lightness, - variety, and cheerfulnees, so opposite 
 to the gloomy ugliness and sham massiveness, by Christians thought essential to 
 every thing sepulchral. The most famous of these monuments, that of Mausolus, 
 which has given a name to all pompous works of the kind, has unfortunately left 
 no vestige ; and the statement by Pliny, that it measured on the north and 
 south 63 feet, but was shorter on the fronts, yet 411 fep + in entire circuit, has 
 made it a kind ^)f problem to restorers. Supposing the fronts to be (as in all 
 ancient buildings) east and west, it will be seen that the plan must have been 
 either eight-sided or c iiciform. The former would by its oblique angles exclude 
 the use of the Ionic (the national and sepulchral) order. The expressions 
 “ attolitur in altitudinem xxv cubitis : cingitur columnis xxxvi * * supra 
 pteron pyramis altitudine inferiorem (pyramidein) aequavit, xxiv gradibus in 
 inetge cacumen se contrahens” seem to imply a basement 25 cubits high, then 
 a colonnade, and above it a pyramid, equaling the height of that below (sur- 
 rounded by the colonnade.) The finial was a quadriga, making the total height 
 140 feet, whence that of the basement and quadriga being deducted, would 
 leave 80 or 90 for the order and pyramid or about 40 for the order alone, whose 
 columns, if Ionic, would be about 4 feet in diameter. The annexed arrangement 
 
 shows how 36 of them, with a systyle 
 spacing, could serve to cover the whole 
 plan, by means of trabeated domes , (like 
 that of the beautiful tomb at Mylassa,) 
 resting outwardly on the columns, and 
 inwardly on the sides of the pyramid. 
 A hexastyle portico. 63 feet wide, would 
 appear on each flank, and a tetrastyle 
 one (with a pediment) on each front ; 
 and no beam would be required of greater 
 span than 11 feet, that of the architraves 
 being only 8 feet. A late restoration 
 which challenges the “production of a 
 better” has nearly all its architraves of 
 17 feet span, and forming the only base 
 to a pyramid extending over the whole 
 plan, (which has about double the area 
 of that here given,) the most massive of 
 all architectural forms being thus honied 
 in the air on columns, and these of the 
 Corinthian order! 
 
 looking down. looking ttp 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 199 
 
 The immense temple of Ephesus, and others, hardly infe- 
 rior, in most of the cities of that country, were Ionic ; but 
 the European Greeks, with their general accuracy of taste, 
 confined this order to their smallest works, in which, sub- 
 limity being unattainable, elegance was substituted ; and 
 perceiving that the character of their national style would 
 be entirely lost, without any equivalent, when the columns 
 were reduced in thickness to less than a sixth of their 
 height, ("the proportion of a lion’s leg,) they wisely rejected 
 it in such buildings. 
 
 Of the exquisite curvilinear forms invented for the adorn- 
 ment of the Ionic order, none is more general, and yet less 
 understood, than that called by them anthemion , and by us, 
 the honeysuckle, though it has not the slightest resemblance 
 to that plant or any other, being no representation of any 
 thing in nature, but simply the necessary result of the com- 
 plete and systematic attempt to combine unity and variety 
 by the principle of gradation. First, a “line of beauty” 
 w r as formed, — a line of contrary flexure, of our fifth class, — 
 not of contrasted but gradated contrary flexure. On the 
 principles explained in Chap. II., the unity and variety were 
 further augmented by a gradated increase of breadth from 
 one end of this line to the other ; then a series of such lines 
 were combined, not all alike, but gradated from the longest 
 to the shortest. But as this did not produce a symmetrical 
 or uniform figure, the uniformity of halves was obtained by 
 joining two such series of lines in reversed positions : tints 
 we have one of the tuft-like forms that compose the pattern. 
 At first these tufts w T ou'ld be made all alike, but they would 
 soon discover the graceful variety attained by using two 
 such forms alternately, differing chiefly in their number of 
 lines, but both composed in the above manner. As the 
 lines, however, composing these figures are not long enough 
 to afford an extensive display of gradated curvature, such as 
 gives to spirals their exquisite grace, the artists could not 
 forego the introduction of longer lines, in which the curva- 
 
200 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 tiire (evanescent at their middle) increases up to each ex- 
 tremity so as to form curls or volutes ; and these, associated 
 with the above forms, complete the anthmion in all its 
 varieties.* 
 
 As a systematic attempt to embody as perfectly as possi- 
 ble, in a beamed building, the one principle of contrast , would 
 lead any designers to the Doric order and nothing else ; so 
 the attempt, in an ornament, to embody gradation alone and 
 unmixed, must lead to this precise combination of forms. 
 The tracing of the solutions is easy after the problems have 
 been solved. We can all make the egg stand, after Co- 
 lumbus. 
 
 The introduction of the anthemion into the Doric order 
 was, in itself, a great abuse, but was palliated by certain 
 changes made to diminish gradation and increase contrast, 
 such as the omission of contrary flexure in the curves, (i. e. t 
 reducing them from the fifth class to the third, ) the 'termi- 
 nating them by angular instead of rounded ends, and the 
 enclosing of each set of curves in the Gothic-arch-shaped 
 border, crossing and violently contrasting with their direc- 
 tion. An ornament more fit for this order (but perhaps 
 carrying the rectangular principle to excess) was that called 
 the, fret r which, it should be observed, was, anciently, never 
 more than a painted form. It was left for the age and 
 country of Soane to perpetuate such a thing in carved 
 marble, f 
 
 * Since arriving at this conclusion, I find Hay, in his “ Essay on Form,” 
 has explained this ornament on similar principles, and rejected the notion that 
 at is imitative. 
 
 f We must here warn the reader against a remarkable error of Ruskin. The 
 value of ornaments in architecture depends not in the slightest, dieffrm on the 
 ■manual labor they contain. If it did, the finest ornaments ever executed would 
 he the :-t<>ne chains that hang before certain Indian rock-teraples. But the value 
 of ornaments depends wholly ©n the amount of thought, of mental lafi&r, em- 
 bodied ; and whether this be great or small, it is essential that it he not excee£e-$ 
 
 Doric f r<* 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 201 
 
 What Sir J. Reynolds observes of his art, is applicable to 
 every other . — “ Such as suppose that the great style might 
 happily be blended with the ornamental, — that the simple, 
 grave, and majestic dignity of Raffaelle, could unite with 
 the glow and bustle of a Paolo or a Tintoret, — are totally 
 mistaken. The principles by which each is attained, are so 
 contrary to each other, that they seem in my opinion incom- 
 patible, and as impossible to exist together, as that in the 
 mind, the most sublime ideas and the lowest sensuality 
 should at the same time be united.”-— f Discourse iv.) And 
 he also remarks, “ Some excellences bear to be united, and 
 are improved by union ; others are of a discordant nature, 
 and the attempt to join them only produces a harsh jarring 
 of incongruous principles. The attempt to unite contrary . 
 excellences (of form for instance) in a single figure, can 
 never escape degenerating into the monstrous, but by sink- 
 ing into the insipid ; by taking away its marked character, 
 and weakening its expression.” — {Disc, v.) Such was the 
 attempt to produce a Doric ornament (a contradiction in 
 terms) ; and the result, the rectangular fret, may well be 
 considered (with all its varieties) the most monotonous and 
 insipid thing ever used as an ornament by the ancients. 
 
 If we extend the term “ ornament” to the glorious sculp- 
 tures that formed a necessary part of the Doric order, that 
 filled its cell-frieze (in low relief,) its metopes, (in higher,) 
 and its pediments, (in detached statuary,) then we may well 
 consider it by far the most ornate (or rather richest) order 
 or style ever executed. The invention of a fit substitute for 
 these, i. e., one that shall produce the same architectural 
 
 bv the manual labor, for then the latter will appear thrown away. The Boric fret 
 contains thought, but not enough to render it wmrth carving, perhaps hardly 
 worth careful painting. But the Boric column and entablature contain such un- 
 explored volumes of thought, that no material or finish is too fine for them. 
 Though executed in polished porphyry, the head-work would outshine the handi- 
 work. 
 
 It is far better that the thought be inadequately expressed, that the workman- 
 ship be not worthy of it, (as in foliage of edgelesft cas 1, iron, for instance,) than 
 that the design be unworthy of the manual labor, as in Soane’s carved frets. 
 
202 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 effect, and harmonize with the rest of the composition, is the 
 main problem to be solved in the adaptation of this grand 
 style to those few modern purposes in which it may and 
 ought to be employed.* 
 
 The Corinthian order, with all its elegance, indicates the 
 approach, if not the commencement, of decline in Grecian 
 art : if not in architecture, at least in sculpture, of which 
 this order did not absolutely require any. Carving had 
 usurped its place, doubtlessly because the sculptors were no 
 longer capable of executing those wonders, by the side of 
 which all later sculpture would have seemed barbarous. 
 
 In the decline of taste, in all countries and in all arts 
 alike, every thing is ornament, if not fritter, and no beauty 
 is seen in the pure noble breadth and simplicity of the earlier 
 productions. The Parthenon itself could not spurn from its 
 eternal surfaces the brush that found them a convenient field 
 for the display of its ephemeral fancies. First, the few 
 mouldings were covered with forms imitative of the cut 
 mouldings of the delicate orders ; from narrower surfaces, 
 
 * Convinced that Greek architecture (being founded on nature and truth) can 
 never lose its influence, never cease to be used (be it ever so useless,) nor cease to 
 be practised (be it ever so impracticable,) we must find it a matter of some im- 
 portance how it shall be imi+ated, whether used or abused, applied or misapplied, 
 A few words on the more obvious and gross failures of our imitation, may not be 
 here misplaced ; especially regarding the substitute necessary for the Doric me- 
 topes and^ediment-sculpture. In interiors and on northern fronts, I can see no 
 objection to painting or inlaying, in the style of the ancient vases, the figures 
 lighter than the ground, and varied by lines or drapery-folds, but with no attempt 
 at deceptive shadowing. In fronts receiving the sun, however, this will not an- 
 swer ; great relief and roughness are there requisite to break up the otherwise 
 straight shadow of the cornice. Where the figures are not phonetic, but mere 
 patterns, it will be needful for severity of expression that they be of the second 
 cla.-s, i. e , chiefly composed of straight lines, but diagonal ones (in the metopes, 
 to avo d confusion with the surrounding lines, and in the pediment, to avoid a 
 graver style of form than that of the member itself.) Iron gratings, of large and 
 simple, but carefully studied and varied patterns, might be placed before a dark 
 tympanum and metopes (the latter much more recessed than anciently, as every 
 recess should b , to suit this climate) ; and to procure those masses of light in 
 pleasing forms, necessary for the due effect at a distance, polygonal or star-like 
 portions of these gratings [one in each metope and three or five in the pediment] 
 might be filled up, not with a flat surface, but with Several planes forming a pyra- 
 midal or gem-like variety of surface, giving business and play of light and shade, 
 without deviating from rectilinear form 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 203 
 
 they advanced to broader, till even the abacus was made a 
 pattern-block. When the noble Dorian works began to be 
 thus desecrated is uncertain, but probably not till a late 
 date, as no Greek or even Roman writer makes the slightest 
 allusion to the practice. On the contrary, the constant use 
 of the term white stone (or marble) in their descriptions of 
 buildings shows that a value was placed on that whiteness, . 
 which alone could render (even under a Grecian sun) some 
 of the delicate adjustments of light and shade visible. The 
 low relief of the cell-frieze of the Parthenon, perhaps ren- 
 dered a colored ground necessary, even to understand it, in 
 its dark situation, just under the ceiling of the colonnade ; 
 and probably the metopes and pediment sculptures, though 
 not requiring such a contrivance for relief, had it at an early 
 date ; not originally , or the tympanum would have been 
 built of a deep-colored stone (as that from Eleusis, used for 
 relieving the metal sculpture of Ionic friezes, ) for the taste 
 of that day avoided paint wherever variety of color could be 
 given by different materials. 
 
 If there were any coloring on the Doric temples in times 
 of Doric taste, it must have been confined to a few members, 
 and intended to enhance the general monotony, just as a few 
 cases of curvature and variety in form enhanced the general 
 rectangularity. That monotony of color is essential to the 
 grand style, we may learn from all the works of nature in 
 this style ; — grand animals ; grand vegetables ; rocks ; but 
 especially mountains ; for in these, if covered with vegeta- 
 tion, there is a sort of utilitarian necessity for variety of 
 color ; and yet as soomas we retire to the distance requisite 
 to see the whole, or a portion large enough to be grand, the 
 atmosphere interposes its blue veil, and reduces the whole to 
 sameness.. What can more distinctly show that Nature will 
 not suffer polychromy in her Doric works ?* 
 
 * What the air does here, time often does for works of architecture. In a great 
 and ancient building whose poly chromic dec* -rations have been sobered down by 
 ages of neglect, till hardly distinguishable, a singular majesty is acquired from this 
 circumstance, and not from the polychromy itself. Not only the venerable age, 
 
HISTORY AM) RUDIMEXTS 
 
 m 
 
 It is possible that some of these temples, when composed 
 of a coarse material, might have had the whole surfaces 
 finished with some hind of stucco, paint, or varnish ; and if 
 the profiles were so adjusted as to give forcible shadows, and 
 no nicety requiring whiteness for its exhibition, a deep, 
 Intense, and uncommon color (red, for instance,) might per- 
 haps harmonize with the severity of form better than white- 
 ness. 
 
 As for the painted ornaments on the Parthenon, if they 
 had been contemplated in the design, they would certainly 
 have been carved, or (if flatness were wanted) inlaid, and 
 not executed in so mean a manner, by those who rejected 
 marble and chose ivory, for the statue within, because though 
 less beautiful and durable , it was more cosily . 
 
 It should be remarked, that the unparalled excellence of 
 the sculptures of this building has led to the habit of consider- 
 ing it the perfection of Doric architecture also, which is by 
 no means so certain. Being built after the introduction of 
 the Ionic, and nearly contemporary with its neighbor the 
 Erechtheum, the richest example of that order, it certainly 
 displays many approaches to Ionicism. The older examples 
 have, besides their simplicity, decidedly more grace, particu- 
 larly in the capital ; nor can any compete in this respect 
 with that most archaic form, of unknown antiquity, which 
 crowns the rock of Corinth, with its columns of a single 
 stone, only four diameters high, and yet (what wondrous 
 art !) not only not clumsy, but singularly graceful. The 
 loss of their entablature is one of the greatest losses archi- 
 tecture has to mourn. 
 
 As the Homeric poems have triumphantly refuted the at- 
 tempts to regard them, as compilations, so is there in the 
 Doric order, and especially in its oldest examples, that per- 
 
 but the dimensions, are apparently increased by the dim and misty effect that 
 makes everything look more distant than it is. Cicognara and Zanotto attribute 
 to this co, use great part of the sublimity of the interior of St. Mark s’ at Venice ; 
 “an effect,” says the former, “moot rare to be obtained in edifices overloaded 
 with so many rich ornaments. 1 ’ 
 
OS' ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 205 
 
 feet consistency and unity of idea that proclaims it to be, in 
 all essential points, the production of one mind. Like other 
 orders and styles, it must doubtless have received improve- 
 ments from many hands ; but unlike them, or rather in afar 
 greater degree than any of them, does it exhibit the marked 
 predominance of one genius ; and on this point we are con- 
 strained to receive the tradition of Yitruvius, that whatever 
 number may have aided in its progress, it had one inventor , 
 the greatest mind that has ever been directed to architecture. 
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 Application of the same Principles to Compressile Building, by the 
 Mediceval Architects . 
 
 The Greek architecture, having in itself few elements of 
 change or corruption, survived in tolerable purity for a longer 
 period than any other known system, and even in its latest 
 works (few of which, however, were durable enough to remain 
 to us) it escaped one fault, that seems to have had a great 
 share in breaking up all other styles, (the Egyptian, Roman, 
 Hindoo, Arabian, and Gothic, for instance,) viz., the use, as 
 ornaments, of miniature models of the principal features ; — 
 the puerility that led, in Egypt, to making a capital like a 
 little house or temple ; at Rome and Baalbec, to enclosing 
 a niche with small columns and a pediment ; in Gothic 
 England, to applying buttressets and pinna cl ets without num- 
 ber ; in India, to a similar crowd of modeled colonnades, 
 verandahs, and domes ; and in Moslem lands, to shelves and 
 cupboards like cloisters, and to that multiplication of little 
 sham vaultings that has obtained the name of the ' stalactite 
 ceiling ; — the object of all being to get false magnitude by 
 diminishing the scale ; an artifice that never succeeds except 
 on paper , on which these things often look vast and sublime, 
 but never in reality. The Greek system escaped all this ; but 
 one change, the Introduction of oblique pressure, destroyed it. 
 
 18 
 
206 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 The Romans (as the reader should be aware) succeeded 
 in imitating no order but the Corinthian, and this only when 
 they adhered strictly (at least externally) to Greek construc- 
 tion as well as decoration, as in the Pantheon portico, the 
 temples of Nismes and Baalbec. The columns and entabla- 
 tures stuck on the face of an arcade, as in the Colosseum, 
 are a constructive lie, but not, as some suppose, a huge orna- 
 ment. The lie consists in their appearing a mere ornament, 
 while they are really indispensable to stability ; for these 
 columns are really the buttresses or props of the internal 
 vaulted ceiling, and they would have to stand out obliquely 
 and form apparent props, were it not for their entablature, 
 which (often itself a piece of disguised arch construction, in 
 order to throw all its weight on the columns,) serves the 
 purpose of the Gothic pinnacle, to steady the column below, 
 against the side-thrust ; by combining its vertical pressure 
 with the oblique thrust, to produce a resultant more nearly 
 vertical, and capable of being confined within the foot of a 
 vertically placed column.* But the column is false, because 
 it appears made to sustain the vertical pressure alone. 
 Being a prop, it should have appeared one ; but this was 
 never attempted till the thirteenth century. Till then, 
 propping, though a sound principle in building, was con- 
 sidered an improper one to appear in architecture ; and this 
 one disguise kept the art for fifteen centuries in a continually 
 deepening degradation.")" The arch was introduced by the 
 Etruscans or Romans ; but its necessary attendant, the prop, 
 was strugged against for fifteen centuries before architects 
 would admit it without a mask. 
 
 During this long period of false art, mixed construction was 
 
 * Thus, these attached columns and entablatures are (as Pugin expresses a prin- 
 ciple of all true architecture) not constructed decoration , but decorated construc- 
 tion. He regards it as a peculiarly Gothic principle, which is a mistake ; it is not 
 more a principle in good Gothic than in all good architecture, and was, perhaps, 
 on the whole, (taking all the works of a style together,) less attended to in the 
 Gothic than in an}*- other style, before the introduction of sham building. 
 
 t What, then, can be expected at present, when all architecture ik disguise, con- 
 cealment. and deception? 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 20 ? 
 
 universally employed (as at present) ; the three principles of 
 the beam, arch, and truss, being indiscriminately used, — the 
 first, in both stone and wood coverings of small span, — the 
 second, in the generality of stone coverings, — and the last in 
 those of timber, of which only the roofs or ceilings were (at 
 least after the last great Roman works, in the reigns of Con- 
 stantine and Diocletian) entirely composed. One conse- 
 quence of this was, that the long dark age of architecture 
 produced no durable works ; so that we hardly have any 
 examples (or not enough to show us the general manner) of 
 more than its first two or three, and last two or three cen- 
 turies. The style of the former is called Roman ; of the 
 latter, Romanesque, or (in this country) Saxon and Norman, 
 and by various local names in other countries. The dura- 
 bility of the Roman works arose from the national energy of 
 character, and from Greek principles of construction being 
 retained in porticoes, &c. The durability of the Romanesque 
 arose from a general return to more substantial construction 
 after the year 1000, which was expected to terminate the 
 world ; and also from the desire (caused by the frequent 
 destruction of the open-roofed churches by fire) to render 
 the whole, or as much as possible, of the fabric fire-proof, by 
 vaulted ceilings below the timber roofing. At first they 
 only covered the narrower parts and aisles* in this manner, 
 but gradually extended it to the main avenue or nave. This 
 was first done in Germany, and in the early examples we also 
 find the first change from the round to the pointed arch, — 
 generally, but inaccurately, considered the grand distinction 
 between the Romanesque and the Gothic styles. The change 
 doubtless arose from ignorance and timidity of construction; 
 but it had a most important artistic effect, by introducing 
 an angle into the arch, and thereby bringing it back almost 
 into a graver class of form than the third, and rendering it 
 more fit for main structural features. The pointed-arch 
 
 * As ambiguity sometimes ari-es from the uncertain meaning of this word aisle , 
 (derivable either from aile. or allee.) we shall use it only in -the former sense, as 
 applying only to the lateral alleys of.a building, 
 
208 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 buildings, though not attaining (for no arched building ever 
 can attain) the grandeur of the rectangular archless styles, 
 yet have a higher degree of gravity and severity than the 
 light sweep of the Italian round-arching can ever attain. 
 Compare the interiors of the Lady-chapel at Southwark and 
 the vestibule of Somerset House, and remember that the 
 latter is by far the more massive.* 
 
 It is common to date the great transition, from the first 
 appearance of a pointed arch, to the complete disappearance 
 of the last round one. But in truth it extends from the 
 revival of vaulting, (disused since the Homan times) to the 
 universal use of that covering, i. e., to the disappearance of 
 the last lintel, or the last unvaulted space. All Romanesque 
 buildings with vaulting are an approach towards Gothicity ; 
 and the building that contains a lintel, however, short, is not 
 completely Gothic. Even at Salisbury there are a few lin- 
 tels across the narrow galleries and passages. In this con- 
 tinued progress, the change from round to pointed is only 
 one step, and a far less important, and less exactly definable 
 step than another we could name, which is the unmasking of 
 the buttress. It is this that makes the grand restoration 
 from falsehood to truth. It is this that distinguishes the 
 beautiful church of Marburg in Hesse, and the more glorious 
 one of Salisbury, (begun a few years earlier, in 1219,) from 
 all previous buildings, and stamps them as the first complete 
 developments of the new system. The buttresses that prop 
 their vaulting appear without disguise. 
 
 Vaulting, then, being the all-pervading motive — the final 
 cause of Gothic architecture, f that to which all its mem- 
 bers subserve, for which everything else is contrived, and 
 
 * That is, it represents a more massive construction. In considering modern 
 English architectural works, it must never he forgotten that they differ from all 
 others in this respect. Foreign architecture (and English before the fall of Gothi- 
 city) consists ? n fine "building . But English architecture since that period con- 
 sists in the i epresentaUon of fine building, and its works must (like theatrical 
 scenery) be criticised pot as what they are, but as what they rep esent. 
 
 f This was first shown, we believe, by Ware, in his admirable Tract on 
 Vaults.” 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 209 
 
 without which the whole apparatus would be aimless and un- 
 meaning — it will be necessary here, first to take a rapid glance 
 at that art, then at the modifications it introduced in the gen- 
 eral design, and lastly in the subservient parts of the building. 
 
 I. Of arch or vault work as the, fundamental 'principle of 
 the Gothic system. 
 
 Whether any people before the Romans were in the habit 
 of building arches and vaults, is a question having no bearing 
 on our present subject ; but we must observe that the dome > 
 is a simpler principle of construction than the arch — is found 
 in the works of animals (which the arch is not), and has 
 been employed by many nations who could not (or did not) 
 build arches, as the ancient Mexicans and the present Esqui- 
 maux. The ancient Romans, however, (who constructed 
 with brick the largest domes even now in existence), not 
 only used this kind of covering, which rests on all sides of the 
 space to be covered, but also the simple or wagon-head vault, 
 which rests on only two sides of the covered rectangle, leaving 
 the other two free from all pressure. But further than this, 
 they were the inventors of that highly ingenious contrivance, 
 the cross-vault , which exerts its whole pressure solely on the 
 angles of the apartment, leaving all the sides free. Its origin 
 may be thus explained : suppose a simply vaulted passage 
 had to be continued across another exactly similar passage, 
 lying at right angles to its course, and it was required to 
 leave both corridors perfectly free. First, suppose them to 
 interpenetrate each other, without omitting any part of 
 either ; the square of intersection will then be completely 
 enclosed by four walls, and covered by a double ceiling, for 
 each vault by itself covers this space : every point, there- 
 fore, in this square is doubly covered, except the points 
 situate along the two diagonals of the plan, for vertically 
 over these two lines do the two vaults interpenetrate each 
 other. If we confine our attention to the lower of the two 
 ceilings thus formed, we shall find it to be a square dome, 
 
210 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 for a dome may be erected on a square or any other form of 
 base, and its property is always to rest equally on the whole 
 enclosure : now the four ridges, or (to borrow an expression 
 from carpentry) the hips of this square dome, are the com- 
 mon intersection-lines of the two vaults, and are evidently 
 simple elliptic curves in vertical planes : consequently these 
 two semi-ellipses have the property of arches, and can sup- 
 port not only themselves, but Square cross -vault, resting upon and 
 the whole of the upper ceiling. 
 
 against the angles only of its base. 
 
 Hence the lower ceiling or 
 square dome may be entirely 
 removed, as well as the four 
 walls on which it rests, leaving 
 both passages open, and the^ 
 cross-way completely covered 
 by a ceiling that rests solely on 
 the four angles : it is even inde- 
 pendent of the vaults over the 
 four arms of the cross, which 
 may be entirely removed, leav- 
 ing the cross-vault to be con- 
 fined solely by four definite 
 pressures applied diagonally to 
 its four angles. 
 
 The same elliptic lines which in the square dome formed 
 external ridges, here form internal ridges, called groins. 
 
 The beauty and advantages of this kind of vaulting led 
 the Romans to use it, not only over a cross-way, where it 
 was necessary, but also over all corridors and long apart- 
 ments, by dividing them into a series of squares, each covered 
 by a cross-vault, thus throwing the whole pressure of the 
 vaulting on the points of division between these square com- 
 partments, and leaving the remainder of the walls free for 
 openings, or to be constructed ever so slightly, or even 
 omitted altogether. The boldness of their constructions of 
 this kind has never been equaled. There is evidence that 
 
 Square dome, resting v/pon and against 
 the whole enclosure of its base. 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 211 
 
 the Temple of Peace, now in ruins, had its nave covered by 
 cross-vaults 83 feet wide, so that the groins on which the 
 whole rested had a span of 83X^2 = 111 feet ; and an apart- 
 ment in the baths of Diocletian, still in use as a church, has 
 a similar ceiling of about 86 feet in diagonal span still 
 remaining, although it is formed on an unsound principle. 
 The compartments are not square, but rather wider in one 
 direction than the other. Now in this case, either one or both 
 of the crossing vaults ought to have been elliptical , so that 
 both, notwithstanding their unequal spans, might have their 
 springings at the same level, and their crowns also at the 
 same level. The groins would then have been confined to 
 vertical planes over the two diagonals of the compartment. 
 But, in fact, both vaults are made semi-circular, and their 
 crowns being at the same level, their springings are not at 
 the same level. The consequence is, that the intersection 
 lines or groins are lines of double curvature, and not being 
 in .vertical planes, are not therefore true arches, and would 
 not be able to support themselves, were it not for the immense 
 and wasteful thickness of the vaulting, containing several 
 times more material than is necessary. Moreover, curves of 
 double curvature are invariably displeasing in architecture, 
 for the eye cannot readily understand them. 
 
 With the decline of Itoman power, this art of vaulting 
 was lost, and for centuries the basilicas of Italy and the 
 churches of all Homan Christendom remained with nothing 
 but timber roofs. The Greeks, however, retained (or else 
 re-invented) another mode of vaulting possessing many of 
 the advantages of groining, but not all of them. This 
 system depended on two simple geometrical principles : 1st, 
 that every section of a sphere by a plane is circular ; and 
 2dly, that every intersection of two spheres is a plane curve, 
 and therefore circular. The Greek vaulting, then, consists 
 wholly of spherical surfaces, as the Boman consisted wholly 
 of cylindrical ones. A hemispherical dome may be supposed, 
 whose base circumscribes the plan of any apartment or com- 
 
212 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 partment, square, rectangular, triangular, or polygonal. Now 
 imagine the sides of this plan continued upwards, as vertical 
 planes, till they meet the hemispheric surface. This meeting- 
 line must in every case be a semi-circle, and may therefore be 
 made an open arch ; and the portions of the dome thus cut 
 off from every side of its base may be omitted altogether, 
 provided their office as buttresses to the remaining portion 
 above be replaced by the pressure of some other vault, which 
 may be of any kind, if it be applied against the semi-circular 
 arch. Thus no walls are required on the sides of the sup- 
 posed compart- 
 ment, all the 
 weight of the 
 pendentive, dome 
 (as it is called) 
 being thrown on 
 the angles of its 
 plan. Thus this 
 dome serves for 
 covering an open 
 cross-way, and is 
 
 so applied at Vaulting of Sancta Sophia : the dome over the central 
 Sancta Sophia of S( l uare resting wpon its angles, hut against its sides. 
 
 which the covered cross-way, 115 feet square, might well be 
 esteemed, in the barbarous age of its erection, a wonder of 
 the world ; and the same idea repeated without end, — the 
 same sprouting of domes out of domes, — continues to 
 characterize the Byzantine style, both in Greek churches and 
 Turkish mosques, down to the present day. They have been 
 well described by Hope as a congeries of globes of various 
 sizes growing one out of another. 
 
 This system of vaulting has been adopted by two great 
 modern architects, — by Sir C. Wren at St. Paul’s, and by 
 Soufflot at St. Genevieve, Paris ; by the former with great 
 success, and in both made to harmonize well with the Roman 
 style. But observe the inferiority of this to the Roman 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 213 
 
 cross-vault. The latter is, as we have seen, independent of 
 the four adjoining vaults, over the arms of the cross. But 
 the pendentive dome cannot subsist without them ; for though 
 its downward pressure is confined to the angles of the plan, 
 its outward push is exerted against the sides, — though it rest 
 wpon four points only, it rests against innumerable points, 
 viz., against the whole semi-circle of each of the main arches. 
 But the cross-vault has its whole pressure, — not only its 
 weight, but its push, — collected into four definite resultants 
 applied to the angles only, so that it might be entirely sup- 
 ported by four ftying buttresses, no matter how slender, 
 provided they were placed in the right directions to transmit 
 these four simple resultant pressures, and strong enough not 
 to be crushed by them. 
 
 At the first dawn of Gothic science, when the numerous 
 and disastrous fires among sacred edifices led to the attempt 
 (first perhaps in the Bhine valley) to vault them with stone, 
 a mixture of the Roman and Eastern methods seems first to 
 to have been tried, and some curious combinations of this 
 kind are still to be seen in the old churches of Cologne and 
 its neighborhood. The superiority of the Roman system, 
 however, soon led to its exclusive adoption, and it is to be 
 seen in the crypts and aisles of many buildings of our own 
 country, as in those of the naves at Durham and Ely and the 
 transepts at Ely and Winchester ; but in extending this kind 
 of ceiling to the central avenue, many difficulties arose, not 
 perhaps so much from the increased span and height above 
 the ground, as from the oblong form of the compartments, 
 (those of the aisles having been square ;) for the builders 
 of this age very properly rejected the doubly-curved groins 
 of Diocletian’s baths, which indeed would have been quite 
 impracticable over a plan differing considerably from a square. 
 Various expedients were resorted to, and the only successful 
 one for vaulting the clerestory with round arches alone, was 
 by making its comparments square, and letting each corres- 
 pond to two compartments of the side aisle. This is the mode 
 
214 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 adopted at the three great Romanesque cathedrals of W orms, 
 Mentz, and Speyer (in the last of which, the diagonal or 
 groin span is more than 60 feet), and in the two great abbeys 
 founded by William I. and his Queeu, at Caen ; and it seems 
 to have been intended, but never executed, in the nave at 
 Durham. We have no example however, in England, of a 
 nave with round-arched vaulting, if we except the small 
 massive chapel in the White Tower, London, which is a 
 simple vault without groins, and is not a dear story, but en- 
 closed between upper aisles, so that there is no difficulty as 
 regards its abutments. But the various attempts to over- 
 come these difficulties would hardly fail to lead, first to the 
 mixture of pointed vaults with round ones, as in the Rhenish 
 churches, and then to the exclusive use of the pointed form. 
 Without detailing the various modes in which this might 
 happen, and did happen, as appears from the various interest- 
 ing expedients seen in those buildings,* we may observe that, 
 as the chief practical difficulties attached themselves to the 
 upper and horizontal portions of the round vaults, nothing 
 could be more natural (in an age unfettered by pedantic 
 admiration of classical precedents) than to get rid of these 
 difficult and hazardous parts of the work, by beginning each 
 foot of the arch as if it were meant for an arch of wider 
 span, so that the two curves might meet, before attaining the 
 horizontality which was dreaded in the crown of the round 
 vaulting. 
 
 The Romans had strengthened their vaults with simi- 
 circularly-arched ribs, i. e., portions thicker than the rest of 
 the vault, and appearing inwardly as flat bands projecting 
 slightly from the inner surface, and harmonizing well with 
 the similar forms of pilasters in the walls ; but they did not 
 place these ribs where they were most needed, viz., along the 
 elliptic groins, which bear all the rest of the ceiling. The 
 early Freemasons took care to strengthen these important 
 lines, and (on the same principle that modern joists are 
 
 * Whewell’s ‘ Architectural Notes on German Churches.’ 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 215 
 
 made deep and narrow ) they gradually converted the broad, 
 shallow Roman band into a deep narrow rib, by first simply 
 diminishing its width and increasing its projection or depth, 
 then chamfering the edges till its section became a semi- 
 octagon, (as may be seen in the newer Romanesque portions 
 of Winchester transept, but not in the older portions, which 
 are examples of the Roman manner, unaltered.) They also 
 beaded the two edges of the rib, and then enlarged these 
 beads till the whole became a double roll with a mere fillet 
 between them, whence the transition is easy to the deeper 
 and more variously moulded vault-ribs of the Early and 
 Complete Gothic. 
 
 Rut, meanwhile, important improvements were made in the 
 general forms of the vaulting, till a new principle, very differ- 
 ent from that of the Romans, was established. W e should 
 observe that the interpenetration of two pointed vaults (as 
 well as of two round ones) could only produce elliptical 
 lines, or else lines of double curvature, (for two cylindrical 
 surfaces can intersect in no plane curve except an ellipse,) 
 yet the early Gothic architects rarely made their groin-ribs 
 elliptical, and never deviating from a vertical plane. These 
 ribs were usually simple pointed arches (of circular curvature,) 
 thrown diagonally across the space to be groined ; and the 
 four arches over the sides of this space were equally simple, 
 the only care being that all these arches should have their 
 vertices at the same level. The 
 shell of the vault, therefore, 
 between these ribs was no regular 
 geometric surface, but simply such 
 as might have been formed by 
 laths laid across from rib to rib. 
 
 This shell is often no. more than 
 six inches thick, while Roman „ A r ^ 
 
 Compartment of the simplest Gothic 
 
 vaults of the same span would vaulting:** a a, groin-ribs; &&&&&&, 
 
 , -i ,1 r p . side-ribs or arches bounding the 
 
 have been three or tour teet. oompartment. 
 
 The difference of principle, then, was that the Romans 
 
216 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 made their vault -surfaces geometrically regular, and left the 
 groins to take their chance ; while the early Freemasons 
 made their groins {i. e., ribs) geometrically regular, and let 
 the intermediate surf acts take their chance. This was a vast 
 improvement both in construction and in art ; constructively, 
 because the groins are really the supporters of the whole 
 work ; and artistically, because the eye takes cognizance 
 of lines, not surfaces ; and while it is offended by the double 
 curvature of the groins in Diocletian’s baths, it scarcely 
 detects the winding and irregular forms of the Gothic vault- 
 surfaces. 
 
 We need hardly observe that these winding surfaces were 
 not formed of cut stone but of stucco, the shell itself being 
 merely a rubble-work of the lightest* minerals to be had, or, 
 in this country, chalk.* The Byzantines, long before, had 
 diminished the thrust of their domes by building them of 
 pumice-stone, hollow bricks, or pots (a practice revived by 
 that excellent master of construction, Sir J. Soane) ; and a 
 similar motive led to the adoption of the material called by 
 monkish writers tophus, volcanic. 
 
 The English masons, who, during the Romanesque period, 
 had been but timid followers of the continental ones, be- 
 
 * This economical mode of vaulting has now fallen into disuse ; but it was ap- 
 plied with perfect success, in 1819, in constructing a pointed vault of the simplest 
 kind, over the Romanesque nave of Christchurch, Hants, the diagonal span being 
 about 31 feet. The Gothic masons, however, at least in this country, seem to have 
 feared its application to works with a wider groin- span than 40 feet ; for in this 
 manner are constructed the ceilings of all the English cathedrals, with two ex- 
 ceptions, York and Winchester, which have somewhat wider diagonal spans than 
 the rest. The nave vaults of Winchester are entirely of cut stone, like those of 
 the famous chapels at Ely and Cambridge, and (without the frittered panelling of 
 the latter) a^e not inferior in beauty and extent to any work of the kind ; but the 
 choir of the same cathedral, and the whole of York, have sham vaults of wood 
 and plaster, — the only instances, perhaps, of Gothic deception. At present, such 
 deceptions are the only vaultings made. Their uselessness is shown by the two 
 disastrous fires at York Minster, now said to be ‘ restored,’ that is, prepared for a 
 third conflagration. Many other cathedral roofs have caught fire, but sustained 
 hardly any damage, all supply of air from below being cut off by the fire-proof 
 ceiling. The duomo at Milan, the abbey of Batalha, and Redcliffe church, Bristol, 
 have fire-proof roofs as well as ceilings ; so that the two former are permanent, 
 undecaying structures, and the latter would be so, but for the badness of its 
 6tone. 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 217 
 
 came, during the Gothic period, their masters, and construc- 
 ted many vaultings which for beauty and geometric perfec- 
 tion have no parallel abroad. Indeed, the defect of the 
 winding surfaces, though carried to a great extent in the 
 boldest foreign vaultings, seems to have been hardly tolera- 
 ted in England, — being here confined to the earliest works, 
 as Salisbury cathedral. In the next step, the groin-ribs 
 were elliptical, as in the choir of the Temple church ; and 
 hence, when, in approaching the complete Gothic, intermedi- 
 ate ribs were inserted between these and the original arches 
 over the sides of the plan (as in the south and west sides of 
 Westminster abbey cloisters,) these ribs also had elliptical 
 curvatures different from those of the groins, in order that 
 the vault of cut stone built upon them might have a regular 
 cylindrical surface.* 
 
 It was well observed, however, by Ware, that “the Ro- 
 mans, the Byzantine Greeks, the Freemasons, and the mod- 
 ern bridge-builders, successively tried the ellipse in architec- 
 
 * In these cases, as each pair of ribs that 
 meet at a point not over the centre of the 
 plan, form a leaning arch, tending to fall to- 
 wards the centre, this tendency has to be re- 
 sisted by a ridge-rib extending from the cen- 
 tre to the junction of the last pair next the 
 side of the plan ; but there is no reason for 
 its extending quite to the side arch, though it 
 usually does so in England. In the annexed 
 figure, the ridge-ribs are shown, as in foreign 
 examples, continued no farther than is neces- 
 sary. In this country, intermediate ribs and 
 ridge-ribs appeared in the later Early English 
 (as at Westminster,) and became quite gene- 
 ral in the Mid-Gothic (as at Exeter, Lincoln, 
 and Litchfield;) but abroad, these features are 
 confined to the declining Gothic, — not ap- 
 pearing tiU at least a century later than with Compartment of vaulting, with ribs 
 
 of six different curvatures ; viz., 
 u9, groin ribs, two kinds of side ribs, of 
 
 formerets , one intermediate rib or 
 tierceron on the wide vault, and two 
 on the narrow vault. Whichever of 
 these six be made circular, the re- 
 maining five must be elliptical, if the 
 surfaces are cylindrical. 
 
 Litchfield Cathedral. 
 
 19 
 
218 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 ture, and rejected it.’ 7 The trial which the Gothic masons 
 gave it was exceedingly short, and has accordingly escaped 
 the notice of many inquirers ; but however few the 
 examples of Early English elliptic groining may be, we must 
 not pass over so important a link in the history of the style. 
 
 The elliptic groin-rib seems to have been first tried a short 
 time previous to the invention of the intermediate or tierccron 
 ribs,* and to have been abandoned very soon after that in- 
 vention ; and I think the examples containing elliptic curves 
 will be found to present generally another peculiarity, viz., 
 that the courses of the masonry all run horizontally ; while 
 in both the preceding and succeeding examples, they take, 
 between each pair of ribs, a position equally inclined to the 
 two ribs ; so that, meeting the ridge-piece obliquely, they 
 are received by a number of saw-like teeth cut in its sides. 
 
 Thus the abandonment of simple circular ribs for elliptic 
 ones was an improvement, and the rejection of elliptic for 
 false elliptic , or compound circular ones, was a further improve- 
 ment, as was indeed every change in the general form of 
 vaults, down to the very latest examples, but it was other- 
 wise with their decoration. This, like the decoration of all 
 the other features, attained its artistic .culminating point 
 during the fourteenth century, and during the prevalence of 
 this pseudo-elliptic method of rib-drawing. 
 
 In the formation of the compound circular ribs, three con- 
 ditions had to be observed, — 1st, that the change from one 
 radius to another should be effected without an angle, i. e. } 
 
 * The French have preserved some of the old names of the chief vaulting fea- 
 tures. among which tierceron , applied to an intermediate rib between the groin 
 and the side of the compartment, and formeret to the ribs forming or enclosing 
 each main compartment, seem useful. In England, the ridge-rib preceded the tier- 
 ceron, for we find it in Sali -bury chapter-house and the chancel and transept of 
 Westminster ; while the tierceron appears only in the nave of that building In 
 both the^e examples, a refined taste led to making the ridge feature quite different 
 from the ribs, because, being not a support but a pendent load, it required delicacy 
 instead of strength, and therefore consists not of mouldings, but (at Salisbury 
 ■wholly, and at Westminster partly.) of undercut foliage. The later practice of ma- 
 king it represent a rib is a falsehood, when there are no tiercerons or leaning 
 arches to be distended by it. Without them it is a mere ornament. 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 219 
 
 that the two arcs should have a common tangent at the 
 point where this change occurs -2ndly, that the feet of all 
 the ribs should have the same radius, and, in fact, be exactly 
 similar up to the level at which they completely separate 
 from each ether ; for otherwise this separation would occur 
 at different heights between different ribs, which has a very 
 bad effect ;* — Srdly, that from this point upwards their cur- 
 vatures should be so adjusted as to make them all meet their 
 fellows at the same horizontal plane, so that all the ridges 
 of the vault may be on one level. f 
 
 The pseudo-elliptic vaultings are more pleasing than the 
 truly elliptic ones, on account of the greater variety arising 
 from the plain portions not forming parts of one continued 
 surface ; so that no rib can strictly be called a surface-rib , 
 though that name is commonly given to all except the groins, 
 ridge-ribs, and wall-ribs or formerets next the wall. 
 
 But the geometrical nicety, not to say difficulty, of such 
 
 * This precaution was equally necessary in the case of the elliptic ribs, and i3 
 observed most accurately in the vaulting of the Dean’s Yard passage above men- 
 tioned, which, though simple, is a most splendid piece of architectural geometry. 
 In the clumsy contrivances preceding this, the ribs sprung from the capital, not 
 only with different curvatures, but with different inclinations, the centres of some 
 or all r.eing lower than the springing. Afterwards this was not allowed. A condi- 
 tion was imposed first, that they should all spring vertically, and then, all uith 
 equal radii. The problems thu£ arising, rendered a single rib a. work of more 
 thought, ihan a whole building, to many modern architects. 
 
 f When they are not at the same level, 
 either the ridges must have a domical rise 
 (as in most foreign examples,) which gives 
 them a push against tbe enclosing arches, as 
 at St. Sophia, and is therefore objectionable; 
 or else the lower vauD, if it have a level 
 ridge, will at its intersection with the side 
 of the higher, form a leaning arch (called a 
 Welsh arch, ) which is supported by the ribs 
 above its vortex. This construction was not 
 common in the pure Gothic, though exam- 
 ples occur in the beautiful domed kitchen at 
 Durham, and in Winchester cathedral nave ; 
 in the, latter unnecessarily, for the side 
 arches rise as high as the main vault, but 
 their ridges descend towards it, — a decided 
 defect, as it causes them to push inwards Winchester vaulting (bird’s eye view 
 against its haunches or weakest parts, and plan of one compartment.) 
 
220 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 works, led, in the fifteenth century, to a simplification of 
 their general form, yet admitting of indefinite increase in the 
 decoration. This was the beautiful invention of what is 
 called fan-tracery vaulting , fvery improperly, for a fan-like 
 arrangement of ribs may be, and often is, applied to the sur- 
 face of any kind of vault.) 
 
 This invention might prop- 
 erly be termed palm vaulting, 
 or geometrically, the conoidal 
 or concavo-convex vaulting. 
 This regularity is shown in 
 the engraving, where it will be 
 observed that the portion of 
 vault springing from each pil- 
 lar has the form of an inverted 
 concave-sided pyramid, its hor- 
 izontal section at every level 
 being square or rectangular. 
 
 Rectangular Vaulting-pyramid. 
 a a a a, groin- ribs. 
 b b b, formerets. 
 c c, tiercerons 
 
 This improvement, not yet develop- 
 ed fully, is shown in these engrav- 
 ings, the first of which is a view of 
 the porch of St. Sepulchre New-at , 
 gate, and the next of a porch at 
 Guildhall. 
 
 In the above example (St. Sep- 
 ulchre) it will be observed that the 
 ribs, rising all to an equal height, 
 have a lozenge of flat ceiling in the 
 centre of each compartment, and 
 
 Hexagonal Vaulting-pyramid, 
 imperfectly developed. 
 
 St. Sepulchre, Newgate. 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 221 
 
 this space would be larger in 
 the more perfect development 
 of this method. Hence on a 
 large scale it is necessary that 
 the space should be domed, 
 and this is most consistently 
 done by simply continuing the 
 ribs with unaltered curvature, 
 till they meet and form two 
 ridges, as m the early vault- equal curvature, 
 
 ings, with this difference, that here, as the ribs have all the 
 same radius and different lengths, they must all rise to dif- 
 ferent heights before 
 meeting, so that the ridg- 
 es are not level , as in the 
 early vaulting, but grad- 
 ually descend every way 
 from the centre point, 
 which is the highest in 
 the vault. These arches, 
 described from four cen- 
 tres, soon found their way 
 
 bridge, (skeleton lines of one compartment.) 
 
 from the vaulting into all 
 
 other parts of the building, and became a distinctive style 
 called Tudor. 
 
 The Tudor, or four centred arch, is not necessarily flat or 
 depressed. Its chief advantages are, that it can be made 
 of any proportion, high or low, and always with a decided 
 angle at the vortex ; whereas the common Gothic must al- 
 ways be of a higher proportion than a semi-circle. 
 
 From this style arose the “ depressed Tudor,” with the 
 aspiring lines of the Gothic, and the peculiarities of the 
 Tudor. 
 
 The essential parts of one quarter of a compartment are 
 shown towards the left hand of the accompanying figure. It 
 
222 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 will be seen 
 that the 
 whole rests 
 on the great 
 arch a a, di- 
 viding one 
 c ompart- 
 
 ment from another. This is of the two- 
 centred form, but if the vaulted conoids 
 had been made to follow its curvature, 
 and spring with it from the same ori- 
 gin, they would obviously so intersect as to leave for the 
 clerestory window nothing but the small, inconvenient, lan- 
 cet-formed space, shown by the dotted lines at b. To gain 
 height and space, therefore, for these windows, the main co- 
 noids are made to spring, not from the foot of the arch a, 
 but from a point c, about half-way up its curve ; and the 
 ribs diverging thence in every direction, form, of course, not 
 merely half but entire, conoids and it is no small advantage 
 that the lateral thrusts of all these ribs destroy each other : 
 but their downward pressure, embracing the collected weight 
 of nearly the whole ceiling, concentrated on the two points 
 c c of each arch, is a serious defect with the present form of 
 arch, for it properly demands an arch with cusps at c c, as 
 well as at the vortex ; and though the three-jointed arch thus 
 formed might be unpleasing in ordinary situations, it would 
 be beautiful here, because statically correct.* It might 
 have been obtained without interfering with the general de- 
 sign, either by bringing up a highly iuclined rib from some 
 
 * This property of arches (by which each pressure concentrated on a point calls 
 for a cusp at that point, and each cusp calls fo T ’ a concentration of pressure on it.) 
 maybe shown by the cate ary, which becomes an inverted 
 Gothic arch whenever a weight is suspended from one link. 
 
 Hooke’s discovery, “ ut pendet continuum flexile, sic stabit 
 contiguum rigidum inversum,” is a motto never to be forgotten 
 in Gothic building. A French street lamp, or a spider’s web, 
 may thu- teach the architect important lessons ; and perhaps 
 the equilibrium of some of the boldest vaultings was insured by 
 experiments on systems of chains representing the ribs inverted. 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 223 
 
 point below g, to give additional support to the point c, or 
 else by throwing a flat arch across from c to c, whose lateral 
 thrust, by combining with the downward pressure on these 
 points, would turn the resultant more aside, into the body 
 of the rib a. 
 
 The variety of curvature in compound arches often gives 
 them a peculiar grace.* .But the “ depressed ” Tudor arch 
 is not a ivzczssary adjunct to conoidal vaulting, and the gor- 
 geous chapel of Henry VII. presents us (if j\ r e can look 
 through the disguise of meretricious ornament) with a noble 
 attempt to combine the advantages of this vaulting with the 
 aspiring expression and small lateral thrust of the high two- 
 centred arch.f The singularly complex vaulting over the 
 clerestory of this chapel, seldom rightly understood, becomes, 
 when divested of its inessential parts, quite intelligible, if we 
 remember the architect’s object, to combine the most recent 
 constructive science with the artistic expression of an earlier 
 style, and this in the face of a great difficulty, arising from 
 the unusually oblong plan of the compartment (nearly thrice 
 as long as its breadth), which, if treated by the Cambridge 
 method, would have required an exceedingly depressed arch, 
 hardly practicable, or at least, by its great lateral thrust, 
 requiring most clumsy expedients on the outside for its 
 abutments. 
 
 * The three following points should be attended to i-Q 
 these arches : 
 
 1. Their effect mainly depends on the angular extent 
 of the lower curve, which, in good examples is not 
 more than 65°, nor less than 45°. 
 
 2. The radius of the upper eurve varies from txcice 
 to more than eisc times the radius of the lower ; but 
 generally speaking, the greater their disproportion, 
 the more obvious, and therefore the less pleasing, is 
 the su4d°n change of curvature. 
 
 3. It was a common (but not a general) rule to 
 place the lower centres vertically below the upper and 
 
 opposite ones thus ; Four-centred arch. 
 
 f Since writing this, I have seen two other examples of this most refined vault- 
 work, in the Cathedral and Divinity School at Oxford. They are all three nearly 
 eontereporary, so that the priority of the invention may be doubtfuL 
 
224 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 But to return, the conoids springing from c c would suffice 
 to cover the whole plan, but the semi-arches formed between 
 them and the wall would have been far from pleasing, besides 
 exerting a push against the top of the wall, where it could 
 not be conveniently resisted (because not collected into a 
 single resultant. J The conoids are therefore opposed by 
 corresponding half-conoids springing from between the 
 window-heads at e, and to meet their outward thrust, an 
 additional range of flying buttresses is provided, above the 
 common or lower range, which take the thrust of the arches 
 a. The two flying buttresses are distinct, though connected 
 by a web of open tracery, which also fills the space a a. 
 
 So far, if the constructive principles of this ceiling had 
 been displayed, instead of disguised, it would (whether much 
 ©r little ornamented) have been as much admired, and per- 
 haps imitated, as it has actually been wondered at and con- 
 demned. But the disguise may be thus accounted for : as 
 the ribs of the conoids and half-conoids do not spring verti- 
 cally from their origins at c and e, their intersection would 
 form a segmental arch (with angles at its springing) ; but 
 this not being a graceful form of window-head, its angles are 
 rounded off, and to correspond with this and leave no portion 
 of the wall unoccupied, the half-conoids are prolonged down- 
 wards into the form shown in dots at e. But uniformity was 
 carried too far in making the main conoids, c, assume the 
 same form, for this gives them (as shown at c) the air of 
 huge pendents, for which, indeed, they are often mistaken. * 
 It is needless to say that the only real pendents are those 
 hanging from the centre of each compartment, as from d; 
 
 * Another unfortunate disguise arises from the foliation applied to the rib 
 which reduces that important member to apparent insignificance. Where strengths 
 is required, it should not only exist, but appear. Bold and simple mouldings, 
 should have sufficed for the decoration of the main stem, which so beautifully, 
 like the leaf-stalk of the fan-palm, supports its spreading burden, from which the 
 artist might also have learned the necessity of an angular bend at e. The pliancy 
 of the vegetable structure and the brittle rigidity of the stone do ntft, in' this re- 
 spect, lead to different constructive principles, since the tendency in the forme?,, 
 and the aim in the latter, are alike — to avoid all hut CQnigregfflk forqes^ 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 225 
 
 and these, which occur also in the same situation in the 
 aisles of this building, at St. George’s chapel, Windsor, and 
 in many foreign buildings of an earlier date, are not, as 
 many suppose, useless excrescences : they serve, like the 
 ridge-ribs and bosses of a purer style, to supply that load on 
 the vortex which the equilibrium of the pointed arch not 
 only admits, but requires. The abuse of these members 
 arose when they were formed into the semblance of ribbed 
 and paneled conoids,— features of support, apparently 
 pointing to fand therefore demanding J supports from below. 
 
 II. On the general plans . — Before proceeding to examine 
 the other parts of the Gothic system, it is necessary to glance 
 at the peculiarities of its buildings in general plan and out- 
 line. These, though all derived from the well-known basilica, 
 will be found to present many differences rather depending 
 on place than time. There have been plans peculiar to cer- 
 tain countries and even provinces ; and these peculiarities 
 seem to have maintained their ground for centuries, unaf- 
 fected by the changes in decorative style. Thus the churches 
 with two chancels, and those with a transept near each end, 
 are peculiar to Germany ; those with two transepts near the 
 centre, to England ; and double or dipteral aisles are a 
 southern feature hardly to be found north of Paris. So also 
 the apse, (i.e., semi-circular or semi-polygonal termination , ) 
 which was always universal, or very nearly so, on the Con- 
 tinent, is rather an exception than a rule in England ; while 
 the central tower or lantern, so generally and largely 
 developed in England and Normandy, hardly occurs in the 
 rest of France. Towers detached from the church are 
 almost confined to Italy; and pairs of towers in the rentrant 
 angles (a very beautiful feature common over eastern 
 Europe) hardly advanced west of the Rhine. 
 
 Some Eastern peculiarities of form, as the square and 
 short cross plans, were introduced by Greeks into the 
 Adriatic side of Italy, but spread no further, because the 
 Romish ritual involving processions required lengthy 
 

 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 churches, avenues, and aisles. No such reasons, however, 
 can be given for the other local peculiarities of plan, which 
 must be referred to the peculiar tastes of different nations. 
 
 The inventive fancy of the Germans seems to have led 
 them to try, during the Romanesque period, every possible 
 combination of form consistent with great length and the 
 cruciform plan ; or else the durability of their stone has 
 preserved to us a greater number of these early experiments 
 in Germany than elsewhere. Several of the oldest churches 
 of Cologne, (St. Mary in the Capitol, St. Martin, and the 
 ApostelnkircheJ as also St. Quirin, at Neuss, and the noble 
 early pointed church at Marburg, present a plan which, 
 though classed among Latin crosses, seems to form a link 
 between them and the Greek. The latter term is applied to 
 a cross with all its limbs nearly equal, and generally very 
 short, while the form now spoken of has three limbs equal 
 and similar ; but the fourth, which forms the entrance, i« 
 considerably lengthened.* This form is exceedingly uncom- 
 mon away from Cologne, though it is the plan of the two 
 greatest cathedrals of Italy, (That at Florence and the mod- 
 
 * All lengthy crosses are called Latin. There are several varieties arising from 
 the gradual leogthemng of the eastern or chancel limb, which, from being at first 
 the shortest, became at length in some English examples the longest. We 
 may distinguish — 1st, The original Latin cross, resembling a crucifix, the limb of 
 entrance being the longest, and that opposite the entrance the shortest. The 
 grandest example is the cathedral of Pisa, and this is also the form of the cl res- 
 toi'y in the ancient basilicas ; but their numerous aisles fill out the nave to an 
 equal breadth with the transept, thus obliterating all cruciform appearance in the 
 ground plan. The second kind of Latin cross is that described above, formed by 
 lengtheni g the chancel, and making both it and the northern and southern arms 
 all similar. 3dly, The beautiful symmetry of this plan was destroyed by still fur- 
 ther lengthening the eastern limb, though still keeping it shorter than the nave. 
 Examples are abundant in every country : the greatest are Milan and Rheims ; in 
 England, Ely and Norwich. 4tlily, The symmetry was restored by making the 
 eastern and western arms equal, as at Amiens and Salisbury, (•see p ,) the 
 spires of which are in the centres of their length as well as breadth. This is the 
 commonest. Go' hie form, but its symmetry of plan does not appear in the side 
 vi<>w, because of the low chapels forming the east end. The continuation of the 
 clerestory to the extreme end seems peculiar to England, and is very rare in largo 
 bail lings : Ely, Lincoln, and York cathedrals are examples, but at the latter the 
 eastern limb is rather longer than the western — a defect common in the English 
 double-cross churches. 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 22 T 
 
 era Vatican J having arisen in the latter case from the addi- 
 tion of a long nave to what was originally intended to be a 
 Greek cross. In all these cases the three short limbs are 
 either terminated by, or wholly consist of, three apses. 
 
 Many of the Romanesque churches of the Rhine present 
 an extension of this plan by forming a cross of this kind at 
 each end of a long nave, of which the finest example is the 
 Apostelnkirche. Hence arose the German double cross, 
 very different from the English, (see p. ,) and resembling 
 rather this figure, J. The two transepts, however, were 
 never alike : one of them, generally the western, has square 
 ends instead of apses ; frequently both are square-ended, but 
 the extreme ends of the building were in many cases, as at 
 Mentz, both apsidal, forming two chancels, and admiting of 
 no entrance in the axis of the building, but only in its sides, 
 (as at Worms and Oppenheim,) or on each side of the 
 western apse, (as at the very curious abbey of Laach.) 
 
 In later buildings the western apse was omitted, but the 
 eastern always retained, and occasionally it was flanked by 
 two minor apses projecting from the eastern sides of the 
 transept arms. This arrangement occurs in France at Rouen 
 cathedral, and in England at Romsey, Hants ; but in Ger- 
 many it seems common, the best known examples be#ig 
 Laach, Andernach, and Gelnhausen. In the latter, the side 
 apses are carried up to form towers. This triapsal plan, far 
 inferior in beauty to that above described in the Cologne 
 churches, arose from the then newly-introduced custom of 
 orientation, or placing every altar against an eastern wall ; 
 whence also the practice of giving transepts an aisle on their 
 east side only, destroying the symmetry of their end facades, 
 as at Salisbury, fp. ). 
 
 Sometimes a transept projected so little as to appear only 
 in the clerestory, and not to affect the ground plan, as is the 
 case with the lesser transept at the abbey of Heisterbach, 
 and the only one at Freiburg minster, both of the Transition 
 or earliest Pointed period. Both of these transepts, how- 
 
228 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 ever, are lower than the clerestory, though higher than tlx© 
 aisles, which is a great detriment to the unity of the builds 
 ing. The transept of Notre-Dame at Paris, and the lesser 
 one at York, are of the same kind, but, being as high as the 
 main building, are free from this objection. 
 
 The German Romanesque churches are not more remark- 
 able for these varieties of plan, than for similar complexities 
 of outline produced by their numerous towers, amounting in 
 some cases to six , and at the small cathedral of Limburg to 
 seven. The crossing of each transept had usually a low 
 square tower concealed by the roofs ; four arches thrown 
 across the angles of this, served to support the oblique walls 
 of an octagonal lantern rising above the roofs, and terminat- 
 ing internally by a cupola, externally by a pyramidal roof, 
 pitched at an angle of 60°, or more. The western tower, 
 however, ('whether placed over the crossing of the west 
 transept, or at the extreme west end,) was usually without 
 an octagon, and ended in a square pyramidal roof, the sides 
 of which correspond to the angles of the tower, and, by 
 intersecting its sides, form four high-pitched gables. This 
 form of tower-roof is a striking characteristic of the older 
 German churches.* 
 
 £mall towers or turrets were placed in pairs, first, near 
 the east end only, as at the Apostelnkirche ; then near both 
 ends, as at Speyer, Mentz, and Laach ; and finally, at the 
 west only, as in most Gothic churches, where they assume 
 greater importance, and become (at least on the Continent) 
 the principal towers both for size and height. When there 
 were two towers at each end, the two pairs were always 
 varied in form, height, and distance asunder. Thus, at 
 Laach, the octagonal eastern lantern is flanked by square 
 towers, and the square western one by octagonal towers: the 
 latter are placed as far apart as possible, viz., at the ex- 
 
 * According to some engravings it seems to be in some cases octagonal, with an 
 angle over each angle of the square tower, but they are often unintelligible or 
 irreconcilable. Even in Moller’s fine work there are discrepancies in this respect. 
 (See his Plates tff Limburg cathedral.) 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 229 
 
 tremities of the western transept, while the former are as 
 near as possible, viz., in the eastern rentrant angles — a posi- 
 tion common in the oldest German buildings, and which 
 gives to the eastern view of the Apostelnki'rche a Byzantine 
 and almost mosque-like character. All these towers termi- 
 nate in pyramids or spires. 
 
 The seven towers of Limburg consist of a central octagon 
 and spire, two large square western towers, with gable pyra- 
 mids,* and four slender ones of the same kind, at the extreme 
 corners of the transept, — a rather unusual position. Such 
 towers, however, occur in the great Gothic cathedrals of 
 Rouen and Rheims ;f and there is good evidence that they 
 formerly existed in the Saxon transept ends of Winchester, 
 but were removed probably in the alterations of 1079. 
 Historic mention is made of a tower or towers, also at the 
 east end of that immense Romanesque pile, which must have 
 been hardly inferior to that of Speyer. 
 
 There are also instances of pairs of towers so attached on 
 each side of the church as to form themselves a transept. 
 This occurs sometimes at the west front in all countries, as at 
 Rouen cathedral, Lincoln, and Wells. Again, two buildings 
 on the extreme confines of the Gothic sway,J perhaps the 
 easternmost and westernmost examples of pure Gothic, agree 
 in one great peculiarity. Exeter and Vienna present instances 
 of the only transept being formed by two towers built against 
 the sides of the church. 
 
 * A convenient name for the form of roof above described. 
 
 f These towers possess, both at Rouen and Rheims, a peculiar and rather elegant 
 character. They rise no higher than the main roof, are less ornate than the rest 
 of the building, and have each face occupied by one lofty unglazed window, or 
 open arch, divided into two lights by a very slender shaft. 
 
 % The geographical range of the Gothic style cannot be very exactly defined, 
 owing to the habit which eastern travelers have, of calling everything that con 
 tains a pointed arch, Gothic. It seems, however, to extend as far s. E., as Corfu, 
 or perhaps Rhodes, and n. w., to Ireland ; n. e , to the Baltic Isle of Gottland, and 
 s. w., to the oceanic isle of Madeira, where the extravagantly debased niches of the 
 cathedral of Funchal furnish (in the first modern colony) the last expiring effort 
 of mediaeval art : geographically placed between two worlds, it seems fitly to stand 
 botwebn two historical epochs. 
 
 20 
 
230 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 The Gothic buildings of France, though more magnificent, 
 present less variety of form, and far less external beauty, 
 than those of either Germany or England. Their compari- 
 son with the latter shows some great differences in general 
 design, which we will endeavor to trace. 
 
 The year 1219 is remarkable for the foundation of two 
 cathedrals of the largest class, one in Erance the other in 
 England — Amiens cathedral and Salisbury cathedral ; one 
 French Gothic, the other English. Our limits forbid a 
 comparison of their respective merits. 
 
 We should observe, that the churches of Normandy (espe- 
 cially the three magnificent ones at Rouen) approach the 
 English rather than the French type. They exhibit their 
 lengthy proportions, (every other dimension seeming sacrificed 
 to lineal extent,) their strongly marked transept and outer 
 buttresses, and their great central feature predominating over 
 the western towers, which in France were generally the 
 principal ones. Normandy seems always to have formed 
 architecturally an English province ; and the observer who 
 goes from Westminster to Rouen, goes from a French build- 
 ing to English ones. 
 
 The greater proportion of height to breadth in the French 
 Gothic avenues is not a general feature ; the great majority 
 of such vistas, in all countries alike, having the height equal 
 to twice the breadth. A higher proportion is confined to 
 buildings of the largest class ; for the larger they are, the 
 greater may this proportion be without appearing excessive. 
 
 It might be supposed that the introduction of arching, by 
 enabling wider spaces to be covered than by lintels, while at 
 the same time it required more extent of abutment (for the 
 same width of span), the higher it was raised above the 
 ground would for both these reasons have led to openings of 
 a lower and wider proportion, both in windows, arches, 
 avenues, and entire buildings. But this was not the case, at 
 least not in ecclesiastical buildings, the designers of which 
 continued to be fully alive to the majesty of tall proportions. 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 231 
 
 even when obtained at the expense of space and convenience ; 
 and they never, till the latest period of the style, admitted 
 archways for any purpose, great or small, lower than twice 
 their breadth This was also the proportion given to single 
 openings by the classical ancients, not only in doors and 
 windows, but in distyle porticoes (as those of the Tower of 
 the Winds.) But it seems to have often escaped notice, that 
 in both systems the placing of several openings side by side 
 (at least externally) renders a taller form necessary, and this 
 in proportion to their number. A tetrastyle portico formed 
 simply by the extension of the distyle, would be low and 
 squat ; it requires to be nearly square in its general outline, 
 i, e., the height of its openings must be about thrice their 
 breadth. A hexastyle portico requires the columns to be 
 placed still nearer than a tetrastyle, as appears plainly from 
 comparing the two porticoes of the Erechtheum. But two 
 columns taken out from either of these, especially the 
 hexastyle, would be quite inapplicable as a distyle porch, 
 the opening being much too narrow. The prevailing faults 
 of the English Gothic is lowness of proportion. 
 
 The whole internal portions of Amiens are so admirable, 
 that this model was closely followed in two other immense 
 edifices, each intended to have exceeded every human work, 
 but, after centuries of labor, left not. half complete. Beau- 
 vais remains a choir and transept only ; Cologne a mere 
 choir. The first of these glorious fragments, while preserv- 
 ing the proportions of its model very exactly, exceeds it in 
 scale .by about one-sixth : while Cologne would have been, 
 internally, almost a copy of Amiens, all the modular dimen- 
 sions differing only by a few inches. The German cathedral, 
 however, besides the advantage of a more complete style, 
 would have had a strongly marked transept, advancing four 
 equal compartments each way, a stone central tower and 
 pyramid of a breadth proportioned to the building, and two 
 colossal western towers and spires as high as its whole 
 length, and so adjusted that a straight line might be drawn 
 
232 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 from their summit, touching that of the central lantern and 
 of the east end. This building, if completed exactly accord- 
 ing to the design, would certainly eclipse all others of every 
 age, country and style. 
 
 The duomo of Milan, the greatest completed Gothic struc- 
 ture of Italy or perhaps the world, also closely follows 
 Amiens, both in proportions and scale, the chief alteration 
 being that of placing the transept nearer the eastern than 
 the western end. 
 
 The buttress-chapels (or else double aisles) of the conti- 
 nental churches called for peculiar modes of roofing. Instead 
 of one longitudinal leanto or semi-roof, there is commonly a 
 separate and complete roof over each compartment, but ex- 
 tending transversely over both the inner and outer aisle, and 
 terminating both ways in hips. Such is the case at Cologne, 
 and at the nave and apsis of Amiens, but in the choir they 
 terminate outwardly in gables, — an arrangement which 
 seems more consistent than any other with the Gothic prin- 
 ciples. The superb church of St. Ricquier, near Abbeville, 
 presents a singular modification of this. Instead of each 
 roof covering a compartment, it covers two half-compart- 
 ments, making a gable over each buttress, and a gutter over 
 each window. 
 
 As these modes of aisle-roofing do not abut against the 
 central building, they do not necessarily lead to a triforium ; 
 and the clerestory windows might be continued quite down 
 to the cornice over the aisle arches. Such is, in fact, the 
 case ; but the architects, wishing to retain a kind of trifori- 
 um, formed the lower part of these windows into’ a very nar- 
 row one, not lighted from within, as with us, but admitting 
 light from without. These galleries are formed, as it were, 
 in the thickness of the wall, — if that can be called a wall 
 which consists only of two fairy-like arcades, — the outer 
 glazed, the inner left open. The shafts of both are of the 
 utmost slenderness, having nothing to support but the walk 
 above, open to the exterior, and the glass of the clerestory 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 233 
 
 window ; and hence there is no wide arch spanning the whole 
 compartment, or at least half of it, as in English triforia. 
 While the Mind triforium at Abbeville, with tracery and par- 
 apets varied in each compartment, is exquisitely beautiful, 
 these luminous triforia at Cologne, Amiens, Beauvais, and 
 St. Ouen, by admitting light where we commonly see solid 
 wall or dark openings, produce an effect our Gothic never 
 reached. 
 
 Dr. Moller observes, that the Gothic churches of Hesse 
 are mostly without clerestories, but does not say whether 
 their outer roofs all resemble that at Marburg, — an interest- 
 ing question, as this kind of building (which has its own pe- 
 culiar style of beauty, and is well adapted to modern wants) 
 is very variously roofed in different countries. At Vienna, 
 one enormous high-pitched roof covers all three avenues, and 
 gives the form of a barn, with more roof than wall. At the 
 east end of Salisbury, a similar roof, but with a moderate 
 pitch, below 45°, is skillfully adjusted at the end to fit three 
 acute gables, — an example well worthy of modern imitation. 
 The more general English method was by three distinct lon- 
 gitudinal roofs, (as at the Temple church,) leaving the inter- 
 mediate gutters to be choked by every fall of snow. At Mar- 
 burg, the aisles are covered by transverse roofs over each com- 
 partment, originally (now over each pair) proceeding from 
 the central roof, and terminating outwardly in hips. 
 
 In the foreign dipteral churches, whether with the outer 
 aisles open or divided into buttress-chapels, these parts were 
 commonly of the same height with the inner aisles. Milan 
 and Beauvais present exceptions to this. They have what 
 may be called a double clerestory, the inner aisles rising above 
 the outer aisles or chapels, and having windows above them. 
 At Milan, the outer aisles are so disproportionately high, 
 that these two clerestories, which are exactly equal and 
 similar, are reduced to a very poor altitude ; and the com- 
 partments being very broad, the vaulting leaves room in each 
 ca£& for only a very small window under its crown, i. c., in 
 
234 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 the centre of each wide compartment. Thus these two tiers 
 of thinly-scattered holes admit only just light enough to 
 destroy the unity of a building with five avenues of equal 
 height ; and this famous duomo has neither the beauty of 
 the common Gothic nor of the Hessian arrangement, but the 
 disadvantages of both, with neither the airy clerestory nor 
 the palm-like combination of pillar and out-branching vault- 
 ribs, which is peculiar to buildings without clerestories. But 
 how differently is this managed at Beauvais, which, though 
 the loftiest apartment ever built, is yet made by its numerous 
 stories, and their skilfully-contrasted inequalities, to appear 
 both inwardly and outwardly loftier than it really is. For 
 w r ithin we find, first, the enclosure walls of the outer chapels, 
 then their lofty windows ; above their vaulting a small blank 
 triforium, and then the moderate-sized aisle windows ; again, 
 (above the aisle vaulting,) the great transparent triforium, 
 and then the immense clerestory, with windows longer even 
 than those of the outer tier, and at least ten times the height 
 of the first blank triforium, which yet is (or seems) high 
 enough to form a gallery. A dimension is not increased in 
 appearance by division into equal parts, but only into unequal 
 ones well contrasted. It is very doubtful whether the uni- 
 form repetition of columns, windows, or other features, adds 
 to apparent length ; but the unequal divisions of length 
 formed in a Gothic church by the vestibule, nave, -crossing, 
 chancel, &e., give artificial length, and the unequal stories 
 give artificial height, while the equal stories of a factory pro- 
 duce no such effect.* This principle of contrasted division 
 is important in the composition of mouldings. In good 
 
 * Perhaps a gradated division, diminishing upwards, may also give apparent 
 height. No building, of the same altitude, appears nearly so lofty as a Doric 
 portico ; on which Pap worth observes — ‘ In the vertical subdivisions of the 
 masses forming the columns, the triglyphs, the metopes, and the mutules, and 
 even the ornaments above them, — the acroteria and terminations of the roof. — it 
 is evident that great attention was paid to produce the effect of altitude, by con- 
 ducting the eye from the base upward along the columns and entablature, in a 
 succession of lines admirably proportioned to each other, and becoming shorter as 
 they approach the summit of the building. ; ’ 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 235 
 
 cornices we never find two members of equal or nearly equal 
 height together, nor should two conspicuous members of the 
 some kind be nearly equal, even though separated by nume- 
 rous members of a different kind. Alteration is as bad as 
 succession of equal parts. There must also be a fixed limit 
 to the principle of contrast where it begins to interfere with 
 that of multitude. There must be a certain disproportion 
 between two divisions which should not be exceeded, because 
 then the larger division would appear greater, divided into 
 two, then entire. What is this limiting ratio ? An examina- 
 tion of the finest classic examples would seem to give, for 
 this limit, the ratio of 10 or 12 to 1. A greater disproportion 
 than this, the eye can hardly measure or understand as a con- 
 trast. While very small differences (if visible at all) are 
 always orer-estimate-d, very great ones are always under- 
 estimated. 'Good examples of contrasted division should be 
 copied simply as such. They are equally applicable to the 
 divisions of a building or of the smallest moulding, conducing 
 alike to sublimity in the one, and beauty in the other. 
 
 The origin of the chief peculiarity of general form in the 
 English Gothic, viz., the eastern minor transept, may be 
 accounted thus : — In cruciform churches there were two modes 
 of placing the choir and its furniture ; either in the eastern 
 limb, which was most common, or in the centre of the 
 cross. This place was especially proper when Ifeere was a 
 lofty lantern over it, as in the Italian duomi and English 
 cathedrals, but not in the French, in which accordingly there 
 seems to be only one example of this arrangement, viz., at 
 Rheims. 
 
 This plan had the advantage of placing the choir in 
 the most imposing spot, where alone the whole building 
 displayed itself in five grand perspectives,* but it had the 
 defect of shutting out the view of the transept arms from the 
 nave and from each other, which latter was always the finest 
 
 * The fifth being the tower, which was in all these cases originally open as a 
 lantern. 
 
236 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 proportioned vista in the building, because not too lengthy 
 for its other dimensions. 
 
 There is another peculiarly English variation on the general 
 Gothic plan, which deserves attention, and ought to render 
 the name of Alan de Walsingham preeminent among the 
 few Gothic names that have descended to us. This architect 
 invented the truly masterly expedient of altogether omitting the 
 four middle piers for supporting towers, thereby at once 
 forming a noble octagonal central space, distributing the 
 weight of its covering, or lantern, among eight instead of 
 four supporters, greatly diminishing the inward push on each, 
 ^because it receives the thrusts of its two abuting arches 
 inclined 135° to each other, instead of 90,°) and, lastly, 
 enabling these piers to be enlarged to any extent in one 
 direction (out wards ) without stoping or even contracting 
 any one of six avenues of the church. 
 
 This invention is equally applicable to any style, or any 
 mode of construction ;* and if disposed to underrate it on 
 account of its simplicity, we should ask, Why was it never 
 used before ? We might add, why has it never been rein- 
 vented even by the most ingenious modern architects ? In 
 looking over the engraved designs of Palladio, Scamozzi, 
 Yignola, &c., it is wonderful to observe how very nearly 
 they often approached this idea without ever completely 
 reaching Indeed, no example -of it seems to have been 
 finished out of England, either in the Gothic or Italian 
 styles,J — and even in its native land, it lay dormant at Ely 
 
 * There is a beau tiful instance of its use in lintel construction in the tomb at 
 Mylassa (figured in the “ Ionian Antiquities” of the Dilettanti Society.) Accord- 
 ing to Mr Fergusson, the same form is common in Indian mausolea. It would 
 thus seem to have been invented thrice, in Ionia, India, and England, at widely 
 different epochs. 
 
 t It did not, however, escape those excellent geometers, the Spanish Arabs. 
 Since writing this, I have learnt of a complete vaulted example by them, in a bath 
 at Barcelona. 
 
 J Most, modern Italian churches have the octagon space, bu+ at the expense of 
 the aisle avenues, which are either absent, or blocked up. as at St. 1 e'er’s. From 
 a plan which Wiebeking saw in the archives of the cathedral of Bologna, begun 
 1388, it appears that the Ely octagon was proposed on an immense scale (116 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 23 1 
 
 for three centuries. Of its revival, Ware says, “The octa- 
 gon base, and the vista of the aisles through it, is together 
 an invention not easily allowed even to Sir Christopher 
 Wren.” Wren never claimed it ; he had native plumes 
 enough without borrowing any. Yet, perhaps, if his uncle 
 had not been Bishop of Ely, St. Pauls, though a fine, would 
 not have been an unique building. 
 
 This great man, from the beginning of his career, appre- 
 ciated the manifold merits of the plan peculiar to his uncle’s 
 church, and when called on to repair Westminster abbey, he 
 intended to remodel its centre on this type. Bad details 
 and Italian cornices could well have been tolerated for the 
 sake of such an improvement ; especially needed here, not 
 only to fit the building for its present use, (for which it is 
 now, like most Gothic structures, singularly ill adapted,) 
 but also to correct its peculiar defects ; which are a want of 
 monumental durability; and an irregularity in the compart- 
 ments next the crossing, which in the nave are wider, and in 
 the transept narrower, than their regular width. But this 
 improvement remains to be made. At some future day ("let 
 us hope, of pure taste,) when the hoary pile grows infirm 
 and full of days, and not only convenience, durability, and 
 beauty, but safety also, calls for it, Wren’s plan will doubt- 
 less be carried out, without the faults of his details. 
 
 Disappointed here, however, Wren applied the principle to 
 one of his smallest and cheapest buildings, which consequent- 
 
 feet diameter) for that building, but the cinquecentist architects were too timid to 
 venture on it, for the wooden model in the sacristy adheres to the old method with 
 four central piers ; and neither project has suited the resources of “ Bologna the 
 Fat,” for the nave only is built. The cathedral of Pavia, however, begun in 
 1489, but equally unfinished, presents the octagon half-developed, and com- 
 pletely so in the original design of its architect, Rocchi. It has been said that 
 the duomo at Florence (left roofless till a council of architects and engineers 
 from all parts of Europe assembled to consult how to cover it) exhibits the 
 rudiment of the English octagon ; but, if so, it is very rudimentary indeed. 
 The very ancient little Byzantine chapel of Santa Fosca, on the Isle of Tor- 
 cello. in the Venetian lagunes, presents a much nearer approach ; but in this, 
 as well as in the modern church of Santa Maria della Grazia, at Milan, the resem- 
 blance is only in p'.an, no advantage being taken of the octagon for facilitating the 
 covering, which is by a dome, on fowr pendentives only, covering the square. 
 
238 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 ly { though only a plaster representation, never yet executed, 
 as it might easily be, in permanent building) has given the 
 narrow lane of Walbrook an European celebrity ;* and 
 
 * The just and universal approbation bestowed on the interior of this l : ttle 
 church, renders it one of the very few modem buildings that furnish proper ob- 
 jects for that search into principles which it has been our study to apply to the 
 chief ancient and mediaeval models. In such a search, we cannot but observe, first, 
 that of Sir Christopher Wren’s fifty churches, this is, I think, the only one with- 
 out galleries. How greatly, then, must the facility, or rather, the possibility, of 
 designing a fine interior, be diminished by requiring a great portion (often 
 more than half) of its area to be divided into two floors ; when even this great 
 man, in so many trials, did not once succeed in solving this problem satisfac- 
 torily, or so as to produce an effect approaching to that which he so easily 
 produced, in one trial, when unfettered by this most odious requirement of 
 modern parsimony. But, in comparing this church with those few only which 
 can compete with it on fair ground, — those without galleries, — we must still 
 admit its transcendent merit, not only as compared with those of its own style, 
 but also with those of the purest Gothic. . We may fairly challenge the pro- 
 duction of — 1st, any interior, for whatever purpose designed, which produces an 
 equal effect with so small an amount of ornament ; and, 2ndly, any interior which 
 possesses equal beauty with as much fitness for the purpose 
 of Protestant worship. The height being no greater than is 
 necessary for breathing room, a division into Jvoe avenues 
 was absolutely necessary to obtain any thing like a majestic 
 loftiness of proportion ^ yet the number of columns does not 
 impede the sound and sight of the preacher, because this 
 very number enables them to be made smaller than the 
 usual space between the heads of two persons, so that all 
 the congregation can, without loss of space, place them- 
 selves so as to see and hear ; for the pulpit and desk are 
 so placed that, if we suppose a lamp lighted in either of 
 them, the shadows of no two columns would overlap to Plan of St Stephen’s, 
 form a broader shadow than that of a single one. But Walbrook. 
 
 not only are the sixteen columns so distributed as to answer this condition, 
 (fulfilled in hardly any other church ;) they are so arranged in a plain oblong 
 room as entirely to conceal its vulgarity by introducing the various beauties (no 
 where else combined) of the Latin cross, Greek cross, square, octagon, and circle. 
 Observe, too, how strictly the rectangular forms, expressing stability, are kept 
 below ; up io the entablature all is right-angled ; then come the oblique lines, and 
 the elegant circular forms above all. Wren did not (as we remarked in Chap. Ill ) 
 sufficiently observe this principle m some of his wo>*ks, but here its complete ob- 
 servance so improves the idea. that, though borrowed from a Gothic work, it could 
 hardly be re-transferred into that stjle without great loss; for how could the 
 combined plans (cross, square, octagon, and circle) be kept in that style so equal- 
 ly prominent as they are here ? none prevailing over and disguising the others. 
 The cross, and especially the square, would hardly appear but for the entablature, 
 which could not be replaced by any Gothic feature that should have sufficient im- 
 portance without appearing clumsy or unduly exaggerated. Again, that style ia 
 so much better adapted to polygonal than to circular plans, that it would be diffi- 
 cult to keep the former from overpowering the latter. 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 239 
 
 when his first design for his great work was obliged to be 
 abandoned, (it is said f with tears,) and the form and propor- 
 tions of a Gothic cathedral substituted, he recurred to this 
 arrangement as the chief source of its originality and gran- 
 deur. Strange to say, this invention, so peculiarly fitted for 
 Protestant worship, which requires an ample central space, 
 (not lengthy avenues,) has slept again for a century and a 
 half, and has only been revived in the elegant church just 
 erected at Highbury.* 
 
 * But while the central square of the ordinary Gothic plan is elbowed by its 
 piers, the central octagon, on the contrary, is rather too spacious for the best 
 artistic effect, and at St. Paul’s it overpowers the other parts, making the four 
 great avenues seem narrow and low : who would believe that they ar.e as high 
 as those of Salisbury ? A medium, then, between the octagon and the square is 
 presented by the early pointed cathedral of Sienna, which has its central space a 
 hexagon , and, Jhough this is there clumsily arranged, and blocks up the aisle vis- 
 tas, it might by a little change have left all six avenues open and uncontracted. If 
 the middle transept avenue occupied the western half of the hexagon, passing 
 through two of its sides.obliquely, then its two other oblique sides might each have 
 a semi-hexagon described on it. The two outer sides of these would form win- 
 dows ; their two eastern sides, entrances to the choir aisles ; and their two re- 
 maining sides to the east aisle of the transept, which might or might not have a 
 western aisle, for that would fall without the hexagon. The breadths between the 
 centres of the columns, (calling that of the nave one,) would be thus. The nave 
 aisles, one-half ; diameter of the hexagon, two ; the central transept, the square 
 root of three- fourths ; and its aisles, one-half of the square root of three-fourths. 
 
 The capabilities of the hexagon and dodecagon have been greatly neglected in 
 artistic planning. Their union with square forms would produce many beautiful 
 and useful combinations ; — useful (that is) in vaulted and other genuine perma- 
 nent modes of construction ; the chief artistic advantage of which modes is, that 
 they require or conduce to such combinations ; so that, perhaps, ele ;ant planning 
 can hardly be expected, without a return to real architecture. Bartholomew 
 draws attention to the beautiful symmetry of a plan to which the vestibule of the 
 
240 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 III. From the general arrangement of the Gothic struc- 
 tures, we must now descend to their details ; first premising 
 that these appeared in a different order in different countries ; 
 all of which seem to have advanced by different paths to- 
 wards the same object, which they all, about the year 1300, 
 completely attained. Not till then did their several styles 
 arrive at the nearest coincidence ; and this only style, common 
 to the various Gothic nations, is that which all have agreed 
 to consider the complete Gothic, as containing all the essen- 
 tial features of the system, viz. : 1. Universally pointed arch- 
 ing, each arch being composed of several ribs or mouldings, 
 so arranged that the innermost or narrowest might serve as 
 centering on which to turn the next, on which a still stronger 
 was turned, &c., greatly economizing the original wooden 
 centre; 2. Ribbednaulting ; 3. Apparent buttresses; 4. Pil- 
 lar-clustering, with reference to the ribs, each rib (whether 
 of the vaulting or of the arches) being given to a particular 
 shaft ; 5. Pinnacle-clustering ; 6. Window tracery, with sub- 
 ordination (of principal and minor tracery bars) ; and, 
 lastly, Foliation, or foiling, an universal though seemingly 
 non-essential ornament. These seven peculiarities may be 
 considered necessary to constitute the complete Gothic ; but 
 some very beautiful styles arose before this complete deve- 
 lopment, by the carrying out of some of these principles 
 alone ; and wherever any one of them (especially pointed 
 arching) is consistently observed, a beauty is derived from 
 this consistency. All the styles which completely carry out 
 this principle come under the general term Early Pointed , 
 and are further distinguished as Early English, Early French, 
 &c. ; the word ‘ Pointed’ being understood. Of all these, 
 the Early English may be esteemed as decidedly the most 
 
 Temple church offers a rude approach, viz., a dodecagon with its covering support- 
 ed by six pillars and eighteen arches, all of equal span, dividing the whole into a 
 central hexagon, surrounded by six square and six triangular compartments, aU 
 equilateral, and making the thirty lines composing the plan all equal. The prece- 
 ding example of hexagonal planning approaches the same idea. It represents the 
 two stories of the royal mausoleum at St. Denys, destroyed in the first French 
 revolution. 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 241 
 
 pure and consistent. It is not confined to England, but 
 nearly so ; its only continental localities being Brittany and 
 the western part of Normandy. All provinces further east 
 exhibit various kinds of Early Pointed, different from ours ; 
 and some of which were formerly supposed to display a more 
 advanced stage, or a nearer approach to the complete Goth- 
 ic, than the contemporary English examples. Thus Amiens 
 cathedral, begun in the same year with Salisbury, certainly 
 at first sight appears, with its large four-light windows and 
 varied tracery, much more Gothic than Salisbury, where 
 there is no tracery, or only the first rudimentary effort to- 
 wards it. But on a closer inspection, we find that much of 
 the Amiens tracery ( as the lower nave windows and the 
 great end rose windows ) consists of after-additions : that 
 the original windows show no greater advance than some at 
 Salisbury (those of the chapter-house) ; that the remaining 
 tracery being simply composed of foiled circles or foil-circles* 
 packed together, is no more than what the Salisbury build- 
 ers may be supposed quite capable of designing, had they 
 possessed the desire, or the funds, for such enrichment ; and, 
 lastly, that if the tracery is more complete at Amiens, other 
 features (as the vaulting) are precisely similar in both, while 
 others are decidedly more advanced in England. This is 
 specially the case with the arch-mouldings and pillars, which, 
 ev'en in older buildings than Salisbury, exhibit a richness of 
 clustering far beyond those of Amiens, whose groups of five 
 only, with Corinthian capitals and square plinths and abaci, 
 hardly indicate any advance from the Romanesque. 
 
 It is easy to conceive that the Gothic features might have 
 appeared one by one in a different order in different coun- 
 tries, and that while one nation made its first advances by 
 
 * The nomenclature of Rickman seems on this point more concise and every 
 way preferable to that of Professor Willis, whose foiled arch and foliated arch cor- 
 respond respectively to Rickman’s foil arch and foiled arch, which, to any ob- 
 server of Gothic buildings, seem hardly to require explanation, the former being 
 where the whole archivoltis broken into several curves, and the latter where these 
 are only inserted within a simple curve. 
 
 21 
 
242 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 means of the pointed arch and vault, another invented tra- 
 cery or foiling, a third began with the acute spire and pin- 
 nacle, a fourth pushed forward the subdividing of the clus- 
 ter-column and many-shafted jamb. This last was the case 
 with England, where many round-arched examples even are 
 so Gothic in this respect that they present as many vertical 
 lines as any building : Winchester tower, of the eleventh 
 century is an example. 
 
 Germany boasts of the first examples of the Gothic arch, 
 and yet, strangely enough, was the very last country to 
 abandon the round arch, which continued to struggle with 
 the pointed forms, and render the “ Early German,” even 
 down to the middle of the thirteenth century, an incongruous 
 mixture, unworthy the name of a style. In buildings with 
 complete pointed vaulting, and all the beautiful varieties of 
 plan and outline mentioned above, when we turn to the win- 
 dows, those favorite types for recognizing the Gothic styles, 
 instead of the beautiful grouped lancets of the Early Eng- 
 lish, we meet with such forms these : 
 
 12 3 4 
 
 Early German Windows. 
 
 The foiled forms were probably introduced from the East, 
 (being common in Arabic architecture J and though the 
 Germans were perhaps the first to use these forms exten- 
 sively, it was long ere they learned their true use, not to be 
 placed alone, but as adjuncts to graver and more simple 
 forms. The round trefoil arch seems in Germany to have 
 preceded the common pointed one, and in grouping two or 
 more openings under one arch, they aimed at variety rather 
 than unity in their forms. Thus, using the letters T, R, P, 
 and *, to express pointless Trefoil , Round arch, Pointed arch, 
 and foiled circle, we find such combinations as these : 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 243 
 
 RRRRTTTPPP 
 
 TTT PPPRRPP R T R * 
 
 T T P P pjp pjp RRTT RRTT 
 
 But not till later than in France or England do we find — 
 
 P P P 
 
 p * and p p 
 
 p p p p PPVP 
 
 When, indeed, the Germans did adopt these combinations, 
 tracery of the most beautiful kind rapidly followed, and in 
 St. Catherine, at Oppenheim, and the glorious design for 
 Cologne (1248), this part at least of the Gothic system 
 certainly attained its fullest development, rather sooner in 
 Germany than elsewhere. So rapid was this development, 
 that there is hardly an example in that country of Early 
 Pointed (St. Elizabeth, at Marburg, is the chief) ; for no 
 sooner did their architecture become completely pointed than 
 it became complete Gothic. 
 
 The German Gothicists particularly excelled in the design 
 of spires and the grouping of pinnacles, which they carried 
 to a complexity unknown elsewhere. This feature sprung 
 from the simple practice of finishing a square turret with an 
 octagonal or conical spire, and then occupying the spandrils 
 left on the plan, by four smaller spires ; a proceeding as old 
 as the tombs of the Etruscans. 
 
 The practice of window tracery everywhere had its origin 
 in window-grouping, placing two or three lancet windows 
 beside each other, and one or more foil or rosette windows 
 above and between their heads, in order to fill out the arched 
 cell of the vaulting, which then necessarily gave the whole 
 group an arched outline ; and this was indicated externally 
 by a general drip-mould or label. It then became desirable 
 to lighten the irregular masses left between the perforations, 
 and this was done by piercing these masses, or spandrils, and 
 reducing the solid frame of each foil or rosette to an equal 
 thickness all round, as if several such frames or rings were 
 
244 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 packed into one great arched opening, which henceforth was 
 regarded as one window instead of several. 
 
 Each country has had its successive styles of tracery, and 
 each has begun with the simple subdivision of one arch into 
 two, and these sometimes into two again, filling up the space 
 between the heads with a circle, as at Marburg ; a foiled 
 circle , as at Salisbury chapter-house, and the aisles of Cologne; 
 or finally a foil-circle, as at Westminster, and the clerestory 
 of Cologne, where it is subfoiled :* thence proceeding to 
 pack together such forms over an odd number of lights, to 
 which the method of continual bisection would not apply ; 
 and thus the first kind, which may be called packed tracery, 
 became complete. Deviations from the principle of packing 
 led to the general tracery, absurdly called u geometrical y” 
 for all Gothic tracery is geometrical, none is hand-drawn. 
 This beautiful, purely unmeaning tracery was succeeded in all 
 countries by the flowing loop or leaf, and then by the peculiar 
 national After-Gothic. Germany, however, as it had been the 
 first to perfect, was also the last to abandon the “geo- 
 metrical” tracery, which continued there, even into the 
 fifteenth century, our Perpendicular Period. England and 
 Prance, however, in the fourteenth century, abandoned the 
 unmeaning for the flowing leaf-tracery ; and this, notwith- 
 standing its beauty, had hardly time to show itself before it 
 was superseded, here by the perpendicular, and in Prance by 
 the flamboyant. Hence it happens that of the three great 
 classes of tracery,— “ geometrical,” flowing, and perpendi- 
 cular, — while the last is, as every one knows, by far the 
 commonest in England, the most abundant kind in France 
 is flowing ( flamboyant ), and in Germany geometrical, i. e., 
 unmeaning. 
 
 The unmeaning tracery of Germany is very beautiful, and 
 
 * Subfoilmg seems a more concise and clear term than bifoUation , — employed 
 by Willis, — which is liable to be mistaken for the practice, common in France, of 
 dividing a flame-like form into only two foils. 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 245 
 
 generally par- 
 takes of the 
 packed charac- 
 ter, the follow- 
 ing forms occur- 
 ing very abun- 
 dantly The Elements of German Tracery. 
 
 convex-sided triangle and square are placed in all positions 
 indifferently, and the frameless trefoils and qnatrefoils are 
 often formed on the basis of these figures instead of the 
 circle. The foilings and subfoilings, formed by a very nar- 
 row but deep chamfered member, leave their little spandrils, 
 ('called eyes by our workmen,) entirely open, producing the 
 lightness almost of metal-work. Circular windows, — in Eng- 
 land almost confined to the ends of the transept, — were 
 employed abroad wherever a window of the ordinary form 
 would have become of too low and broad a proportion.* 
 
 * Tie term marigold has been applied to those circular windows in which radi- 
 ating mullions prevail, and rose to those in which no such lines are found. The 
 preference given to the latter may be traced to the feeling for subordination of the 
 classes of form. A general form of the third class should not be filled up with de- 
 tails of the second. 
 
 The finest rose windows, perhaps, are at St. Ouen, (Rouen,) and the immense 
 ones at Beauvais, in which however, there is not enough subordination of different 
 c asses of mullions. The finest of the radiating sort are at S^rasburg, Westminster, 
 and the south front of 
 Amiens, where a pleas- 
 ing variety is produced 
 by the lines radiating 
 from points a little dis- 
 tant from the centre, so 
 as to give alternately a few radiating and a few parallel mullions. The figure a , 
 called 'pentalpha, is very common in French circular window tracery ; and they 
 followed the example of flowers in founding their division, chiefly on the numbers 
 3 and 5 those divisible by 4 being comparatively rare. The term wheel, applied 
 indiscriminately to all round windows, would be better restricted to those called 
 in France roses tournantes, which differ from ordinary roses in having the similar 
 sectors of the pattern not alternately reversed, but all turned the same way, which 
 gives the idea of rotation. There are many varieties of them, though none contain 
 more than six or eight panels, there being none above the smallest scale, probably 
 from a feeling of the instability given by their rotatory expression. Hence the use 
 of a large and complex one, as a principal and central feature, in a church lately 
 finished at Islington, must be considered in very questionable taste. 
 
246 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 When the Gothic system had attained its culmination, the 
 chief differences were that tracery, pillar-clustering, fand 
 perhaps we may add, moulding ,) were best developed in 
 England ; spire design and pinnacle-clustering in Germany ; 
 window tracery in France ; and foliation in the Netherlands 
 and Spain, ( where it took an extraordinary richness and 
 complexity from the Arabs, its probable inventors . ) All these, 
 however, were rather differences of degree than of kind, and 
 the style might be said to be now every where the same. 
 
 The Gothic, then, had in the fourteenth century become 
 a complete system, as consistent in its principles as the 
 architecture of the ancient Greeks, to which it was yet in 
 many respects directly opposite ; and it is truly surprising to 
 trace how by a continued steady progress in one constant 
 direction, an originally perfect style was, through various 
 stages of decline and even deepest barbarism, gradually con- 
 verted, after almost twenty centuries, into another style as 
 perfect as the first, yet opposite in many of its principles. 
 
 This opposition appears stronger, the more perfect are the 
 two varieties of Greek and Gothic which we compare. The 
 better each may be of its kind, the more perfect is the con- 
 trast, and the chief points of contrast are the following : 
 
 In the pure Greek, an arch was inadmissible ; in the pure 
 Gothic, a lintel or beam is equally inadmissible. In imitative 
 Greek, all arches have to be disguised as beams ; in imitative 
 Gothic, all beams had to be disguised as arches. 
 
 In the former, the props required to confine the arches 
 must be concealed or disguised ; in the latter, props must 
 appear, whether they are wanted or not. 
 
 The severe unity of the Greek will not admit of scenery, 
 i. e., decoration behind decoration. The wall behind a 
 colonnade was plain, not even windows being admissible 
 there. The Romans advanced a step from this, allowing two 
 systems of decoration together, the front system of columns 
 and entablature, the hinder of arches or windows. The 
 Romanesque builders carried this further, and in their latest 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 24t 
 
 works placed arches behind arches in three or more depths. 
 This was approaching the Gothic, in which style (and in which 
 alone) the planes of decoration are unlimited as to number. 
 
 Lastly, looking at the general character, the expression of 
 the Greek temple is that of majestic repose ; that of the 
 Gothic is aspiring flight , or at least growth. The first arises 
 from the absence or non-perception of oblique pressures. 
 Everything gravitates straight downwards, and its weight 
 seems somehow to be’ rendered peculiarly visible. But the 
 Gothic arches and gables, the tapering buttresses, the sprout- 
 ing crockets and bud-like finials, the bristling pinnacles and 
 spires, all seem shooting upwards, and by their terminating 
 all at different heights, seem aiming higher and higher ; 
 while internally the same character is preserved by arch above 
 arch and canopy above canopy, by the palm-like combination 
 of shaft and vaulting ribs, and lastly, by the great prepon- 
 derance of vertical lines over horizontal ones, both in number 
 and ( perspective ) length. 
 
 This last circumstance has> from its simplicity, been too 
 exclusively dwelt upon, and even regarded by some as the 
 Gothic principle, a distinction which it does not merit, for 
 the aspiring character cannot be imparted by this alone ; and 
 on the other hand, this character is possessed in the highest 
 perfection by many buildings which have (in the exterior at 
 least ) more numerous and extensive horizontal lines than 
 vertical ones fas is the case with Salisbury), nor do the nearly 
 vertical bear a greater proportion to the horizontal than in 
 Grecian buildings, in which, owing to the diminution of the 
 columns, &c., hardly any truly vertical lines occur. 
 
 Rickman, however, made the important observation, that 
 in the complete Gothic, every horizontal line meeting a vertical 
 one, either terminates or changes its direction, while the ver- 
 tical continues its course unaltered. In the pure Greek 
 precisely the reverse takes place ; all vertical lines are stoped 
 by the first horizontal one they meet, while the horizontal 
 continue f generally without a bend ) from corner to corner 
 
248 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 of the building. The difference, therefore, consists not so much 
 in the number or extent of horizontal lines, as in the fact of 
 their being unbroken in the Greek, and frequently broken in 
 the Gothic. In both they are equally necessary to preserve 
 the unity of the building, by tying all its parts together. 
 The neglect of this, arising from the misapprehension and 
 abuse of the “ vertical principle,” as it is called, has led in 
 modern times to the erection of churches so totally destitute 
 of unity, as to resemble a group of chapels of various heights 
 stuck together. That this is not Gothic will appear by exam- 
 ining those Gothic structures (few indeed in number ) which 
 have been finished in one lifetime, or after one design, and es- 
 caped the unscrupulous alterations by which so many grand 
 edifices have been reduced to patchwork. Such buildings are 
 the cathedrals of Salisbury, Rheims, Milan, Cologne, St. Ouen 
 at Rouen, and the celebrated chapels at Cambridge, Windsor, 
 and W estminster. These include all the style, and the utmost 
 degrees of verticality, yet all possess perfectly that unity 
 which arises from correspondence of horizontal divisions and 
 features all round the building, and is as necessary in this 
 style as in any other, to distinguish a great building from a 
 group of little ones. 
 
 But the aspiring principle was liable to abuse by its inven- 
 tors in the palmy days of Gothic art, as well as by their 
 imitators now, though in a different manner. No sooner was 
 this beautiful tendency of the style observed, than if seems 
 to have become the main object of Gothic design to increase 
 and push to the utmost this expression so appropriate to a 
 religious edifice. It was a fine idea to make everything in 
 God’s house point heavenward ; but to the various methods 
 resorted to in different countries for exaggerating this ex- 
 pression, we must partly refer the gradual decline and fall 
 of this wonderful style, which proceeded by different steps in 
 each country, giving rise to what Professor Willis has happily 
 named the different forms of After- Got hie. The Germans 
 seized on the idea of growth , and the huding and sprouting 
 
OF architecture. 
 
 249 
 
 expression ; but perhaps the French were most successful in 
 increasing the aspiring expression : by a slight change in the 
 prevailing forms of the flowing tracery, they converted the 
 loops or leaves into flame-like forms, till the Flamboyant 
 buildings, appeared not vegetating, as in Germany, but 
 Hazing from the foundation to the bristling finials. The 
 difference between this style of tracey and our own flowing 
 style ( exemplified in the west window at York), is, that while 
 the upper ends of our loops or leaves are round or simply 
 pointed, i. e., with finite angles , the upper ends in France 
 terminate, like the lower, in angles of contact (those formed 
 by two curves that have a common tangent). It was 
 necessary to the leafy effect that the lower angles should be 
 
 English leaf- tracery. French flamboyant tracery. 
 
 tangential ; but to the flame-like effect, that the upper ones 
 should be so, even if the lower were finite ; and hence some 
 examples of flamboyant tracery, turned upside down, form a 
 kind of leaf-tracery. 
 
 Our countrymen, however, adopted a method which was 
 less conducive to the aspiring expression, and which con- 
 ducted them to a style less rich and certainly less varied 
 than any of the other After-Gothics. 
 
 Erroneously supposing that an abun- 
 dance of vertical lines would increase 
 this character, they were led to con- 
 vert all the flowing lines of the window 
 tracery into vertical ones, to omit the 
 capitals of nearly all the smaller shafts 
 
250 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 or shaftlets, thus converting what had been blank arcades 
 into mere panels, and then to multiply, diminish, and extend 
 these panels and endless repetition of vertical lines, over 
 every part of the interior, and, in florid buildings, even of 
 the exterior. 
 
 But the “ Perpendicular Style ” may also have arisen from 
 that principle of constructive unity , on which we have so much 
 insisted, and according to which a style is pure and perfect 
 in proportion to the exclusiveness with which a certain mode 
 of construction pervades, or appears to pervade, every fea- 
 ture, from the greatest to the least. In Gothic architecture 
 this mode of construction is arching , in other words the sub- 
 jecting materials to compression alone, never to tension or to 
 cross-strain. Hence the perfection of this style requires that 
 no member, however short or strong, should be treated, or 
 appear to be treated, as a beam. All materials must appear 
 (as far as the eye can judge ) to be not only in equilibrium, 
 but in such equilibrium as would apply to flexible as well as 
 rigid bodies. Hence the apparent flexibility which every 
 one notices in fine Gothic architecture ; the stone is treated 
 as though it were flexible, i. e. } no dependence is placed on 
 its rigidity, and therefore it appears to have none. Now, in 
 applying this to the chief kinds of tracery, we must remember 
 that the statical conditions of a flexible Gothic arch require 
 a weight concentrated on its vertex, but will not admit of 
 any concentration of weight on any other point. But in the 
 “ Geometrical ” tracery, the arches over the lights receive 
 generally no pressures on their points, but concentrated 
 pressures on certain parts of their haunches, viz., where they 
 touch the circles or rosettes that seem packed into the win- 
 dow-head. Such tracery, formed of a flexible substance, 
 could not keep its form. The flowing loop-tracery is an 
 improvement on this, and the flamboyant still more so ; but 
 in the Perpendicular Style alone do we find a complete 
 recognition of the principle that the Gothic arch should be 
 loaded only on its vertex. In this style alone do we find 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 251 
 
 tracery which, if converted into a flexible material, would 
 undergo no change of form. 
 
 That the perpendicular tracery was used from this feeling 
 rather than from false taste, will appear from that great 
 type of perpendicularity, Henry the Seventh’s chapel, in 
 which, though the principle thoroughly pervades every other 
 part, it is not to be traced in the flying buttresses ; for here 
 statical principles rather required the voiding to be effected 
 by circles (as in the spandrils of the Pont-y-Prydd and iron 
 bridges), and accordingly this is done. How different is the 
 constructive consistency here shown, from the want of it in 
 certain earlier French works, the cathedral of Orleans, for 
 instance, where the window-heads are packed with rings and 
 rosettes, while the flying buttresses are pierced with perpen- 
 dicular archlets, concentrating all their weight on certain 
 •points of the lower curve, against all statical propriety. 
 
 But the grand error of the “ Perpendicular ” was its intro- 
 duction of a graver class of form in details than prevailed m 
 main features. 
 
 Another fault peculiar to the decline of the system in 
 England sprung from the reduction of paneling (originally 
 an excellent constructive principle, for the economy of ma- 
 terial,) to a source of ornament merely. Common sense 
 tells us that a panel is a method of diminishing bulk or 
 weight without diminishing superficial extent, and is there- 
 fore only applicable to parts whose office depends on their 
 extent — whose duty is to enclose or fill up spaces ; but never 
 to those which have to support. Thus the spandrils of a 
 bridge are proper places for panelifig, but never its piers. 
 The application of paneling, however, to supports was left 
 to the very latest examples of Gothic degradation ; but for 
 a long time previously, the principle was abused in the fan- 
 tracery vaulting, whose ribbing and paneling was not con- 
 structive, but only decorative ; the joints occuring indis- 
 criminately in the centre of a panel, or the centre of a rib. 
 
 Other abuses overran the style in different countries, 
 
252 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 many (but not all ) of which may be referred to the change 
 admirably described by Ruskin, as occuring everywhere at 
 the culmination of the style, viz,, the the transference of atten- 
 tion from the masses (of light or shade) to the lines. 
 
 In Germany the chief vice was interpenetration, or the 
 making mouldings appear to pass through each other, instead 
 of stopping each other.* This was at length carried to such 
 extent, that no member could stop against another, but 
 must seem to run through and come out on the other side, 
 even though it were in consequence obliged to be cut off 
 abruptly in the air, giving rise to crossed foiling , and what 
 has been called stump- tracery. Moreover, that originally 
 beautiful and useful member, the ogive crocketed hood, be- 
 came to the German designers, what the panel was to the 
 English. It overgrew everything else, till the buildings be- 
 came covered with tracery, not of panels but of intersecting 
 hoods, which, not confined to their three purely Gothic 
 forms, the rectilinear, the concave-sided, and the reflexed or 
 ogive, now ran into all imaginable shapes, which, interpene- 
 trating in all directions, gave the idea of entwined plants, 
 an effect increased by the innumerable crockets. 
 
 In France, the Gothic, in its flamboyant form, seems to 
 have maintained a certain degree of purity longer than any 
 where else, for the transept-fronts of Beauvais, built in 
 1555, exhibit hardly any instances of Italianizing tendency. 
 Strongly marked horizontal cornices, however, begin to stop 
 the vertical lines, and the latest French buildings free from 
 Italian details, display a style called Burgundian, with the 
 same general tendencies as the English Tudor, but far less 
 skilfully carried out; the arches being not only depressed but 
 pointless. 
 
 Everywhere the finishing stroke was given to expiring 
 Gothicity by the return to beam and lintel construction, and 
 
 * Perhaps this arose from a fancy to repeat and exhibit everywhere the symbol 
 of the cross. It is known that some monkish writers of that age amused them- 
 selves with finding crosses in every object of nature. 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 253 
 
 the attempts to disguise these straight horizontal forms into 
 the semblance of depressed arches. The loss of constructive 
 unity, the return to universally mixed construction, (as in the 
 Ante-Gothic ages,) completed the downfall of this, as it had 
 before completed the downfall of the antique system. 
 
 In one respect, however, the fall of the Gothic architecture 
 perhaps differed from that of the Classic, and was more 
 complete. It was a fall out of which nothing could be 
 expected to arise, — a fall not of a styl^ or system merely, 
 but in a certain sense, of the entire art. It was the end of 
 a progress in one constant direction, which had run through 
 the whole history of European architecture, quite indepen- 
 dently of the changes from style to style — unaffected by the 
 Romanesque debasement of the art or its Gothic renovation. 
 This was the progress from magnitude to multitude. Though 
 twice attaining constructive and decorative truth, it is ob- 
 vious that the apparatus of the art, in its second complete 
 phase, consisted of diminished and multiplied derivatives from 
 the chief structural members of its first phase. The process 
 could be carried no further : complication had reached its 
 limit, — in the finite divisibility of the material, — in the finite 
 capacity of man, — and the finishers of those piles should 
 have inscribed on them, 11 Architecture is finished ; henceforth 
 be content to copy” 
 
 The Gothic system fell by its own inherent principles of 
 decay, and left the field vacant before the perceived absence 
 of true architecture rendered the importation of a new system 
 necessary. Imitations of the grotesque must be carefully 
 guarded against being classed with the pure Gothic. 
 
 Post-Gothic Architecture. — Coeval with the last great 
 transition of human society : from the invention of printing 
 dates the fall of Gothic art. 
 
 The present Florentine is the Doric style of modern pala- 
 tial or domestic architecture. 
 
 Venice, the luxurious mistress of the Adriatic, like its pro- 
 22 
 
HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 254 
 
 type the Corinthian of old, has superseded its rivals, having 
 been till within the last few years the general model to the 
 architecture of all trans-alpine Europe. Its aim was splen- 
 dor, variety, luxury and ornament. Intermediate between 
 these two schools arose the modern Roman. 
 
 The English school was founded on the Venetian. 
 
 In Florence, mere eye-pleasure is foregone, variety denied, 
 monotony endured for the sake of grandeur, and the higher 
 objects of the art. 
 
 In Venice, the higher excellences are sacrificed to the 
 lower ; true grandeur, to pompous effect ; intellectual sense 
 of fitness, to mere eumorphic beauty ; the mind, to the eye ; 
 self-concealing art, to self-displaying art. 
 
 To describe the schools more technically, or with regard 
 to rules rather than principles, — the Florentine is mostly as- 
 tylar, the style of fenestration and rustic groins ; the Ro- 
 man the style of pilasters ; the Venetian, that of columns. 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 255 
 
 CONCLUDING REMARKS. 
 
 Among the few, then, that enlist on the side of Truth, and 
 resolutely engage in this perpetual conflict against false, 
 against popular, against national taste, it must ever be borne 
 in mind, first, that there is no substitute for thought. All the 
 ponderous tomes of examples, specimens, &c., from Adams 
 and Stuart downwards, have been intended, or received, for 
 this purpose ; and, as such , are not only totally worthless, 
 but extremely prejudicial ; though invaluable as materials 
 for analysis, free criticism, and search into principles, — for 
 which purposes they have never yet been used. 
 
 Nothing can increase the value of a design , which does not in- 
 crease the labor of the designer , (by designer I do not mean 
 draughtsman . ) Every reference to precedent should do this , and 
 will do so with every true artist. But the false artist refers to 
 precedent, to save himself trouble ; that is, to cheat his em- 
 ployers, by diminishing the value of his work, without di- 
 minishing its apparent value. 
 
 II. Novelty -hunting, and the false use of precedent, are 
 the Scylla and Charybdis between which, the many, and the 
 architects of the many, are forever destined to be wrecked. 
 It is possible, however, to fall into both at once. 
 
 That nothing is beautiful which is without motive, most 
 of the thinking will admit ; yet it is necessary to add, that 
 novelty and antiquity are no admissible motives. But though 
 age affords no reason whatever for the adoption of any thing, 
 it gives every reason for its examination and study. 
 
 III. We cannot too strongly instil into the reader, that 
 while novelty is in itself neither a beauty nor a fault, but to- 
 tally immaterial, — novelty sought for its own sake is the des- 
 truction of art. The end of art is truth. The instant it 
 proposes any other aim, (be it novelty , or to “ catch the 
 
256 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 spirit” of a particular time or place, i. e., mimicry , or any 
 other fancy J it ceases to be art ; and what is not art, is not 
 architecture. Aim at catching the spirit of all true archi- 
 tecture, not that of any one style, — still less, of a notorious- 
 ly false style. 
 
 IY. If, as we have also endeavored to instil, the main 
 distinction between artists is, that some strive to put as 
 much thought as possible into a given work, and others to 
 do that work with as little thought as possible, — then, if 
 one of these principles be art, it follows that the other is not 
 merely its absence, but its opposite , — not a mere negation, 
 but an active principle, for which, finding no name used, I 
 would propose the term anti-art* 
 
 A very small portion of anti-art peeping out, is enough to 
 destroy all our pleasure in a work of art. Witness the pots 
 and cowls that finish the sky-line of most of our piles of 
 architecture. A foreigner would think this nation bankrupt, 
 to judge by the innumerable public buildings standing unfi- 
 nished, covered with these hideous make-shifts. 
 
 Y. The highest beauty is fitness. Therefore, when you 
 see a thing highly beautiful, beware of copying it till after 
 mature study ; for the more beautiful ( i . e., the fitter) it 
 may be in its situation, the less likely to be fit ( i . e . 7 beauti- 
 ful) in any other. 
 
 Those who wonder why architects often condemn what 
 other persons of good taste admire, seem to forget that the 
 latter cannot distinguish what belongs to the designer, from 
 what belongs to the theory of his art as he found it, and 
 
 * Here is the simplest instance I can find, which will display the two principles. 
 The reader knows the old established way of cutting the stones of an arch in rusti- 
 cated masonry, each stone presenting a five-sided face: well, two other modes have 
 lately been adopted, each making the faces of the stones four-sided. In one, the 
 voussoirs are alternately long and short, like battlements ; in the other, their ex- 
 trados is cut to a regular curve. Persons of taste, however, prefer the old method, 
 but without knowing why. Now I will tell you why. Just sketch the three on 
 paper, and you will perceive that the old is by far the most troublesome to design, 
 yet gives the least work to the mason; having fewest oblique joints. Thought is 
 expended to save manual labor. But in both the new modes, mental labor is saved 
 at the expense of the manual- The first is ow#, the others aiilfi-d/rt. 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 251 
 
 which not only the true artist learns, but even the most ig- 
 norant falls into , as we inevitably fall into the habits of 
 those around us. But the eye of an architect has acquired 
 the power of instantly separating these two parts of the de- 
 sign, setting aside the one as a mere matter of routine, but 
 singling out and fixing itself on whatever is the designer's 
 own. Now, if we ‘perceive that all the beauty, — all the 
 truth in the building, belongs to the former portion ; that 
 whatever belongs to the designer, whatever is new,— is false, 
 — is adopted either for novelty, or to save thought, or for 
 affectation, or for anti-art, we condemn the work, and just- 
 ly : for what avails it to have been correct as far as rules 
 and precedent would apply, if wherever he has acted for him- 
 self he has sinned ? What avails it to have repeated truly 
 the 990 words for which he could find authority, if the 10 
 which he was obliged to add are all false ? It is these ten 
 alone that show whether he is an artist or not ; and these 
 things, though small, and escaping the casual glance of the 
 public, glare to our eyes as huge blots, totally defacing the 
 routine beauty ; though that may form the major portion of 
 the work, and may cause the uninformed to regard it as 
 pleasing on the whole. 
 
 Beware of mistaking this on the whole , for as a whole. Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds observes, that “the totally ignorant be- 
 holder, like the ignorant artist, cannot comprehend a whole, 
 nor even what it means.’-’ When such speak of the effect 
 as a whole , they mean on the whole. The effect to them is 
 pleasing, if it contain a majority of pleasing parts. 
 
 Such are now the most influential judges of art. By a 
 singular inconsistency, those who constantly profess to be no 
 judges , are really the style-formers. They say, “We know 
 nothing of the art, but we know what pleases us.” But 
 what does this assume ? Plainly, that the art is intended to 
 please them. This is the grand art-destroying error. No 
 true art is, or ever was, meant to please the many, but to 
 teach them when to be pleased. 
 
258 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 In limiting, we fear, thq number of true artists, it must 
 be remembered that one may be a true 'artist without being 
 a master, or any thing like one. The difference is this : most 
 buildings are so transparent, that we look at their front, and 
 see through to the back of the designer’s mind. According 
 to the proportions we see of thought-spending or thought-sav- 
 ing spirit, so we admire or condemn ; and when we can dis- 
 cern no self-sparing, no anti-art, we pronounce the work 
 purely elegant ; but not necessarily masterly. The work of a 
 master is equally or even more transparent ; but though the 
 eye pierce deeper, and perhaps find more faults, it cannot 
 reach the bottom. Admire as much as we may, we perceive 
 that there is more beyond, left unadmired. 
 
 The few principles which we have endeavored to elicit or 
 explain in this volume, have been arranged in an upward 
 progression, from narrow and particular, to wider and more 
 general ones. We first tried to distinguish the different 
 grades of beauty in building, and assign them their true re- 
 lative ranks. Thus color, whose laws of harmony are purely 
 physical, came before uniformity, which appears sometimes 
 addressed to the sense, and sometimes to the mind. Beauty 
 of outline, being wholly addressed to the mind, though per- 
 haps to its lowest faculties, came next, and was traced to 
 the union of unity and variety, which union is to be effected 
 in two ways, — by gradation, and by contrast. Proceeding, 
 then, from unmeaning beauty to that which is distinguishable 
 into classes, we showed that its two opposite characters — 
 grandeur and elegance, — depended on the comparative preva- 
 lence of these two principles — contrast and gradation. Ac- 
 cording to the relative proportions of these, we divided all 
 possible forms into five classes, and insisted on the obser- 
 vance of the natural disposition and subordination of these 
 classes one to another, as practised in all the pure and ad- 
 mired styles. This we regard as the most important princi- 
 ple in mere geometric design, apart from constructive and 
 other fitness. 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE 
 
 259 
 
 We then considered the two cognate qualities of sublimity 
 and picturesqueness, referring the former chiefly to, 1. The 
 prevalence of contrast, and rarity or absence of gradation ; 
 
 2. The expression of mechanical power in the construction ; 
 
 3. The principle by painters called breadth, i. e., the collection 
 of every thing or quality into great unbroken accumulations ; 
 
 4. A quality we called depth, the reverse of flatness or shal- 
 lowness. On the difficult subject of picturesqueness, we sim- 
 ply gave the notions of Ruskin, that it arises from the same 
 qualities that would be sublime in the subject itself, attach- 
 ing themselves not to its essence, but to some accident, as 
 light and shade, color, situation, state of decay, &c. 
 
 We next considered how nature should be imitated, with 
 generalization, i. e., by taking all possible objects that have 
 the character we want to give, extracting all that they have 
 in common, and rejecting what is peculiar to each. We in- 
 sisted on the same method as necessary in the imitation of 
 masters, styles, and manners ; and endeavored to distinguish 
 between true and false imitation, or copyism. Another kind 
 of false imitation, viz., deception, was then considered ; the 
 grievous error of regarding it as an object of art, the total 
 destruction thereby fallen on popular art, and the great 
 caution necessary for the thoughtful, who would escape this 
 defilement. Connected with this, we endeavor to enforce 
 constructive truth , or the non-disguise of the real statical prin- 
 ciples of the construction ; and lastly (a principle hitherto 
 totally neglected by the moderns,) constructive unity, or the 
 consistent adherence to one statical method throughout a 
 building. 
 
 The two short reviews of the “ pure styles” afford the 
 reader particular instances and modifications of these prin- 
 ciples, and perhaps of some higher ones. 
 
 Pure architecture, then, may be regarded as consisting in 
 the combination of constructive and decorative Truth, in 
 their widest sense, or of constructive and decorative Unity. 
 
 This union was anciently sought by all nations, — attained 
 
260 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 by the Greeks alone, — dissolved by the Roman introduction 
 of the arch, — gradually lost by the increasing admixture of 
 that constructive principle, — restored by its total adoption, 
 to the exclusion of all other apparent construction, — and a 
 second time lost by the increase of tensile construction and 
 the indiscriminate mixture of all constructive methods. 
 
 Since this second degradation of the art, however, many 
 great artists have lived, especially in Italy, a country which 
 has never attained a system of constructive unity. For, ex- 
 cept the pseudo-Greek buildings of the empire, and the 
 pseudo-Gothic pile of Milan cathedral, with a few other 
 exotic importations, it has never seen a building possessing 
 even the appearance of constructive unity. Such a country 
 is that in which we might look for the development of a style 
 suitable to the mixed construction practised for the last three 
 centuries ; and, accordingly, in that country, such a style 
 did, after many ages of unsuccessful efforts, at length appear, 
 under the constellation of artists that adorned the fifteenth 
 and sixteenth centuries. The system then developed was a 
 new one, though composed of classic details. It affords more 
 scope for variety in general arrangement than either of the 
 pure systems, — certainly more than any impure ones ; and it 
 possesses a pliancy that may be bent to all the purposes 
 probably that can ever be required in buildings of mixed 
 construction. As long as such construction prevails, we may 
 safely predict the continued prevalence of this architecture 
 among the thinking. 
 
 But the two pure systems, perhaps it will be said, are 
 things too good ever to be entirely given up. If so, far more 
 are they too good to be abused and caricatured. If they are 
 worth copying at all, they are worth copying completely ; 
 and this can never be done but by copying their construction 
 as well as their decoration. If modern habits or means will 
 not permit this, they will not permit the old style. Count 
 the cost, therefore. If you want to imitate the archless 
 style, your building must be archless, or a huge lie. If you 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 261 
 
 imitate the beamless style, it must be beamless ; and every 
 unvaulted building, ancient or modern, that apes this style, 
 is a motiveless and unmeaning sham. 
 
 Not less preposterous than the attempt to revive dead 
 styles, is the requirement to invent, for ordinary buildings, a 
 new one. As long as we have no new style in construction, 
 we can have none in architecture ; but if we call the mixed 
 construction a new kind, we have a new style adapted to it, 
 — a modern, a living style ; the growth of modern circum- 
 stances and of the existing modes of construction : — new, 
 moreover, inasmuch as we are only on the threshold of its 
 possible combinations and varieties, far more inexhaustible 
 than those of either of the pure systems. In this country 
 particularly, the beauties of the modern architecture are 
 hardly known, nor can it be said to have ever had a fair trial, 
 or indeed any trial in more than one or two classes of build- 
 ings.* It would be ridiculous self-conceit in an architect, to 
 pretend wilfully to go back and try to solve anew that which 
 has been already solved, and only by the succession of a long 
 line of great artists. He can never hope to overtake them 
 with such a start in their favor ; while by commencing from 
 the point they reached, the poorest talents may advance 
 beyond them. 
 
 But while no inventive architect would wish for a new 
 style, convinced that there is far more scope for variety and 
 new combination in one already enriched with the accumulated 
 genius of three centuries ; it is certain that, in another point 
 of view, a new style is indispensable. There is a class of 
 buildings tending towards a new style of construction, — be- 
 coming less mixed in this respect, — and approaching a con- 
 sistent use of tensile covering to the exclusion of every other. 
 
 * What are called classic churches, for instance, are . for the most part, mere 
 anti-art, no more Classic than they are Chinese. Wren had no opportunity of 
 erecting a handsome parish church. His pupils fell either into littleness or 
 Eorominian corruption ; and since their time, there have only been hole-in-the- 
 wall preaching rooms, — sham temples, — and now pseudo-Gothicesque barns, copies 
 of copies by mediaeval village masons. England does not possess a modern church 
 in the modern style. 
 
262 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 To this third system of constructive unity, there is no old 
 style adapted. None was invented for it. It is a new thing, 
 and its treatment must be new, — new, because subject to old 
 principles ; and to be effected only by a patient search into 
 those old principles. Let us not mistake what we have to do. 
 It is that which has been done only twice before ; in the time 
 of Dorus, and in the thirteenth century. We must carefully 
 attend to the modes by which it was effected on both those 
 occasions. On the first it was done most perfectly. There 
 was the least to do. There was no lumber of a rotten system 
 to sweep away. There was falsehood indeed to rectify, but 
 it was only decorative, not constructive, and probably un- 
 backed by prejudices and precedent. The second purification 
 was less complete, but more like, in circumstances, to that 
 now required. Its grand impediments were prejudices in 
 favor of old but useless forms, and against an useful member 
 (the buttress,), under the notion that it was unarchitectural. 
 So is it now. The method of tying buildings together, (said 
 Wren,) instead of giving the arches, &c., sufficient butment, 
 is contrary to the principles of sound architecture. Yes, 
 contrary to the only two systems of architecture known to 
 him or to us, but not therefore contrary to all possible 
 systems. A Greek would have condemned thus the method 
 of wedging stones together by lateral pressure ; and after 
 this method was introduced and used in all buildings, it was 
 fifteen centuries before architects could be brought to admit 
 the appearance of this lateral pressure. For a still longer 
 period has tension been a principle of building, and yet not 
 of architecture ; much longer has the tie been struggling for . 
 admission, and been refused. As nothing was effected to- 
 wards the development of the second system till the arch 
 covering became universal, — till a building became beamless; 
 so can no advance toward the third be expected till this 
 constructive principle becomes universal, in the widest cover- 
 ing and in the narrowest, — till a building be erected both 
 without lintel and without butment 
 
OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 263 
 
 If the retaining of useless entablatures after their office 
 was superseded by the arch, was a falsehood and a hindrance 
 necessary to be swept away before any progress could be 
 effected, — have we not a perfect parallel in the retaining of 
 useless buttresses after their duty has been superseded by the 
 tie ? 
 
 There is, among other art-destroying fallacies, a notion 
 now prevalent, that architectural styles spring up of them- 
 selves, and that if we wait long enough, in process of time a 
 new one may grow up, we know not how. A new railway 
 is more likely to grow up. Decorative manners , fashions , are 
 not to be confounded with a new style, still less with a new 
 system, such as the two , the only two, that possess con- 
 structive and decorative unity. Yet even a new fashion does 
 not come unsought v — without search after novelty. Far less 
 can an architectural system arise but by an earnest and 
 rightly directed search after truth . For five thousand years 
 have all the nations beyond the radius of Greek influence 
 sought a true system of beam architecture, and never found 
 it. For fifteen centuries did Europeans use the arch, and 
 seek a system of arch architecture, before they found it. For 
 a much longer time have Arabs, Turks, Chinese, sought the 
 same, and Tiever attained it. For twenty centuries did the 
 Italians practise mixed construction, and seek a system 
 thereof, before they attained it. Let us not deceive ourselves : 
 a style never grew of itself ; it never will. It must be sought, 
 and sought the right way. We may blunder on in a wrong 
 path forever, and get no nearer the goal. 
 
 A new style requires the generalized imitation of nature 
 and of many previous styles ; and a new system requires, in 
 addition to this (as Professor Whewell has remarked), the 
 binding of all together by a new. principle of unity, clearly 
 understood, agreed upon, and kept constantly in view. Con- 
 structive statics affords three such principles, — the depressile , 
 the compressile , and the tensile methods, — the beam — the 
 arch — the truss ; of which the two former have been made 
 
264 
 
 HISTORY AND RUDIMENTS 
 
 tlie bases of past systems : the third is ours, to be used in 
 the same manner. 
 
 Such I believe to be the problem Truth propounds to the 
 architects of the present time ; but its solution will be found 
 utterly hopeless, as long as we indulge any hankering after 
 novelty for its own sake ; any mean disposition to follow in- 
 stead of correcting popular taste; and above all, let none 
 dare attempt it till we have engraved on our compasses a 
 hacknied sentence, but one which I suspect to contain nearly 
 the whole theory of art, — seek not to seem what you 
 
 WOULD BE, BUT TO BE WHAT YOU WOULD SEEM. 
 
GLOSSARY 
 
 Abacus. — The plate or shallow block forming the uppermost 
 member of a capital is so called for the sake of 
 distinction, for when a similar one is placed 
 beneath the base of a column, it is called a 
 plinth . It is sometimes square, and sometimes 
 curved, forming on the plan segments of a cir- 
 cle, an ornament being introduced. Abacus. 
 
 The Doric abacus is spoken of in this book, and is here shown 
 in a plan of the capital and architrave ; a a a a being the angles 
 
 of the soffit or underside of the abacus which overhang the echinus 
 e e e e ■ and s s the soffit of the architrave. From this, the rela- 
 tion between the abacus and architrave, and how much the former 
 exceeds or projects out beyond the latter, will be better understood 
 than by the engraving Fig. 1 in this book, where the capital is 
 shown only in elevation . 
 
 The next figure is still more indispensable for understanding 
 the conformation of the Ionic capital. Here the abacus shows 
 
II. 
 
 GLOSSARY. 
 
 itself only in front at / /, over the two voluted faces, the rest being 
 concealed by the baluster . sides b b of .the .capital, which extend 
 beyond the abacus, and convert the general plan into more than a 
 square. Although the channels and other details of the baluster 
 sides are omitted, and only their general shape shown, the engrav- 
 ing explains how those sides are reduced by being hollowed out or 
 curved concavely on the plan. 
 
 In the Corinthian Order, a similar curvature is given to the 
 
 
 abacus itself on all its four sides ; the capital of this Order having 
 that in common with the Doric, that it is quite regular. One 
 great point of difference between the Doric and Corinthian abacus 
 is, that in the former the angles are unsupported, and overhang 
 the circular body of the capital, while in the Corinthian Order 
 they extend outwards diaganolly, as a a a a in the figure, and sup- 
 ported by the caulicoli or small volutes, which they in turn serve 
 to cover. The letters f fff indicate the rosettes or flowers on 
 the four faces of the abacus. 
 
 Amphiprostyle. — A building having a portico at both ends. 
 
 Amphitheatre. — A theatre of an elliptical form, or in other 
 words, a double theatre, produced by building two, end to end. 
 
 Ancones or Trusses. — Ornaments in the cornice of an 
 Ionic doorway, resembling modillions placed vertically. 
 
 Amulet. — The mouldings at the lower part of the echinus 
 in Doric capitals. A small square moulding used to sepa- 
 rate Other mouldings. Ancones. 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 III. 
 
 Ant,e. — Square pillars or pilasters, attached to a wall. They 
 have capitals different from those of the columns with which they 
 are associated. 
 
 Apophyge. — The small facise by which the shaft is attached to 
 the fillet of the base. 
 
 Apteral. — A temple without columns at the ends. 
 
 Areostyle. — An arrangement of columns, when four diameters 
 are allowed between them. 
 
 Architrave. — The lowest member of the entablature ; also, 
 mouldings round doors and windows. 
 
 Archivolt. — The interior face of an arch, between the imposts. 
 
 Arris. — The meeting of two surfaces producing an angle. 
 
 Area. — An open space within a building. 
 
 Astragal. — A semi-circular moulding. 
 
 Attic. — A small height of panelling above the cor- 
 nice ; also, the upper story of a house when the walls 
 are perpendicular. 
 
 Aisles. — The spaces on each side of a nave. 
 
 Almery. — A niche or closet introduced in 
 the walls of churches or cathedrals, intended 
 
 1 
 
 Astragal. 
 
 Almery. 
 
 for the keeping of valuable articles belong- ~Jf 
 ing to the religious service. 
 
 Almonry. — The building in which alms are 
 distributed. 
 
 Ambo. — A pulpit or raised platform. 
 
 Arch-Buttress, or Flying-Buttress. 
 
 — An arch introduced for the purpose of 
 supporting or appearing to support a 
 spire, or one springing over the roof of 
 an aisle, and a butting against the wall of 
 the clerestory. 
 
 Aspersorium. — The holy water basin. 
 
 Auditorium. — The nave or body of 
 the church, where the people meet for 
 
 worship. Arch-Buttress, or Flying-Buttress. 
 
 Antefix^:. — Called by some, Greelc, Tiles , — upright ornamental 
 blocks placed at intervals on the cornice along the roof, to conceal 
 or rather terminate the ridges formed by the overlapping of the 
 roof. 
 
IY. 
 
 GLOSSARY. 
 
 ^Esthetic. — Artistic. 
 
 Astylar. — A term that expresses the absence of columns or 
 pilasters, where they might else be supposed to occur. 
 
 Axis. — An imaginary line through the centre of a column, &c. 
 
 Baptistry. — The place in which the rite of baptism is per- 
 formed. 
 
 Bartizan. — A turret over the roof, and within the parapet of 
 any building. 
 
 Battlement. — An indented and sometimes 
 perforated parapet. 
 
 Bay. — The space between the ribs of a 
 groined roof ; also, the part of a window be- u, “ w,ra ^ttTeii^ntr 
 tween the mullions. 
 
 Bay-Window. — “ A projecting window, rising from the ground, 
 or basement, in a semi-octagon, semi-hexagon, or polygonal form.” 
 
 Benetier. — A vessel for holy water, usually placed at the 
 entrance of a church. 
 
 Billet-moulding. — Cylindrical blocks plac- 
 ed at short but equal distances from each 
 other, in a hollow moulding. Billet-moulding 
 
 Boss. — A carved ornament at the intersection of the ribs in a 
 groined roof. 
 
 Brasses. — Brass plates let into the pavement of ecclesiastical 
 buildings over or near tombs. All of these have an engraving of 
 some sort, and many of them are admirably designed, and elabo- 
 rately engraven. 
 
 Buttress. — A projection from a wall built between the 
 windows and at the angles of a building, having the dou- 
 ble purpose, in Gothic structure, of strength and ornament. 
 
 They are of various forms, according to the style of archi- 
 tecture. 
 
 Bed-mouldings. — The mouldings beneath the corona 
 or principal projecting member of a cornice. “ \ 
 
 Branches. — The ribs of a groined roof. * 
 
 Bracket. — A projection from the face of a well to car- 
 ry sculpture, or support some weight. 
 
 Blocking Course. — A solid course of masonry, above 
 a cornice. Buttress. 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 V. 
 
 Base. — The part of a column on which the shaft rests. The 
 term is also used to signify the lower part of a wall. 
 
 Bandelet. — A very narrow moulding, of the same form as the 
 band. 
 
 Band. — A moulding with a square profile. 
 
 Balustrade. — A range of small pillars or balusters upon a 
 plinth, and surmounted by a cornice or coping. 
 
 Baluster. — A small pillar, the form of which may be varied at 
 pleasure, used in balustrades. 
 
 Balcony. — A projection from the face of a wall, supported by 
 columns or consoles, and usually surrounded by a balustrade. 
 
 Cable. — A moulding representing a cable. 
 
 Caissons. — Sunk panels in ceilings or in soffits. 
 
 Campana. — The part of a Corinthian capital on which the 
 leaves are placed. 
 
 Cantilevers. — Trusses under the modillions of a frieze. 
 
 Capital. — The part of a column on which a column rests on 
 the shaft. 
 
 Cartouches. — Modillions or blocks sup- 
 porting the eaves of a house. 
 
 Casement. — The frame of a window or 
 light ; also a moulding the same as the 
 scotia. 
 
 Cavetto. — A hollow moulding, one 
 quarter of a circle. 
 
 Cartouches. 
 
 A canal or groove sunk in the face of 
 
 x 
 
 Channel. 
 any work. 
 
 Colonnade. — A row of columns supporting an entablature. 
 
 Column. — A round pillar, having a shaft and capital, and gen- 
 erally a base. , 
 
 Coping. — A sloping stone on the top of a wall, to throw off the 
 rain-water. 
 
 Corbel. — A projection from the surface of a wall, to carry a 
 weight, and generally ornamented. 
 
 Cornice. — The upper division of an entablature, composed of 
 several members, and varying according to the order. 
 
 Corona. — A large square member of a cornice, between the 
 cymatium and bed-mouldings. It is intended to protect the parts 
 beneath it, and has a considerable projection. It is sometimes 
 called the larmier, but more frequently the drip. 
 
T I. 
 
 GLOSSARY. 
 
 irmir, 
 
 Cyma Recta. — A compound moulding, hollow in 
 
 the upper, round in the lower part. Cy ma Recta ^ 
 
 Cyma Reyersa. — A moulding, the reverse of the cyma recta. 
 
 Cymatium. — The upper moulding of an entablature. 
 
 Cable-moulding. — A moulding used in Nor- 
 man architecture, and deriving its name from its 
 form. 
 
 Canopy. — An ornamental projection over 
 doors, windows, and niches, chiefly introduced 
 in the Decorated and Perpendicular English. 
 
 Carol. — A small closet in a cloister. 
 
 Catherine-wheel Window. — A circular 
 window, usually with a rich radiating tracery. 
 
 Cable-moulding. 
 
 Chapels. — Small buildings attached to cathe- 
 
 Canopy. 
 
 Chantry. — A small chapel at the side of a church. 
 
 Chevron, or Zig-Zag.— A characteristic moulding in Norman 
 buildings. 
 
 Choir. — The space eastward of the cross in churches having 
 that form, and between the nave and high altar. 
 
 Cinquefoil. — An ornament representing the leaves of 
 a flower or leaf, used in Gothic architecture. 
 
 Clere-story. — The upper story or row of windows in Cin<luefoil 
 a Gothic church. 
 
 Cloisters. — Covered passage ways to different parts of an 
 ecclesiastical building. 
 
 Crocket. — An ornament resembling a 
 bunch of flowers or foliage, chiefly used at 
 the angles of pinnacles and canopies. 
 
 Crypt. — A vaulted chamber under a 
 church, generally under the eastern end ; 
 and used either as a place of sepulture, an 
 oratory, or baptistry. 
 
 Cusps. — T he ornaments at the points of the tracery in Gothic 
 windows ; or according to some, the arcs which the ornaments 
 terminate. 
 
 Caryatides. — Pillars where human figures, instead of columns, 
 are used to support an entablature. 
 
 Dado, or Die.— The plain part of a pedestal. 
 
 Crocket . 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Dentils —Square projecting blocks in the bed- r j~[j "|'|~TT~[TT 
 moulds of the entablatures. They are so called Dentils> 
 from a fancied resemblance to a row of teeth. 
 
 Dodecastyle. — A building with twelve columns in front. 
 
 Donjon, or Keep. — A massive tower in ancient castles, usually 
 in the centre. 
 
 Dovetail-moulding. — A characteristic Nor- — ■ - 
 
 Dungeon. — The vault for prisoners, usually 
 the basement of the Donjon. 
 
 7A\7/\T 
 
 Dovetail-moulding. 
 
 Echinus. — An egg-shaped ornament in the Ionic 
 
 Capital. Echinus. 
 
 Entablature. — The uppermost division of a column, supported 
 by the shaft. 
 
 Eustyle. — Two and a quarter diameters between the columns. 
 
 Embrasure or Crenelle. — A splayed opening in a wall ; an 
 opening in a battlement. 
 
 Elevation. — An upright plan of a building or any part of a 
 building, showing its exact form and dimensions as they actually 
 exist. 
 
 Entasis. — A slightly convex curvature given in execution to 
 the outline of the shaft of a column, just sufficient to counteract 
 and correct the appearance, or fancied appearance, of curvature in 
 a contrary direction, (i. e. concavely,) which might else take 
 place, and cause the middle of the shaft to appear thinner than it 
 really is. 
 
 Epistylum. — The architrave or horizontal course resting imme- 
 diately upon the columns. Hence we should denote as Epistylar 
 Arcuation that system in which columns support arches instead of 
 horizontal architraves and entablatures. 
 
 Epitithedas. — The cymatium on the sloping or raking cornices 
 of a pediment, which superimposed moulding (as its name implies) 
 was frequently largely developed, and enriched with an ornamental 
 pattern. 
 
 Feathering or Foliation. — Smalls arcs or foils in the tracery 
 of Gothic windows. According to the numbers uniting, they are 
 called trefoils, quatrefoils, cinquefoils, or multifoils. 
 
 Finial. — The ornament which crowns a pinnacle on canopy. 
 
 Font. — A vase used for baptism. 
 
VIII. 
 
 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Facade. — The elevation or view of the principal front of any 
 "building. 
 
 Fascia, or Facia. — -A broad flat member, in an architrave, 
 cornice, or pedestal. 
 
 Fillet. — A small square member, dividing mouldings. 
 
 Flutings. — Perpendicular channels in the shaft of a column. 
 
 Frieze. — The middle division of an entablature. 
 
 Fenestration. — In contra- 
 distinction from eolumniation, 
 the system of construction and 
 mode of design marked by win- 
 dows. 
 
 Gable. 
 
 Gattae 
 
 Gable. — The triangular ma- 
 sonry or woodwork at the end 
 of a roof. Some of the old ga- 
 ble ends are curiously carved. 
 
 Glyphs.— Vertical channels in the Doric frieze. 
 
 GuttjE. — Ornaments resembling drops, under the 1 
 mutules of the Doric entablature. 
 
 Gablet. — A small gable in screens, &c. 
 
 Gargoyle. — The projecting water-spout, 
 generally ornamented with the head of a man, 
 a monster, or some appropriate emblem. 
 
 Groin. — The lines formed by the intersec- 
 tion Of two Or more vaults. Gargoyle. 
 
 Heptastyle. — A building with seven colums in front. 
 
 Hexastyle. — A building with six columns in front. 
 
 Hatched-moulding. — A moulding used in 
 Norman Architecture, with ornaments of a tri- 
 angular form, and having the appearance of be- 
 ing cut with a hatchet. 
 
 Hovel. — A niche , or canopy for a statue. 
 
 Hypotrachelium. — The necking of a capital introduced be- 
 tween the capital itself and the shaft of the column. 
 
 Hatched-mouldm : 
 
 Inpost, — The abacus which crowns a pilaster or pier, and from 
 which an arch springs ; also, the capital of a pilaster which sus- 
 tains an arch. 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Intercolumniation. — The distance between one column and 
 another. 
 
 Jube. — A gallery or rood-loft over the choir, to the front of 
 which was generally attached a pulpit. 
 
 Keep. — The most elevated and innermost tower of a castle. 
 Knob. — The boss at the crowning of a groin. 
 
 Label, or Hood-moulding. — The outer moulding over doors 
 or windows. 
 
 Lavatory. — A stone basin attached to the altar, used by the 
 priest during mass to dip or wash his hands. 
 
 Lettern, or Lectern. — A reading-desk, commonly of brass. 
 Lozenge-moulding. — A moulding used in — — ^ 
 Norman architecture. 
 
 Lozenge-irruuldmg. 
 
 Metope. — The interval between the triglyphs in a Doric frieze, 
 often ornamented with sculptures. 
 
 Modillion. — An ornament in the Corinthian 
 and Composite orders, resembling a bracket. 
 
 Mutules. — Small block ornaments under the 
 corona in the Doric order. Metope. 
 
 Mullions. — The upright shafts dividing a window into separate 
 light. 
 
 Misereres. — Shelving seats in the stalls of churches and cathe- 
 drals. 
 
 Merlon. — The solid part of an embattled parapet. 
 
 Machicolations. — The perpendicular openings left between the 
 corbels of a battlement over gateways and doors, intended to afford 
 facilities for annoying assailants. 
 
 Mouldings.— The principal mouldings and the difference of 
 their profiles in the Grecian and Roman styles are here exhibited. 
 
X. 
 
 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Greek. 
 
 Roman. 
 
 Cyma m 
 Recta. 
 
 Scotia. 
 
 Torus. 
 
 Monotriglyphic. — That mode of intercolumniation in the 
 Boric Order, according to which there is only a single triglyph 
 over each intercolumn. 
 
 Module. — The semi-diameter of the column, or 30 minutes. 
 
 Minute. — The sixtieth part of the diameter of the column, as 
 a proportional measure. Minutes are written thus, 8', that is, 
 eight minutes. 
 
 Nave. — The central division of a church between the aisles. 
 
 Ovolo. — A convex moulding, a quarter of a circle, ^ - 
 
 and sometimes called a quarter round. ' 0volo “ 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 XI. 
 
 Oratory. — A private chapel for prayer. 
 Oriel. — A window projecting from a 
 wall. 
 
 Parapet. — A wall about breast high, at 
 the top of a house, or on a bridge, intended 
 as a defence. It is sometimes ornamented, 
 sometimes plain. 
 
 Patera. — An ornament in a frieze, re- 
 sembling a goblet. 
 
 Pedestal. — A square piece of masonry supporting the base of 
 the column, and consisting of a base, die and cornice. 
 
 Pediment. — The triangular form above the columns in the 
 front and back of a building ; also the same over windows and 
 doors. 
 
 Pentastyle. — A portico of five columns. 
 
 Peripteral. — A temple having columns all round. 
 
 Pier. — A solid pilaster or column from which an arch springs, 
 or carrying a weight ; also, the solid mass between the doors or 
 windows of a building, or between the arches of a bridge. 
 
 Pilaster. — This term is not synonymous with the word col- 
 umn. In the latter, a regular and almost undeviating proportion 
 is maintained between the several parts, but in the former, the 
 same arrangement of parts is not adopted. 
 
 Platband. — A square member, with a projection less than 
 either the height or breadth. 
 
 Plinth. — A solid mass under the base of a column. 
 
 Podium. — A running pedestal, supporting a series of columns 
 round a building. 
 
 Portico. — A horizontal projection in the front of a building, 
 supported by columns. 
 
 Pix. — The shrine to contain the host or consecrated wafers. 
 
 Porch. — A small covered entrance into a building. 
 
 Panel. — A small compartment enclosed with mouldings, and 
 generally decorated with an ornament, or sculpture. 
 
 Pendent. — An ornament hanging from a roof. 
 
 Perches. — Brackets in churches, for images or candlesticks. 
 
XII. 
 
 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Pinnacle. — A small spire, or pointed termination to 
 towers, turrets, and buttresses, generally with four sides, 
 and more or less ornamented. 
 
 Plan. — A plan may be familiarly described as an arch- 
 itectural map, or map of a building. To define it more 
 exactly,-— a plan is a horizontal section supposed to be ta- 
 ken on the level of the floor through the solid parts of the 
 fabric, walls, columns, &c., so as to show their various 
 thicknesses and situations. 
 
 Polystyle. — Having a number of columns. Where 
 Columns occur behind columns, as where a portico has 
 inner columns, such portico may be termed a polystyle . Pinnacle. 
 
 Profile. — The outline of a series of mouldings, or of any other 
 parts, as shown by a section through them. 
 
 Pulvinated.— A frieze whose face is convex instead of plain is 
 said to be pulvinated, from its supposed resemblance to that side 
 of a cushion which swells out when pressed*. 
 
 Quatrefoil. — An ornament representing four leaves 
 of a flower, formed within a circle. 
 
 Rustic. — Stone or compo work, channelled verti- 
 cally and horizontally. 
 
 Rood. — A cross with a figure of our Saviour on it. 
 
 Rood Loft. — A gallery generally over the screen, or at the 
 entrance of the choir, in which a rood was in former times placed. 
 
 Raking Cornices. — A term applied to the inclined cornices on 
 the sloping side of a pediment. 
 
 Scotia. — A hollow moulding, chiefly used in the base of the 
 Ionic column. 
 
 Scroll. — A spiral ; the volute of the Ionic capital. 
 
 Shaft. — That part of a column between the capital and base. 
 
 Spire. — The pyramidical structure crowning a tower or turret. 
 
 Spandril. — The triangular space be- 
 tween an arch and the right angle above 
 it. 
 
 Stalls. — Elevated seats on the sides of 
 a choir in cathedrals, with canopies over 
 them, appropriated for ecclesiastics. 
 
 Stancheon. — The upright bar or mul- 
 lion which divides a window into bays. 
 
 Spandril. 
 
 Quatrefoil. 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Steeple. — A tower rising above the roof of a church. 
 
 Section. — A vertical plan of the interior of a building, showing 
 it as it would appear upon an upright plane cutting through it. 
 
 Soffit. — From the Italian soffitto, a ceiling ; the under surface 
 of any projecting moulding or member. 
 
 Stylobate. — That part of a structure on which an order is 
 raised, and on which the columns immediately stand. The term 
 is, however, restricted to what partakes of the character of a 
 pedestal, and not to a mere plinth or socle on the one hand, or to 
 a lower fenestrated floor on the other. 
 
 Tetrastyle. — A building with four columns in front. 
 Torus. — A semi-circular moulding. d 
 
 Triglypli. 
 
 Triglyph. — The vertical channels in the Doric Torus, 
 frieze. 
 
 Tympanum. — The triangular surface enclosed by the 
 pediment. In the ancient temples it was frequently 
 decorated with sculptures. 
 
 Tabernacle. — A stall or niche detached fom the 
 wall, with a canopy over it. 
 
 Tablet. — A projecting moulding, more particularly that under 
 a window. 
 
 Transept. — That part of a church or cathedral which runs 
 north and south, forming the arms of a cross. 
 
 Tracery. — The frame-work and ornament in the head of a 
 window or screen. 
 
 Transom. — The horizontal bar dividing a window into lights. 
 
 Trefoil. — An ornament representing three leaves of 
 a flower, formed within a circle. 4\\ 
 
 Tudor Flower. — An ornament employed for open 
 parapets. Trefoil. 
 
 Undercroft. — The crypt or vault of a church. 
 
 Y olute, — The spirals on an Ionic capital. 
 
 Y estibule. — The large hall or passage. 
 
 Weepers. — The statues of Grief, at the base of a tomb or mon- 
 ument. 
 
 Zig-Zag. — See Chevron. 
 
THIS ENGRAVING SHOWS THE FRIEZE, CAPITAL AND BASE 
 EMPLOYED IN THE FRONT OF ST. PAUL’S SCHOOL, 
 
 st. Paul’s church yard, London. 
 
GETTY CENTER LIBRARY 
 3 3125 0083] ■