AKCniTECTURE. 



and thus, by degrees, the Indian architecture seems to have grown from the rudest 

 excavations of Troglodite savages, to the most beautiful forms discovered in the tem- 

 ples of Salsetta, of Elora, and 

 Elephantis. 



'• When these natural sub- 

 terraneous vaults were imitated 

 above ground, in buildings of 

 later date, the same construc- 

 tion prevailed ; and, therefore, 

 both in the arches and domes 

 of the Indian style, we observe 

 the same principle of perpen- 

 dicular pressure [see fig. 5.] 



" Application of Indian 

 Architecture. — Having al- 

 ready shown the difficulty of 



Fig. 5. Imaginary sketch, exhibiting the principle of perpendicular 

 pressure in the artificial vaults made in the native rock in India, 

 and also in the arches of buildings in the Indian style. 



adapting either the Grecian or Gothic styles to the character of an English residence, 

 this newly discovered style of architecture seems to present a new expedient for the 

 purpose, in the forms made known to this country by the accurate designs of Mr. 

 Thomas Daniell, and other artists, which have opened new sources of grace and 

 beauty. 



"To the materitds of wood and stone we have lately added that of cast-iron, 

 unknown in former times, either in Grecian or Gothic architecture, and which is pecu- 

 liarly adapted to some light parts of the Indian style. 



"In Grecian architecture, the artist is confined to five (or, rather, only to three) 

 different orders of columns, so restricted in their relative proportions that they are 

 seldom used externally, with good effect, in modern houses, and are generally found 

 too bulky for internal use. Indian architecture presents an endless variety of forms 

 and proportions of pillars, from the ponderous supports of the cavern, to the light, 

 airy shafts which enrich their corridors, or support their verandas. This alone would 

 justify the attempt to adapt a style, untried, for the purpose to which other styles 

 have been found inapplicable or inadequate. 



"It is difficult for an artist at once to divest himself of forms he has long studied. 

 This will account for the confusion of Grecian and Gothic in the works of John of 

 Padua, Inigo Jones, and others, about the same date, wliich occasioned that mixture 

 of style, condemned in after-times for the reasons already assigned. The same thino- 

 may be observed in the first introduction of Gothic, mixed with the Saxon and Nor- 

 man which preceded it : and the same will, doubtless, happen in many instances, 

 during the introductory application of Indian architecture to English uses, while a 

 false taste will both admire and condemn, without any true standard, the various 

 forms of novelty. 



If I might humbly venture to suggest an opinion on the subject, I should recom 

 mend the use only of such Indian forms, or proportions, as bear the least resemblance 



