84 On the Fine Arts. 
ditional pleasures by the same means which supplied his 
corporeal necessities. 
In the Greek colonies of Asia Minor architecture is sup- 
posed to have first attained excellence. At least the best 
authors on the history of the arts agree in stating that the 
Doric and Ionic orders were first perfectly constructed 
there; and it may be questioned if in the lapse of more 
than twenty centuries any improvement has been added to 
the august simplicity of the Grecian Doric or the simple 
elegance of the lonic column. The Corinthian, which is of 
much later invention, though more elaborately ornamented 
_ than the other two, is by many of the most approved taste 
deemed inferior to them as an order. It retains less of the 
resemblance to the original natural model. It has more 
about it that may be regarded as superfluous, and the foli- 
age of the capital is obviously a redundancy placed there 
for no other purpose than the display of skill and expense. 
The Corinthian pillars in the porticos of St. Panl’s in Lon- 
don are esteemed very pure specimens of that order; but 
their appearance is less impressive than that of the Doric 
columns which still remain among the ruins of the temple 
of Minerva at Athens. More than two thousand years 
have elapsed, and the remnants of the Greek architecture 
still afford models which, never having been equalled, seem 
incapable of being further improved. It may indeed be 
still said, that the genius of ancient Greece has furnished 
eternal models to the arts in Europe. 
About the same time that the Doric was raised to per- 
fection in Ionia, the Etruscans invented the Tuscan, a si- 
milar order, but a grosser style; and the Romans, after the 
simple and dignified manners of their republic had passed | 
away, demonstrated by the invention of the Composite, and 
their preference of that gaudy order, how much the cor- 
ruption of their morals had infected their taste. 
The Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Tuscan and Composite 
orders of architecture constilute what is properly under- 
stood by the classes of architecture. They are arranged 
with distinct appropriate and peculiar ornaments, and their 
proportions are regulated by rules which cannot be violated 
without impairing their beauty. This is not the case with 
any other kind of architecture, and hence all other modifi- 
‘cations of the art of building are called styles, in contra- 
distinction to orders, such as the Chinese, the Moorish, 
and the Gothic. It is true that in England the Society 
of Antiquaries, and several private amateurs of the aii 
ave 
