( I VI L ARCHITECT I' U I.. 



applicable to four wall* ioclotwg a *paw. Bat add a 



w 9 f . * i 



- : . . 



proponioni arc demad- 

 ppareol weight which H to 

 tit too high, they teem m- 



too low, tlie roof appears 

 the length u too great, tike 

 perspective, appear* to bc- 



il the breadth ii too great, 



roof to tl 



ed. in coawdcratioo of the i 



b supported. Iftl. 



rilv beavy j and if 

 of toe root, by the 

 too great as it retire* 



there it an apparent insufficiency created by the too 

 rest distance of the walls: Certain proportions, there- 

 lore, in length, breadth, and height, fitted for the full 

 aad cat* support of the roof, are required. If these are 

 ccai>iishrrl, we require no more ; and if they are not 

 OaotBpluhcd, every person is sensible of the defect. It 

 therefore follows, that these proportions arc beautiful, 

 {ran being expressive of fitness. The real beauty of 

 the internal proportions of architecture is not, to the 

 bulk of mankind, greater than what attends the expres- 

 sion! of fitness | it is satisfaction rather than positive de- 

 light. In apartments where this proportion has been 

 studied, it is with the convenience, furniture, decora- 

 tions, or magnificence, we are delighted. With the 

 mere outlines of the best proportioned, but unfinished, 

 room, we have only the same moderate pleasure which 

 we receive from observing a well-constructed machine. 

 " If, therefore, certain proportions are demanded in a 

 room as expressive of fitness, and if the emotion that is 

 produced by the established and regular proportions is no 

 greater than that which we receive in other cases ; from 

 the expression of thisquality.it seems reasonable to think, 

 that these proportions arc in fact beautiful, from the ex- 

 pfCMioos of this fitness." The common language of 

 men confirms these statements : they express their sense 

 of proportions by too high or too low, by being heavy 

 or light ; and in explaining to them the nature of inter- 

 nal proportions, we should do it by pointing out, that 

 the walls were well fitted or adapted to support the 

 weight ; or that they were too high, or too low, or too 

 distant, or that the roof was heavy or light ; but this 

 might, and most probably would, all be done, without 

 even mentioning proportions, but referring to the expres- 

 sions of fitness. 



The progress of taste is also decisive upon this subject. 

 If proportions were originally beautiful, the early period 

 cf life would be remarkable for the discovery of them ; 

 but every one is sensible, that it i? only after we have, 

 from experience, acquired a knowledge of the relation 

 between weight and support, that we are sensible of pro- 

 portions. 1? there were any absolute and independent 

 beauty in forms, every violation of them would be equal- 

 ly painful ; but it is evident that this is not the case : too 

 great a height or length in any apartment, is not so dis- 

 agreeable as too great a breadth, or being too low. No 

 uniform emotion, therefore, attending the perception of 

 these proportions, as would necessarily be the case if 

 their beauty were perceived by any peculiar sense, and 

 the emotions which we receive from them being different 

 according to their different expressions of fitness, it seems 

 reasonable to ascribe their beauty to this expression, and 

 not to any original beauty in the proportions themselves. 

 If there were any original beauty in such proportions, 

 they would be as certain as those of any other sense ; 

 there would be one precise proportion of these dimen- 

 sions, of length, breadth, and height, solely and per- 

 manently beautiful. But no artist lias pretended to de- 

 termine any such proportions ; on the contrary, there is 

 ao perminent beauty in any one relation of those dimen- 



biun ; the same proportions which wt" beautiful in one Principles, 

 apartment, are not so in another. "V^"' 



There appear to be three caui.es for the difference of Causes of 

 our opinions of proportions: 1st, From the considera- diTercocc 

 tion of the weight supported. As roofs are usually com- of O l >uuon> 

 posed of timber, and supported by walls, the necessary 

 dimensions are not very precisely determined ; and they 

 may, accordingly, be varied within certain limits. These 

 limits are less rigorous in the case of length or height, 

 than in what regards breadth ; for the same proportion 

 of breadth which is beautiful in one case, \vould be po- 

 sitively disagreeable in another. 



2d, The difference of opinion arises also from the rhiraetef 

 character of the apartment, as gaiety, simplicity, o- nf ?' 

 lemnity, grandeur, magnificence ; for no room is beau- ' 

 tiful which has not some expressive character. The 

 same proportion which is beautiful in a room nf gaiety, Require 

 would be a defect iiione whose character was that of sim- diiiin-r.t 

 plicity j the same proportions which are pleasing in an P r 0(>r. 

 elegant or convenient room, would be defective in an " 

 apartment of magnificence and splendour. 1 n general, 

 the great and positive beauty of apartments arises from 

 their character : thus difference of character requires a 

 difference in the composition of the dimensions, and a 

 beautiful form is only produced, when the composition 

 of different proportions is such as to produce one pure 

 and unmingled expression. 



3. A third cause of the difference of our opinions of 

 the beauty of proportions, arises from the destination of 

 the apartment ; and this, as in the hall, saloon, anti- 

 chamber, drawing-room, dining-room, library, chapel, &c. 

 requires different proportions, and these depend jointly 

 upon utility and character. 



The observations offered on the beauty of the inter- 

 nal proportions of architecture, afford sufficient evidence 

 for concluding, in general, that the beauty of these pro- 

 portions is not original and independent, but that it 

 arises in all cases from the expression of some species of 

 fitness. The fitness which such proportion may express, jr.i n< i, O f 

 is of different kinds ; as, fitness. 



" 1. One beauty of these proportions arises from then- 

 expression of fitness for the support of the weight im- 

 posed. 



" 2. A second source of their beauty consists in their 

 expression of fitness for the preservation of the charac- 

 ter of the apartment. 



" 3. A third source of their beauty consists in their 

 expression of fitness, in the general form, for its pecu- 

 liar purpose or end. 



" The two first constitute the permanent beauty, and 

 the third the accidental beauty of an apartment. 



" The most perfect beauty that the proportions of p ermll , crit 

 an apartment can exhibit, will be when all these expres- beauty, 

 sions unite, or when the same relations of dimensions 

 which are productive of the expressions of sufficiency, 

 agree also in the preservation of character, and in the 

 indication of use." 



Besides the expressions that have now been consider- 

 ed as great and permanent sources of the beauty of 

 forms, there are others which have an observable effect 

 in producing the same emotion in our minds, which' may Accidental 

 be termed accidental beauty. beauty. 



Associations of this kind arise from education, from 

 early or peculiar habits of thought, from situation, and 

 from professions ; and the beauty they produce is felt 

 only by those whom similar causes have led to the forma- 

 tion of similar associations. When these associations are 



