? I . 

 n. 



,:,\ 



608 



three column*. He make* the column ten diameter* and 

 a half in height ; the entablature is a fourth of that alti- 

 tude, the cornice has modillions and dentils, the frieze is 

 plain, the architrave of three faciz divided by mouldings, 

 and the bate is attic. 



Sir William Chambers has obserred, that " the Corin- 

 thian order is proper for all buildings where elegance, 

 gaiety, and magnificence are required. The ancients em- 

 ployed it in templet dedicated to Venuj, Flora, Proser- 

 pine, and the nymplii of fountains ; because the (lowers, 

 foliage, and volutes, with which it is adorned, seemed 

 well adapted to the delicacy and elegance of such dei- 

 ties." This theory, however plausible, is unsupported, 

 or rather contradicted, by facts. The Romans, who ap- 

 pear, a* already hinted, to have adopted the Corinthian 

 order in preference to the others, employed it indiscri- 

 minately, and erected Corinthian temples to Jupiter, 

 Mars, and Neptune, to whom the Greeks dedicated tem- 

 ples of the Doric order. The temples of Minerva at A- 



CIVIL ARCHITECTURE. 



thens and at Sunium arc Doric ; that of Minerva Poiias, Praciicr 

 at Priene, is Ionic. The temple of Jupiter Olympus at S-P Y 

 Elis was Doric ; that at Athens, built by Adrian, is Co- 

 rinthian. The numerous temples of the Grecian colo- 

 nists in Sicily and Italy, are uniformly Doric, marked by 

 the most severe and massive simplicity. The cities of 

 Ionia present the best examples of a chaste and elegant 

 Ionic : and the magnificent structures of Balbec and Pal- 

 myra arc wholly of the Corinthian order, and in the most 

 florid style of ornament. Whence we may conclude, that 

 the choice of the orders of architecture was rather go- 

 verned by national taste, than by any ideas of identity 

 between the character of the style, and that of the object 

 to whom the building was to be devoted. 



In the following Table will be found the proportions 

 of some of the principal examples of the Corinthian or- 

 der ; in examining which, it is to be recollected, that the 

 several members are measured by the lower diameter of 

 the shafts, which is divided into 60 parts. 



I Kinp 



Proportion 



pilal. 

 PUITI 

 t LXXXV. 



*'* ' 

 Xu I. 



No. 8. 

 No. 3. 



No. 4- 



Modillioo. 



PLUE 



'IN. 



Projection of th? Corinthian capital. (See Plate 

 CLXXXV. Fig. 1.) No 1. the plan, No 2. the ele- 

 vation. No 1. the semi-plan, is divided into eight equal 

 parts, which, being carried up perpendicularly to the ele- 

 vation, gives the centres of the leaves of which the pro- 

 jections are formed by those upon the plan. The length 

 of the diagonal of the abacus is two diameters ; the centre 

 of each side is determined by the vertex of an equilate- 

 ral triangle. The elevation shews the general outlines 

 of the leaves before the foliage is cut. 



No 2. shews the general form and manner of raffling 

 the leave*. 



No 3. shews the front of the leaf according to the 

 three columns in the Campo Vaccino. 



No 4. is a modillioo. No 1. being the side, and No 2. 

 the profile. 



Practical example: (Plate CLX.) Referring to the 

 manner of explanation of the Doric and Ionic, the ratio 

 of the parts of the Corinthian will be sufficiently evident, 

 from consulting the before mentioned Plate. This ex- 

 ample is imitated chiefly from the Pantheon of Agrippa 

 at Rome, it being a chaste and elegant specimen. Others, 

 till richer, may be seen in the works of Sir W. Chambers, 

 and Mr P. Nicholson. 



Roman Orders. 



Besides the three Greek orders, two others were in- Roman o 

 troduced in ancient Italy, viz. the Tuscan and Compo- ders. 

 site. In their general character they are governed by General 

 the canons of the Greek school, and have indeed very observa- 

 little claim to be separately classed : Our notice of them lion*- 

 will therefore be proportionally confined. 



The title of the first leads us to assign its origin to 

 Tuscany, and this conjecture is strengthened by that 

 people- beir.g admitted as the offspring of Dorians. No 

 ancient remains of this order having been discovered with 

 entablatures, it is only from the accounts given by Vitru- 

 vius, that the form and ratio of its members can be de- 

 termined ; he allows seven diameters for the height of the 

 columns, and diminishes the upper part one fourth half of 

 the diameter ; the base is half a diameter in height, one of 

 which is given to a circular plinth, and the other to a 

 torus ; the capital is also half a diameter in height, and 

 one in breadth upon the abacus ; the height is divided 

 into three parts, one of which is given to the abacus, one 

 to the eschinus, and the third to the hypotrachelian and 

 apophygis ; the architrave has two faces, with an aper- 

 ture between them of about 1 inch for the admission of 



