CIVIL ARCHITECTURE. 



625 



Practice, casts a greater or less shade, as the day either increases or 

 """."""' decreases; but the portico itself is then the coolest when 

 tiie suti is most scorching, that is, when its rays fall di- 

 rectly upon the roof. To these its benefits I must not 

 forget to add, that, by setting open the windows, the 

 western breezes have a free draught, and by that means 

 the inclosed air is prevented from stagnating. On the 

 upper end of the terrace and portico stands a detached 

 building in the garden, which I call my favourite ; and 

 indeed it is particularly so, having erected it myself. It 

 contains a very warm winter room, one side of which 

 looks upon the terrace, the other has a view of the sea, 

 and both lie exposed to the sun. Through the folding- 

 doors you see the opposite chamber, and from the win- 

 dows is a prospect of the inclosed portico. On that side 

 next the eea, and opposite to the middle wall, stands a 

 little elegant recess, which, by means of glass doors; and 

 a curtain, is either laid open to the adjoining room, or se- 

 parated from it. It contains a couch and two chairs. As 

 you lie upon this couch, from the feet you have a pros- 

 pect of the sea ; if you look behind, you see the neigh- 

 bouring villas ; and from the head, you have a view of 

 the wood*. These "three views may be either seen dis- 

 tinctly from so many different windows in the room, or 

 blended together in one confused prospect. Adjoining 

 to this is a bed-chamber, which neither the voice of the 

 servants, the murmuring of the sea, nor even the roaring 

 of a tempest can reach ; not lightning, nor day itself, can 

 penetrate it, unless you open the windows. This pro- 

 found tranquillity is occasioned by a passage which se- 

 parates the wall of the chamber from that of the garden ; 

 and thus, by means of that intervening space, every noise 

 is precluded. Annexed to this is a small stove-room, 

 which, by opening a little window, warms the bed-cham- 

 ber to the degree of heat required. Beyond this lies a 

 chamber and antichamber, which enjoy the sun, though 

 obliquely indeed, from the time it rises till the afternoon. 

 When I retire to this garden apartment, I fancy myself 

 a hundred miles from my own house, and take particular 

 pleasure in it at the fea^t of the Saturnalia, when, by the 

 licence of that season of .festivity, every other part of 

 my villa resounds with the mirth of my domestics ; thus 

 I neither interrupt their diversions, nor they my studies. 

 Among the pleasures and conveniences of this situation, 

 there is one disadvantage, and that is the want of a run- 

 ning stream ; but this defect is hi a great measure sup- 

 plied by wells, or rather I should call them fountains, for 

 they rise very near the surface." 



To this we shall only add the general description of a 

 villa, given by Vitruvius. " Those of the nobles who 

 bear the honours of magistracy, and decide the affairs of 

 the citizens, should have a princely vestibulum, lofty 

 atrium, and ample peristjlium, with groves, and extensive 

 ambulatories, besides libraries and basilicas, decorated in 

 a manner similar to the magnificence of public buildings, 

 for in these places both public affairs and private causes are 

 oftentimes determined." Again, " these rules also are ap- 

 plicable not only to the city nouses, but likewise to those 

 of the country, except that in those of the city the atrium 

 is usually near the gate, whereas in the country, pseudo 

 urbana, the peristylium is the 6rst, and then the atrium, 

 having a paved porticus around, looking to the palestra 

 and ambulatories.' (Newton's yilruv. b. vi. chap. 8.) See 

 Plate CLXI. The names being inserted in each apart- 

 ment, renders the use of them apparent by inspection. 



n-al of Roman Architecture, and its present ttate. 

 The church of St Sophia, erected at Constantinople, 



VOL. VI. PART II. 



PlTE 



CI.XI. 



under the emperor Justinian, about the year 637, by the 

 Greek architects Anthemius and Isodorus, forms an in- 

 termediate link between the ancient Roman architecture, 

 and that revived about the latter end of the 15th, and 

 beginning of the 16th century. In Plate CLXXIII, 

 we have given a plan and section, from which it will be 

 seen that the outlines of this structure resemble those of 

 the temple of Peace at Rome. It has also, like it, the 

 windows and other openings covered by semicircular 

 arches ; but instead of having the central part covered 

 by a groined vault, it is surmounted by a spherical dome, 

 in the manner of the Pantheon, but differing from that 

 edifice in rising only about one-third of its chord-line, 

 whereas that in the Pantheon rises one half. Where co- 

 lumns are used in the recesses from the middle aisle, they 

 have base-mouldings, but no square plinths under them : 

 the upper member of their capitals has some resemblance 

 to the Ionic, the other part seems an awkward imitation 

 of the vase of the Corinthian. The spaces between the 

 columns are covered by arches springing immediately 

 from the top of the caps, as in the temple of Faunus at 

 Rome. The faces of the large square piers are covered 

 with rectangular pannels. But the whole details are mi- 

 serably inferior to either the Greek or ancient Roman 

 architecture ; and the frequent failures which took place 

 in attempting to construct the dome, though under the 

 direction of the best Greek architects of the age, are 

 proofs of the degenerate state of the art at that period. 

 The following short account of the manner in which the 

 architects proceeded with this dome will, we have no doubt, 

 be satisfactory to the reader, and prove instructive to the 

 young architect. On the angles of a square of about 

 1 15 feet, four piers were erected, and carried up to near- 

 ly the same height, where arches were turned between 

 them. The angular spaces between the archivolts of 

 those arches were worked up so as gradually to form a 

 complete circle at the level of the top of the arches. 

 Upon this circle the dome was raised. The pressure of 

 the eastern and western arches was resisted by walls, al- 

 most solid, running north and south, two in each direc- 

 tion, for about 90 feet. The small semi-dome which co- 

 vered the circular recesses, were intended to resist the 

 north and south arches ; but they proved insufficient, for 

 a few months only after the dome was completed, it gave 

 way towards the east, fell down, and carried with it the 

 semi- dome on that side. The architect then added to 

 the eastern piers, by filling up some vacuities, and re- 

 constructed the dome. But the resistance at the east end 

 was still insufficient, for before it was completed it fell a 

 second time. He then constructed strong buttressei 

 against the wall of a square cloister, which surrounded 

 the central building, and from thence carried arched but- 

 tresses over the interval to the main building, and a third 

 time raised the dome, taking care to diminish the thick- 

 ness, and for lightness to make use of pumice-stone. But 

 after all, he found it necessary to fill up the arches on the 

 north and south sides with others of smaller dimensions. 

 The early Christian churches were built with a great 

 number of columns, because those were found ready 

 worked among the ruins of ancient edifices. When this 

 mode of supply failed, towards the end of the 10th cen- 

 tury, the clumsy workmen were obliged to substitute 

 massy piers and arcades. 



If we were to follow the practice of architecture as it 



succeeded in point of time, we ought here to introduce 



and describe specimens of the Gothic school ; but for 



simplicity and distinctness, we prefer following the Ro- 



4 K 



Practice. 



St Sophia 

 at Constan- 

 tinople. 

 PLATE 

 CLXXIH. 



