ARCHITECTURE. 247 



manufactures, contrived to furnish and adorn the works of 

 architecture, which occupies thousands, and constitutes 

 many lucrative branches of commerce ; that certain con- 

 course of strangers, to every country celebrated for stately 

 structures, who extend your fame, and create a demand for 

 your productions, are considerations of the highest conse- 

 quence.. Nor is architecture less useful in defending, than 

 prosperous in adorning and enriching countries ; she guards 

 their coasts with ships of war, secures their boundaries, 

 fortifies their cities, and by a variety of useful construc- 

 tions, controls the ambition and frustrates the attempts of 

 foreign powers ; curbs the insolence, and averts the danger, 

 and the liorror of internal commotions. 



Materials in architecture are like words in phraseology. 

 They have separately but little power, but they may be so 

 arranged, as to excite ridicule, disgust, or even contempt ; 

 yet when combined with skill, and expressed with energy, 

 they actuate the mind with unbounded sway. An able 

 writer can move even in common language, and the master- 

 ly disposition of a skilful artist, will dignify the meanest ma- 

 terials ; while the weak efforts of the ignorant render the 

 most costly materials despicable. To such the compliment 

 of Apelles may justly be applied, who, on seeing the pic- 

 ture of a Venus magnificently attired, said to the operator, 

 " Friend, though thou hast not been able to make her fair, 

 thou hast certainly made her fine." 



The five orders of architecture were successively invent- 

 ed in ancient Greece and Italy ; they are called the Tuscan, 

 the Doric, the Ionic, the Gorinthian, and the Composite ; 

 and are to be found in all the principal buildings of the 

 Christian world. The Saxons had a simple style of archi- 

 tecture, distinguished by semi-circular arches and massive 

 plain columns. The Normans too invented a beautiful style 

 of architecture, called the Gothic ; distinguished by its light- 

 ness and profuse ornaments ; by its })ointed arches, and by 

 its pillars, carved to imitate several conjoined. A knowledge 

 of the several species of architecture may be conveyed more 

 efliectuaily by engravings, than by any verbal descriptions. 



QUESTIONS. — 1. To what objects are the arts adapted ? 2. What 

 M man in a state of seclusion? 3. Of society ? 4. Describe the ad- 

 vantages of architecture. 5. Why are materials in architecture hke 

 words in phraseology ? 6. What tir? the five orders of architecture ? 



