ARCHITECTURE. 



ia generally ascribed the method of build- 

 ing- with small stone, and mortar made of 

 calcareous stone ; and this seems proba- 

 ble, as the most ancient vestiges of ce- 

 mentitious building's are to be found in 

 the country which the present Tuscans 

 inhabit. 



They were employed by the Romans 

 in many public works ; the walls of the 

 city of'Rome were made of hewn stone, 

 the capitol and the cloaca maxima are of 

 their construction ; the last of these is 

 esteemed a very extraordinary piece of 

 architecture, as is sufficiently proved by 

 its remains. To these people is attribut- 

 ed the invention of one of the orders of 

 architecture, called after them the Tus- 

 can. 



We are told by Vitruvius, that the in- 

 lercolumns of their temples were wide, 

 and that they were linteled with wooden 

 architraves. 



The Romans appear to have had their 

 first knowledge of architecture from the 

 Etrurians : but it was not till after the 

 conquest of Greece, that they acquired a 

 just relish for its beauties. It seems to 

 have attained to its highest degree of ex- 

 cellence in the reign of Augustus, and 

 continued to flourish till the seat of em- 

 pire was removed to Bizantium. The 

 works of the Romans were much more 

 numerous than those of any other people. 

 The remains of their palaces, theatres, 

 amphitheatres, baths, mausoleums, and 

 other works, excite at this day the admi- 

 ration and astonishment of every judicious 

 beholder. Their first temples were round 

 and vaulted, and hence they are account- 

 ed the inventors of the dome. The plans 

 of their buildings were more varied than 

 those of the Greeks, who, excepting but 

 in a few instances of small, but beautiful, 

 specimens, such as the Tower of the 

 "Winds, and the monument of Lycicrates, 

 erected their principal edifices upon rec- 

 tangular plans. The Romans constructed 

 circular temples crowned with domes, 

 amphitheatres upon elliptic plans, and 

 their theatres and many other buildings 

 upon mixt-lined-plans. By this variety 

 they formed a style that was both elegant 

 and magnificent. But let it be remem- 

 bered,that, notwithstanding the grandeur, 

 the magnitude, and number of their 

 works, their style was never so pure as 

 in the flourishing ages of Greece. Among 

 the Romans, entablatures were frequent- 

 ly omitted : columns were made to sup- 

 port arches and groined vaults ; arcades 

 were substituted for colonades, and vaults 

 for ceilings. In several of their most 

 magnificent public buildings, we find sto- 



ries of arcades upon each other, or in the 

 same front with the solid parts of the ma- 

 sonry, decorated with the orders, which, 

 instead of forming an essential part in the 

 construction, are degraded to idle and 

 ostentatious ornaments. This is very con- 

 spicuous in the theatre of Marcellus, and 

 in the Coliseum. 



It is probable that the arch was invent- 

 ed in Greece, but was almost constantly 

 employed by the Romans, who not only 

 considered it necessary in the construc- 

 tion, but as an ornament, which they la- 

 vishly employed in the apertures of walls, 

 and in the ceilings over passages and 

 apartments of their buildings. Particu- 

 larly in the decline of the empire, from 

 the reign of Constantine, and upon the 

 establishment of Christianity, external 

 magnificence was every where sacrificed 

 to internal decoration. The purity of 

 taste in the arts of design declined rapid- 

 ly, and finally perished with the extinc- 

 tion of the empire. The most beautiful 

 edifices erected in the preceding reigns, 

 were divested of their ornaments, to de- 

 corate the churches. In this age of spo- 

 liation, architects, deficient in the know- 

 ledge of their professions, adopted the 

 most ready modes of construction : to ac- 

 compljsh this, many beautiful structures 

 were deprived of their columns, and 

 placed at wide intervals in the new build- 

 ings ; and over the capitals were thrown 

 arches for the support of the superstruc- 

 ture : most of the ornamental parts were 

 taken from other buildings, which were ' 

 spoiled for the purpose. The edifices of 

 Italy now assumed the same general fea- 

 tures as those which characterised the 

 middle ages. This disposition is the plan 

 of the Roman basilicas, but is more near- 

 ly allied, in the elevation, to the opposite 

 sides of the Egyptian oeci, which has also 

 the same plan as the basilica, and which 

 was of similar construction to the churches 

 in after times, excepting in the \vant of 

 arches : both had a nave, with an aisle 

 upon each flank, separated from the nave 

 by a range of columns, which supported 

 a wall, pierced with windows for lighting 

 the nave : against this wall, and over the 

 columns were placed other attached co- 

 lumns. This, when roofed over with a 

 groined ceiling', such as that of the tem- 

 ple of Peace, will form the interior of a 

 building similar to that of the Saxon 

 churches. 



The Corinthian order was the favourite 

 order among 1 the Romans, and, as far as 

 existing examples enable us to judge, the 

 only order \vell understood, and happily 

 executed. 



