ARCHITECTURE. 



the upper part of a building as a base- 

 ment. In the buildings of the Greeks 

 pedestals never obtained : the columns of 

 their temples generally stood on the up- 

 permost of three steps; indeed, there is 

 no existing example with any other num- 

 ber than three, except the temple of 

 Theseus at Athens, which had only two, 

 and was supposed to have been erected 

 to an inferior deity : whatever innovations 

 took place were after Greece lost its in- 

 dependence. The Romans, in many of 

 their temples and other edifices, raised 

 the floors so very high, that they were 

 under the necessity of discontinuing the 

 front stairs, which otherwise would have 

 been found inconvenient, in occupying 

 too much ground around the edifice ; and 

 of adopting a pedestal, or podium, as a 

 basement ; which was raised as high as 

 the stair, arid projected to the front of 

 the steps which profiled on the sides of 

 the pedestal. 



It is remarkable, that Vitruvius, in treat- 

 ing of the Doric, Corinthian, and Tuscan 

 orders, never mentions a pedestal : and in 

 treating of the Ionic, he only speaks of it 

 as a necessary part of the construction, 

 and not as part of the order : several 

 modern writers are also of this opinion. 



It must be confessed, wherever pedes- 

 tals are introduced, the grandeur of the 

 order is diminished, as all the parts are 

 proportionably less ; however, there are 

 some situations, in which they are indis- 

 pensably necessary, as in the interior of 

 churches, where, if they were omitted, 

 the beauty of the columns would be en- 

 tirely lost, as so great a portion of them 

 would be concealed by the pews. The 

 proportions of pedestals in the ancient Ro- 

 man buildings are very variable ; modern 

 authors, however, have thought proper 

 to bring them to a standard ratio, which 

 Vignola makes one-third of the height of 

 the column ; but as this proportion ap- 

 peared to make them too high, Sir Wil- 

 liam Chambers reduced it to three-tenths ; 

 these ratios, however, might vary as par- 

 ticular circumstances might require. The 

 parts of pedestals may be thus propor- 

 tioned : divide the height into nine equal 

 parts, give one to the cornice, two to the 

 base, and six to the die. The plan of the 

 die is the same as that of the plinth of the 

 column : the projection of the cornice 

 maybe equal to its height: the base may 

 be divided into three parts, giving two to 

 the plinth, and one to the mouldings, 

 which in most cases may project equal to 

 their height. These proportions are com- 

 mon to all pedestals. It is sometimes 

 customary to adorn the dies of pedestals 



with sunk pannels, surrounded with 

 mouldings : the pannels are frequently 

 charged with bas reliefs or inscriptions. 

 Projecting tablets should never be ad- 

 mitted, as they are not only clumsy, but 

 confuse the contour. The dies of the pe- 

 destals of the arches of Septimius Severus 

 and Constantine have straight-headed 

 niches, with statues. Pedestals should 

 never be insulated, though the columns 

 which stand upon them were insulated. 

 In the theatres and amphitheatres of the 

 ancients, pedestals were used in all the 

 superior orders, while the inferior order 

 stood upon steps. They were employed 

 for the purpose of forming a parapet for 

 the spectators to lean over, and for rais- 

 ingthe base of the superior order so high, 

 as to be seen upon a near approach to the 

 building. In these situations the pedes- 

 tals were made no higher than to prevent 

 accidents. When pedestals are continued 

 with breaks under the columns, or pilas- 

 ters in ancient buildings, the breaks were 

 called stylobatse ; and the recess between 

 every two stylobatae, the podium, which 

 had the same parts disposed at the same 

 levels as the stylobatae. 



Arcades. An arcade is an aperture in a 

 wall with an arched head ; which term is 

 also sometimes applied in the plural 

 number to a range of apertures with 

 arched heads. When an aperture is so 

 large that it cannot be lintelled, it then 

 becomes necessary to arch it over. Ar- 

 cades are not so magnificent as colonades, 

 but they are stronger, more solid, and 

 less expensive. In arcades, the utmost 

 care should be taken of the piers, that 

 they be sufficiently strong to resist the 

 pressure of the arches, particularly those 

 at the extremrs The Romans employed 

 them in their triumphal arches, and many 

 other buildings. Arcades may be used 

 with propriety in the gates of cities, of 

 palaces, of gardens, and of parks ; they 

 are much employed in the piazzas or 

 squares of Italian cities; and, in general, 

 are of great use, in affording both shade 

 and shelter in hot and rainy climates ; but, 

 on the contrary, they are a great nuisance 

 to the inhabitants, as they darken their 

 apartments; and serve to harbour idle 

 and noisy vagabonds. Lofty arcades may 

 be employed with great propriety in the 

 courts of palaces, and noblemen's houses. 

 There are various ways of decorating the 

 piers of arcades, as with rustics, columns, 

 pilasters, caryatides, persians, or terms 

 surmounted with appropriate entabla- 

 tures ; and sometimes the piers are even 

 so broad as to admit of niches. The arch 

 is either surrounded with rustic work, or 



