ARCHITECTURE. 



consoles, marks, niches, &c. In gates 

 which are not closed at the top, the 

 breadth of the piers may be from two- 

 fifths to a quarter of their height, reckon- 

 ing- from the bottom of the plinth to the 

 top of the cornice. 



The rustics may either be plain, frost- 

 ed, or vermiculate ' The smallest width 

 that can be given to the aperture of a gate 

 is nine feet, which is buijust sufficient 

 for the free passage of coaches : but if 

 waggons and loaded carts are to pass, it 

 must not be less than ten or eleven feet; 

 and if the gate is for the entrance of a 

 city, it should not be of a less width than 

 eighteen or twenty feet. The composi- 

 tion of gates should be characteristic of 

 the place to which they are to open. 

 Gates of cities and fortresses should have 

 the appearance of strength and majesty; 

 their parts should be large, few in num- 

 ber, and of bold relief. The same ought 

 likewise to be observed in the gates of 

 parks, public walks, or gardens; these suc- 

 ceed better when composed of rustic work 

 and of the massive orders, than when 

 they are enriched with nice ornaments 

 or delicate profiles. However, triumphal 

 arches, entrances to palaces, to magnifi- 

 cent villas, towns or country houses,|might 

 with propriety be composed of the more 

 delicate orders, and be adorned in the 

 highest degree. 



The gates of parks and gardens are 

 commonly shut with iron folding grates, 

 either plane or adorned : those of palaces 

 should likewise be so, or else be left open 

 all the day. 



Mches. A niche is a recess in a wall, 

 for the purpose of enshrining a statue or 

 some other ornament, or as an ornament 

 to the wall itself. Among the works of 

 the Romans, niches have either that of a 

 circular or rectangular plan: the heads 

 of those which have circular plans are al- 

 most always spherical. In the middle of 

 the attic of the piazza of Nerva, at Rome 

 there is a niche, with a rectangular eleva- 

 tion, and a cylindrical back and head: 

 those upon elliptic plans were not much 

 used by the ancients. In Wood's Ruins 

 of Palmyra there are, however, two ex- 

 hibited, with elliptic heads within the en- 

 trance portico of the temple of the Sun; 

 but no plan is shewn. Niches upon rec- 

 tangular plans have most frequently 

 horizontal heads : there are a few to be 

 found with cylindrical heads : those upon 

 circular and rectangular plans are, for the 

 most part, placed alternately, for the sake 

 of variety. The plans of niches with cy- 

 lindrical backs should be semicircula'r, 

 'when the thickness of walls will admit of 



it ; and the depth of those upon rectangti 

 lar plans should be the half of their 

 breadth, or as deep as may be necessary 

 for the statues they are to contain ; theiV 

 heights depend upon the character of the 

 statues, or on the general forms of groups 

 introduced; seldom exceeding twice and 

 a half of their width, nor less than twice. 

 Niches for busts should have nearly the 

 same proportion with regard to one ano- 

 ther : their heights, in some cases, may 

 be something more than their breadth. 

 Some niches may be formed with cy- 

 lindrical backs and spherical heads; some 

 of them may be entirely formed with 

 hemispherical backs ; others of spheroi- 

 dal backs, with the transverse or conju- 

 gate axis of the ellipsis vertical, as may 

 be most suitable to the character of the 

 thing to be enshrined ; those with sphe- 

 roidal backs may have their horizontal 

 sections all circles of different diameters, 

 and, consequently, their sections through 

 the vertical axes all equal semi-ellipses, 

 similar to each other; or all their horizon- 

 tal sections may be similar ellipses, and 

 the sections through the vertical axis of 

 the niche will be dissimilar ellipses of 

 equal heights, at least for one half of the 

 niche ; but spheroidal niches with such 

 sections are difficult to execute, and not 

 so agreeable to the eye as those with cir- 

 cular horizontal sections. Niches for 

 busts may be of any of these last forms, 

 or of any other form used by the an- 

 cients. 



Niches are susceptible of the same de- 

 corations as windows ; and whether their 

 heads be horizontal, cylindrical, or spheri- 

 cal, the inclosure may be rectangular. In 

 the ruined edifices of antiquity, taber- 

 nacles are a very frequent ornament, and 

 these often disposed with triangular and 

 arched pediments alternately : the cha- 

 racter of the architecture should be the 

 same as that which is to be placed in the 

 same range with them. Niches are some- 

 times disposed between columns and pi- 

 lasters, and sometimes ranged alternately 

 in the same levels with windows ; in either 

 case they should be ornamented or plain, 

 as the space will admit. 



If the intervals between the columns or 

 pilasters be very narrow, the niches will 

 be much better omitted, tlian to make 

 them either diminutive, or of a dispro- 

 portionate figure. When they are rang- 

 ed with windows, their dimensions should 

 be the same as the aperture of the win- 

 dows. Niches being intended as reposi- 

 tories for statues, vases, or other works of 

 sculpture, must be contrived to set off 

 the things they are to contain to the best 



