132 Hay's Harmony oj Form. 



sician. The horizontal or apparently rectilinear part ends, and the oblique or 

 angular part commences, on the next musical consonance, the sixth or sub- 

 mediant of the same scale. (Plate XV.) 



" Taking the dimensions from the elevation of the portico as given in 

 Stuart's Athens, the minute groove cut below the capital of the column is one 

 of these semitonic divisions. From centre to centre of the columns on each 

 side of the middle space is three of those divisions ; and this is continued, 

 with a slight deviation, till the last division, which must include the outer 

 column. The space which includes the columns is exactly the proportion of 

 the second parallelogram produced within the ellipsis, as the first was within 

 the circle. If this be divided into twelve parts, the capital will be found to be 

 one of these in height, and the triglyphs one of the same in breadth. But 

 these matters can only be properly investigated by the architect, whose edu- 

 cation enables him to enter into details with which the unprofessional are 

 necessarily unacquainted." (p. 40.) 



The conclusion at which the author arrives is, " that form, like sound and 

 colour, has its three primaries; and that consequently there can be no per- 

 fectly harmonious combination of forms in which one of these is wanting; and 

 that the distinctions of harmony, like those of sound and colour, depend upon 

 a predominance of one, and a subordination of the other two, in the composi- 

 tion." (p. 42.) 



Granting the premises, it is impossible to deny that the conclusion is 

 legitimate ; but the difficulty is, to show the application of the doctrine in 

 such a manner as shall be intelligible to architects who are not at the same 

 time conversant with the theory of music. We cannot help thinking that, as 

 the theory is undoubtedly founded in nature, this might have been done, at all 

 events, to such an extent as to carry conviction to artists who have no musical 

 knowledge. 



In an appendix to the work are the following paragraphs, which every 

 artist can understand and appreciate, and which would seem to justify our 

 opinion, that the theory might have been brought down nearer to the capacities 

 of those who, like ourselves, are ignorant of the science of music. 



" It has been observed, that the series of forms in which the ellipsis takes 

 the place of the circle exercises a softer influence on the eye ; and that the 

 combinations of those forms are more natural, and the harmonies they produce 

 more pleasing, than those arising out of the combinations of the forms which 

 have the circle for their key. This would, at first sight, appear quite paradox- 

 ical. But it must be taken into consideration, that we are made to view 

 nature with two eyes, whose rays traverse or cross each other horizontally; 

 and that, consequently, any object of a horizontally elongated kind can be more 

 easily encompassed by the visual rays than any of the more primary or homoge- 

 neous forms. The eye, in this double capacity, associates its rays at once with 

 the forms in which the three elements, earth, air, and water, are generally 

 presented to our view, and in which, consequently, the landscape-painter ge- 

 nerally transfers their effects to his canvass. 



" Landscape composition has its lineal' harmony, as well as architecture, 

 sculpture, or historical painting; and it likewise consists in the judicious ar- 

 rangement of the three elementary parts of form, or the straight line, the 

 angular line, and the curved line. In this, as in every case where various forms 

 are combined, there can be no perfect composition, unless the harmonic triad 

 be present. But the parts of this triad must not be jumbled promiscuously 

 together, however irregular the general characte rof the subject may be ; for, if 

 linear harmony exists, there must be system in it, as there is in every other 

 kind of harmony; and this system must consist in certain geometrical rules. 

 Such a system is attempted to be developed in the foregoing treatise ; and it 

 is assumed that it has the leading features of a natural theory in the extreme 

 simplicity of its elementary parts, and the endless variety of combination of 

 which they are susceptible. 



" The harmony of forms depends much on the propriety of their position, 



