lo On GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE, 



A FAINT and diftant refemblance, however, of the original, 

 has generally been found to anfwer all the end propofed by the 

 imitation ; a refemblance, which may fometimes be traced in 

 the general diftribution of the edifice, fometimes in its minute 

 parts, and not unfrequently in both. 



But the forms of nature, thus introduced, have been greatly 

 modified by thofe of mafonry. For though ftone is by nature 

 fhapelefs, yet, in the courfe of practice, many peculiar forms 

 have been long eftablifhed, and currently employed, in working 

 it ; fuch as ftraight lines, plain furfaces, fquare angles, and va- 

 rious mouldings ufed to foften the effedl of abrupt termina- 

 tions ; all of which, originating in motives of mechanical con- 

 venience, and of fimple ornament, had, in very early times, 

 been appropriated to mafonry, and confidered as efTential in 

 every finilhed work of ftone ; fo that, when the imitation of na- 

 ture was introduced, thefe mafonic forms ftill maintained their 

 ground, and, being blended with the forms of nature, the two 

 clafTes reciprocally modified each other. 



This combination of art with nature, of which we fee the 

 moft perfe(fl example in the Corinthian capital, produces what 



are 



appropriated to buildings of flone. The latter part, which relates to the principle of 

 imitation in general, is fufficiently clear. The paffage, in Englilh, is nearly as fol- 

 lows : 



" Thus, in the works of the Greeks, denticles were never placed under a modil- 

 lion, becaiife it is impoffible that the afleres can be under the cantherii. If, then, 

 what is (ituated over the cantherii and templa in reality, be exhibited as under them 

 in the imitation, the principle on which the work proceeds is belied. 



" In the fame manner, the ancients never approved of, or direfted, the introduc- 

 tion of modillions or denticles in the frontifpiece, but preferred a plain cornice ; for 

 this reafon, that neither the cantherii nor afleres lie towards the gable, nor can they 

 projeft beyond it, but are placed with an inclination to the guttur. 



" Thus, they eflecmed it a departure from principle to exhibit, in a"n imitation, 

 what could not occur in reality. For in finiiliing their works, they introduced every 

 ornament in an appropriated manner, and according to a real analogy borrowed 

 from nature ; and they approved of nothing, which could not be theoretically ac- 

 counted for, on the principle of its refemblance to truth." 



