208 



tance, the porticos and columns are less oh* 

 served, than the general squareness, and the 

 strait lines of the roof- 

 But when in the approach to rocks with 

 an unvaried summit, you come so near them, 

 that the summit is partially concealed and 

 broken by the projecting parts below, — then 

 the whole becomes varied, yet the masses 

 are preserved. Such is the effect of Grecian 

 architecture, where the spectator is on a 

 level with the base of the building:, and con- 

 fined with respect to distance ; and then 

 the columns and porticos have their full 

 effect one of the most noble and beautiful 

 that architecture can display. 



Again, where rocks are composed of 

 crumbling, friable stone, they are frequently 

 broken into detached pointed forms, with 

 holes, openings, and intricacies of every 

 kind, which may be compared to similar 

 forms, openings, and intricacies in Gothic 

 buildings ; many of which indeed, they pro- 

 bably may have suggested : such rocks amuse 

 the eye by their variety and singularity, but 



