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says Mr. Burke, there appears a remarkable 

 contrast. For sublime objects arevast in their 

 dimensions j beautiful ones comparatively 

 small : beauty should be smooth and polish- 

 ed; the great, rugged and negligent: beauty 

 should shun the right line, yet deviate from 

 it insensibly ; the great, in many instances 

 loves the right line, and when it deviates, 

 often makes a strong deviation : beauty 

 should be light and delicate; the great ought 

 to be solid, and even massive/' These qua- 

 lities, in stating which it appears from the 

 general tenor of Mr. Burke's inquiry that 

 he had chiefly natural objects in view, are 

 perhaps less applicable to buildings than to 

 any other artificial objects ; I believe, how- 

 ever, that the temple I have just mentioned 

 has as many of the qualities ascribed to 

 beauty, as the particular principles of archi- 

 tecture will allow. It is comparatively small ; 

 that is, compared with the greater number 

 of ancient temples, especially with those 

 which have any pretensions to grandeur. It 

 is circular, and therefore shuns the right line* 



