ARCHITECTURE. 'BOOK I. 



generally too hard, coarse, and brittle, to admit easily of ele- 

 gant polishing or fine cornices, mouldings, or other smaller 

 ornaments. It is a common practice to whitewash most edifices 

 that are not built of brick or polished hewn stone. This is 

 done either with the view of adding beauty, or preserving the 

 walls; and often from both motives. The colour of the wash 

 or mortar is generally, if not always, made too glaring. It 

 must be remembered, that in mineral substances exposed to 

 the air, a pure colour, either white or yellow, is never seen. 

 Even chalk and marble, in that situation, in a short time ac- 

 quire a dusky hue ; and in their native quarries or precipices 

 are often so grey as with difficulty to be recognized for these 

 substances. Even the reddest rock never presents such a deep 

 colour as at the moment when it is cut, but is soon rendered of 

 a greyish or blueish hue by the weather. Hence, in white- 

 washing buildings, the same general idea should be adopted as 

 was recommended for choosing the colour of the stones ; with 

 this addition, that the aerial tint which, in using stone, is 

 only gained by time, may here be produced at once, by mixing 

 powdered charcoal, bistre, ashes, or similar substances, with the 

 prevailing colours. It may be remarked here, that in the internal 

 parts of buildings we admire the colours pure and true to 

 their kinds, without any mixture of aerial tint. This is because 

 such colouring is agreeable to nature. For the same reason, 

 we generally prefer light colours in the apartments of houses,, 



