J40 
not be too large, that the effect of the capa- 
city of the principal apartments may not be 
injured by it. 
Having fixed on a situation, with the as- 
sistance of some one who is acquainted with 
the theory and practice of building, let a plan 
be made, with the necessary elevations. 
For small buildings this may be a sufficient 
guide ; but it is advisable for large buildings 
to have a perfect model of the. intended 
•structure, with. all its minute parts; and that 
this model be plain, without colours, or other 
beautifying, that the pleasure of the eye may 
not prejudice the judgment. 
In the choice of the materials we must em- 
ploy, we are necessarily influenced by the 
circumstances ofthe situation. Wherestone 
is plenty, it will be preferred in the construc- 
tion of a stately edifice ; for though bricks 
retain their beauty longest, they do not easily 
admit of proper architectural ornaments. 
The circular^form of building is strongest, 
but does not admit of a convenient distribu- 
tion of light ; and is besides more expensive 
and less commodious. Though there exists 
at Caparole a celebrated building by Vignola, 
in the form of a pentagon, the same objec- 
tions apply to it, and the architect had great 
•difficulties to contend with. 
A rectangular, but not exactly square 
figure, is useful in many cases : when the 
length does not exceed the breadth more 
than one-third, the proportion is good. 
Mixed figures, including uniformity and 
variety, are most applicable for the plans of 
large edifices : a centre and principal part 
with wings, is a form that combines conve- 
nience with elegance. 
When houses are planned too long, much 
room is consumed in passages ; and it is dif- 
ficult to light them. Sir William Chambers, 
in the plan of Somerset-house, lias succeeded 
very well in lighting and disposing of the 
passages that were necessary for the easy 
communication of so many offices ; but his 
methods will seldom be applicable, except to 
public, buildings of the same nature. 
Palladio says, the ground for the founda- 
tion should be penetrated to a sixth part of 
the whole height of the building, in order to 
ascertain its firmness ; which done, the first 
course of stone or brick should be laid, at 
least twice the breadth or thickness of the 
wall, and on a horizontal line and level sur- 
face. If the building has internal walls, 
their foundations must be level with the prin- 
cipal wall. The nature and solidity of the 
soil will be best ascertained by the use of a 
well-digger’s borer. 
If the ground is sandy, or marshy, or has 
been lately dug up, it wall be necessary to 
take many precautions. The loose earth 
either must be dug away, till you come to 
sound ground ; or if that is not to be had, 
put pieces of good oak across the breadth of 
the trench in which the wall is to stand, at 
about two feet apart, which being firmly 
bedded and rammed down, lay long planks 
on them, about four inches wider than the 
basis or first course of the wall is to be, and 
spike them down to the pieces of oak. 
If the earth is very bad, it will be neces- 
sary to drive piles of such a length as wall 
f£ach the good ground ; but if ft is faulty 
only here and there, arches may be turned 
over the loose places. 
Sound ground, fit to carry a building, is of 
ARCHITECTURE, 
divers kinds; in some places very hard, in 
others very stiff: sometimes it is to be found 
blackish, and the whiter kinds are accounted 
the weakest. Some foundations are like 
chalk, others sandy: but of all these, that is 
the best which requires most labour in cutting 
or digging, and which when wet, does not 
quite lose all consistency. 
In masonry, the stones must be so cut, as 
to lie in the same direction as they did in 
the quarry, in order that their strength and 
solidity may be fully employed; for it' their 
position be changed, and they are placed 
vertically, they are apt to split ; and the 
smallest crevice in the foundation will pro- 
duce a great cleft in the superstructure of a 
building. 
It is very useful always to lay a platform of 
good board in the trench dug for tiie founda- 
tion ; and quite necessary that the first course 
of stone or brick should be laid closely with- 
out mortar, for mortar corrodes the timber. 
The walls should be of bound masonry or 
brickwork, standing perpendicularly, with 
the heaviest materials lowest ; and they must 
be judiciously diminished in thickness as they 
rise. Certain courses of more strength than 
the rest must be laid to help to sustain the 
fabrick, should a faulty part give way: this 
is done by bond timbers in brick walls. Par- 
ticular attention is necessary to make the 
angles firm, which is sometimes done in 
brick edilices with great neatness and ef- 
fect, by building the corners of squared stones. 
AValls, if not connected with others at 
right angles, or nearly so, as the partition or 
separating walls of a house stand in respect 
to the front, should have an angle set out of 
about two feet, at every twenty foot distance, 
which will make them stand firmer than if 
twice the materials had been used. 
In building walls, the bricks should be laid, 
in summer as wet, in winter as dry, as 
possible ; that in warm weather the mortar 
may not harden too fast, and in winter, care 
must be taken to protect them from rain, 
snow, and frost. They should be laid point 
and joint in the wall as little as may be, that 
the whole may be well bonded. together. 
It is not adviseable to raise any wall above 
eight feet high before the one adjoining be 
•wrought up to it ; but the front and party- 
walls should be carried up as nearly as possi- 
ble together. 
When all the materials are ready, a good 
workman with his labourer will in one day 
lay 1000 or 1200 bricks. Walls are less solid 
when the joints of mortar are too large. 
Of the apertures in the walls, doors should 
be mentioned first. External doors should 
be as few in number as possible, and sel- 
dom less than four feet and a half in breadth, 
in middling-sized buildings, for the principal 
entrance. Double doors, having a sufficient 
space between them to allow them to open, 
are essentially useful in preserving the tem- 
perature of a house and preventing the admis- 
sion of cold winds. 
The modern mode of uniting when neces- 
sary two or more principal rooms of a good 
house into one, on the occasion of entertain- 
ments, by throwing back the folding doors 
which separate them, is a very great improve- 
ment. For by this means a small house may 
have some part of the convenience and mag- 
nificence of the largest ones, with less ex- 
pence of space and materials. 
The hali or entrance, the dimensions of 
which are determined by the scale of the 
building, should always be furnished with a 
fire-place ; and if it is connected with the stair- 
case, the warmth produced there will tend 
very strongly and effectually to regulate the 
temperature of the whole house, 
Of the stairs in sumptuous buildings, the 
steps should not be less than four; nor more 
than six inches high ; not more than eighteen 
nor Tess than twelve inches broad ; not less 
than six feet, nor more than fifteen feet long. 
In ordinary houses they may be somewhat 
higher and narrower, and they must be much 
shorter in general, but eight, or even seven 
inches, is too high for an easy ascent ; and they 
ought never to be less than nine or ten inches 
broad, nor shorter than three feet.. The stej.s 
should be laid somewhat sloping, or a little 
higher behind, which is found to diminish 
in some degree the apparent labour of a * 
vending. 
The construction and placing of the stairs 
is one of the most difficult works in building. 
Sufficient ease of ascent being obtained, the 
admission of an ample portion of light is a 
next consideration. This is obtained most 
advantageously in houses of a moderate size 
by windows at each turning, which give an 
uniform light, and a more airy and spacious 
appearance to the whole. V» ell-stairs, lighted 
by a skylight in the roof, are only magnifi- 
cent and convenient in large mansions, and 
for the ascent to the first or principal floor, 
where the light is not broken by Ja repeti- 
tion of the flight 6f steps to the next story. 
The small uniform modern ramp cr 
hand-rail is a very great improvement and ad- 
dition to stairs, as well as the light iron-work 
by which the rail is supported; this in many 
cases may be advantageously constructed of 
cast iron. 
Ingenious architects have displayed their 
invention and their skill in the construction 
of stairs more curious than useful. Double 
and quadruple winding stairs have been built, 
rising in parallel spirals; so that two or four 
persons or companies may go up and down 
within the same stair-case, and see one ano- 
ther without meeting. 
It is an old fault in the distribution of lodg- 
ing rooms, to dispose them so that, when the 
doors' are all open, one may see through 
the whole house. The modern mode of 
placing a bed-chamber and dressing-room to- 
gether with a door of communication between 
them, each room having besides only a door 
into the stair-case or passage, is much more' 
conve'nient and rational. The drawing-rooms 
however should be disposed so uniformly, 
as to be converted into one room, on the 
opening of folding-doors between them. 
This contrivance, so useful in small buildings, 
is admissible in the largest. If two or more 
rooms thus laid into one, have in the middle 
of the wall at each end door-cases filled with 
looking-glasses, placed in a true position op- 
posite each other : the appearance of the 
apartment will be artificially multiplied, and 
the effect when illuminated' very splendid. 
This arrangement is not necessary for tire 
dining-rooms, where we have chiefly to attend 
to the convenience of easy access for servants 
who wait at table; and the fire-place may. 
be so disposed, as to 'warm the room as uni- 
formly as possible. 
In the building of chambers regard ought. 
