ARCHITECTURE. 
If the intervals between the columns or 
pilasters be very narrow, the niches will be 
much be! ter ( omitted, than to make them 
either diminutive, or of a disproportionate 
figure. When they are ranged with win- 
dows, their dimensions should be the same 
as the aperture of the windows. Niches 
being intended as repositories for statues, 
vases, or other works of sculpture, must be 
contrived to set off the things they are to 
contain to the best advantage, and there- 
fore no ornaments whatever should be in- 
troduced ; the body and head of the niche 
being as plain as possible : every kind of 
ornament, whether mouldings or sculpture, 
tends to confuse the outline. 
Statues. Besides decorations of mould- 
ings, columns, and pilasters, architecture is 
indebted to sculpture for a great part of its 
magnificence; and as the human body is 
justly esteemed the most perfect original, 
it has been customary, in every period, to 
enrich different parts of buildings with re- 
presentations thereof. Thus the ancients 
adorned their temples, basilicos, baths, thea- 
tres, and other public structures, with sta- 
tues of their deities, philosophers, heroes, 
orators, and legislators ; and the moderns 
still preserve the same custom, placing in 
their churches, palaces, houses, squares, 
gardens, and public walks, the busts and 
statues of illustrious personages ; or bas 
reliefs and groups, composed of various 
figures, representing memorable occur- 
rences, collected.from the histories, fables, 
or traditions of particular times. Some- 
times the statues or groups are detached, 
and raised on pedestals, and placed conti- 
guous to the walls of buildings, by flights 
of steps or stairs, at the angles of terraces, 
in the middle of rooms, or of courts, and 
public squares, but most frequently they 
are placed in niches. The size of the sta- 
tue depends upon the dimensions of the 
niche : it should neither be so large as to 
seem crammed into it, nor so small as to 
be lost in it. The distance between the 
outline of the statue and the sides of the 
niche, should never be less than one-third 
of a head, nor more than the half, whether 
the niche be square or arched ; and when it 
is a square, the distance from the top of the 
head to the soffit of the niche should not 
exceed the distance left on the sides. The 
statues are generally raised on a plinth, the 
height of which may be from one-third to 
one-half of the head ; and sometimes, where 
the niches are very large, in proportion to 
the architecture they accompany, as may 
be the case where an order comprehends 
but one story. The statues may be raised 
on small pedestals to a proper height, and 
by this means, the figure will not only have 
a better proportion to the niche, but also 
to the order, to which it would otherwise 
appear too trifling. Statues are not only 
placed in niches, but they are also placed 
on the tops of walls, and before the dwarf 
pilasters of attics, as in the arch of Con- 
stantine, and the Corinthian colonade at 
Thessalonica. 
If there are two rows of niches in the 
same building, care must be taken to 
keep the statues of their proper attitudes. 
The character of the statue should always 
correspond to the architecture with which 
it is surrounded. Thus, if the order be 
Doric, Jupiter, Hercules, Pluto, Neptune, 
Mars, Esculapius, or any male figures, re- 
presenting beings of a robust and grave na- 
ture, may be introduced. If Ionic, then 
Apollo, Bacchus, Ceres, Minerva, Mer- 
cury : and if Corinthian, Venus and the 
Graces, Flora, or others of a delicate kind 
and slender make, may very properly have 
place. 
Proportions of rooms. The proportions 
of rooms depend much on their use and 
dimensions ; but with regard to the beauty, 
all figures from the square to a sesquilateral, 
may be employed : some have even ex- 
tended the length of the plan to double its 
breadth, but this disparity of dimensions 
renders it impossible to proportion the 
height to both length and breadth, though 
galleries are frequently three, four, or even 
five squares in length ; but as the eye only 
takes in a portion of this length, the com- 
parison is merely made in respect of the 
breadth. The height of rooms depends 
upon the dimension of their plans and the 
form of the ceilings. In rooms with flat 
ceilings, if their plan be a square, their 
height may be from two-thirds to five-sixths 
of the side; and if an oblong, it may be 
equal to the width. In coved rooms, if the 
plan be a square, the height may be equal 
to the side ; if oblong, it may be equal to 
the breadth oniy : or with a fifth, a quarter, 
or a third of the difference of the length and 
breadth. In galleries, the height may be 
from one and a third, to one and three- 
fifths of the breadth. These are the gene- 
ral relative dimensions of rooms, but good 
proportions are not always attainable, par- 
ticularly in houses of great magnitude : since 
the same common height is that of all the 
rooms, whatever be the difference of their 
