64 ARC 
The 'contriver or former of any compound body.—This 
inconvenience the divine archileEi of the body obviated. 
Ray. —The contriver of any thing : 
An irreligious Moor, 
Chief archileEi and plotter of thefe woes. Shakefpcare. 
The molt celebrated architects are, Vitruvius, Palladio, 
Scamozzi, Serlio, Vignola, Barbaro, Cataneo, Alberti, 
Viola, Inigo Jones, Del.orme, Perrault, S. le Clerc, Sir 
Chrillopher Wren, the earl of Burlington, and Sir Wil¬ 
liam Chambers. 
ARCHITEC'TIVE, adj. That performs the works of 
architecture.—How could the bodies of many of them, 
particularly the lad-mentioned, be furnidied with archi- 
teEIive materials ? Dcrham. 
A.RCHITECT 0 'N 1 C, adj. [from ot-epyo', chief, and 
tskIiov, an artificer.] That which has the power or fkill of 
an architect; that which can build or form any thing.— 
To fay that fome more fine part of either, or all the hy- 
podatical principle, is the architect of this elaborate (frac¬ 
ture, is to give occafion to demand what proportion of the 
tria prima afforded this architeElonic fpirit, and what agent 
made fo Ik il fill and happy a mixture. Boyle. 
AR'CH lTECTURE,yi \_architeElura, Lat. of us^itex- 
t ctiy.yiy or Gr. ] The art or fcience of plan¬ 
ning and building or ereCting any edifice, fo as properly to 
anfwer the end propofed, for folidity, conveniency, and 
beauty ; whether houfes, temples, churches, bridges, halls, 
theatres, &c. See. Architecture is divided into civil, mi¬ 
litary, and navq .1 or marine. 
Civil ArchiteElure, is the art of defigning and ereCting 
edifices of every kind for the tiles of civil life in every ca¬ 
pacity ; as churches, palaces, private houfes, &c. aud it 
has been divided into five orders or.manners of building, 
under the names of the Tvfcan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and 
Compojite. There were many authorson architecture among 
the Greeks and Romans before Vitruvius; but he is the 
firft whofe work is entire and extant. He lived in the 
reigns of Julius Caffar and Augultus, and contpofed a 
complete fyftem of architedlure, in ten books, which he 
dedicated to this prince. The principal authors on archi¬ 
tedlure, fince Vitruvius, are, Philander, Barbaras, Salma- 
fius, Baldits, Alberti, Gauricus, Demomofus, Perrault, 
De l’Orme, Rivius, Wotton, Serlio, Palladio, Strada, Vig¬ 
nola, Scamozzi, Dieulfart, Catanei, Freard, De Cambray, 
Blondel, Goldman, Sturmy, Wolfius, De Rofi, Defgodetz, 
Baratteri, Mayer, Gtilielmus, Ware, Sir William Cham¬ 
bers, &c. See. 
Military Architedlure, othervvife more ufually called for¬ 
tification, is the art of Tlrengthening and fortifying places, 
to fereen them from the infults or attacks of enemies, and 
the violence of arms ; by eredling forts, caftles, and other 
fortreffes, with ramparts, ballions, &c. The authors who 
have chiefly excelled in this art, are Coehorn, Pagan, 
Vauban, Scheiter, Blondel, and Montalembert. 
Naval ArchiteElure, or flip-building, is the art of conftruCt- 
ing fhips, galleys, and other veffels, proper to float on the 
water. 
The fludy and improvement of architedlure, as a liberal 
fcience, feems to have been the early care of every en¬ 
lightened age, and of every'civilized .country. For, not 
only as it refpedts the elegancies and pleafures communi¬ 
cated in common with the kindred arts, architedlure at¬ 
taches with it a tendency to our comforts and conveniences, 
and is therefore a fludy of confiderable importance to men 
of tafle and property. Befides the advantage attending a 
knowledge of its utility, an acquaintance with the fub/edl 
is neceffary to aliifl travellers in forming a judgment of 
the mod remarkable edifices in foreign countries ; and, on 
claflic ground, the pleafure of viewing with intelligence 
the remains of the moll elegant ftrudlures in the world, 
would be loft without this qualification. 
Architedlure has been ufually divided into Ancient, 
Cothic, and Modern ; the firil of which traces the art from 
its origin to its final improvement under the Greeks and 
ARC 
Romans ; the fecotid deferibes the date and dyle of it in 
the hands of the Goths, Saxons, and Normans; and the 
third manifefts the practice and utility of the fcience in 
the application of it at the prefent day. As thefe diftinc- 
tions therefore naturally divide themfelves into three parts, 
we (hall fpeak of them feparately under their refpedtive 
heads : and firft, 
Of ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE. 
We prefume that architedlure, as a neceffary art, is al- 
moft coeval with the human fpecies; and therefore we 
difclaim every idea that tends to reftridl its originto any 
particular country. The neceflities of man, under the 
climate in which he lived, and the nature and productions 
of the country, together with his avocations, are circum- 
ftances mod likely to have influenced him in the primitive 
manner of conftrudling his habitation; for, when mankind 
began firft to feel the inclemencies of the feafons, archi¬ 
tedlure, in its firft or rudeft ftate, unqueftionably bad its 
beginning; and of confequence fpread itfelf wherever the 
feverities of climate demanded fhelter or fhude. it is to 
be traced in the Indian’s hut, and the Greenlander’s cave ; 
and (hews, in thofe barbarous parts of the globe, from 
what a .mean original it has arilen to its prefent magnifi¬ 
cence. And perhaps the neighbourly aflifiance required 
in eredling the meaneft fence againft the violence of the 
winds and weather, was the firft introdudlion of civil fo- 
ciety : thus a number of habitations were formed toge¬ 
ther, and men, in confequence, had mutual converfatiou 
and intimacy. It is eafy to conceive, that, in this early 
ftate of fociety, genius had expanded but little; the firft 
efforts were fmall, and the'ftrudlure fimple; perhaps no 
more than a number of trees leaning together at the top 
in a conical fhape, interwoven with twigs, and plaftered 
with mud, to exclude air, and ftrengthen the work. In 
this early period, we may fuppofe each delirous to render 
his own habitation more convenient than Inis neighbour’s, 
by improving on what had already been done ; and thas 
in time, obfervation, aflifting that natural fagacity inherent 
even in uncultivated minds, might lead them to confider 
the inconveniences of the round fort of habitation, and 
feek others more fpacious and convenient of the fquare 
form. This improvement would naturally introduce the 
necefiity of fupports for the crofs beams, which were to 
fuftain the roof; and the trunks of trees were fo ready an 
application that we cannot fuppofe they heiitated long in 
their choice. Thus from the nature of things arofe thd 
idea of what we call pillars, which have from time to time 
undergone many changes, and at laft have produced thole 
elegant columns which we term the orders of architecture. 
To attempt producing an authority or origin for every 
fpecies of ornament attending the columns, would be wan¬ 
dering in a maze of uncertainty, attended w ith much la¬ 
bour, and little reconipenfe: the general parts may, how¬ 
ever, with more certainty, have their origin pointed out. 
The plinth, it is reafonable to imagine r was, at firft, (imply 
a fquare (tone, placed tinder the trank of the primitive 
column, to prevent it from rotting, to w'hich it was ex- 
pofed from the conftant moifture of the earth ; it alio fer 
ved as a more firm and folid foundation to the column. 
There are neverthelefs many inftances of elegant buildings 
of confiderable extent which have no plinth to the co¬ 
lumns. Such are the temple of EriCtheus, at Athens; 
the temple of Vefta, at Tivoli; and almoft all the old 
Doric temples. 
The torus, or fwell above the plinth, may have origi¬ 
nated from the root or lower part of the tree being thicker 
than the part above, which alfo fixed it more firmly on the 
plinth; or, by fome it is conjeClured to have been only a 
rope or bandage placed round the trunk, to prevent its 
fplitting ; or, according to Vitruvius, it reprefents the 
fhoe. The idea of the capital may have originally been 
fuggefted by fome tree, whofe arms or branches fpreading 
out juft above where it was neceffary the upper parts fhould 
be cut oft to be of its proper length, the fwell of the arms 
probably 
