214
ARCHITECTURE.
in the Caryatic manner, were used to support entablatures likethe Persians ; and though other female ngurus were afterwardsused in the same manner, the name of Caryatides was always re-tained. The ancients made frequent use of Persians and Carya-tides, and delighted in diversifying them a thousand ways. '1 hemodern artists have followed their example ; and there is a greatvariety of compositions of this kind to be met with in differentparts of Europe . Indecent attitudes, distorted features, and allmonstrous productions, ought to be avoided, of which there aremany examples in Gothic buildings. The Caryatides shouldnever much exceed the human size. Hut the Persians , or malefigures, may be of any size; and the larger the better, as theywill strike the beholder,with greater awe and astonishment. Ter-mini are sometimes employed, instead of Persians or Caryatides,to support the entablatures of monuments, chimney-pieces, andsuch like compositions. These, figures owe their origin to thestones used hv the ancients to mark the limits of particular pos-sessions.
Or- 1 Pediments.
Pediment;, among the Romans, were used only as coverings totheir sacred buildings, till Caisar obtained leave to cover his housewith a pointed roof, after the manner of temples. In the remainsof antiquity we meet with two kinds of pediments, the triangularand the circular. The former of these is promiscuously appliedto cover small or large bodies: but the latter, being of a heaviertigure, is never used but as coverings to doors, niches, windows,or gates. As a pediment represents the roof, it should never lieemployed but as a finishing to the whole composition. The an-cients introduced but few pediments into their buildings, usuallycontenting themselves with a single one to adorn the middle orprincipal part. Rut some of the moderns, and particularly theItalians , have been so immoderately fond of them, that theirbuildings frequently consist of scarcely any thing else. The gir-der being a necessary part in the construction of a roof, it is animpropriety to intermit the horizontal entablature of a pediment,by which it is represented, to make room for a niche, an arch, ora window. In regular architecture, no other form of pedimentscan be admitted besides the triangular and circular. Both of themare beautiful; and when a conddernble number of pediments areintroduced, as w hen a range of windows is adorned with them,these two figures may be used alternately, as in the niches of thePantheon, and in those of the temple of Diana at Nismes. Theproportion of pediments depends upon their size ; fur the samepropsrtions will not do in all cases. When the base of the pedi-ment is short, its height must be increased ; and when the pedi-ment is long, the height must be diminished. The best propor-tion for the height is from one-fifth to one-fourth of the base, ac-cording to the extent of the pediment, and the character of thebody it covers. The materials of the roof must also be attendedto ; "for if it be covered with tiles, it will be necessary to raise itmore than one quarter of the base, as was the custom of the an-cients in their Tuscan temples. The tympan is always on a linewith the front of the frieze ; am! when large, admits of variousornaments.
There arc two kinds of entrances, viz. doors and gates. Theformer serve ou’y for the passage of persons on foot; but the lat-ter likew ise admit horsemen and carriages. Doors are used asentrances to churches and other public buildings, to commondwelling-houses, anil apartments: and gates serve for inlets tocities, fortresses, parks, gardens, palaces, &e. The apertures ofgates being always wide, they are generally made in the form ofan arc!), that figure being the strongest. Hut doors, which aregenerally of sfnal! dimendons, are commonly parallelograms, andclosed horizonlAlv. The genera! proportion for the apertures,!)• th of gates arid' doors, whether arched or square, is, that theheight be about double the breadth. The most common, andindeed almost the only ornaments for gates are the piers by whichthey are supported, and which were originally no more than bareposts into which the hinges of the gate were driven. Though(his, however, is the only proper use of piers, it must be conceal-ed as much as possible, and they must seem as if placed thereonly for ornament. (See Plate XI.) As they are to be fixed tothe wall before the he u:.e, so they must be proportioned to it;and as they are to be seen in the same view with the.front of thehouse, their correspondence with 'it is equally necessary. They
are to be placed on a plinth, and something must be allowed byway of ornament and finishing at the top. All the luxuriance offancy may be employed in the decoration of piers : but it will beproper to observe this general rule, that the pier being an inferiorbuilding, it must never be Ficher than the front of the house. If,for instance, the front of the house is ornamented with columnsof the Doric order, the ionic must not be used in the piers ; andit will be found better to omit columns altogether, than to makeuse of the Tuscan order for piers in any case. If the Ionic orCorinthian orders are employed in the front of the house, theDoric or Ionic may be used with propriety in the piers. Onepiece of ornament is almost universal m piers, namely, a nichewith its seat, made as if for the convenience of weary travellers.On this account, it will be proper to raise the columns on pedes-tals, because the continued moulding from their cap will be agood ornament under the niche. The base of the columns oughtalways to be Attic . Inside doors, however small the buildingmav be, should never be narrower Ilian two feet nine inches; norshould they ever, in private houses, exceed three feet six inchesin breadth, which is more than sufficient to admit the bulkiestperson. Their height should at least be six feet three or fourinches; otherwise a tall person cannot pass without stooping. Inchurches, palaces, &c. where there is a constant ingress and egressof people, the apertures must he larger. The smallest breadththat can be given to a gate is eight feet six inches or nine feet,which is but just sufficient for the passage of a coach.
Of Niches and Statues.
In every age almost, since architecture became improved, ithas been customary to enrich different parts of buildings with re-presentations of the human body. Thus the ancients adornedtheir temples, baths, theatres, Ac. with statues of their deities,heroes, and legislators. The moderns still preserve the same cus-tom, placing in their churches, palaces, &c. statue; of illustriouspersons, and even groups composed of various figures, represent-ing occurrences collected from histoTv, fables, &c. Sometimesthese statues or groups are detached, raised on pedestals, andplaced contiguous to the walls of the building, or in the middle ofa room, court, or public square. But they are most frequentlyplaced in cavities made in the walls, called niches. There aretwo sorts of niches ; the one formed like an arch in its elevation,and semicircular or semielliptical in its plan ; the other is a paral-lelogram both in its plan and elevation. The proportion of boththese depends on the characters of the statues, or the general formof the groups placed in them. The lowest are at least a doublesquare in height; and the highest never exceed tv. oand a half ot theirbreadth. W lien niches are alone in a composition, they are ge-nerally inclosed in a pannel, formed and proportioned like theaperture of a window, and adorned in the same manner. In thiscase the n che is carried quite down to the bottom ; but on thesides and at the top, a small space is left between the niche andthe architrave of the pannel. And when niches are intermixedwith windows, they may be adorned in the same manner withthe windows, provided the ornaments be of the same tigure anddimensions with those of the windows. 'I lie size of the statuesdepends on the dimensions of the niches. They should neitherbe so large as to have the appearance of being rammed into theniches, as in Santa Maria Majora at Home ; nor so small as toseem lost in them, as in the Rantheon. The distance betweenthe outline of the statue and side of the niche should never he lessthan one-third of a head, nor more than one-half,, whether the nichebe square or arched ; an.! when it is square, the distance from the topof the head to the ceiling of the niche should not be greater than thedistance on the sides. Statues are generally raised on a plinth, theheight of which may be from one-third to one-half of a head; andsometimes where the niches are large, the statues may be raised onsmall pedestals. The character of the statue should always cor-respond with the character of the architecture w ith which it is sur-rounded. If the order he Doric , Hercules, Jupiter, Mars, /Escu-lapius, and all male statues, representing beings of a r.obust andgrave nature, may be introduced; it Ionic , then Apollo, Bacchus,Ac. and if Corinthian , Venus, Flora, and others of a delicate na-ture should be employed.
Of Chimney-pieces.
The size of a chimney must be regulated by the dimensions ofthe room where it is placed. In the smallest apartment, theA dreabth