IV The PREFACE

Now, the Reason why it can t be said, that the proportions of ArchilteBure please the Sight on an unknown account, and that, of their own "Na-ture, they perform their EffeBs, as harmonious Sounds produce theirs inthe Ear, notwithstanding the Hearers Ignorance of the Reason of their Con-sonance 5 is, that the Knowledge which we have, by Means of the Ear, ofwhat results from the Proportion of two Strings, wherein the Harmonyconsists, is quite different from the Knowledge we haVe, by the Eye, ofwhat arises from the Proportion of the Parts, of which a Column iscompos d 5 for if th Mind is touch’d by the Interposition of the Ear, withwhat results from the Proportion of two Strings, without its knowing thatProportion, ’tis because the Ear is not capable to transferr this Knowledge $but the Eye, which hath a Capacity of communicating the Knowledge of thatProportion which is pleas ng, cannot otherwise make the Mind sensible ofany EffeB of it, than by the Kn ou> ledge it gives of the Proportion it self 5from whence it follows, that what is agreable to the Eye, is not so, on ac-count of ks Proportion i when the Eye kiiows it not, as it Very often happens.

To make a -jujl Comparison, then, between Mustek and ArchiteBure, wemufl not consider Consonances, barely in themselves, which are all, natural-ly such as cannot be chang d, but the Manner of making use of them, whichis different by dfferent Musicians, and in divers Nations, like as the Pro-portions of ArchiteBure are in dfferent Authors and 'Buildings: for as wesnow not any one Way of composing Harmony, that is necessarily and in-fallibly better than another, nor any Reason that 'can demonstrate the FrenchMustek to excB the Italian, so there can be none found to prove, that «Capital, which has more or less ProjeBure, should necessarily and naturallybe more beautiful than another ; nor is it here as in a simple Consonance ,where it may be demonstrated that a String, which has either a little moreor less than half the Length of another, makes an intollerdble Discord withthis other, by reason the Proportion naturally and necessarily produces suchEffeB in their Sounds .

There are also other EffeBs, which Proportion, of it self, naturally pro.duces in Mechankks, for the MoVement of Bodies, which cannot -be compttrdto those it produces for the Pleasure and Delight of Sight: for if a certainLength of one Arm of 4 Balance, in respeB to the other , causes one- Weightt necessarily