The PREFACE.

necessarily and naturally to outweigh the other, it does not thence follow, thata certain Proportion, which the Parts of a Building have in regard of eachother, tnust produce a Beauty that has such effeB upon the Mind, as to forceit, (if I may so speak) and oblige it to an Approbation , as the Proportionof the Arm of a Bdllance, makps it infallibly go down on that Side where theArm is longest. This however, is what mojl ArchiteBs fay, when they wouldhave us believe that what makes the Beauty, as for Instance, of the Pan-theon, is the Proportion, which -the Thickness of the Walls has with theVacuity of the Temple, that of its Breadth with its Height, and a hundredother Things, which are not difcernable without Measuring, and by which,when perceiv d, we can no ways be ajsurd that they might not as well havebeen otherwise, without being disagreeable.

1 should not infisl so much on this QueJHon, thd' *tis a Point whose Pe-solution is of the greatejl Importance to my present Design, being wellassur d, that those who will give themselves the Trouble to examine, willsoon find the Opinion I espouse, has no great need of other Reasons than thoseI have producd ; were it not that moJl ArchiteBs hold the contrary : Forthat [hews we ought not to look. upon this Problem as unworthy our Exami-nation ; since is Reason appears on one Side, the Authority of ArchiteBs,which is on the other, ought to ballance the Matter, and keep it in suspence,though, I confess, ArchiteBure would not otherwise be concern d in this Di-spute, were it not for some particular Works, and Examples taken fromthence, which serve to evince, that there are many Things, which, tho ?contrary to Reason and good Sense, fail not to please ; but all ArchiteBsagree in the Truth of these Inflames.

How, although we often like Proportions that are conformable to the Pulesof ArchiteBure, without knowing why we affeB them, it may, however, betruly said, that we ought to have some Peas on for this LoVe, and the Diffi-culty is only to know whether this Peason be always something that is posi-tive, as is that of the Consonance of Mustek.-, or whether it is not mosl com-monly founded upon Cuslom only ; and whether that which renders the Pro-portions of a Building agreeable, be not the fame thing with that whichmakes a modish Habit please on account of its Proportions, which neverthe-less have nothing positively beautiful, and that ought to be lov'd for it self ;since when Cuslom, and other Reasons not pofitive, which indued this LoVe,>tome to change* we affeB them no longer, tho’ they remain the fame.

■(b) ' M