The PREFACE.

good Opinion we have of him who assures us of any thing whose Truth weare ignorant of disposes us to make no Doubt of it. Tis this prepossession,alfo y that makes us like Things in the Mode, and the Ways of Speakingus d at Court : for the Regard we haVe for the Merit and good Graces ofthe Court, makes us love even their Dress and manner of Speech, thoughthese Things haVe nothing in them positively amiable, and some short timeafter they become disagreeable, without having undergone any Change inthemselves.

Thus it is in Architecture, there are Things which Custom only rendersso agreeable, that we cannot bear to have them otherwise, tho they haVe noBeauty in themselves, that must infallibly please, and necessarily demandApprobation, such as is the Proportion which Capitals generally have withtheir Columns: and there are even some Things, which Reason and goodSense would render deform d and disagreeable, that Custom has made tolera-ble, such as the Situation of Modillions in Pedaments, that of Dentels un-der the Modillions, the richness of Ornaments in the Doric Cornice, theplainness of the Ionic, the Position of Columns, which flood mt plum inthe Porches of the Temples of the Ancients, but inclining towards the Wall.For all these Things, which ought to give Distaste, as being contrary toReason and good Sense, were first born with, because join d with positiveBeauties ; and at length became agreeable by Custom, which has even hadsuch Influence on those who may be said to haVe had the Tafl of Architecture,that they have not been able to permit they should be otherwise.

To know how many Pules there are in Architecture for Things whichplease, although contrary to Reason ; we ought to consider that the Peafonswhich should chiefly regulate the Beauty of Architecture, ought to be sand-ed, either upon the Imitation of Nature, such as is the Correspondence ofthe Parts of a Column with its whole ; like as there is between the entireBody of a Man, and all its Parts, or upon the Pefemblance that a Fabricsmay haiVe with the first Buildings, that Nature taught Men ; or upon theLikeness that the Quarter-rounds, Ogees, Astragals, and other Membershave to the Things from whence the Figures of those Mouldings were taken •or, lastly, upon the Imitation of what is done in particular Arts, as in Car-P e ntry, whence are derived the Freezes, Architraves, and Cornices, withtheir several Members, as Modillions and Mutules . Nevertheless ? tis not

upon