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Part II. five Kinds of Columns*

the finest: Structures that have been built these hundred Years* hasalso made no Difficulty, that he might couple his Columns to in*large the Metopes in the first Order, which is Doric. At the Por-tail of the Minimes in the Place %oyal , there are also other Liber-ties taken in the Doric Order, as the putting half Triglyphs in theinward Angles, after the Example or Palladio , who has done it inthe fame Palace of Count Valeria.

The fifth Abuse is the taking away, in the Modern Ionic Capital,the lower part of the Abacus, which some call the Bark or Rind,being that which makes the Volute, in the Ancient Ionic Capital,and that makes the lower part of the Abacus in the Composite Capi-tal, and which, also, as I think, ought to do so in the Modern Ionic $for this Part being suppressed, there remains only the upper Part,which is an Ogee : so that the Abacus is left thin as a Tile * and asit rests only upon the convex parts of the four Volutes, which ittouches but in four Points, this produces a very ill Effect • becauseit seems to have a Weakness that offends the Eye. In the Capitalsof the Temple of Concord , and those of Fortuna Virilis , which arethe Models from whence the Modern Ionic Capital is copied, thereis, indeed, an Abacus, that consists likewise of a single Ogee i butthis Ogee, though thin, has not that Appearance of Weakness, be-cause it bears not upon the Convexity of the Volutes, these Volutesnot issuing out of the Vase, but running quite strait over it, as inthe Antique Ionic: So that this Abacus, as thin as it is, has nothingin it offensive, being every where equally supported 5 which is notso in the Capital we speak os, where there is a large void Space be-tween the Abacus and the Vase. The best Manner, in my Opini-on, would be to leave the Abacus quite whole, as it is in the Com -pofite Capitals of the Antique , where the Volutes spring from theVase, and penetrate the lower part of the Abacus. And this iswhat Palladio has done in the Capital he has designed, and whichhe gives for that of the Temple of Concords in which, because theVolutes penetrate the Vase, he has made the Abacus entire, and likethat of the Compofite Capital of the Arch of T itus, where the Vo-lutes enter into the Vase. For there is no Reason not to imitate thisParticular of the Abacus of the Antique Composite Capitals, since’t isfrom their Model, that all the rest of the Modern Ionic Capital istaken. And st is in the Want of this Imitation, that the Abuse con-sists.

Th e sixth Abuse is to make one great Order, comprehendingseveral Stories, instead of giving an Order to each Story, as theAncients did : and st is probable, this Liberty takes its Rife from theImitation of those Courts the Ancients call’d Cava Ædium , ot inwardQuadrangles, and chiefly of those stisd Corinthian , where the Enta-il i blature