u6 The Ordonance of the Part II.

Ca. VIII. Mature of the Buildings, which environed them, were sustain d byColumns that went from bottom to top, and contain’d several Sto-ries ; the Difference between these Corinthian Courts, and our Build-ings of one great Order, being only that the Columns, in the Co-rinthian Courts, were at some small Distance from the Wall, tobear the Projecture of the Entablature, which serv’d as a Pent-house,and that our Columns are half funk in the Wall, and that mostcommonly, also, instead of Columns, we make use of Pilasters on-ly. Now the Abuse lies in the Affectation of a great Order, whichis not proper to all forts of Buildings; for as a great Order is theMajesty of Temples, Theatres, Portico’s, Galleries, Salons, Ve-stibles, Chapels, and other Buildings, which permit, or even re-quire, a great Height; so it may be said that this Manner of inclu-ding several Stories in one great Order, has, on the quite contrary,something very mean and poor, as representing a great Palace halfruin d and abandon d, in which, private Persons, being willing todwell, and finding that great and lofty Apartments were not con-venient for them, or being willing to husband Room, had madeEntresoles, or half Stories in it.

This does not hinder, but that, sometimes, in great Palaces,the Architect may find a good Pretence for one great Order, when,Tis evident, he is oblidg’d, by the Symmetry, to continue a greatOrder in the rest of the Building, which is necessary for some con-siderable part os it. This has been done very judicially in severalBuildings, but particularly in the Palace of the Louvre , which beingbuilt on the Side of a great River, which gives a vast and spaciousDistance for the View of it, had need have a great Order, that itmight not appear mean and little. This Order, which compre-hends two Stories, and is plac’d upon the lower Story, which servesit as a Pedestal, and which is properly the Rampart of the Castle,is raised in this manner, by reason of two great and magnificentPortico’s, which take up the Front of the Entry of the Palace, andwhich being to serve as a Vestibule, to all the Apartments of thefirst Story, requir’d this great and extraordinary Height, which isgiven to its Order, should needs be pursu’d, and continu’d after-wards, quite round the whole Building: For that authorises, or,at least, excuses the Impropriety that might have been objected a-gainst the Architect, if he had, without apparent Necessity, done athing, in it self, contrary to Reason : namely, not to give eachStory, which is, properly, a separate Building, its distinct and pro-per Order, and to make one Column serve to carry two Floors,supposing that it carries one, as we may say, upon its Head, andthe other as hanging at its Girdle. For the Distance of the View,alone, cannot be a sufficient Reason to raise a Building, which, in- - its