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THE LIFE OF

Position is necesiary for perfecting Beauty. There are only two beautiful Po-sitions of strait Lines, perpendicular and horizontal: this is from Nature, andconsequently Necessity, no other than upright being firm. Oblique Positions areDilcord to the Eye, unless answered in Pairs, as in the Sides of an equicruralTriangle : therefore Gothick Buttresses are all ill-favoured, and were avoided bythe Ancients, and no Roofs almost but fpherick raised to be visible, except inthe Front, where the Lines answer; in fpherick, in all Positions, the Ribs an-swer. Cones and multangular Prisms want neither Beauty or Firmness, but arenot ancient.

Views contrary to Beauty are Deformity, or a Defect of Uniformity, and Plain-ness, which is the Excess of Uniformity; Variety makes the Mean.

Variety of Uniformities makes compleat Beauty: Uniformities are best tem-pered, as Rhimes in Poetry, alternately, or sometimes with more Variety, as inStanza’s.

In Things to be seen at once, much Variety makes Confusion, another Viceof Beauty. In Things that are not seen at once, and have no Respect one toanother, great Variety is commendable, provided this Variety transgress not theRules of Opticks and Geometry.

An Architect ought to be jealous of Novelties, in which Fancy blinds theJudgment; and to think his Judges, as well those that are to live five Centuriesafter him, as those of his own Time. That which is commendable now forNovelty, will not be a new Invention to Posterity, when his Works are oftenimitated, and when it is unknown which was the Original; but the Glory ofthat which is good of itself is eternal.

The Architect ought, above all Things, to be well skilled in Perspective;for, every thing that appears well in the Orthography, may not be good in theModel, especially where there are many Angles and Projectures; and everything that is good in Model, may not be so when built ; because a Model isseen from other Stations and Distances than the Eye sees the Building: but thiswill hold universally true, that whatsoever is good in Perspective, and will holdso in all the principal Views, whether direct or oblique, will be as good in great,if this only Caution be observed, that Regard be had to the Distance of the Eyein the principal Stations.

Things seen near at hand may have small and many Members, be well fur-nished with Ornaments, and may lie flatter; on the contrary, all this Care is ri-diculous at great Distances; there bulky Members, and full Projecturcs castingquick Shadows, are commendable: small Ornaments at too great Distance,serve only to confound the Symmetry, and to take away the Lustre of the Ob-ject, by darkening it with many little Shadows.

There are difterent Reasons for Objects, whose chief View is in Front, andfor those whose chief View is sideways.

Fronts ought to be elevated in the Middle, not the Corners; because theMiddle is the Place of greatest Dignity, and first arrests the Eye; and rather pro-jecting forward in the Middle, than hollow. For these Reasons, Pavilions at theCorners are naught; because they make both Faults, a hollow and depressedFront. Where Hollows and Solids are mixed, the Hollow is to be in theMiddle; for, Hollows are either Niches, Windows, or Doors: The first re-quire the Middle to give the Statue Dignity ; the second, that the View fromwithin may be direct; the third, that the Visto may be strait. The Ancientselevated the Middle with a Tympan, and Statue, or a Dome. The triumphantArches, which now seem flat, were elevated by the magnificent Figure of theVictor in his Chariot with four Horses abreast, and other Statues accompanyingit. No fort of Pinnacle is worthy enough to appear in the Air, but Statue.Pyramids are Gothick ; Pots are modern French. Chimnies ought to be hid, if2 not,