sir CHRISTOPHER WREN, k n t*

Sacrifices were performed in the open Air, before the Front of the Temple ; batin the southern Climates, a Grove was necessary not only to shade the Devout*but, from the Darkness of the Place, to strike some Terror and Recollection intheir Approaches; therefore, Trees being always an Adjunct to the Cello;, theIsraelites were commanded to destroy not only the Idols, but to cut down theGroves which surrounded them : but Trees decaying with Time, or not equallygrowing, (though planted at first in good Order) or possibly not having Room jwhen the Temples were brought into Cities, the like Walks w ere represented withStone PilliySj supporting the more durable Shade of a Roof, instead of the Ar-bour of spreading Boughs; and still in the Ornaments of Stone Work was imi-tated, (as well as the Materials would bear) both in the Capitals, Frizes andMouldings, a Foliage, or fort of Work composed of Leaves, which remains tofhis Agdi

This, I am apt to think, was the true Original of Colonades environing theTemples in single or double Ailes.

People could not assemble and converse, but under shade in hot Countries jtherefore, the Forum of every City was also at first planted round with Walksof Trees-

Lticits In terbe juit medid } latijjimtis umbra*

These Avenues were afterwards, as Cities grew more wealthy, reformed intoPorticoes of Marble; but it is probable, at first the Columns were set no nearerthan the Trees were before in Distance, and that both Architraves and RoofsWere of Timber; because the Inter-columns would certainly have been too largeto have had the Architraves made in Stone; but the Architects in Aster-ages,being ambitious to perform all in Stone, and to load the Architraves also withheavy Cornices of Stone, were necessitated to bring the Pillars nearer together;and from hence arose the Differences of the Eujlyle , Sujlyle, Diaftyle, and Pyc-nojlyle Disposition of Columns, by which Vitruvius and his Followers wouldmake a systematical Science of their Art, forming positive Rules, according tothe Diameters of their Columns, for the Inter-columns, and the Proportions ofthe Architrave, Cornice, and all the Members of which they are composed.

But, by the way, it is to be observed, the Diameters of Columns were grosserat first, though Timber Architraves did not require to be borne by a more sub-stantial Pillar, as in the Tuscan Order j but, because in the Groves, the ancientTrees of large Growth (and Antiquity always carries Veneration with it) wereused to be of most Esteem. So at first the Columns were fix Diameters inHeighth; when the Imitation of Groves was forgot, the Diameters were ad-vanced to seven j then to eight; then to nine, as in the Jonick Order; then, atlast, to ten, as in the Corinthian and Jtalick Orders: And herein the Architectshad Reason, for the great Expence is in raising and carving of the Columns;and slenderer Columns would leave them more Opportunity to shew their Skillin carving and enriching their Works in the Capitals and Mouldings. Thus theCorinthian Order became the most delicate of all others, and though the Co-lumn was slenderer, yet bore a greater Weight of Entablature than the moreancient Orders.

When the old Statuaries in Greece , such as Phidias , Praxiteles , and theirDisciples, began to be celebrated for their Art, and the People grew fond of theirWorks, it is no Wonder (for horns alit artes) they fell upon the CorinthianCapital , which in no Aftcr-age to this Time has been amended, though theFrench King, Lewis the fourteenth, proposed Rewards to such Artists as shouldfind out a Gallick Order ; therefore Callimachus , the old Architect and Inventor,(according to Vitruvius' s Storv of the Nurse and Basket) must still retain the5 ' Honour

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