s r R CHRISTOPHER WREN, K n t.

than ordinary, and maybe supposed to'contain the; Sophies.—Thbsstandsthe .Temple like the Phalanx, while the .Walls represent the Wings ofi a■Battalia.' . : , . .v V'." -'' - '

iu I.!.. . . . ' . ' r ~ - ^ s ' :

Profpicit armipotens cperis fafligia summi ,

Et prol>at invi&os famma tenere Deos.

Profpicit in foribus diversœ tela fignra,

Armaque tcrrarum mi lite viSla fuo.

J; 1 llinc vielet Ænean .omratum ponderc '/across* . ' " o/f'.’

- jr; ■; . Et tot Iuleæ nobiiitatis avos,. . ,■ vc -

Hinc videt Iliaden bumeris ducts arma ferentem, v !uo - I;

Claraque dijpojitis aSla JubeJJ’e viris.

SpeBat et Augusto prœtcxtum nomine templum,

Et vifum , leBo Cæsare, majus opus.

T J.,,. .■ Digna.gigantcis hcec Jimt delubra tropbais, &C. r /

; ■ t: Ovid. FaSt. L. 5.),' .

J 1 • ' c*.' ■' ' '

: ' V • - -vip ct ; ; II. .

I . : r „„ T , ; , • r

* In this Court we have an Example of circular Walls; and .certainly no En*closure looks so gracefully as the circular: ’tis the Circle that equally bounds theEye, and is every where uniform to itself; but being of itself perfect, is noteasily joined to any other Area, and therefore seldom can be used: a Semicirclejoining to an Oblong, as in the Tribunal at the End of this Temple, is a grace-ful Composition.

III.

If I might divine in Architecture, I would fay, that the two Porticoes thatmade up the Court were directly opposite to the two Side-frontifpieces, and thatthe Walls of the Court might continue on the other Side of a Street, leavingopen the Pasiages A B ; and this might be the Reason that Palladio sought nofarther for them, finding Foundations to end at A and B. By this means, thosethat walk in either Portico, will have the Prospect of a Side-frontispiece beforethem ; those that walk in the Ante-temple, will have that goodly Tour of Sta-tues diffused about them ; and those that enter the Court, have an excellent Per-spective of the Whole; those that come down from the Temple, will have theView of the Temple of Neptune , which, Palladio says, stood over-against it.The Romans guided themselves by Perspective in all their Fabricks; and whyshould not Perspective lead us back again to what was Roman ? If 1 presumed,’twas Pully that animated me, who assures us, that Reason is the best Art of Di-vination.

I cannot omit commending the Fronts of the Porticoes: the Listels are in-vented to make Roofs, too narrow for a Vault, rile airy and light; the Orna-ments between, consisting of a Tray le of Fillets continuing in square Angles,seem to me to have been borrowed from Beds of Gardens, and very properlywould suit to that End.

IV.

The Cornice of the Wall advises us what Cornice to use in plainer Works;and gracefully is the Basis of the Columns made a continued Basis to the wholeTemple. But the Pillar with the Capital of Horfes-heads, (supposed by Pal-

a a a ladio

5-6;