Yet, a mixed style is generally imperfect: the mind is not easily reconciled to the combination of forms which it has been used to consider distinct, and at variance with each other it feels an incongruity of character, like an anachronism in the confusion of dates; it is like uniting, in one object, infancy with old age, life with death, or things present with things past.

THE GRECIAN STYLE.

UNDER this character are included all buildings in England, for which models have been furnished from Greece, from Italy, from Syria, and from other countries, unmixed with the Gothic style; for in all these countries some intermixture of style and dates, in what is called the Grecian character, may be discovered: and we are apt to consider, as good specimens, those buildings in which the greatest simplicity prevails, or, in other words, those that are most free from mixture. Simplicity is not less necessary in the Gothic than in the Grecian style; yet it creates great difficulty in its application to both, if no mixture of dates is to be allowed in the respective styles of each. Thus, the English antiquary will discover, and, perhaps, be offended at, the mixture of Saxon, Norman, and the several dates of subsequent buildings called Gothic: but the man of taste will discover beauty in the combination of different forms in one great pile, or he must turn with disgust from every cathedral and abbey in the kingdom. In like manner, the traveller and connoisseur in Grecian antiquities, will not only object to more than one of the five orders in the same buildings, but will detect the intermixture of even the minutest parts in detail; while the man of taste will discover beauty and grace in combination of forms, for which there is not authority in the early, and, therefore, most simple edifices of those countries. It is by such combinations only, that the Grecian style can be made applicable to the purposes of modern habitation.

The best models of pure and simple Grecian architecture, were temples, many without a roof, and all without windows.

or chimneys. Such models might be imitated in our churches, or public edifices; but houses built from such models would become inconvenient, in proportion as this external simplicity is preserved. For this reason, INIGO JONES, and our early architects in the Grecian style, took their models from buildings of later date (chiefly Roman), where the different floors are marked by different orders placed one over another.

As the taste for Grecian architecture became more correct, and, by the works of STUART and others, the more simple original models became better known in England, various attempts have been made to adopt it in modern houses; but a palace, or even a moderate sized residence, cannot be entirely surrounded by a peristyle, like a Grecian temple; and, therefore, the portico alone has been generally adopted.*

THE MODERN STYLE.

THE numerous difficulties in reconciling the internal convenience of a house to the external application of Grecian columns of any order, at length banished columns altogether, and introduced a new style, which is, strictly, of no character. This consists of a plain building, with rows of square windows at equal distances; and if to these be added a Grecian cornice, it is called a GRECIAN BUILDING: if, instead of the cornice, certain notches are cut in the top of the wall, it is called a GOTHIC BUILDING. Thus has the rage for simplicity, the dread of mixing dates, and the difficulty of adding ornament to utility, alike corrupted and exploded both the Grecian and the Gothic style in our modern buildings.

Without a bigoted attachment to EITHER, every one must confess, that there are a thousand beauties and graces in

The difficulty of adapting any order of columns to the windows of a house, is evident, from the portico being sometimes confined to the ground floor only, sometimes extended through two, or even three, floors, and sometimes raised on a basement of arches, unknown to the Grecian character. A more classic expedient has been devised by the ingenious author of the Antiquities of Grecia Magna, in his designs for Harford and Downham colleges; but such lofty portion of windows, though allowable in a public building, would be inapplicable to the purposes of a private house.

EACH, which deserve our admiration, although they cannot, without violence, be made subservient to modern residence.

In this inquiry, no mention has yet been made of the difference of climate, and the influence it may be supposed to have on the different styles, because grace and beauty of form, in ornament and decorations, may be considered, without always annexing ideas of utility; if they can be blended, it is the perfection of art in every province; and, in the choice and adaptation of new forms to new uses, consists the genius of the artist.

But there is another consideration of greater importance, which relates to the MATERIAL of which the building is constructed.

The EYE will not be pleased with THAT to which the MIND cannot be reconciled: we must be satisfied that the construction is safe, and that the material is equal to its office. The resistance of iron is greater than that of stone; but if iron columns be made to represent stone, they will appear too light and weak. On the contrary, if stone columns be made to resemble metal, they will appear too heavy and massive and if either of those materials be made to imitate wood, not only the relative strength of each must be considered, but also the PRINCIPLES OF CONSTRUCTION, which are totally different in the Grecian and Gothic styles.*

OF GRECIAN CONSTRUCTION.

ACCORDING to the law of gravitation, all matter at rest keeps its place by its own weight, and is only to be removed by superior force, acting in a different direction. A perpendicular rock, or a solid upright wall, will preserve the same position so long as its substance endures: on this principle of perpendicular pressure, all Grecian architecture is founded [see fig. 131, a]. Hence have arisen the relative proportions and

This remark is every day confirmed by the too slender groins of Gothic arches, to imitate stone, in plaster, or cast-iron, and the too slender columns of Grecian architecture in wood, painted to imitate stone and marble.

intercolumniations in the different orders, from the heaviest Doric to the most graceful Corinthian, the distances being regulated by the strength of the parts supporting and supported.

Although it is probable that the first buildings were of

GRECIAN

GOTHIC

PRINCIPLES OF PRESSVRE

a

INDIAN

[Fig. 131. Sketch exhibiting the principles of pressure in Grecian, Gothic, and Indian architecture: a, Grecian; b, Gothic; c, Indian.]

wood, and that rude trees suggested the proportions of the Doric order, yet, the origin of Grecian architecture was, doubtless, derived from one stone laid flat upon another, and the aperture, or void, between two upright stones, was covered by a third placed across them: thus, the width of the opening

[Fig. 132. Sketch exhibiting the progress of Grecian architecture, from the columns and beams formed of the trunks of trees, with the bark on, to the Doric order, with fluted shafts, &c.]

was limited by the length of the cross-stone; consequently, this mode of structure required large blocks of stone, when that material was used [see fig. 132].

The difficulty of procuring such large blocks as were required for this mode of construction, suggested the idea of

producing wide apertures by a different expedient; and this introduced the arch.

OF GOTHIC CONSTRUCTION.

In every arch, whether a segment of a circle, an ellipsis, or in the pointed arches, called Gothic, there is a great lateral pressure. This constitutes the leading principle of construc

[Fig. 133. Sketch exhibiting the principle of forming abutments for Gothic arches, as generally adopted in ecclesiastical buildings.]

tion in Gothic architecture, which depends on its abuttals [see fig. 131, b]. An arch may sometimes abut against a rock, as in bridges; or against a pier of masonry, as in castles, &c.; but, in light Gothic structures, the abuttals consist of buttresses to counteract the lateral pressure; and where such buttresses are not sufficiently heavy, additional weight is used under the various forms of pinnacles, or finials, which have often been mistaken for mere ornaments, of no use in the construction; and these are sometimes placed at a distance when they are connected by what are called flying buttresses, like those at Henry the Seventh's chapel [see fig. 133].