882 PRACTICE OF

ARCHITECTURE.
Book HI.
size of them : they must not be less than three feet even in small buildings, because, aJ
Sir \Villiam Chambers seriously says,
"
there is not room for a fat
person to pass between
tliem."
'J61f). Before leaving the subject
which has furnished the preceding remarks on mter-
coluinniations, we most earnestly
recommend to the student the rc-jierusal of Section II. of
this Book. The intervals between the columns have, in tliis sectioi., been considered more
with regard to the laws resulting from the
distribution of the subordinate parts, than witb
relation^to the weiglits and supports, which seem to have regulated the ancient practice :
but this distril)ution should not prevent the application generally of the principle, which
may without difficulty, as we know from our own experience, be so brought to bear upon
it as to ])roduce the most satisfactory results. We may be perhaps accused of bringing a
fine art under mechanical laws, and reducing refinement to rules. We regret that we
cannot bind the professor by more stringent regulations. It is certain that, having in this
respect carried the point to its utmost limit, there will still be amjjle opportunity left for
him to snatch that grace, beyond the reach of art, with the neglect whereof the critics are
,wont so much to taunt the artist in every branch.
Sect. X.
ARCADES AND ARCHES.
2617. An arcade, or series of arclies, is perhaps one of the most beautiful objects at-
tached to the buildings of a city which architecture aflbrds. The utility, moreover, o<
arcades in some climates, for shelter from rain and heat, is obvious
;
but in this dark
climate, the inconveniences resulting from the obstruction to light which they otter, seems
to preclude their use in the cities of England. About public buildings, however, where
the want of light is of no importance to the lower story, as
in theatres, courts of law, churches, and places of jjublic amuse-
ment, and in large country seats, their introduction is often
the source of great beauty, when fitly placed.
2618. In a previous section (2524.)
we have spoken of
Lel)run's theory of an equality between the weiglits and sup-
ports in decorative architecture : we shall here return to the
subject, as applied to arcades, though the analogy is not, per-
haps, strictly in point, because of the dissimilarity of an arch to
a straight lintel. In
fi>j.
898. the hatched jiart AEMFDCOB
is the load, and ABGH, CDIK the supports. The line GK
is divided into six parts, which serve as a scale to the diagram,
the opening III being four of them, the height BH six, NO
two, and OM one. From the exact quadrature of the circle
being unknown, it is impossible to measure with strict accu-'
racy the surface BOC, which is necessary for finding by sub-
^
" '
traction the surface AEMFDCOB; but using the common
Fig. 898,
method, we have
AD X AE-
'^.^^'^''=
to that surface; or, in figures,
6 X 3
-
-
4
X
4 X -7854
= 11-72.
Now the suports will be IK x IC x 2 (the two piers) = the piers; or, in figures,
1x6x2 = 1200.
That is, in the diagram the load is very nearly equal to the supports, and woidd have been
found quite so, if we could have more accurately measured the circle, or had with greater
nicety constructed it. But we have here, where strict mathematical precision is not our
object, a sufficient ground for the observations which follow, and which, if not founded on
something more than speculation, form a series of very singular accidents. We have chosen
to illustrate the matter by an investigation of the examples of arcades by Vignola, because
we have thought his orders and arcades of a higher finish than those of any other master
;
but testing tlie hypothesis, which we intend to carry out by examples from I'alladio, Sca-
mozzi, and the other great masters of our art, not contemplated by Lebrun, the small
diffirences, instead of throwing a doubt upon, seem to confirm it.
2{jl9. In
Jig.
898. we will now carry, therefore, the consideration of the
weights and
supports a step further than I^ebrun, by comparing them with the void space they sur-
round, that is, the opening HBOCI
;
and here we have the rectangle HBCI = HB x HI,
that is, 6x4
=
24, and the semicircle BOC equal, as above, to
^
=6-28. Tiien
24
+6 -28 = 30
-28 is the area of the whole void, and the weight and support being 11-72 +