C.r; II.

PRINCIPLES OF PROPORTION.
937
^i
!D
Mr
rr
thu !ioii:oiitiil are the vertical combinations in tlie sec-
tion and elevation, the voids falling over voids, and the
solids over solids. Whatever the extent of the build-
ing, if it is to be regular and symmetrical in its compo-
sition, the principles are a])plicable, and that even in
buildings where no columns are used
;
for, sujjposing
them to exist, and setting out the design as though
they did exist, the design will prove to be well pro-
portici'.ed when they are removed. The full ai)pH-
cation of the principles in question will be seen in
tlie works of Uurand, the Precis and Coins lUArchitec-
ture, which we have used freely
;
and where we have
had the misfortune to differ from that author, we have
not adopted him.
'-'844. The student can scarcely conceive the infinite
number of combinations whereof every design is sus-
ceiitible by the employment of the interaxal system
liere brought under his notice; neither, until he has
tested it in many cases, will he believe the great
mastery in design which he will acquire by its use.
In the temples and other public buildings of the an-
cients, it requires no argument to prove that it was the
'
vital principle of their operations, and in the courts,
f-
cava'dla, &c. of their private buildings it is sufficiently
obvious that it must have been extensively used. That
its use in the buildings of those who are called the
CJothic architects of the middle ages was universal, a
glance at them will be sufficient to prove. The system
of triangles which appears to have had an influence on
the jjroportions of the early cathedrals may be traced
to tlie same source (see the early translation of Vitru-
vius by Ca'sar Cesarianus), and indeed, followed uj) to
that source, would end in the princii)ie contended for.
'2845. It is impossible for us to prove that the
interaxal system was that upon which the revivers of
our art produced the astonishing examples many
whereof are exhibited in our First Book
;
neither
can we venture to assert that it was that upon which
our great master Palladio designed the example above
given, unquestionably one of his most elegant works;
but, to say the least of the coincidence which has been
proved between the actual design and the theory upon
which it appears to have been founded, it is a very
curious, and, if not true, a most extraordmary circum-
stance. Our belief, however, is, that not oidy Pal-
ladio but the masters preceding him used the system
in (juestion, and that is strengthened by the mode
(not strictly, we allow, analogous) in which Scamozzi,
in the tenth chapter of his third book, directs the
student to adopt in buildings seated on plots of ground
whose sides are irregular.
2846. To Durand, nevertheless, the public is
greatly Indebted for the instruction he has imparted
to the studeiit in his Precis iTArchitecturt more espe-
cially, and we regret that in our own country the art
is treated by its professors too much in the manner
nf a trade, and that the scramble after connnissions
\\.^s prevented their occupation upon works similar to
those which have engaged the attention of professors
oa the continent. The fault, however, is perhaps not,
after all, so much attributable to them as to a govern-
ment, whatever the party in power, till within the last
live vears (nay perchance even now) totally indifferent to the success of the fine arts, whose
palmy days here were under the reign of the unfortunate Charles. Our feelings on this sul>-
ject, and love for our art, betray us perchance too much into expressions unsuitable to the
subject under consideration, and thereon we entreat, therefore, the patience of our readers,
knowing
"
we have a good conscience."
-S-i'i Our hmits preclude the further enlargement on this part of tiie subject, which in
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