844 PRACTICE OF AllCIIITECTURE.

Book 111;
more important tlian tliat ocular languajre wliicli architecture occasionally employs in iti^
ornaments. 15y
its use architecture is almost converted into painting, and an edifice l)e-
eomes a picture, or a collection of ])ictures, through the aid of the scul])tor. We shall
refer to no other building than the Parthenon to prove the assertion. Here the history of
the goddess is embodied in the forms of the building, and to the decoration thus intro-
duced the subordinate parts of the sculpture, if it be not heresy so to call them, is kept so
under that we are almost inclined to cry out against their not having been principals in-
stead of accessories. This is the true principle upon wliich buildings should be decorated
to im])ress the mind of the spectator with the notion of beauty, and the principle which,
carried out, no matter what the style be, will insure the architect his most ample reward,
reputation. The matter that is supplied by allegory for decoration in architecture may be
considered under three heads

attributes, fiyures, and paintings.

2520. The first takes in all those foliages, plants, flowers, and fruits, which from their
constant use in sacrifices were at last transferred from the altar to the walls of the temple.
The garlands, festoons, chaplets, and crowns which we find sculptured on temples seem to
have had their origin from the religious ceremonies performed in them; as do the instru-
ments of sacrifice, vases, the heads of the victims, paters, and all the other objects em-
ployed in the worship of the ancients. Thus, in architecture, these have become conven-
tional signs, indicating the destination of the buildings to which they are applied. From
the particular ap|)lication of some ornaments on temples we derive in the end a language
in the arts of imitation. It was thus that the eagle grasping in his talons the attribute of
Ju])iter, came to represent eternity and omnipotence ; the myrtle and dove of Venus, the
passion of love
;
the lyre and laurel of Apollo, to point to harmony and glory
;
the si)ear
and helmet of Mars, to represent war. Palms and crowns became the emblems of victory,
as did the olive the emblem of peace. In the same way the ears of corn of Ceres, the
serpent of Esculapius, the bird of Minerva, and the cock of Mercury were equivalent to
the expression of abundance, science, and vigilance. Instruments of the arts, sciences, in
short, all objects useful to the end for which an edifice is erected, naturally become signs of
that edifice ; but applied otherwise become absurd. What, for instance, could be more
ridiculous than placing ox sculls and festoons on the frieze of a Protestant church? and
yet this has been done in our own days.
25i?l. Figures of men and animals come under the second head. The application of
these may be seen to their highest perfection in the Parthenon, to which we have already
alluded. They may be introduced in low, high, or full relief. In the last case their
situation is usually that of a niche. We shall say no more on the subject of figures than
that of course they must have relation to the end for which the edifice is erected, and if
not in that respect perfectly intelligible are worse than useless.
2522. The walls of Pompeii furnish ancient examjiles of the decoration obtained by the
aid of painting, as do the loggie of the Vatican and the ceilings of the Farnesina modern
examples of it. Herein the moderns have far surpassed anything we know of tlie ancient
application of painting. Sculpture, however, seems more naturally allied to architecture
than painting, and, except in purely decorative painting on walls and ceilings, the intro-
duction of it seems bounded within narrow limits. The rules as to fitness of the sid)jects
introduced, applicable to the first two heads, are equally so under that of painting.
Sect. II.
THE OROERS.
2.'i23. An order in architecture is a certain assemblage of parts subject to uniform esta-
blished proportions, regulated by the office that each part has to perform. It may be
compared to what organisation is in animal natiu'e. As from the paw of a lion his dimen-
sions may be deduced, so from a triglyph may be found the other parts of an example of
the Doric order, and from given parts in other orders the whole configuration may be
found. As the genus may be defined as consisting of essential and subservient parts, the
first-named are the column and its entablature, which, as its name imports, is as it were
the tabled work standing on the column. The subservient parts are the mouldings and
detail into which the essential parts are subdivided, and which we shall hereafter separately
consider. The species of orders are five in number, Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and
Composite, each of whose mass and ornaments are suited to its character and the ex-
pression it is intended to possess. Thase are the five orders of architecture, in the proper
understanding and application whereof is laid the foiuidation of architecture as an art.
The characters of strength, grace, and elegance, of lightness and of richness, are
dis-
tinguishing features of the several orders, in which those characters ought to be found
not only in the colunm employed, but should pervade the whole composition, whereof
the