but al&longs;o plea&longs;ant to the Sight. </s> <s>Nature at fir&longs;t <lb/>
certainly gave us Columns made of Wood, <lb/>
and of a round Figure, afterwards by U&longs;e they <lb/>
came in &longs;ome Places to be cut &longs;quare. </s> <s>There<lb/>
upon, if I judge right, &longs;eeing in the&longs;e wooden <lb/>
Columns certain Rings of Circles of Bra&longs;s or <lb/>
Iron, fa&longs;ten'd about the Top and Bottom, that <lb/>
the continual Weight which they are made to <lb/>
bear, might not &longs;plit them; the Architects too <lb/>
left at the Foot of their Columns of Marble, a <lb/>
little Ring like a &longs;ort of Binding; whereby <lb/>
they are defended from any Drops of Rain that <lb/>
might da&longs;h up again upon them. </s> <s>And at the <lb/>
Top too they left another little Band, and over <lb/>
that an A&longs;tragal or Collar; with which helps <lb/>
they ob&longs;erv'd the Columns of Wood to be <lb/>
fortified. </s> <s>In the Ba&longs;es of their Columns it <lb/>
was their Rule, that the under Part &longs;hould <lb/>
con&longs;i&longs;t of &longs;trait Lines and right Angles, but <lb/>
that their upper Superficies &longs;hould terminate <lb/>
circularly to an&longs;wer to the Round of the Pil<lb/>
lar; and they made this Ba&longs;e on every Side <lb/>
broader than high, and wider than the Column <lb/>
by a determinate Part of it&longs;elf; and the under <lb/>
Superficies of the Ba&longs;e they made broader than <lb/>
the upper; the Plinth too they would have a <lb/>
certain Proportion broader than the Ba&longs;e, and <lb/>
the Foundation again a determinate Part wider <lb/>
than the Plinth. </s> <s>And all the&longs;e Parts thus <lb/>
placed one upon the other, they erected per<lb/>
pendicular from the Center of the Foundation. <lb/>
</s> <s>On the other hand, the Capitals all agree in <lb/>
this, that their under Parts imitate their <lb/>
Columns, but their upper End in a Square; <lb/>
and con&longs;equently the upper Part of the Capital <lb/>
mu&longs;t always be &longs;omewhat broader than the <lb/>
under. </s> <s>This may &longs;uffice here as to the <lb/>
Columns. </s> <s>The Wall ought to be rai&longs;ed with <lb/>
the &longs;ame Proportions as the Columns; &longs;o that <lb/>
if it is to be as high as the Column and its Ca<lb/>
pital, its Thickne&longs;s ought to be the &longs;ame with <lb/>
that of the bottom of the Column. </s> <s>And they <lb/>
al&longs;o ob&longs;erved this Rule, that there &longs;hou'd be <lb/>
neither Pillar, nor Ba&longs;e, nor Capital, nor Wall, <lb/>
but what &longs;hould in all re&longs;pects corre&longs;pond with <lb/>
every thing el&longs;e of the &longs;ame Order, in Heighth, <lb/>
Thickne&longs;s, Form and Dimen&longs;ion. </s> <s>But tho' both <lb/>
are Faults, either to make the Wall too thin <lb/>
or too thick, higher or lower than the Rule <lb/>
and Proportion requires; yet of the two I <lb/>
wou'd chu&longs;e to offend on that Side, where we <lb/>
&longs;hou'd have occa&longs;ion to take away rather than <lb/>
to add. </s> <s>And here I think it will not be ami&longs;s <lb/>
to take notice of &longs;ome Errors in Buildings, <lb/>
that we our &longs;elves may be the more circum<lb/>
&longs;pect: in as much as the chief Prai&longs;e is to be <lb/>
exempt from Blame. </s> <s>I have ob&longs;erved there<lb/>
fore in St. <emph type="italics"/>Peter<emph.end type="italics"/>'s Church at <emph type="italics"/>Rome<emph.end type="italics"/> what indeed <lb/>
the thing it&longs;elf demon&longs;trates, that it was ill ad<lb/>
vi&longs;ed to draw a very long and thick Wall over <lb/>
&longs;o many frequent and continued Apertures, <lb/>
without &longs;trength'ning it with any curve Lines <lb/>
or any other Fortification what&longs;oever. </s> <s>And <lb/>
what more de&longs;erves our Notice, all this Wing <lb/>
of Wall, under which are too frequent and <lb/>
continued Apertures, and which is rai&longs;ed to a <lb/>
great Heighth, is expo&longs;ed as a Butt to the im<lb/>
petuous Bla&longs;ts of the North-Ea&longs;t: by which <lb/>
means already thro' the continual Violence of <lb/>
the Winds it is &longs;werved from its Direction <lb/>
above two Yards: and I doubt not that in a <lb/>
&longs;hort time, &longs;ome little accidental &longs;hock will <lb/>
throw it down into Ruins; and if it were not <lb/>
kept in by the Timber Frame of the Roof, it <lb/>
mu&longs;t infallibly have fallen down before now. <lb/>
</s> <s>But the Architect may not be &longs;o much in <lb/>
Fault, becau&longs;e con&longs;ulting only the Nece&longs;&longs;ity of <lb/>
his Situation, he might perhaps imagine that <lb/>
the Neighbourhood of the Mountain, which <lb/>
overlooks the Church, might be a &longs;ufficient <lb/>
Shelter again&longs;t the Winds. </s> <s>Neverthele&longs;s it is <lb/>
certain, tho&longs;e Wings ought to have been more <lb/>
&longs;trengthned on both Sides.</s>

 <s>CHAP. XI.</s>

 <s><emph type="italics"/>Of the great U&longs;efulne&longs;s of the Coverings both to the Inhabitants and the other <lb/>
Parts of the Building, and that being various in their Natures, they mu&longs;t be <lb/>
made of various Sorts.<emph.end type="italics"/></s>

 <s>The Covering for U&longs;efulne&longs;s far exceeds <lb/>
any other Part of the Building. </s> <s>It <lb/>
not only &longs;ecures the Health of the Inhabitants <lb/>
by defending them from the Night, from the <lb/>
Rain, and e&longs;pecially from the burning Rays of <lb/>
the Sun; but it al&longs;o pre&longs;erves all the re&longs;t of the <lb/>
Edifice. </s> <s>Take away the Covering and the <lb/>
Materials rot, the Wall moulders and &longs;plits,