Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/1146

 11"^'^ COTTAGE, FARM, AND VILLA AUCHITliCTURE. would be altogetlier unreasonable to compare them with the designs constructed since that period. The Gothic Architecture of Batty Langley (a name sneered at by modern critics), or even that of Inigo Jones, it would not be just to compare with the Gothic of the present day ; a knowledge of which has been matured by the excellent publications of Carter, Murpliy, Britton, Pugin, Cottingham, Lamb, and a number of other authors. Thus, a critic must always have two standards of comparison to judge by : the one, that (as well as he can conceive it) of the time when the building was erected ; and the other the beau ideal of perfection in his own mind. There is another point that must not be lost sight of, in judging either of ancient or of modern productions in Architecture ; and that is, the means which the Architect had at his command, and the control which he was under from his employers, at the tiine of erecting the building. There is not, perhaps, one edifice in a hundred, either public or private, where free scope is left to the Architect, even where he is previously informed of the amount which will be allowed to be expended for the work, and keeps within that amount. Numerous local circumstances, which could not be foreseen, or over which he has little or no control, continually interfere to prevent him from completing his designs agreeably to his own taste and judgment. Since, then, few persons have ever an opportunity of doing their best, charity should, in all cases, be exercised by the critic. To those who wish to pur- sue the subject of this section farther, it is satisfactory to be able to recommend three works which are within the rer.ch of every one ; viz., Alison's Essai/s on Taste, Wood's Letters of an Architect, and the Dictiomiaire Historique cV Architecture of Quatremere de Quincy. The works of Durand, Repton and Papworth, Aberdeen's Inquiry, and Carlisle's Hints (or rather sci'aps), may also be read with advantage, by those who wish to unite the study of Landscape Gardening with that of Architecture. Sect. II. Of the different Styles of Architecture. 2223. The different Styles of Architecture have grown up with mankind, and are easily recognised by every one as beauties of art, originally composed to be admired, and subsequently sanctioned by the admiration of ages. Hence it is that the Architect who erideavours to effect his object through the medium of any known architectural style impressions and general associations which form the subject of the preceding section ; or on what an Architect might call the abstract composition of lines and forms. In that section, we have chiefly endeavoured to show that every thing in Architecture connected with use, the expression of use, and the expression of those qualities which are common 'o all the fine arts, can be effected without the introduction of a single form or line vhich is considered characteristic of any known architectural style. It must be obvious to the reader who has understood our preceding observations, that, in the employment of any of the architectural styles which fonn the subject of the present section, the Archi- tect, to produce a satisfactory whole, must be governed by the abstract principles of com- position already laid down, as much as if no style were resorted to. Tl>e principle of unity must govern a composition, whether it consist of mere walls with openings; or, as a painter would say, of mere light and shade ; or of Grecian columns and entablatures ; or Gothic gables and buttresses. Variety is required for a Grecian or a Gothic com- position, as well as for one of mere lines and forms ; and simplicity is as necessary for the general form of a Gothic cathedral as it is for that of a Grecian temple. There are, however, great advantages in the employment of style in Architecture. 2224. By the Employment of Style in an Edifice, the Architect takes immediate pos- session of the prejudices of mankind. He gains a positive beauty at once by the mere exhibition of style ; because thousands of spectators in Europe and America, for example, have some crude ideas of what is Grecian and what is Gothic, while comparatively few understand what constitutes a whole in mere combinations of form. Style, therefore, ought never to be neglected by Architects who wish to gain general applause. 2225. The different Styles of Architecture are so well known by Architects, and this knowledge is so readily accessible to the general reader, that very little need be said respecting them in a work like the present. All the styles which have ever existed, or which now prevail in the world, may be reduced to two, the Gothic, or perpendicular, and the Grecian, or horizontal ; or that in which perpendicular lines, and that in which horizontal lines, predominate. As it is essential that all walls be built erect, it is not probable that, in any style whatever, curved lines should prevail over straight lines ; unless, indeed, fitness and reason should be entirely laid aside. 2226. The Grecian Style may be considered as characterised by porticoes of columns, with pediments joined to parallelograms, in regard to general forms ; and l)y a particularly beautiful description of mouldings and ornaments in the details. The porticoes and pcdirnents are altogether unfit for private dwellings, and there is no evidence that they were ever so applied by the Greeks. At all events, that there is " great difficulty," as
 * vill be nmch more likely to attain it, than he who depends for success on the organic