" In those buildings which belong to the best age of Grecian art—the days of Pericles, and his chief architects, Callicrates and Ictinus—as seen at Athens, Bassre, Sunium, Thuricus, Eleusis, Ithainnus, and elsewhere, we shall find that the Millais has its lower Nut either very slightly curved or else perfectly straight ; whilst, in buildings of later date, and of equivocal taste, we find that the moulding nearly re sembles an elongated or ovate quarter-round, as in the Agora at Athens, and in a building at Cada•hio. Professor Donald son has drawn notice to the general principle which "directed the Greeks in composition of their 'Doric capitals. From the necking to the abacus, the outline is that of a having a projection that varied according to the era, or style of art peculiar to the country ; the existing Attic examples being but slightly projecting, while the immense abacus of the orders now remaining at Corinth, PLestum, and in Sicily, gives a bolder profile to the capital." Some idea may be formed of the vast proportions of the temple of Jupiter, at Agrigentmn, when we find that the echinus of each column is formed of two stones, each weighing 21-% tons, held together by plugs or dowels by the centre stone of the abacus, which is in three pieces. In the capitals of the antre of Greek examples the cchinus is generally undercut, so as to form that remarkable moulding called the hawk's-beak, or bird's beak moulding. The proportionate depth of the abacus and echinus to each other, is not always the same ; but, as a general rule, it may be held, that the former member should have the greatest depth. In the Parthenon, the rela tion, in this respect, is as 11 to 9; at Sunium and at Bass;e, as 7 to 6; at Thoricus, as 6 to 5 ; at Eleusis, as 12 to 9. In the best examples with which we are acquainted—as, for instance, in the Parthenon and Theseum—the echinus has nearly the same projection as the abacus (it is actually the same in the temple of Apollo Epieurins, at Bassin) ; and we shall find, that the sharper is its outline—that is, the more it is remote from the quarter-round—the more it is held in estimation ; and that, as it approaches the ovolo in form, so it may be traced to belong to a declining period, or one nearer to the time of the Roman use of the Doric order. If we grant for a moment, that timber construction afforded the first hints for architectural composition, and that the origin of the abacus may be traced to the intervention of a cube of wood between the column and its entablature; where will the advocates of this system find the prototype of the echinus ? 'l'o the Greeks we must look for adoption of this beauti ful moulding, which connects, in such a happy manner, the square abacus with the circular shaft ; and truly may it he said to be their own invention, even if we are compelled to admit, that some slight hint for it is to be found among the heavy capitals of Egypt. Professor Ilosking has well ob served : " Greek architecture is distinguished for nothing more than for the grace and beauty of its mouldings; and it may be remarked of them generally, that they are eccentric, and not regular curves. They must be drawn, fb• they can not be described, or struck ; so that, though they may be called circular, or elliptical, it is seldom that they are really so; not but that they may be; but if they are, it is consider ably the result of chance, not of design. Hence, all attempts to give rules for striking mouldings are worse than useless, for they are injurious ; the hand alone, directed by good taste, can adapt them to their purpose, and give them the spirit and feeling which render them effective and pleasing." The abacus at the top of the capital is of the simplest description, being merely a square slab of stone, of consider able thickness, harmonizing well with the massy appearance of the entire column. It projects considerably beyond the upper part of the shaft, and sometimes even beyond the lower diameter, and always advances in front of the general surface of the epistylium. Where the abacus overhangs be yond the foot of the column, it is considered as an indication of the antiquity of the building ; examples of which occur at Corinth, Ptestum, Egesta, and elsewhere. This completes the description of the column.
It may be well to mention in passing, that Doric antre ditThr from columns, in maintaining the same width from top to bottom, which equals the average diameter of the column.
They have a simple moulding and groove at their base ; the capital likewise is very simple, and the abacus and other mouldings are much narrower than in the capital of the column. Ante are never fluted.
The Doric entablature consists as usual of three members, architrave, frieze, and cornice, the first or lowermost of which, otherwise termed the epistylium, is simply a plain fascia surmounted by a broad fillet termed the tawia, which forms the separation between it and the frieze, and to which another fillet, with small cylindrical gutta: depending from it, is attached in separate portions beneath each triglyph of the frieze. The epistylium recedes from the face of the abacus, projecting beyond the upper diameter of the shaft, but short of the extremity of the lower diameter, so as only partially to overhang the column. A line dropped vertically from the face of the architrave would cut the abacus, pass without the upper portion of the shaft, but fall within it ere it reached the base. The average height of this mem ber, inclusive of the tcenia, is equal to the upper diameter of tha column.
Above the architrave is the frieze, which forms the most characteristic feature in the whole entablature, although of no greater dimensions than the epistylium. The height of the two members is nearly equal, with but slight varia tions in any example, the frieze being seldom, if ever, the deeper, more frequently the shallower of the two. The peculiar ornamentation of this portion of the entablature gives it its specific character ; being divided into a series of projecting and recessed panels. The distinguishing feature is the tri glyph, which is a slightly projecting tablet, somewhat wider than the semi-diameter of the base of the column, and chan nelled vertically with three grooves, or y2.1)0Ec, whence the name triglyph. These channels are so disposed, that there shall be a space in the centre of the projecting slab, with a channel on each side of it, and beyond these again, on either side, another equal space, with a half-groove outside, on the edge of the slab, which indeed is nothing more than a cham fered edge. The two channels, and the two halves on the extremities together make up the three grooves, or glyphs.
Beneath each triglyph, and attached to a fillet, are a series of guttm or drops, immediately under the tcenia of the architrave. This decoration we have alluded to in describing the episty lium, but although it is attached to that member, it belongs, strictly speaking, to the triglyph, of which it is a conti nuation ; its position, however, in this place, serves a very useful purpose, for it both gives a variety to the otherwise monotonous surthee of the architrave, and, at the same time, presents to the eye a sort of connection between this portion of the entablature and the frieze above it. The Butt e are six in number, of a conical form, and are said to represent drops of rain that have trickled down the channels of the triglyph, and settled beneath the taada ; others again suppose them to represent the heads of nails, or screws, used in the wooden structure. The channels of the triglyph are of a tri angular section, and are not continued the entire height of the block, although at the bottom they butt against the txnia. Each triglyph is surmounted by a capital, or slightly-project ing band, which, in the Greek examples is of very slight projection, and is not returned at the sides, except in the case of triglyphs at the angles of the building. The position of these ornaments is such, that there shall be one over the centre of each column, and one midway between every pair of columns ; but there is an exception to this disposition at the angles of buildings, where the triglyph is not placed over the centre of the column, but is brought up quite to the edge or outer angle of the frieze, so that a line dropped perpendicularly from the outer edge of the corner triglyph, would touch the base of the column. This disposition gives occasion for an alteration of the intercolumniation between the two end columns, these being brought closer together by the space of half a triglyph ; au advantage is obtained by this means, inas much as an appearance of greater strength is given to the extremities of the colonnade.