" If an order is considered as an assemblage of weight, and parts to support that weight, our experience imme Ahately leads us to conceive a proper relation of those parts to their end. If the entablature be considered as the weight, then of course a certain form and size in the column is demanded for the support of it, and in the base for the support of both. A plain stone, for instance, set on its end, has no proportion, further than for the purpose of stability. If it appears firm, it has all the proportions we desire or demand ; and its form may be varied in a thousand ways, without interfering with our sense of its proportions. Place a column, or any other weight upon this stone, immediately another proportion is demanded, viz. its proportion to the support of this weight. The form supported has, however, no propor tion further than is necessary for its stability. It may be more or less beautiful in point of form from other considerations, but not on account of its proportions. Above this again place an additional body, immediate ly the intermediate form demands a new proportion, viz. to the weight it supports ;' and the first, or base, de mands also another proportion, in consideration of the additional weight which is thus imposed upon it. In this supposition, it is obvious, that the consideration of fitness alone leads us to expect a certain proportion among each of these parts. The parts are beautiful or pleasing just as they answer to this demand ; and where the parts are few, and experiments easy, it seems not dif ficult at last to arrive at that perfect proportion which satisfies the eye as sufficient for the purposes of support and stability. If we leave, therefore, every thing else out of consideration, the consideration of fitness alone seems sufficient to account both for the origin of such propor tions in architecture, and for the pleasure which attends the observation of them." But granting that the doctrine of the original beauty of proportion be abandoned as inconsistent with expe rience, and that of the influence of the expression of fit ness adopted, yet it may still be doubted if this is suffi cient to account for the delight felt from the orders of architecture, or the uniform adherence to the established proportions.
" It is acknowledged, that the mere consideration of fitness is insufficient to account for the pleasure derived from the established orders. But it is observed, that this pleasure arises from very different causes than from their proportions ; and that, in fact, when these proportions only are considered, the pleasure which is generally felt is not greater than that which we experience, when we perceive in any great work the proper relation of means to an end.
"The proportions of these orders, it is to be remem bered, are distinct subjects of beauty, from the orna ments with which they are embellished, from the mag nificence with which they are executed, from the pur poses of elegance they are intended to serve, or the scenes of grandeur they are destined to adorn. It is in such scenes, however, and with such additions, that we are accustomed to observe them ; and while we feel the effects of all these accidental associations, we arc seldom willing to examine what are the causes of the complex emotion we feel, and readily attribute to the nature of architecture itself the whole pleasure which we enjoy. But besides these, there are other associations we have with these forms, that still more powerfully serve to command our admiration, for they are the Grecian or ders; they derive their origin from those times, and were the ornament of those countries which are most hallowed in our imaginations ; and it is difficult for us to see them, even in our modern without feeling them to operate upon our minds as relics of those polish ed nations where they first arose, and of that greater peo pie by whom they were borrowed. While this species
of architecture is attended with so many and so pleasing associations, it is difficult for even a man of reflection to distinguish between the different sources of this emotion ; or in the moments when this delight is felt, to ascertain what is the exact proportion of his pleasure, which is to be attributed to these proportions alone ; and two differ ent causes combine to lead us to attribute to the style of architecture itself, the beauty which arises from many other associations." In the first place, while this architecture is under our eye, it is the central object of all those associations, it is the material sign of all the affecting qualities, and dispo ses us to attribute to the sign the effects which arc pro duced by the qualities signified. And even these very proportions are the cause of our pleasure, because they are the only qualities of the object which are accurately ascertained ; they have long been the acknowledged ob jects of beauty, and having got possession of one un doubted principle, we arc easily induced to ascribe the whole effect to this principle alone.
That this is really the case, will appear evident, by considering that the common people feel a very inferior emotion of beauty from such objects, to that which is felt by men of liberal education ; the man of letters feels also a weaker emotion than a well-educated architect, because he has none of the associations which belong to the art, and never considers them in relation to the skill or inven tion they display. Deprive these orders of the customary ornaments, or change only, in the slightest degree, their forms, without altering their proportions, and their beauty will be in a great measure destroyed ; or preserve the ornaments, forms, and proportions, but diminish them to a small scale, and their effect will be much inferior to what they produce, when executed on the magnificent scale of the ancient temples ; or destroy the associations of elegance, magnificence, costliness, but, above all, of antiquity ; and it must appear evident, that the pleasure which these proportions would afford, would not be great er than that which we feel in other cases, when means are properly adapted to their end.
In regard to the observation, that the universal ad herence of mankind to these proportions is a sufficient proof of their absolute beauty, it is necessary to remark, that the associations of antiquity alone, have a powerful effect in producing uniformity of opinion ; also, that in the productions of human labour, the influence of variety is limited by the costliness and durability of the materials upon which that labour is employed ; where they are very costly, the objects have great intrinsic value, inde pendent of any particular form ; and the same form is therefore adhered to with little variation. Even in dress, is in the parts the least costly that the most frequent changes take place. Architecture is of all the fine arts the most costly ; the revenue of nations is scarely suffi cient to defray the expence of frequent productions of its most magnificent forms ; and the art itself, after it has arrived at a certain necessary degree of perfection, remains in a great measure stationary, both from the in frequency of cases in which invention can be employed, and from the little demand there is for the exercise of this invention.