GREEK, ROMAN, AND MODERN ARCHITECTURE.
Having, we presume, made the attentive reader suf ficiently acquainted with Egyptian, Indian, Persian, and Chinese architecture, we shall proceed to define another mode, more generally known and practised by Euro peans : this, strictly speaking, ought to be denominated Greek architecture ; but although all the principal fea tures and modes of application are Greek, yet as the Romans also practised this school of the art very exten sively, and likewise introduced new features and modes of application, they have deservedly acquired a share in the title.
In treating this part of the subject fully and expli citly, we find that, on account of the modes practised by- the ancients having, with some slight shades of dif ference, been also adopted by the moderns, it is imprac ticable to keep them perfectly distinct; but we shall en deavour, in every section, first to point out the ancient practice, and add what has been introduced by the mo derns in the course of the progress of the arts and sci ences, and the total change of habits in society.
Of Materials.
It is chiefly from the valuable work of Vitruvius, that we are furnished with information respecting the nature of the materials used by the Greeks and Romans, and of the particular modes in which they were disposed in their buildings. From the accounts published by modern tra vellers and scientific artists, we are also furnished with further information respecting the practice of these people.
The materials chiefly made use of by them were tim ber, marble, stone, bricks, lime, and metals.
With regard to timber, the proper time for felling was reckoned from the beginning of autumn to the lat ter end of February, when the moon was in the wane. They considered wood when quite green, or too much dried, as equally unfit for working. For joists, doors, windows, they required that it should have been cut three years, and kept for a considerable time covered with cow-dung.
The Greeks most usually made use of white marbles, as Pentilic, Parian, and that of Chios. The latter was
very transparent.
The Romans employed many sorts, of vat ions colours, and procured from many different countries, which were subjected to them in Asia, Africa, and Europe.
The ancients frequently included under the term marble, all hard stones which would receive a smooth fine polish ; the moderns confine the name marble to such calcareous stones as arc capable of receiving a fine polish.
This substance resembled marble in taking a smooth fine polish, but it is much softer and more easily worked. Gypseous alabaster, when polished, is slippery to the touch ; it frequently contained as much carbonate of lime as to cause it to effervesce with acids; it was procured from Upper Egypt, between the Nile and Red Sea, also from Syria and Carmania. Tho calcareous alabaster is white, yellow, red, and bluish-grey ; the fracture is stria ted or fibrous, in hardness inferior to marble ; it is known under the denomination of common and oriental : Italy and Spain produce the best.
The stone which was employed appears to have dif fered very materially in its qualities; some becoming con siderably harder in being exposed to the air, was work ed immediately on being taken out of the quarry ; but there was some of a softer kind, which, previous to be ing used, required to have its quality proved by two years exposure to the effects of the atmosphere.
Of tiles, they had, I. The unburnt kind, which were dried five years in the sun ; and, 2. Those baked by fire, after having been made two years; they preferred a white chalky earth dug in the autumn, exposed during the winter, and made into bricks in the spring. The Greeks proportioned the size of the bricks to the nature of the edifice : the largest for public buildings, were five spans each way ; those of the middle class were four spans ; and the smallest, called by Vitruvius, Diodori, or by Pli ny, Lydii, were two spans long and a foot broad ; these last were for private houses.