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CHAP.
V.

Of Sight.

24. The doctrines of the former concerning beauty have been classed and defined under six distinct heads by the most eminent and distinguished of his disciples; and thus illustrated by a well-known example; which, if it prove nothing else, shows at least to what a degree the most discerning mind may be occasionally deprived even of the ordinary powers of perception by the fascinations of a favourite sys

tem.

"No building," says Mr. Price, "is more "universally admired for its beauty than the "temple of the Sibyl at Tivoli. Let us then "consider what are the qualities of beauty

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according to Mr. Burke, and how far they "apply to beautiful buildings in general, and

to that in particular. Those qualities are, "I. to be comparatively small: II. to be smooth: " III. to have a variety in the direction of the

parts: but, IV. to have those parts melted, as "it were, into each other: V. to be of a de"licate frame, without any remarkable appear"" ance of strength: VI. to have the colour clear and bright, but not very strong and

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glaring. The temple I have just mentioned, "has, I think, as much of those chief prin"ciples of general beauty, as the particular principles of architecture will allow of: it is circular, surrounded by columns detached "from the body of the building; it is light and

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airy; of a delicate frame; in a great measure free from angles; and comparatively "small. I am speaking of it, as it must have "been in its perfect state, when the tint of the

stone, and the finishing and preservation of "the parts, corresponded with the beauty of its 66 general form."

The ruin of the temple of Vesta, vulgarly called the 'Sibyls' temple, at Tivoli, has unquestionably been very generally admired for its beauty, and perfectly accords with the principles that I am endeavouring to establish; though not at all with those of my antagonist, which can only allow it to be picturesque. What was the effect of the original temple upon the minds of those, who saw it entire, we do not know: but admitting it to have been that of beauty still more perfect, it remains to be seen how far, upon a more accurate inspection, and more detailed examination of its constituent parts, it will answer the purpose for which it is cited.

Compared with the Pantheon or the Parthenon, it was certainly small; but, compared with any edifice of similar plan (the proper object of comparison), it was by no means so: for though smaller in diametre than that of the same goddess at Rome, it appears to have been

* Essays on the Picturesque, Vol. II. p. 273.

CHAP.

V.

Of Sight

CHAP.

V.

Of Sight.

altogether a larger, more massive, and more considerable building, than either that or any other of the kind known.

So far from being smooth, it is all over rough with sculpture, and built of the most rugged, porous, unequal stone, ever employed in a highly wrought edifice.

The parts, instead of having any variety or even difference in their direction, all converge to one centrical point; as they necessarily must in a building completely circular. Even the columns. have a horizontal inclination inwards, equal to their perpendicular diminution upwards; which shows a most scrupulous attention to exclude every appearance of such variety.

Instead of being free from angles, every ✔thing is composed of angles: the entablature ― consists of angles projecting beyond each other; the suffit of angles indented within each other; the capitals are clusters of angles, obtuse in the abacus, and acute in the foliage; while the columns, being fluted, exhibit circles of angles round every shaft, and stand upon a basement surrounded by a cornice composed chiefly of angular mouldings.

So far from being of a delicate frame, or with little appearance of strength, it is remarkable for nothing more than the compact firmness of its construction, which nothing but some convulsion of nature, or the mischievous ex

ertions of man could have destroyed; nor is its superiority in beauty over all the numerous imitations that have been made of it, owing to any thing more than to its superior size, strength, and variety of rough angular enrichments. It is founded on a projecting point of rock enlarged into a square area by vast substructions of arches, supporting a basement of solid stone, above forty-five feet in diametre, and nearly eight feet thick; on which was placed a circle of columns, each shaft of one stone, upwards of twenty feet long, and two feet and a half thick, supporting a massive stone roof, and surrounding a tower of rough masonry of about twenty-eight feet in diametre.

The colour is that of the rough Tiburtine stone, which could never have been other than a dingy brown; and though a circular Corinthian portico surrounding a circular tower, and thus appearing, by the laws of perspective, to retreat from the eye, is extremely light and airy, upon a principle, which shall be considered in the proper place, this is a species of lightness no way connected with any of Mr. Burke's characteristics of beauty; nor at all incompatible with the most manifest firmness and stability of construction. The temple of Vesta at Rome appears to have been after the same design, with twenty columns instead of eighteen, of larger size, though slenderer pro

CHAP.

V.

Of Sight.

СНАР.
V.

portions; and probably without the stone roof, as well as massive basement and substructions; Of Sight. defects, which, on the principles in question,

should have enhanced rather than diminished its beauty yet this temple having become a dirty church in a city, instead of a beautiful ruin in a romantic situation, has scarcely been noticed a plain indication of the real causes of the celebrity of the other.

The buildings most consonant to the above definitions of beauty are the Hindoo domes, shaped like bee-hives, and composed of a thin shell of half burnt brick, encrusted in a smooth coat of the plaster called chinam, which is white, delicately tinged with red, blue, or yellow. Their undulating flow of outline tapered to a point; their frail and delicate structure; their clear bright colours, neither strong nor glaring; their smooth unbroken surface; their small size, comparative to that of the buildings to which they usually belong, all exactly accord; nor is any thing wanting but a variety in the direction of the parts; and that the buildings themselves always abundantly supply. Yet I do not believe that either Mr. Burke or his commentator ever found such a building beautiful for, in practice, their natural good taste triumphed over their theories, and prevented them from applying the characteristics of beauty belonging to a rose, a violet, a head, or a bon

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