Alberti, Leone Battista, Architecture, 1755

Page concordance

< >
Scan Original
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
< >
page |< < of 320 > >|
    <archimedes>
      <text>
        <body>
          <chap>
            <p type="caption">
              <s>
                <pb xlink:href="003/01/199.jpg" pagenum="153"/>
              Cornice, ſo allowing the Open a greater Width;
                <lb/>
              but this is a Delicacy much more ſuitable to
                <lb/>
              the Houſe of a private Perſon, and eſpecially
                <lb/>
              about Windows, than to the Door of a Tem­
                <lb/>
              ple. </s>
              <s>In very large Temples, and eſpecially in
                <lb/>
              ſuch as have no other Apertures but the Door,
                <lb/>
              the Height of the Open of that Door is divided
                <lb/>
              into three Parts, the uppermoſt of which is left
                <lb/>
              by Way of Window, and grated, the Remain­
                <lb/>
              der ſerves for the Door. </s>
              <s>The Door itſelf too,
                <lb/>
              or Valve, conſiſts of different Members and
                <lb/>
              Proportions. </s>
              <s>Of theſe Members the Chief is
                <lb/>
              the Hinge, which is contrived after two Man­
                <lb/>
              ners; either by an iron Staple fixed in the
                <lb/>
              Door-caſe; or elſe by Pins coming out from
                <lb/>
              the Top and Bottom of the Door itſelf, upon
                <lb/>
              which it balances and turns, and ſo ſhuts and
                <lb/>
              opens. </s>
              <s>The Doors of Temples, which for the
                <lb/>
              Sake of Duration, are generally made of Braſs,
                <lb/>
              and conſequently muſt be very heavy, are bet­
                <lb/>
              ter truſted to Axles, in the later Manner, than
                <lb/>
              to hang upon any Staples. </s>
              <s>I ſhall not here
                <lb/>
              ſpend Time in giving an Account of thoſe
                <lb/>
              Doors which we read of in Hiſtorians and Poets,
                <lb/>
              enriched with Gold, Ivory, and Statues, and
                <lb/>
              ſo heavy that they could never be opened with­
                <lb/>
              out a Multitude of Hands, and ſuch a Noiſe as
                <lb/>
              terriſied the Hearers, I own Facility in open­
                <lb/>
              ing and ſhutting them is more to my Mind.
                <lb/>
              </s>
              <s>Under the Bottom therefore of the lower Pin
                <lb/>
              or Axle, make a Box of Braſs mixed with Tin,
                <lb/>
              and in this Box ſink a deep hollow Concave at
                <lb/>
              the Bottom; let the Bottom of the Axle have alſo
                <lb/>
              a Concavity in it, ſo that the Box and the Axle
                <lb/>
              may contain between them a round Ball of
                <lb/>
              Steel, perfectly ſmooth and well poliſhed. </s>
              <s>The
                <lb/>
              upper Pin or Axle muſt alſo be let into a braſs
                <lb/>
              Box made in the Lintel, and beſides muſt turn
                <lb/>
              in a moveable iron Circle as ſmooth as it can
                <lb/>
              be made; and by this Means the Door will
                <lb/>
              never make the leaſt Reſiſtance in turning, but
                <lb/>
              ſwing which Way you pleaſe with all the Eaſe
                <lb/>
              imaginable. </s>
              <s>Every Door ſhould have two Val­
                <lb/>
              ves or Leaves, one opening to one Side, and the
                <lb/>
              other to the other. </s>
              <s>The Thickneſs of theſe
                <lb/>
              Leaves ſhould be one twelfth Part of their
                <lb/>
              Breadth. </s>
              <s>Their Ornament are Pannels or
                <lb/>
              ſquare Mouldings applied lengthways down the
                <lb/>
              Leaf, and you may have as many of them as
                <lb/>
              you will, either two or three, one above the
                <lb/>
              other, or only one. </s>
              <s>If you have two, they muſt
                <lb/>
              lie like the Steps of a Stair, one above the other,
                <lb/>
              and both muſt take up no more of the Breadth
                <lb/>
              of the Leaf than a fourth, nor leſs than a ſixth
                <lb/>
              Part; and let the laſt, which lies above the
                <lb/>
              other, be one fifth Part broader than the un­
                <lb/>
              der one. </s>
              <s>If you have three of theſe Mould­
                <lb/>
              ings, obſerve the ſame Proportions in them as
                <lb/>
              in the Faces of the
                <emph type="italics"/>
              Ionic
                <emph.end type="italics"/>
              Architrave: But if
                <lb/>
              you have only one Moulding, let it be not
                <lb/>
              more than a fifth, nor leſs than a ſeventh Part
                <lb/>
              of the Breadth of the Leaf. </s>
              <s>Theſe Mouldings
                <lb/>
              muſt all fall inward to the Leaf with a Cima­
                <lb/>
              recta. </s>
              <s>The Length of the Leaf ſhould alſo be
                <lb/>
              divided by other Mouldings croſsways, giving
                <lb/>
              the upper Pannel two fifth Parts of the whole
                <lb/>
              Height of the Door. </s>
              <s>In Temples the Win­
                <lb/>
              dows muſt be adorned in the ſame Manner as
                <lb/>
              the Doors; but their Apertures, being near the
                <lb/>
              higheſt Part of the Wall, and their Angles ter­
                <lb/>
              minating near the Vault of the Roof, they are
                <lb/>
              therefore made with an Arch, contrary to the
                <lb/>
              Practice in Doors. </s>
              <s>Their Breadth is twice their
                <lb/>
              Height; and this Breadth is divided by two
                <lb/>
              little Columns, placed according to the ſame
                <lb/>
              Rules as in a Portico; only that theſe Columns
                <lb/>
              are generally ſquare. </s>
              <s>The Deſigns for Niches,
                <lb/>
              Statues or other Repreſentations, are borrowed
                <lb/>
              from thoſe of Doors; and their Height muſt
                <lb/>
              take up one third Part of their Wall. </s>
              <s>The
                <lb/>
              Ancients in the Windows of their Temples,
                <lb/>
              inſtead of Panes of Glaſs, made uſe of thin
                <lb/>
              tranſparent Scantlings of Alabaſter, to keep out
                <lb/>
              Wind and Weather; or elſe made a Grate of
                <lb/>
              Braſs or Marble, and filled up the Interſpaces
                <lb/>
              of this Grate not with brittle Glaſs, but with
                <lb/>
              a tranſparent Sort of Stone brought from
                <emph type="italics"/>
              Se­
                <lb/>
              govia,
                <emph.end type="italics"/>
              a Town in
                <emph type="italics"/>
              Spain,
                <emph.end type="italics"/>
              or from
                <emph type="italics"/>
              Boulogne
                <emph.end type="italics"/>
              in
                <lb/>
                <emph type="italics"/>
              Picardy.
                <emph.end type="italics"/>
              </s>
              <s> The Scantlings are ſeldom above a
                <lb/>
              Foot broad, and are of a bright tranſparent
                <lb/>
              Sort of Plaiſter or Talk, endued by Nature
                <lb/>
              with a particular Property, namely, that it
                <lb/>
              never decays.</s>
            </p>
            <p type="head">
              <s>CHAP. XIII.</s>
            </p>
            <p type="head">
              <s>
                <emph type="italics"/>
              Of the Altar, Communion, Lights, Candleſticks, Holy Veſſels, and ſome other
                <lb/>
              noble Ornaments of Temples.
                <emph.end type="italics"/>
              </s>
            </p>
            <p type="main">
              <s>The next chief Point to be conſidered
                <lb/>
              in the Temple, is fixing the Altar,
                <lb/>
              where Divine Office is to be performed, which
                <lb/>
              ſhould be in the moſt honourable Place, and
                <lb/>
              this ſeems to be exactly in the Middle of the
                <lb/>
              Tribune. </s>
              <s>The Ancients uſed to make their </s>
            </p>
          </chap>
        </body>
      </text>
    </archimedes>
Impressum