Alberti, Leone Battista, Architecture, 1755

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            <p type="main">
              <s>
                <pb xlink:href="003/01/266.jpg" pagenum="190"/>
              lighted, and that it be open to receive a great
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              deal of Light and Sun, and a ſufficient Quan­
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              tity of wholſome Air. </s>
              <s>Let nothing be within
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              View that can offend the Eye with a melan­
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              choly Shade. </s>
              <s>Let all Things ſmile and ſeem
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              to welcome the Arrival of your Gueſts. </s>
              <s>Let
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              thoſe who are already entered be in Doubt
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              whether they ſhall for Pleaſure continue where
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              they are, or paſs on further to thoſe other Beau­
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              ties which tempt them on. </s>
              <s>Let them be led
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              from ſquare Rooms into round ones, and again
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              from round into ſquare, and ſo into others
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              of mixed Lines, neither all round nor all
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              ſquare; and let the Paſſage into the very in­
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              nermoſt Apartments be, if poſſible, without the
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              leaſt Aſcent or Deſcent, but all be upon one
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              even Floor, or at leaſt let the Aſcents be as
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              eaſy as may be.</s>
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            <p type="head">
              <s>CHAP. III.</s>
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              <s>
                <emph type="italics"/>
              That the Parts and Members of a Houſe are different both in Nature and
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              Species, and that they are to be adorned in various Manners.
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              </s>
            </p>
            <p type="main">
              <s>But as the Members or Parts of a Houſe
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              are very different one from the other both
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              in Nature and Species, it may now be proper
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              to ſay ſomething of each, having indeed pur­
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              poſely reſerved them for this very Place: For
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              there are many Parts which it matters very
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              little whether you make round or ſquare, pro­
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              vided they are fit for the Purpoſes to which they
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              are intended; but it is not equally indifferent
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              what Number they are in, and how they are
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              diſpoſed; and it is neceſſary that ſome ſhould
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              be larger, as the inner Courts, while ſome re­
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              quire a ſmaller Area, as the Chambers and all
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              the private Apartments. </s>
              <s>Some others muſt be
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              in a Medium between the others, as Eating­
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              parlours and the Veſtibule. </s>
              <s>We have already
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              in another Place given our Thoughts of the
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              apt Diſpoſition of each Member of a Houſe,
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              and as to the reſpective Difference of their
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              Areas, there is no Occaſion to ſpeak here, be­
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              cauſe they are infinite both from the different
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              Humours of Men, and the different Ways of
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              Living in different Places. </s>
              <s>The Ancients, be­
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              fore their Houſes made either a Portico, or at
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              leaſt a Porch, not always with ſtraight Lines,
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              but ſometimes with curve, after the Manner of
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              the Theatre. </s>
              <s>Next to the Portico lay the Veſ­
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              tibule, which was almoſt conſtantly circular;
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              behind that was the Paſſage into the inner Court,
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              and thoſe other Parts of the Houſe which we
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              have already ſpoken of in their proper Places,
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              whereof to enter upon a freſh Deſcription
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              would make us too prolix. </s>
              <s>The Things that
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              we ought not to omit are theſe. </s>
              <s>Where the
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              Area is round it muſt be proportioned accord­
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              ing to the Deſign of the Temple; unleſs there
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              be this Difference, that here the Height of the
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              Walls muſt be greater than in the Temple, for
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              Reaſons which you ſhall know ſhortly. </s>
              <s>If it
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              be quadrangular, then in ſome Particulars it
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              will differ from thoſe Inſtructions which we
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              have given for ſacred Edifices, as alſo for pro­
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              fane ones of a publick Nature; but yet in
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              ſome others it will agree with the Council­
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              chambers and Courts. </s>
              <s>According to the ge­
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              neral Cuſtom of the Ancients, the Breadth of
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              the Porch was either two thirds of its Length,
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              or elſe the Length was one whole Breadth and
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              two thirds more, or elſe the Length was one
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              whole Breadth with the Addition of two fifths.
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              </s>
              <s>To each of theſe Proportions the Ancients ſeem
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              always to have allowed the Height of the Wall to
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              be equal to its whole Length, and one third more.
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              </s>
              <s>By taking the actual Dimenſion of a great many
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              Structures, I find that ſquare Platforms require
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              a different Height of Wall where they are to
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              be covered with vaulted Roofs, from what they
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              do when their Roof is to be flat: As alſo that
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              ſome Difference is to be made between the
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              Proportions of a large Building and thoſe of a
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              ſmall one: Which ariſes from the different In­
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              terval that there is from the Beholder's Eye,
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              which muſt in this Caſe be conſidered as the
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              Center, to the extreme Height which it ſur­
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              veys: But of thoſe Things we ſhall treat elſe­
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              where. </s>
              <s>We muſt Proportion the Areas of our
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              Apartments to our Roof, and our Roof to the
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              Length of the Rafters with which it is to be
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              covered in. </s>
              <s>I call that a moderate Roof which
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              may be ſupported by a Piece of Timber of a
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              moderate Length. </s>
              <s>But beſides the Proportions
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              which I have already treated of, there are ſeve­
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              ral other proper Dimenſions and Agreements of
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              Lines which I ſhall here endeavour to explain
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              as clearly and ſuccinctly as poſſible. </s>
              <s>If the
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              Length of the Platform be twice its Breadth; </s>
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          </chap>
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