probable that onions, and these onion-shaped bodies, may have been placed upon pillars to receive homage, and afterwards were continued merely as ornaments, in consequence of their agreeable figure, and their adaptation as the summits of towers; and from thence became the embellishment of sacred temples."

A popular traveller from our own country writes of the famous Kremlin at Moscow, as follows: "I had thought of it as the rude and barbarous palace of the Czars; but I found it one of the most extraordinary, beautiful, and magnificent objects I ever beheld. Its high and venerable walls; its numerous battlements and towers, and steeples; its magnificent and gorgeous palaces; its cathedrals, churches, monasteries, and belfries, with their gilded, coppered, and tin-plated domes; its mixture of barbarism and decay, magnificence and ruins; its strong contrast of architecture, including the Tartarian, Hindoo, Chinese, and Gothic; all together exhibited a beauty, grandeur, and magnificence, strange and indescribable. The Kremlin is two miles in extent, and is in itself a city. I shall not attempt to describe the palaces of the Czars. They are a combination of every variety of taste and every order of architecture, Grecian, Italian, &c., &c. ; rude, fanciful," grotesque, gorgeous, magnificent, and beautiful." The same traveller says: "I do not believe that Rome, when Adrian reared the mighty Coliseum, and the Palace of the Cæsars covered the Capitoline Hill, exhibited such a range of noble structures as the Admiralty

Quarter, (St. Petersburg.) The Admiralty itself is the central point, and has a façade of marble, with ranges of columns, a quarter of a mile in length. A beautiful golden (gilded) spire shoots up from the centre, towering over every other object, and seen from every other part of the city, glittering in the sun; and three principal streets, each two miles in length, radiate from this point. In front is a range of boulevards, ornamented with trees, and an open square, at one extremity of which stands the great church of St. Isaac, of marble, jasper, and porphyry, upon a foundation of granite. On the right of the façade stands the wellknown equestrian statue of Peter the Great. The huge block of granite forming the pedestal is fifteen hundred tons in weight."

The great Alexandrine column, on the other side of this splendid square, is described as rivalling those magnificent monuments in the Old World, whose ruins now startle the wandering traveller, and towering to the heavens as if to proclaim that the days of architectural greatness are not gone by for ever. It is a single shaft of red granite, exclusive of pedestal and capital, eightyfour feet high. The pedestal contains the simple inscription, "To Alexander I. Grateful Russia." Surrounding this, is a crescent of lofty buildings, having before it a majestic colonnade, of the Corinthian order. In the middle is a triumphal arch, which with its frieze reaches nearly to the upper part of the lofty edifice, having a span of seventy feet. Next, on a

line with the Admiralty, stands the first of a long range of imperial palaces, extending in the form of a crescent for more than a mile along the Neva. The Winter Palace is a gigantic and princely structure, built of marble, with a façade of seven hundred and forty feet. Next, are the two palaces of the Hermitage, connected with it, and with each other, by covered galleries on bold arches. Next, the stately Grecian Theatre of the Hermitage. Beyond this are the barracks of the guards; then, the palace of the French Ambassador; then the marble palace built by Catherine II., for her favourite, Prince Orloff. This magnificent range, presenting an uninterrupted front of marble palaces upwards of a mile in length, is unequalled in any city of the world." Thus much, for the present state of architecture in Russia.

In Italy, Spain, and Portugal, no recently built edifices can compare in beauty and magnificence with those of former ages.

14

CHAPTER XVII.

PRINCIPLES OF ARCHITECTURE.

THE leading principle in Architecture is fitness for the end designed. Utility, convenience, and propriety are included in the term fitness.

In order to carry out this principle in the erection of any edifice, several things must be taken into consideration; namely

To what purpose the building is to be devoted.
How it may be constructed at the least expense.
How it may be rendered strong and enduring.
How it may be made beautiful.

Every edifice should have a distinctive character, derived from the use to which it is to be applied. For example, in a building for large public assemblies, the main objects to be gained are the following:

To contain within a given space the greatest number of individuals, conveniently placed for seeing and hearing.

That ingress and egress be effected without difficulty. That a free circulation of air be enjoyed.

That it be sufficiently lighted.

That it be constructed strongly and of durable materials, that no danger ensue from weight and pressure. If any one of these conditions be neglected, the building is faulty.

In every dwelling-house, the main objects are as follows:

That a given number of persons be accommodated with convenient apartments for eating, sleeping, bathing, &c.

That these apartments be rendered warm in winter, and cool in summer.

That they be well lighted and ventilated.

That access to these apartments be easy and convenient.

From the cottage to the palace, these are essential requisites in every building designed as a habitation for man. In order that fitness be complete, all the subordinate parts of a building,-doors, windows, fireplaces, staircases, chimneys, &c., must be well distributed and arranged. When a building is thus constructed, the effect of the whole will be, that it is fit for the end in view.

But, in addition to this kind of fitness, Architecture goes farther, and produces what is termed expression of fitness; that is, it gives a definite character to every building, so that it appears to be what it really is. A dwelling-house should not be so constructed that its expression should be that of a bank or a state-house ;— a stable should not resemble a dwelling-house for man;