the West; the
Closets or Pictures and other Curiosities, which should always have
equal Light, to the North.

Oeconomy teaches the Architect to have regard to the Expences that are
to be made, and to the Quality of the Materials, near the Places where
he Builds, and to take his Measures rightly for the Order and
Disposition; _viz._ to give the Fabrick a convenient Form and Magnitude.

These Eight Parts, as we have said, have a Relation to the Three first,
_viz._ _Solidity_, _Convenience_, _Beauty_, which suppose, _Order,
Disposition_, _Proportion_, _Decorum_ and _Oeconomy_. This is the reason
that we divide this first Part only into Three Chapters; the first is of
the Solidity; the second of the Convenience; the third of the Beauty of
the Fabrick.

CHAP. II.

_Of the Solidity of Buildings._

ARTICLE I.

_Of the Choice of Materials._

The Materials of which _Vitruvius_ speaks are, Stone, Brick, Wood, Lime,
and Sand.

All the Stones are not of one sort, for some are soft, some harder, and
some extreamly hard.

Those that are not hard are easily cut, and are good for the Inner Parts
of the Buildings, where they are cover'd from Rain and Frost which
brings them to Powder, and if they be made use of in Buildings near the
Sea, the Salt Particles of the Air and Heat destroys them.

Those that are indifferently hard, are fit to bear Weight; but there are
some sorts of them, that easily crack with the heat of the Fire.

There is likewise another sort of Stone, which is a kind of Free-Stone;
some are Red, some Black, and some White, which are as easily cut with a
Saw as Wood.

The best Bricks are those which are only dry'd and not baked in the
Fire; but there are many Years required to dry them well: and for this
Reason, at _Utica_, a City of _Africa_, they made a Law, That none
should make use of Bricks which had not been made five Years: For these
sort of Bricks, so dry'd, had their Pores so close in their Superficies,
that they would swim upon Water like a Pumice-Stone; and they had a
particular Lightness, which made them very fit for all sorts of
Buildings.

The Earth of which these Bricks were usually made was very Fat, and a
sort of White Chalky Clay without Gravel or Sand, which made them
Lighter and more Durable; they mixed Straw with them to make them better
bound and firmer.

The Woods which were made use of in all Buildings, are Oak, Poplar,
Beech, Elm, Cypress, Firr; but some of them a