In the history of ornamental architecture, we may observe that the Composite order was not introduced so early as the time of Augustus, but we have not materials to determine the precise date of its invention. It seems to be the order of a people who loved richness of effect, but had not patience or skill to attain the delicacy of the Corinthian: yet there are some examples highly beautiful in design, and exquisitely finished. The remains in the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedim form an example of this, and the capital which adorns the entrance of the baptistery of Constantine is another not less beautiful, but it differs so much in the arrangement of its parts, that if we consider such little particulars as essential characters, it could hardly be considered as the same order. Among the fragments at Rome, we have hundreds of specimens, equally, or more anomalous, but in general of far inferior workmanship, and it would be more convenient to class all these much ornamented capitals as varieties of the Corinthian. The earliest Corinthian entablature was without modillions, and in no wise different from the Ionic. Modillions were probably introduced about the time of Augustus, and the dentils were diminished to make room for them, and even at times omitted; but this fashion does not seem to have lasted. The dentils came in again, but reduced in size, or at least in length; perhaps not in width, for they are proportionally much wider and farther apart, but frequently connected at top, the dentil-band being only cut partially, or else some little ornament was introduced on the upper part of the interval: this indeed occurs in some monuments of the Augustan age. In the same manner the eggs became wider and farther apart, and the little processes between them, which at first were mere points, became arrow-heads. In the temple of Jupiter tonans, each ovolo is laid in the hollow of a leaf, and is itself carved on the surface; and at the same time that the leaves of the capital became more united with the solid which they surround, the ovoli were executed so as to stand more detached from the back ground. This process continued to the time of Dioclesian. The capitals of his baths are not of contemptible workmanship, nor is the entablature bad, though very much inferior in every respect to those of the age of Augustus, and even of Septimius Severus. In the short interval between Dioclesian and Constantine, the builders seem to have forgotten everything; between the reign of Constantine and the death of Honorius, a period of above one hundred years, I have seen no building of any consequence. Some fragments may exist, but as we neither know the history of their erection, nor find any distinguishing peculiarities in the objects themselves, they can furnish us with no assistance in tracing the progress, or rather the downfal of architecture. We may perhaps attribute to this period, the church or basilica of San Lorenzo. The columns and capitals of any