its _tympanum_ (the triangular surface included between the horizontal cornice of the Order, and the two _raking_ cornices of the pediment) never greatly exceeds the depth or height of the entablature; for were it to do so, the pediment would become too large and heavy, would take off from the importance of the Order, and appear to load its entablature with an extraneous mass which it was never calculated to bear. We hardly need observe that it was, if not a constant, a very usual practice with the Ancients to fill in the whole of the tympanum of the pediment with sculpture, and also the metopes of the frieze, by which the latter, instead of being mere blank spaces between the triglyphs, were converted into highly ornamental features. MODERN DORIC. Of the Roman and the modern varieties of this Order we shall treat much more briefly, because our remarks may be confined to comparison and the notice of differences. Certain it is that the original character of the Order was gradually lost sight of more and more, till at length it was converted into something quite different from its Greek type. The few circumstances in which Modern Doric, as we may call it, resembles the original one, are little more than the mode of fluting with _arrises_ instead of fillets,—the general form of capital composed of echinus and abacus, and the triglyphs upon the frieze. The differences are, if not greater, far more numerous. The column becomes greatly elongated, being increased from six to eight diameters. The sunk annulets beneath the capital were omitted or converted into fillets; the capital was increased in depth by a distinct necking being given to it, divided from the shaft by a projecting moulding, which in that situation is called an _astragal_. The abacus, too, is made shallower, and has mouldings added to it. One of the greatest changes of all, as far as the column is concerned, is the addition of a base to it, which is partly both consequence and cause of the greater slenderness of the shaft; for were the shaft not reduced in diameter,—which is the same as being made more diameters in height,—the base added to it would enlarge the foot of the column: so again, on the other hand, were only the shaft decreased in thickness, without any mouldings for a base being added to it, that end of the column would be as much too small. The base best adapted to the Order, as being the most simple, though not uniformly made use of, is that which consists of merely a _torus_, or large circular and convex-sided block, and two shallow fillets above it. It may here further be noticed, that besides the base itself, or the base _proper_, the moderns have, for all the Orders alike, adopted an additional member, namely, a rather deep and square block, which, when so applied, is termed a _plinth_; and beneath this is frequently placed another and deeper one, called a _sub-plinth_. Contrary as this is to the practice of the Greeks, it