It was, perhaps, fortunate both for Sir John Soane, and that example of the Corinthian which he employed for the Bank of England, that it was not an invention of his own, or it would, in all probability, have been ridiculed as a monstrosity; and he would have been thought to have there out-Soaned himself in whimsicality and capriciousness. As it happens to be, however, an express copy from the circular Temple at Tivoli, people are at liberty to admire it, more especially as the mere application of it for the first time in this country—the only one where it has been adopted—does not exalt Soane into the successful inventor of a ‘new Order.’ In the system of the Orders it may certainly be regarded as a newly-discovered planet, being so distinct from every other example of the foliaged-capital class; distinct not only in the capital itself, but in all its members, in all its proportions, in the style of all its details, and, consequently, in its character. The height of the column is only 9·25' diameters; the capital, measured from above the astragal, only 1 diameter, and the entablature only 1·42' diameter. These proportions give the whole Order a certain expression of masculine simplicity, more especially as the column is hardly diminished at all, the difference between the upper and lower diameter amounting to no more than 4', or only ¹/₁₅th of the larger diameter, that being of course 60', and the other 56'. The base consists of two _tori_, but instead of the usual scotiæ between, there is merely a narrow plain fillet, and a second broader one, overhung by the upper torus. Besides which, another peculiarity is, that the lower torus is somewhat detached from the surface on which the column stands, by a very narrow but deep incision beneath it,—a mode of treatment quite different from the usual one of placing the base upon a square plinth, but which, different as it is, does not produce, as might be supposed, any appearance of weakness, the incision being no more than a mere line—a delicate artistic touch. The fluting (at least the mode in which the flutes are terminated) is not a little remarkable; for below, they and the fillets are continued, and die into the upper edge of the base; while above, they are terminated horizontally instead of by a semicircular curve, as in all other examples of both Ionic and Corinthian fluting. The capital is so exceedingly peculiar in conformation and detail as to defy verbal description. The leaves have nothing in common with those of the usual acanthus; the volutes are of peculiar shape, and the flower which ornaments the abacus is as singularly large, and descends to the top of the upper leaf: boldness and breadth of parts characterize the whole composition, and also that of the entablature. As all its mouldings are uncut, this last would be much too plain to be in keeping with the column, were not the frieze sculptured with rich and ‘bossy’ festoons in the same energetic style as the capitals.