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
is by no means an unwarrantable license, for had no greater liberty
been taken with the Orders and the modes of applying them, they would
have remained comparatively quite pure. In apology for the plinth
beneath a base, it may be said to produce a pleasing agreement between
both extremities of the column,—in the Doric Order at least, where
the square plinth beneath the circular torus of the base answers to
the square abacus (which is itself another plinth, though differently
named) placed upon the circular echinus of the capital.
Passing over several particulars which our confined limits will not
permit us to notice, we may remark, that if greatly altered, not to say
corrupted, from its primitive character, the Doric Order, as treated
by the moderns, has been assimilated to the other Orders,—so much so
as, though still differing from them in its details, to belong to the
same general style. One advantage, if no other, of which is, that it
may, should occasion require, be used along with the other Orders;
whereas the original or Grecian Doric is so obstinately inflexible
that it cannot be made to combine with any thing else, or to bend
to modern purposes. So long as a mere portico or colonnade, and
nothing more, is required, backed by a wall unperforated by windows,
its character and characteristic system of intercolumniation can be
kept up, but no longer; or if it is to be done, it is more than has
yet been accomplished. Nothing could be more preposterous, or show
greater want of proper æsthetic feeling, or greater disregard of
æsthetic principles, than the attempt to combine, as was done by Nash
in the Park façade of Buckingham Palace, a Grecian Doric Order with a
Corinthian one. So totally irreconcileable are the two _styles_, that
it was like placing Tudor or florid Perpendicular Gothic upon the early
Lancet style. Besides, in that instance, the Doric, though affecting
to be Greek, was depravated most offensively, as may still be seen in
what is now left in the two low wings, the architrave and frieze being
thrown together into one blank surface.