Eighteenth Century Collection Online Demo

The theory of moral sentiments: By Adam Smith, ...

the Jonic volute to one of nine▪ and the Corinthian foliage to one of ten? The propriety of each of those appropriations can be founded upon nothing but habit and cus|tom. The eye having been used to see a particular proportion connected with a parti|cular ornament, would be offended if they were not joined together. Each of the five orders has its peculiar ornaments, which can|not be changed for any other, without giving offence to all those who know any thing of the rules of architecture. According to some architects, indeed, such is the exquisite judg|ment with which the antients have assigned to each order its proper ornaments, that no others can be found which are equally suit|able. It seems, however, a little difficult to be conceived that these forms, tho' no doubt extremely agreeable, should be the only forms which can suit those proportions, o•• that there should not be five hundred others which, antecedent to established custom, would have fitted them equally well. When custom, however, has established particular rules of building, provided they are not ab|solutely unreasonable, it is absurd to think of altering them for others which are only equally good, or even for others which, in
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Title
The theory of moral sentiments: By Adam Smith, ...
Author
Smith, Adam, 1723-1790.
Canvas
Page 376
Publication
London :: printed for A. Millar; and A. Kincaid and J. Bell, in Edinburgh,
1759.

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https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eccodemo/k111361.0001.001
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"The theory of moral sentiments: By Adam Smith, ..." In the digital collection Eighteenth Century Collection Online Demo. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eccodemo/k111361.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 12, 2025.
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