PREFACE
TO THIS
TRANSLATION.
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OTWITHSTANDING the Art of PERSPECTIVE muſt be acknowledg'd ſo highly and indiſpenfably requiſite in the Practice of Painting, Architecture, and Sculpture; that in the Firſt of theſe eſpecially, nothing commendable can be performed without its Aſſiſtance: Yet ſuch have been the Difficulties and Obſcurities met with in the firſt Attempts, and ſo great the Perplexity and Confuſion of Lines in the Practice thereof; that the beſt Inſtructions, hitherto made Engliſh, have invited very few to ſuch a Proſecution of this Study, as might render their Performances of this kind, truly valuable.
'Tis ſomething unaccountable, that, among ſo many learned Perſons as have handled this Subject, Prieſts, Architects, and Painters; very few, if any of them, have given Directions proper for ſhunning that Diſorder and Confuſion of Lines, which, in moſt Inſtances, muſt neceſſarily attend the Execution of their Rules: In all or moſt of which the whole Space for the Performance is confin'd between the Lines of the Plan and Horizon; which, where the Scale is ſmall, and the Height of the Eye not very much advanc'd, renders the Work exceedingly confus'd; and where thoſe Lines are coincident, (which frequently happens) the Method becomes utterly impracticable.
This Author's great Experience in the Practice of Perſpective, having furniſh'd him with excellent RULES for Shortning the Work, and Obviating the foremention'd Difficulties; he has here very generouſly imparted them, and eſpecially the latter, in the Tenth and Eleventh Figures. And tho on Peruſal of the firſt three or four Plates, this Method may poſſibly ſeem the ſame that ſome others have before made uſe of; yet whoever ſhall diligently obſerve and copy the Rules and Examples of the ſucceeding Figures, muſt neceſſarily acknowledge the great Advantage this has in a Perſpective-Plan and Upright, clear and diſtinct; whence the finiſh'd Piece is deduc'd, without the leaſt Incumbrance of the Work. The Explanations of the Rules here given, are ſhort and inſtructive 5 and the Architectonical Deſigns produc'd to exemplify them, Noble and Magnificent.
The Manner of Deſigning, where the Perſpective is drawn on ſeveral Ranges of Frames one behind the other, and ſuch Scenes of Theaters whoſe Grooves lie oblique
