Profile.—The outline of a series of mouldings, or of any other parts, as shown by a section through them.

Proportion.—The magnitude of one part as compared with some other. The term ‘proportion’ is used absolutely in the sense of ‘good proportion;’ although every thing that has shape has proportions of some kind or other. The subject of Proportions has been greatly mystified by writers who have laid down certain fixed proportions as the best of all on every occasion, and as the ne plus ultra of artistic taste. But fixed proportions can be followed mechanically by every one alike; whereas it requires ability to deviate successfully from routine measurement, and apply the poco piu or the poco meno as the particular occasion or the particular effect aimed at may require—at least justify. It is the eye that takes cognizance of proportions; and the Architect’s own eye ought to be quite as correct as that of other people.

Prostyle.—A portico which projects from the body of a building, or the rest of a façade. [See page 69].

Pulvinated.—A frieze whose face is convex instead of plain is said to be pulvinated, from its supposed resemblance to the side of a cushion, which swells out when pressed upon. [See page 50].

Raking Cornices.—A term, rather unmeaning in itself, applied to the inclined cornices on the sloping sides of a pediment.

Rustication.—Although Rustication is not spoken of in this treatise, the term is here inserted for the purpose of remarking that what is so called might frequently be more correctly described as Decorative Masonry, since, so far from expressing rudeness or coarseness, it may be made to display the most studied nicety and elaborate finish. Rustication, no doubt, originated in a very rude mode of construction; but what was at first clumsiness and irregularity, was afterwards refined into an artful and symmetrical disposition of the stones and courses of masonry, by a similar æsthetic process to that which converted the original amorphous stone pillar into the Doric column. To call such masonry, as some have done, only cicatrizing and gashing, betrays a loss for both arguments and words. Decorative masonry is most assuredly not according to Greek taste or practice; for the Greeks affected to suppress the appearance of articulation in masonry, and thereby to give their buildings, as far as possible, the look of not being fabricated, but carved out of one block of solid material. Yet it does not therefore follow that the other mode of decidedly articulating and pronouncing the joints and courses of the stones is bad, because it is an opposite one. So far from being unæsthetic, it possesses much that recommends it artistically, for it gives colour, and produces richness of surface where there would else be blankness. A wall whose face is so decorated forms an admirable ground to columns or pilasters, which it serves to relieve very effectively, as is exemplified in the screen façade of Dover House, that little architectural gem by Holland, which, though by no means faultless, has more of genuine artistic quality than any other building of its time in the whole Metropolis.

Section.—A vertical plan of the interior of a building, showing it as it would appear upon an upright plane cutting through it. Though rarely shown, sections are almost as indispensable as plans, like which, they show the thicknesses of the walls; and in addition those of the ceilings and floors; and show also heights, both of the rooms themselves, and of doors and windows;—moreover, the forms of the ceilings, whether flat, or coved, or vaulted. In one respect, too, a section partakes of the nature of an elevation, the plane parallel to the line of section being an elevation of the interior, or rather consisting of as many elevations as there are separate rooms or divisions. Sections may be described as either furnished or unfurnished; the former show only construction and the strictly architectural parts, wherefore, if the side of a room happens to be quite plain, without door, chimney-piece, or other feature, that side or space will be a blank, or little better. Furnished sections, on the contrary, exhibit, besides what strictly belongs to the Architecture and its decoration, mirrors, pictures, statues, furniture, draperies, and all other accessories. The number of sections required depends upon the nature of the plan, and what there is worth showing. If the design be worthy of it, there should be as many sections as will suffice to show every side of every principal apartment; though it may not be necessary to repeat the entire section through every floor. Sections are the deliciæ of architectural illustration, and, it would seem, far too precious to be frequently exhibited.

Soffit.—From the Italian soffitto, a ceiling; the under surface of any projecting moulding or member.

Style, in the sense of a column (from the Greek στύλος, a column), enters into a great number of useful compound terms referring to matters connected with columniation, and which may here be grouped together, so that any word ending in ‘style’ may be found here, though passed over in its alphabetical order. The number of columns in the front of a pedimented portico is briefly expressed at once by any of the following terms:

Distyle inantis,twocolumns and two antæ.
Tetrastyle”fourcolumns.
Hexastyle”six”
Octastyle”eight”
Decastyle”ten”  almost the greatest
number that can be placed beneath a pediment.