Gabb, Thomas: Finis pyramidis or Disquisitions concerning the antiquity and scientific end of the great pyramid of Giza, or ancient Memphis, in Egypt, and of the first standard of linear measure (Retford, 1806)

f vi )

a multitude of vague surmises or mere*conjectures, and
will presently dispel the mists they had spread before
the rays of truth.

Barbaro, Philander, Baldus, and some other com-
mentators were, no doubt, men of acknowledged erudi-
tion, which seemed to promise great advantage in an
attempt to explain an author, who wrote in a learned
language, yet they have failed, on account of their
deficiency in the practical knowledge of the art : and
the ingenious Perrault, who perceived this, and had the
advantage by seeing their false steps, of chusing better
ground, has however, deviated more from the true path,
on some occasions, than any of his predecessors; for
they generally attempted to explain obscure passages,
but Perrault, as often as he found the text too inflexible
to bend to his meaning, rejected it altogether, as cor-
rupted, and inserted in its place a text of his own fram-
ing ; and has but too often succeeded in persuading his
admirers that, by these corrections, he has restored the
true reading of the text : amongst these is Felibien, who
as often as he quotes Perrault, seems to rest on his
authority, as on the ne plus ultra of architectural inves-
tigation.

The case seems to be, however paradoxical it may
appear, former essayers were too inferior and Perrault
too superior an architect, to be faithful and accurate
commentators of Vitruvius ; for Perrault, born rather an
architect than a physician, abandoned the medical pro-
fession, and made a sudden and astonishing progress in
this art : he soon became an adept in that style of ex-
cellence, that prevailed in the new academy, which
consisted of selections only from the Roman antique :
prepossessed in favour ofthat school, and little acquainted

with