34 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



Tabic )'IJ2. — Cumpiiratirc Iteaisftiiirt^ of various Natural >V/o«f\s', Jir'irhs, and 

 Chalky reduced to Si/Uitre Prisms of the same dimensions as the small Artifi- 

 cial Stones hefoje E.rperimented upon, with their comparative Cohesirenegs 

 also. 



Description uf Stoues, &f. 



Weight Weight i 

 of I per 



Prism, cubic in se\'eral .«uccessivt' 



jin Troy, fuot, 

 iGrains. in lbs. \ 



Experiments. 



Kentish Rug ;1073fl J10.5-G9 ! 



Yorkshire Landing | 9."i71 1 17-67 ■ 



, Cornish (irftnite U I(U il7-2'2l 



Portland ' i\:,us ] is 08 ! 



Craig Leith , r»:i8:t 1 II ;7 



Dfttli 791.) (I2*J .58 



I j 



AVell burned Bricks | 59U i J>1-71 I 



Inferior Briek-s . . 

 I'nre Chnlk (dry) 



ai57 I 94-90 I 



•')099 



318a 



2M5 



2»d8 



1961 

 .■590 

 717-) 

 640 V 

 823 J 

 522 

 314 



In our npxt .Tounial we intend to continue our remarks upon tliis 

 excellent work, and to give some farther extracts ; and in the meanwiiile 

 ue cannot too strongly recommend to tlie profession the utility of 

 examining tliis work for themselves. We do not pretend to ofi'er a 

 suhstitnte for the works which come under our notice, but rather to 

 enable our reader's to form such opinions as may guide them in their 

 use and selection. It is as nnrch as we can do in some cases of such 

 extensive scientilic works, to aftbi'd even a specimen ; but in case of 

 works like Colonel Paslej's, it would be irrdeed the old Greek story of 

 ort'ering a brick as tire pattern of a house, to attempt to condense such 

 important niaterinlsl 



Westminster Improvements : A Brief Account of Westminster, with 

 Observatinns ou Plans of Improvement. Bv One of the Architects. 

 London, 183f». 



This small volume is designed to call attentloir to the plairs of the 

 author, as adopted by the Westminster Improvemeirt Company, and is 

 therefore necessarily subservient to that object. It contains, however, 

 •iome interesting matter as to the site of Westminster, its levels, and its 

 drainage, and some agreeably-written antiquarian matter. 



The basis of Mi-. Bardwell's plan is, that it shall be conducted on a 

 large scale, so as to insure the thoi-ough drainage of the district, which 

 certainly cannot be effected by the piecemeal operations which ai-e now 

 adopted. Airy change either in the population or the salubrity of the 

 district in question, cannot liiil to do some good, and the proposition is 

 extremely opportune in the preseirt state of the Houses of Parliament. 

 We think, that in this consideration care should be taken not to mar 

 the splendid mass of gothic which we shall soon possess, and this induces 

 us to demur a little to Mr. Bardwell's admiration of the Italian stvles. 

 This comes strangely indeed from one who, in the early part of his 

 book, evinces such a love for Edward the Confessor, and siich a yearninc 

 for the preservation of St. Margaret's. 



Considering the object of the work, we are not entitled to expect 

 perfection, and we are therefore not very much astonished at an infusion 

 of egotism, which prevails towards the conclusion of the book. We 

 dissent, however, from Mr. Baidwcll in some few of his opinions, and to 

 some of these we beg to call his attention. We cannot see how the 

 insalubrity of London can increase the fogs, for indeed if they arose 

 from land miasma, they ought rather to have diminished from the drain- 

 ing and clearing of the metropolitan districts. He obliges us with a 

 lengthened enumeration of the many causes of London uiihealthiness, 

 hut he totally omits to state that London is one of the healthiest cities 

 in the world, and that the average of human life has rapidly increased in 

 value. We rather doubt also that our Saxon ancestors were the 

 founders of the civilization of modern Europe, however much we migirt 

 wish it, arrd we should recommend our readers to peruse this statement 

 " cum grano salis." Mr. Bardwell may remember in what state Alfred 

 found England after the time of Bede, and how France sank subse- 

 quently to the labours of Charlemagne and Alcuin. We dissent also 

 from him as to St. Margaret's being a vestige of Edward the Confessor, 

 and we cannot see any claim of antiquity which can be urged against its 

 removal. The epithets applied to Westminster strike us also as rather 

 incongruous, for we cannot see wliat resemblance it Iras to the Isle de 

 la Cite, the Palatine Hill, or the Acropolis, nor what it has to do with 

 the arou, jBaiiXiy.r,. '* Lucus i non hicendo." 



Public Buildings erected in the West of Enghmd ; as designed by 

 John Foiii.ston, F.R.S., B.A. Quarto, 117 Plates. .T.Williams. 

 London, 18:58. 



This is almost the only work of the kind which has appeared in this 

 country lor several years, for, with the exception of Laing's, containing 

 the Custom House, and some other buildings erected by him, we are 

 irot aware that any architect has published his own executed designs, 

 although it used formerly to he by no means an uncommon practice 

 among professional men. Gibhs, Adam, Paine, 8iC., for inst.ance, pub- 

 lished the plans and other drawings of all their principal edifices, and 

 that at a time when architecture w.is compar'atively little studied. It 

 is all the more singular, therefore, that such custom should h.ave been 

 laid aside precisely at the time when architecture itself has become 

 more prolific than it was during the last century, and when structures 

 of very varied design are risiirg up yearly, if not daily, not in the me- 

 tropolis alone, but in almost every provincial town of any note, and, in 

 fact, .alnrost all over the country. Whether it be th.at, notwithstanding 

 the very increased scope and demand for architectur.al embellishment, 

 there exists less demand than formerly for studies in design, both on 

 the part of the profession and of private individuals, we undertake not 

 to decide ; but it certainly does look like a very anomalous fact, that 

 such should be the case, let the cause be what it may. We could, in- 

 deed, make two or three giresses .it the latter, one of which is, that 

 those who have done most and best are not particularly anxious to 

 bring out their designs as studies for the benefit of others ; while those 

 who have been less favoured by opportunity have not done enough to 

 enable them to come before the public with a collection of the kind. 

 Another reason, perhaps, is that, although greatly more has been done 

 within the last twenty or thirty years than in the course of the whole 

 of the preceding century, out of that nunrber of buildings there are 

 comparatively few that rise above a certain average standard of merit ; 

 consequently few that the public would care to have geometrical draw- 

 ings of. Or, it may be that we are now so accustomed to behold 

 decorated fronts, porticos, and other architectural embellishments, as to 

 regard them as mere matters of coitrse, and deserving no more than 

 cursory inspection. Or else — but we will put an end to fiirthei con- 

 jecture ; for even could we hit upon the real cause, it would be idle to 

 expect that any tiring we could say would tend to remove it. What 

 may be taken for granted is, that there is no demand — we mean no 

 adequate demand — for works of this description, else, doubtless, as is 

 the case with all other produce, whether manual or mental, it vvoitid be 

 followed by supply. 



At all events, we bid welcome to the solitary " stranger" now before 

 us, and not the less heartily because he comes from the provinces — 

 from Devonshire and Cornwall, where, at Plymouth, Devonport, and 

 other places, Mr. Foulston has erected not a few public and private 

 buildings. Nor can we do better than give, before we proce2d further, 

 a list of those which form the subjects contained in the volume : — 



Pti/ntouth — The Hotel, Assembly Rooms, and Theatre, 47 plates ; 

 the Athenjeum, 6 do.; Public Library, 5 do.; St. Andrew's Chapel, 

 8 do.; Do. Church, 8 do.; Exchange, 4 do. Devonport — Town Hall, 



4 plates ; Commemorative Column, 5 do.; Civil and Military Library, 



5 do.; Mount Zion Chapel, 4 do. Stonehouse — St. Paul's Chapel, I 

 plate. Torijuay — ^Interior of Ball-room, I plate. Tavistock — Library, 

 Ball-room, iSrc, ."! plates. Cornwall — County Lunatic Asylum, 8 

 plates. Bristol — Gaol, 5 plates. 



Conceiving that every work ought in some measure to be judged by 

 what it aims at, and by what is the author's professed aim, we shall 

 here let Mi\ Foulston explain himself in order that more may not be 

 exacted of hiirr than he jiromises : — 



The author, in publisliing^ this work, illustrating the buildings erected 

 from his designs, makes no claim to origiirality, except as regards construction 

 and adaptation. * * 



In exUibiling his designs, the author is aware they must be considered 

 merely as models calculated for the atmosphere of a town remote from the 

 metropolis, and, tliougli spirited, proverbially poor. * * 



Many volumes of general plans and elevations have been published from 

 time to time, giving soma notion of anaugcment and proportion, but affording 

 none of that practical inforntation which chiefly, of a professional student, 

 constitutes the value of an architectural book. Wliile, therefore, it has been 

 the author's aim to obtain the attention of the amateur by his general eleva- 

 tions and perspective views, he lias been still more desirous of attracting the 

 notice of the young architect by his " details at large," as they are architec- 

 turally termed ; and by thoroughly developing the internal mechanism of his 

 more important buildings. 



With these extracts from the plain and sensibly-written " Address " 

 prefixed to the work, an .address so different from the pompous, lum- 

 bering prefaces which a certain other party puts to his publications, we 

 dismiss the work for the present, reserving our further remarks on it 

 for our next number. 



