128 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[April, 



critic, only five years old, at my elbow, has solved the mystery, by 

 observing — " How very fanny to sec a man on the top of a church, 

 where yon know they always put a weathercock!" 



CANDIDUS'S NOTE-BOOK. 

 FASCICULUS III. 



" I must have liberty 

 M'ithal. as large a charter as the winds, 

 To blow on whom I please." 



I. I do not know how our scrupulous copyists of Grecian architecture 

 can reconcile it to their consciences, or to their taste, to omit, as I may 

 say they are in the liabit of invariably doing, those decorations that 

 enter into an order, which, if not absolutely indispensable to the 

 building itself, are, nevertheless, quite as essential to the eflfect and 

 character of the ensemble, — or I might say, very far more so than 

 those subordinate mouldings and other niceties to which such extreme 

 — even superstitious — attention is paid by them. Like many other 

 folks they strain at a gnat, yet can swallow a camel. Therefore, 

 though they would deem it absolute heresy to make any alteration in 

 the form of a base or a capital, they allow themselves to leave out 

 what, not being uniformly the same in all specimens of the same 

 order, is not considered as inseparably belonging to and forming a 

 part of it. Look at any or all our modern imitations of tlie kind, 

 and you will lind them. almost without an exception, entirely to lack that 

 richness and finish which the buildingsof Greece itself e.Khibited,and 

 which, so far from being at all' superfluous, are indispensable to the 

 due effect of the style itself, since deprived of those qualities, it 

 becomes one chiefly marked by both disagreeable baldness and 

 monotony. At first, perhaps, it might be considered a sufficient 

 achievement to produce fac-simile copies of Greek columns ; but the 

 time is now past when any degree of merit can be imputed to such 

 feats. They have ceased to be prodigies — in fact, have begun to 

 pall upon us — yet we still persist in continuing the same mill-horse 

 round, without advancing a single step. Is not our Anglo-Grecian 

 architecture precisely where it was when we first took it up ? Do 

 our later works in it manifest greater mastery over it — such increased 

 knowledge of its aesthetic principles as to be able to proceed with the 

 the same spirit and feeling, wherever we are at a loss for actual 

 precedent in the models furni.shed by Greece itself? — or rather, are 

 we not as bungling tyros and apprentices just where we were at first ? 

 Circumspice : let any one compare some of our first attempts in that 

 style with some of the last, and prove, if he can, that the latter 

 exhibit great mastery over the same elements of design. 



II. It is very possible for a building to be free from any thing that 

 can be alleged against it as a positive fault ; it may, to a certain 

 degree, be even pleasing, and yet so far from being particularly cre- 

 ditable to its author, may chiefly serve to show that he is devoid, not 

 only of invention, but of tlie ability to cnmmiuiicate any thing what- 

 ever of spirit and expression to his design. It may be correct, but 

 then it is also </<';«'. It resembles a lesson got by rote, or, as it is 

 generally termed, got by heart, although except when a man's heart 

 hajipens to lie where his tongue should be, the heart has no concern 

 in the matter ; which seemingly very inqiertinent remark is here 

 opro^OT enough, for I mean to say that there is no heartiness, no cor- 

 diality, no feeling in such lukewarm productions. 



III. I met the other day with an account of St. Andrew's Hall, at 

 Norwich, which describes it as " a neat, grand, and elegant'" build- 

 ing. Neat and grand ! In the name of fire and water, oil and vinegar, 

 cat and dog, were ever the two epithets so tacked together before ? 

 In addition to which odd character given of the architecture, we arc 

 further enlightened by being told that the columns are all uniform, 

 " being covered with lead!" If that be true, no doubt they are very 

 extraordinary cohunns, but how they should on that acco\uit be more 

 uniform is not explained. Quiere : Was not the writer thinking at 

 the time of his own culumns, which seem to be overlaid with plenty 

 of that metal ? 



ly. Of my contributions to the Architectural Magazine, the 

 "Literary Gazette" is pleased to say that I am " clever and caustic," 

 than which I desire no better praise. I abominate your water-gruel 

 .style of writing, fit only for literary milksops and those excessively 

 cautious " by your leave" gentlemen, who invariablv make use of 

 the most .sugary expressions. Palatable or unpalatable medicine 

 m\ist be administered, and should the patient's case require bark it is 

 of no use attempting to render it agreeable by mixing it up with 

 flummery. Yes, but some folks cry out, your bark is sometimes 

 downright hnrlfUg. Assuredly : and, after all, one had need have 

 the three heads of Cerberus himself to bark loud enough and long 

 enough to produce any effect— to rouse up the sluggards and the 



slumberers, the good people who sit comfortably dozing and nodding 

 over art, though all tlie while tolerably wide awake to— their own 

 interest. 



V. It is greatly to be wished that some of our Greek architects 

 would bite some of our Gothic ones, because, in that case the latter 

 would no doubt alsobecome infected with that scrupulous precision and 

 preciseness which constitutes the rabies of the others. Yet no such 

 rabies discovers itself in the rage for Gothic architecture. Tout au 

 contraire, your modei-n Goth makes no scruple of paring down the 

 mullions of his windows until they are scarcely thicker than the bars 

 used to be in our old sash frames. But your Greek will not bate 

 you a hair's breadth in any one of the dimensions of a column: he 

 is as infiexible on that point, as Shylock himself in regard to his 

 bond. Perhaps I shall be told that, for such matters of detail, no 

 such strict rules have been laid down for the Gothic style, as for the 

 other ; assui'cdly not ; but then it docs not exactly follow, that, 

 because there are no precise rules, there are neither any laws what- 

 ever to be attended to. Truly, there are no precise rides to teach 

 people how to walk in the streets, yet should you choose therefore to 

 thrust your fist info a man's face as you went along, he would soon 

 convince you that if there be no rules, there is not only such a thing 

 as law, but a confoundedly plaguy deal of it too. 



VI. Although not so intended, it is a far greater compliment 

 than they deserve, to compare some of our recently-erected 

 churches to barns. A barn is neither a disagreeable nor a ridiculous 

 object. On the contrary, it is generally a pleasing, ofttimes a pic- 

 turesque one, while of the other class of buildings not a few are the 

 most anti-picturesque things conceivable ; as architecture, vulgar, 

 — not simple, but paltry, pert, and mean ; without elegance, without 

 solemnity, without soberness, without even the negative merit of 

 unpretending homeliness. Dapper formality, and spruce insignifi- 

 cance are, for the most part, their distinguishing qualities, and 

 awfully bad is the distinction they confer. 



VII. Somehow or other there is a most obstinate prejudice in 

 favour of admitting as much light as pos.sible into rooms. To be 

 sure, the upholsterer does his best to exclude half of it by his ample 

 window draperies, without which most apai-fments would have a par- 

 ticularly dreary, chilling appearance ; no shadow in any part of them, 

 and, consequently, very little architectural effect, since to that 

 shadow is almost indispensable. It is for this reason that vestibules, 

 con-idors, and such places, where the light is generally admitted far 

 more sparingly, and frequently confined to nearly a single spot, are 

 apart from anything else in their design, so much more pictorial 

 than apartments, splendidly fimiished perhaps, yet without any con- 

 trast of light or shade. To an artist's eye — and it should be so to an 

 architect's — the one is as requisite as the other. Light there must 

 be, but^ there should also be shadow : in other words, there .should 

 be just as much and no more light than effect demands. A few gleams 

 of sunshine glancing into a room, give a far more brilliant and 

 and delightful appearance than a blaze of it does. But then there 

 will be dark corners ; so much the better; there is no occasion to sit 

 in them if you want to read ; and as few people sit, like sentries in 

 their boxes, all over a room at the same time, a person may place 

 his chair in the light as well as out of it. A room which is not too 

 strongly lighted, has also a great recommendation in its favour: it is, 

 next to candlelight, the very best thing imaginable for a lady's looks 

 and complexion. If you doubt it, ask Mrs. Candidus ; and, however 

 much w-e may differ on every other point, she agrees with me, heart 

 and soul, on this. 



ON THE GENERAL THEORY OF THE STEAM ENGINE. 



No. 2. 



BY .\RIST1DES MORN.iY, ESQ. 



In resuming the investigation of tlie theory of the steam engine 

 we feel it necessary, in the first place, to define clearly in what we 

 consider that theory to consist. It is unquestionable that there are 

 certain fixed laws, based on the principles of natural philosophy and 

 mechanics, which determine and modify the development of the 

 power of steam, and its action when applied through the medium of 

 the steam engine to produce any required mechanical effect. The 

 ensemble of these laws constitutes, of course, the general theory of 

 the steam engine, and no tlieory which excludes any one of them 

 can claim that title. Our present knowledge of the above mentioned 

 sciences is sufficient to enable us to point out the various phenomena 

 which take place during the working of the steam engine, and on 

 which its action depends. These phenomena may be divided as 

 follows : — ■ 



1. The generation of steam in the boiler and the circumstances 



