262 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[July, 



ahutment, suliject at a given po'uxl to a ijivoii insiblciit iirossim', I liavc Iicforp 

 iliscusscil, ami I liave detcnuiued ils line ii!' roi^laiico under these cu'eiiin- 

 stanees : that line of resistance evidently unites vith iliat of the :utU at tliii 

 point — this line of pressure is therefore completely Known, and the condi- 

 tions of the ecpiilibrium of the piers or other ahutnienls of the arch, and of 

 the arch itself, are detenuined. * * 



The theory of the equilibrium of the groin and that of the dome are ]nc- 

 clsely analogo-us to the theory of the areh. 



In the former a mass springs fi'om a small abutment, si)reading itself out 

 symmetrically with regard to a vertical jilanc passing through the centre of 

 its aliutment. The groin is in fact nothing more Ihan an arcli, whose vous- 

 soirs vary as well in breadth as in depth. The centres of gravity of the 

 ditferent elementary voussoirs of this mass lie all in its ]ilane of symmetry. 

 Its line of resistance is therefore in that plane, and its theory is ciubraeed in 

 that which has been ah'eady laid down. 



Four groins commonly sjning from one abutment; each opposife\mir being 

 addorsed, and each adjacent ])air uniting their margins. They thus lend one 

 another mutual support, partake in the pi-oireriies of a dome, and form a con- 

 tinned covering. 



The groined areh is of all arches the most stable ; and eoidd materials be 

 found of sufficient strength to form its abutments and tlie parts abo\it its 

 springing, I am inclined to think that it might be safely built of any required 

 degree of flatness, and that spaces of enormous dimensions migiit readily 

 Ije covered by it. 



It is remarkable that modern builders, whilst they have erected the com- 

 mon areh on a scale of magnitude nearly approaching perhaps the limits to 

 which it can be safely carried, have been remarkably timid in the use of the 

 groin. 



In part 3 is the commencement of a paper on the Construction of 

 Bridges, by Mr. Hughes, of a more practical nature, and it is evidently 

 written by one who is completely master of the subject. This paper 

 commences by describing the variotis methods of forming foundations 

 for bridges, piers, &c. ; but we shall defer making any extracts or 

 furtlier comments, mitil after the appearance of another part. 



Upon tlie whole the work is undoubtedly the cheapest publication 

 of the day, when we consider its valuable contents ; but it would havi^ 

 t een far better had the work been published in such a form as to avoid 

 bbe necessity of folding the plates; probably this might have enhanced 

 tlie cost of the work, notwithstanding, it is our opinion that the work 

 woidd liave given greater satisfaction to the profession even at an in- 

 creased price. We undertand that it is tlie intention of Mr. Weale to 

 publish another edition so as to avoid this inconvenience ; if so, we feel 

 assured that the work will meet with that support which it so richly 

 deserves. 



Studies and Examples of the Modern School of English Architecture. 

 The l^ravetler's Club. By Churles Barrij, Architect : Illustrated 

 with Drawings by Mr. Hewitt, and Engraved by Mr. J. H. Le 

 Keux. Accompanied by an Essay on the present stale of Archi- 

 tectural Study, and the Bevival of the Italian Style. By W. H. 

 Leeds. London: Weale. 1839. 



English Architecture has been treated by many pseudo-critic^ 

 with a contempt which a due consideration of its works would have 

 prevented from being applied to it. This neglect has arisen, per- 

 haps, more from the apathy of its professors in asserting their own 

 rank, than from any inferiority of theirs in the production of works 

 of merit. Abroad, every cafe, cassino, town-pump, and police- 

 station is fully registered, and receives due honour ; but here " Land- 

 scape Annuals," or similar ad captandum publications, are too often 

 the records of our most ingenious monuments. 



We need not feel astonished at the reproach of being a nation of 

 shopkeepers, when it seems to be our national habit to obscure what 

 even ourselves recognise as the highest source of glory. Domes- 

 ticity we may pride ourselves upon — it may be a virtue to seek no 

 enjoyment beyond our own fire-sides — but why, in the name of com- 

 mon sense, are we to keep our churches as closely confined at home 

 as our daughters, or hedge in our palaces with the same care as our 

 fruit trees. A spirit of hoarding seems to have possessed us, and 

 content with possessing trea.snrcs, we have felt no wish to communi- 

 cate them to our neighbours, or to allow them a participation, which 

 is an increase instead of a diminution of our own honour. Where 

 are our finest buildings ? Not in the most frequented streets, or 

 suspicious strangets might run away with them ; not exposed to the 

 public gaze, or they might become as dishonoured as a prostitute; 

 but in some dirty unknown nook there is concealed a monument, 

 which foreign nations would make pilgrimages to visit. The same 

 feeling .seems to prevent us from publishing them, as if to give a 

 detailed architectural drawing would be as dangerous a communica- 

 tion to our enemies, as the secret of a new rocket or the plan of a 

 fortification. 



Let us rouse ourselves from this lethargy ; let not inferior nations 

 usurp our glory ; but let us force Paris and her comonopolists to 

 admit us to the same circle of honour. We have already done much 

 towards bringing out the old buildings, but as much and more re- 

 mains to be done, and that at once. The opening of tlie Monu- 

 ment, St. Bride's, and St Martin's, are worthy acts, and 

 would be esteemed exertions of a healthy disposition, did not other 

 acts point out the lingering of the old leaven. What could be more 

 disgusting than sacrificing St. Paul's to a toy-shop, hiding St. Paul's 

 School in a corner, and demolishing St. Saviour's ? while the half- 

 penny farthing policy in not pulling down the corner of Lombard- 

 street, wdll leave the Royal Exchange as a monument of our stu- 

 pidity to all posterity. Why is not St i'aid's in some degree cleared ; 

 St. Michael's, Cornhill, thrown open; and St. Giles's, the tomb of 

 Milton, new fronted ? 



It is not that we do not possess architectural riches, but that we 

 neglect them, and allow others to arrogate over us a superiority 

 which our own feelings of dignity should induce us to repel. Did 

 we take as much pains as our neighbours in talking of what we have, 

 many of their idle boasts would be repressed, and instead of being 

 treated as a nation of barbarians, we should threaten their 

 supremacy. 



If we look cither to the past or the present, we see nothing 

 abroad which is to prevent us from claiming a high position in the 

 scale of architectural merit. Our great works in the perpendicular 

 style can compete with the flamboyant, the Moorish, or any other 

 continental medieval style ; and in the works of Wren we have some 

 counterpoise for the later periods. P^-ance, like ourselves, has been 

 going through a course of the cast-off styles of Europe, and, amid 

 little that is great, she has learned from us what is pure. In Italy 

 the medieval styles have been defaced, the simple supplanted by the 

 corrupt, and architecture degenerated from Francis di Giorgio and 

 BaldassarePeruzzihas been consigned to the merefriciousjdesigns of 

 Palladio and his successors ; the Dome of Milan has been disfigured 

 and St. Peter's stands a childless giant. Spain, deserted by the 

 energy of the Goths, and the refined taste of the Moors, relies for 

 its modern fame upon buildings which have all the tawdry arro- 

 gance of the Castihan, and all his want of soul, which, where they 

 exhibit nature, seek it in the beggar or the monk. Germany, as 

 great in her claims as in the sprawling extent of her edifices, as 

 wide- spreading as Berlin, and as empty, mistakes nakedness for 

 simplicity, and adaptation for originality. She does in architecture 

 what she does in other branches of the art— seeks the simple in the 

 rude, and looks for elegance in uncouthness. To deny the merits 

 of our rivals would be absurd ; but to be blind to faults so glaring, 

 would indeed leave us without a motive for exertion. 



Our deficiency arises from architecture being treated as an effort 

 of the hand, and not of the mind, the prey of the draftsman and the 

 stone-mason, and its qualification a barber's-shop apprenticeship, 

 instead of being considered as an elevated and inspired branch of 

 art. To restore it, it must be treated like the other arts— it must be 

 cultivated not in details, but in principles ; not by a private soldier 

 in (he melue, but by a general, who inspects the mass. AVe have 

 made Greek architecture an afl^air of columns and friezes — we have 

 forgotten its adaptation to climate, and we have stripped it of its 

 ornaments and its colours — and need we be astonished if we have a 

 skeleton instead of a living being, or that we have starved a style 

 which we have disclimated and uneladi' The principles of Gothic 

 composition stare us in the face, and we cannot see them, while we 

 waste, in the research of detail, the power of creating tliat very de- 

 tail. Architecture must be made popular and artistical — it must 

 have a band of admirers as cultivated as its professors, and we rnay 

 then hope, that originality may be encouraged, instead of compila- 

 tion bearing sway. Of o"ld, it was considered a matter of pride to 

 call in to the assistance of the architect the most distinguished pro- 

 fessors of other arts; and to INIichael Angelo, Raphael, and Rubens, 

 we owe many ingenious works. The principles of art are general, 

 but their application special, for it is the same law of proportion 

 which determines the grouping and massing of a building as of a 

 picture; the same law which regulates the light and shade ; the same 

 laws of contour; and it is the appreciation of these general laws 

 which makes the artist, and not a mere knowledge of the handling. 

 The versification of Mickle, Hode, Broome, or Rowe, equalled per- 

 haps that of Pope or Dryden ; yet, although all are translators, the 

 latter only have fame as poets. The grouping of the Laocoon or of 

 Canova's tomb of the Pope, in St. Peter's, is guided by the very 

 same rules which mark out the majestic front of York Minster, or 

 the minor facjade of King's College Chapel. The same objections 

 to breaking up a picture into isolated figures refer with equal force 

 to the distribution of the members of a palace, or th? detail! of a 



