1839. 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



263 



club-house. If, too, Greek architecture be carried out here as at 

 Jilunich, or the Moorish or early Italian styles be introduced, the 

 architect must study with the painter the same principles of combi- 

 nation, and possess the genius of colour as well as form. The pub- 

 lic are the parties to be pleased, they are those who command, aud 

 those who applaud, and unless they be instructed, the architect must 

 be contented with the invidious honours of a clique, or find his best 

 meant efforts received with the contempt of ignorance. It lies upon 

 the arcliitect to give this impulse— it is from him that must come the 

 instruction, and then we may see the same progress in his branch as 

 in the other styles of art. It is by the activity of the painters that 

 the public have become qualified judges of their productions— tha. 

 art has advanced, and pictorial exhibitions are crowded, while the 

 architectural room is left to the solitary cavillings of the profession, 

 and the contemptible productions of unapplauded exertion. Public 

 competitions will do much, and they are the more necessary, as even 

 the judges, according to the observation of Mr. Leeds, must see the 

 works exhibited, before they are able to compare thera and select. 

 The architects must, however, shake off their lethargy, read " Stuart's 

 Athens" less, think more, write and speak more, and, above all, act 

 with greater energy and more effect. No time is more propitious 

 than tlie present — the public is alive to art ; they have claimed it 

 as their inheritance, and sources of instruction now exist, which, to 

 the previous generation, were unknown. The purest models of 

 Greece have been disclosed, their polychromy illustrated, tlie 

 Gothic and Moorish styles described, the Renaissance is in vogue, 

 and a number of works have rendered the Italian styles accessible 

 to us in all their beauties. 



Much of the mischief has doubtless arisen from the absurd restric- 

 tions imposed by the professors of the art, from their want of a liberal 

 construction of their studies, and by their confining the artist within 

 bounds, which to the ancients were unknown. Nothing is worse 

 than this cramping down to conventional rules, which gives, like a 

 University education, the prize not to genius, but to memory. To 

 animate the student, and direct his future progress, proper works 

 sliould exist, not of ancient or modern edifices merely, but of our 

 own productions, so that foreigners might learn that we could rival 

 them, and Englishmen that we had not been neglectful of our duty. 

 The proper body to have executed this task would have been the 

 Institute of British Architects, but they want either the confidence 

 or the means to give this plan effect. To Mr. Wcale, therefore, are 

 the English public indebted for attempting to form a work worthy of 

 the subject ; and to his public spirit will they owe what has too long 

 been left neglected. That the attempt is hazardous, experience has 

 too often proved; and we therefore call upon the profession, as they 

 are capable of appreciating such a work, to set the example to the 

 public in its support. 



To Mr. Leeds has been confided the task of superintending this 

 work, and we know no man who, in the merit of his previous works, 

 the soundness and liberality of his judgment, or extent of learning 

 and information, is better qualified for conducting such an arduous 

 work. In the last edition of " The Public Buildings of London," 

 Mr. Leeds has earned his qualification ; and equally in translations 

 from foreign languages, and in commentaries on other works, he has 

 proved himself, without pretension, to be one of the best avchilectural 

 critics of the day. Did liis success depend on his ability, or on the 

 spirited exertions of Mr. Weale, we should not hesitate to pronounce 

 it as certain, b\it it is on the profession that we must again call to 

 show that they merit the efforts which are made on their behalf. 



Before we read Mr. Leeds' Essay, we thought that a better choice 

 might be made for the commencement of such a work ; but by him we 

 have been convinced, that both from novelty and purity of style, and 

 individual merit, no work could have been better selected to interest 

 the public than the " Traveller's Club." The author briefly enume- 

 rates the causes which now impede architecture, aud tlien, after a 

 survey of the Greek and Gothic styles, enters into an able disqui- 

 sition on the various styles of Italian, and particularly as they relate 

 to the subject now before us ; and it is but truth to say, tiiat the 

 " Traveller's Club" comes out of his hand witli new beauties added, 

 and all its perfections enhanced. From the works of an able and 

 attractive writer like Mr. liCeds, it is difficult to select any thing 

 without an embarrassment of choice, but we have culled for our 

 readers the following extract : — 



To attain even sucli degree of familiarity with tlie subject, — which is after 

 all hut very limited and superficial in comparison with the drier practical 

 knowledge indispensable to the professional man, — to attain even this, will 

 be thought no inconsiderable labour, — a task little short of irksome. On the 

 contrary, it is one which would be found to be replete with great interest and 

 amusement, provided, indeed, a person has any capacity for it at all, and 

 wouldjtake it up talionally, as be would any otjiet pursuit to which his taste 



miglit incline him. The chief obstacle in the way of its being done is that 

 no system of study accommodated to such purpose has hitherto been laid 

 down ; so far froin it that an livsleron-proteron is committed at the very outset ; 

 tliat is, according to vulgar phrase, the cart is put before the horse, and the 

 beginning made at the wrong end ; for instead of commencing with generali- 

 ties and proceeding onwards to specialities and minutiae, the latter are brought 

 forward before the student has any clear notion whatever of the subject in its 

 leading bearhigs ; which is not very much unlike finishing up a single figure 

 or object in a picture before any other part of it has begun to be put in : a 

 method suitable enough for a youth put into an architect's office, where he 

 must learn his elements piece-meal, but as unfit for persons in general, — ■ 

 as tedious and as repulsive as it would be to drudge through all the minutiie 

 of a grammar in studying a foreign language, before any insight had been ob- 

 tained into its general structure and character. 



It is true, the mass even of the educated are at present totally ignorant of 

 architecture ; yet, barring tlie prejudice wliich deters people from making the 

 attempt, there is nothing which would prevent those who have a turn for 

 studies from becoming as proficient in all that relates to the astlietic part of 

 architecture as the most accomplished architect himself. Or if this view of 

 the matter be denied, — if no diligence, no study, no enthusiasm of feeling 

 «an ever place the amateur on the level of the professional man with regard 

 to taste, — the disastrous alternative is that it matters not how soon we abandon 

 all idea of advancing architecture as a fine art, seeing that it would be all to 

 no purpose, no advantage whatever — no accession of enjoyment resulting from 

 it to the public. 



Wliatever views to the contrary may be held by some among the profession, 

 certain we are that no real friend, either to the profession or to the art, will 

 advocate the principle of mystifying that brancli of architecture with which 

 all ought, if possible, to be conversant. No doubt shallow smatterers, super- 

 ficial dabblers, half-educated pretenders, ought to be exterminated ; not, how- 

 ever, bv interdicting them from meddling with wliat they do not understand, 

 but by encouraging them to proceed, and not to rest content with stopping 

 short at the threshold, where, as they are well aware, they are at least one 

 step in advance of the rest of the public, and therefore give themselves air g 

 accordingly. 



It is not the least evil attendant upon the present insulated condition of 

 architectural study and knowledge, in consequence oftheir being confined almost 

 exclusively to the profession, that architects themselves do not take that 

 enlis>hteued view oftheir art which they ought. As far, indeed, as the claim- 

 ing" for it almost paramount importance goes, they cannot be charged with 

 undervaluing it in the slightest degree ; but that sort of overrating it is alto- 

 gether a diiferent matter from endeavouring tu ennoble it, and from exerting* 

 themselves to make it manifest tlie powers ascribed to it. In their attention 

 to the means, — laudable enough in itself, — professional men overlook, or if 

 they do not overlook, apparently disregard, or are indifferent to the end, — 

 that is, to what ought to be the end proposed, — admitting that the work puts 

 forth any pretensions on the score of art. They are urged on by little or no 

 stimulus from without their own pale ; and it might sometimes be imagined 

 that Ihey presume rather too much on the ignorance of all the rest of the 

 world. 



Another disadvantage is, that for their judges they can look scarcely to any 

 e.icept their professional brethren, perhaps rivals, whose praises will hardly 

 ever be very enthusiastic, and who will seldom be disposed to approve indi- 

 vidually of what is either contrary to their own practice, or calculated to 

 render manifest their own inferiority. Certain it is that the most promising 

 talent in a young aspirant is seldom cordially hailed, or in any way assisted 

 onwards by those around him in the profession ; neither does that of the 

 more advanced architect receive their applause until he has terminated or is 

 about to terminate his career ; his contemporaries punctiliously waiting till 

 he shall first have said his vukte. All this need excite no wonder: it would 

 be more wonderful, every tiling considered, were it otherwise. Still it would 

 be better were there some counterpoise to it ; which can be obtained only by 

 there being, out of tlie pale of the profession, a sufficiently numerous body 

 competent to judge of merit and talent, and to discriminate between those and 

 the opposite (|ualities. Then, and hardly till then, will talent have generally 

 a chance of developing itself and making its way, without being dependent, 

 as it now is, almost entirely upon those fortunate casualties which enable it 

 to surmount the obstacles that else might have impeded its course for ever. 



That the work is brought out with skill and taste, the name of Mr. 

 Weale is a sufficient guarantee, and we can thus relieve ourselves 

 from a task of eulogy, which we hope our readers will perform 

 instead of ourselves. It is sufficient that INIessrs. Hewitt and Le 

 Keux liave performed their task ; and we leave to the profession to 

 give it their good wishes as strongly as we do ourselves. 



On Steam-Boilers and Steam-Engines. By Josiah Parkks, 

 M. Inst. C. E. Part /., Vol. 3. Transactions of the Institution 

 of Civil Engineers. London: Weale. 18.39. 

 It lias long been a desideratum, that some person or persons, well 

 qualified for the task, should undertake an investigation of the 

 tlifferent systems of generating steam, and of the various circum- 

 stances by which its production is accelerated or retarded, with the 

 view of ascertaining tlie form of steam generator and treatment of 

 fuel best adapted to promote durabilik/ in the former, and economy in 



C 



