CIVIL ARCHITECTURE. 



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too of obtrrration it roust be evident, that the High 

 Street in the Old Town hu much tinrr effect than any 

 m At New Town : Also, thai ihe high street of Ox- 

 ford and Parliament Street, Westminster, are infinitely 

 superior, in point of general effect, to the new ttreetl 

 about Portman Square, Portland Place, or Russcl Square, 



M-.-9.A.D. 



The city of Glatgow ii tituated in one of the finest 

 valleys of Scotland, and where the island ii mot con. 

 tractrd in its breadth. It stauds on the banks of a na- 

 vigable river, and on the great Roman road which passed 

 through the province of Valentia, and has in its neigh- 

 bourhood IB inexhaustible supply of coal. From these 

 circumstance* it very early became a place of import- 

 ance, and. it would seem, also an episcopal see ; for 

 Bingham (b. viii. p. 10.) says, that about the year 448, 

 Bishop Ninian of Glasgow built an episcopal church on 

 the confines of England, at Whithorn in Galloway. But 

 from this time we know very little respecting its pro- 



Eri till the year 1129, when Achaius, preceptor to 

 avid I. was appointed to the see. He began to re- 

 build and adorn the cathedral church, and, although in 

 very early stage of its progress, consecrated it, in pre- 

 sence of the king, upon the 9th July 1136. At this 

 time it enjoyed the tythes of the lands of Peebles, Selkirk, 

 Roxburgh, Dumfries, and the Stewart ry of Annandale,be- 

 betides lands in Cumberland. In 1 174, Jocelin, abbot of 

 Melrote, was consecrated biihop. He enlarged the Cathe- 

 dral, and dedicated it on the 9th July 1 197. Previous to 

 this ceremony, William the Lyon granted a charter, 

 erecting Glasgow into a royal burgh. The completion 

 of thii cathedral was accomplished by degrees, at periods 

 remote from each other. In 1240, William de Bodding- 

 ton made reparations and additions. Between 1387 and 

 1406, when Matthew Glcndinning (of a family of that 

 name in Etkdale) was bishop, the steeple, which was of 

 wood, was burned down. Bishop William Lauder laid 

 the foundation of the vestry, and built the great tower as 

 far as the battlements, from 1 408 to 1425. Between 1 484 

 and 1508, Bishop Rob. Blackadder founded, and built 

 to its present height, the great south aisle, and also the 

 touth cross. In 1560, Bishop Beaton, alarmed by the 

 interference of the reformers, withdrew to France, and 

 carried with him all the valuables of the cathedral. This 

 is now the only entire cathedral church upon the main 

 land of Scotland. All the windows, buttresses, roof, 

 and spire, remain nearly perfect, and promise long to 

 continue the chief ornament of the city. 



Of the other churches, that of St Andrew's, in the 

 middle of a square of that name, is the principal. Both 

 externally and internally, it is nearly an exact copy of 

 St Martin's in the Fields, London, and,. of course, par- 

 takes of its excellencies and defects. The staring vases 

 along the parapets, detract from simplicity ; and the 

 steeple (which differs entirely from the original) is lofty, 

 but so ill designed, that it appears to be narrowest at 

 the base. 



There are many other churches in Glasgow, but they 

 are all very inferior to this. They have uniformly two 

 rows of windows ; and their spires being a repetition of 

 square boxes placed on each other, having their divisions 

 distinctly marked by cornices, they very much resemble 

 the eastern pagodai. Several are carried up nearly per- 

 pendicularly, others taper a little, and are (as that of 

 St Enoch ) finished with the point of a spire. 



There hai ltely been a church built on the western 

 side of George's Square, in the front of which are a mul- 

 titude of small breaks. There are pilasters at the extre- 

 mities, tod columns on each side of the entrance door, 



Church on 

 the 'outh 

 bank of tUe 

 Clvde. 



Hutche. 

 mu'i Hos- 

 pital. 



Theatre. 



which seem to have very little connection with cacli Hiktory. 

 other. Over these columns rise a sort of turrets, which 

 run up part of the stcople. The steeple is itself compo- 

 sed of six or seven different divisions in height. Although 

 there are only one row of windows in the front, there are 

 two in the sides of the church. The architect has, on 

 the whole, deviated widely from our ideas of simplicity 

 and propriety. In a still clumsier style, a church is now 

 constructing on the southern bank of the Clyde. The 

 front, consists of three stories of regular dwelling-house 

 looking windows. The upper ones are small attics. The 

 sides of this church do not correspond with the front ; 

 and the tower or steeple is in the pagoda '.tyle. This 

 total departure from the character of a church is the more 

 remarkable, as we are informed, that the same architect 

 designed Hutcheson's hospital ; and the outlines of its 

 front, which faces Hutcheson's street, appears to us cor- 

 rect and fine. Here the basement is perfectly subordi- 

 nate to the order, which reaches to the roof, and has its 

 entablature passing unbroken along the front. Within 

 the colonnade there is only one row of windows, which 

 conveys a distinct idea of one apartment only, and there 

 being niches near the extremities, the whole is expressive 

 of a public building. The steeple, though unfortunate- 

 ly still composed of separate divisions, tapers gradually 

 from its pedestal. Several of the minuter ornaments of 

 this edifice might be changed or omitted with advan- 

 tage. 



In the front of the theatre, by the same architect, the 

 proportion between the basement story, and the fine 

 Ionic order above it, is also well preserved ; but the un- 

 necessary projection of the two pair of columns, the 

 arches over the lance doors, and small circles in the attics, 

 detract greatly from simplicity. In this city, there are 

 several public buildings designed bj Robert Adam, viz. Building' 

 the infirmary, trades-hall, and assembly-rooms. They by Adam, 

 are line buildings, and ornamental to the city ; but the 

 profusion of projections, recesses, Venetian windows, and 

 large semicircles, are destructive to chastity of design. 



Hunter's museum, in the college garden, is a correct Hunter's 

 regular building. The portico, which is Roman Doric, Muieum. 

 rises from the pavement to the roof, but the cornice only 

 is continued round the other parts of the building. The 

 whole does great credit to the architect Mr Stark. The 

 garden front of the college has been lately new modelled College, 

 from a design by Mr Peter Nicholson, whose excellent 

 elementary architectural works have, in many instances, 

 tended to connect science with taste. In this front, he 

 has introduced the Greek Doric columns in the central 

 part, and panelled pilasters at the extremities. We regret 

 be has not continued these columns to be regularly con- 

 nected with the aforesaid pilasters, and thereby have ex- 

 celled Mr Wyat's new front at Oriel college, in Oxford. 

 The balusters at the windows might have been spared 

 in Greek architecture. The new courts of justice now 

 erecting, from designs by Mr Stark, promise some fine 

 features. The Doric order upon a well proportioned, 

 basement, occupies the whole height of the front. There 

 is reason to expect a bold portico j but we regret, that 

 its connection with the extremities is not perfectly made 

 out by pilasters, and that the architect has not contrived 

 to have one row of large windows only in the principal 

 front. The dressing in the Vanburgh manner over some 

 of the windows, do not accord with a chaste Greek Do- 

 ric, when the projection of the pilasters at the extremi- 

 ties are too delicately small. 



The whole of Glasgow as a city, has, in point of ar- General 

 chitecture, more merit than is generally met with. Stand-, remark:. 

 iog on comparatively level and smooth ground, it has 



Courts (if 

 Juitice. 



