CIVIL ARCHITECTURE. 







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Fig. . 

 Fig. 5. 



Fig. I 

 Fig.S. 



Fig. 6. 

 Fig. 8. 



rig. 7. 



F.g. 10. 



a* followt. Two rows of potts are thrust into tbf ground 

 opposite to each other, the intervals between the posts 

 of the same row being equal, and each post rising to the 

 height of about three of thuic intervals, as shewn in the 

 ground plan, Plate CLXXII. Fig. 1, and in the view, 



4. 



A set of slender rods of willow are then applied to the 

 inside of etch pott, and thrust into the ground along 

 with it. These rods being rather longer than the posts, 

 they are bound together by two tvingt, one near the 

 ground, and the other about two thirds of its height. 

 The rod> from thit last binding upwards being entirely 

 loose, and free to be moved in every direction, Fig. 1, 

 thews the ground plan of this arrangement ; and Fig. 5 

 one of the potts, with its rod* applied, and as seen in 

 front between the rows. In this simplest case, the num- 

 ber of rods applied to each middle post is 5, and 3 to 

 each end post, as shewn in the ground plan, Fig. 2. 



The loose summits of the rods are then brought to 

 meet, and are bound together, so as to form the frame 

 work of a roof fit to bear the thatch, as shewn com- 

 pleted in the ground plan, Fig. 3 ; but in order to ren- 

 der the construction intelligible, the three different forms 

 of which it is composed had better be considered sepa- 

 rately. First, Two loose summits are made to meet from 

 each pair of opposite posts, crossing each other in the 

 middle, and producing the form of the Gothic pointed 

 arch, a view of which is shewn in Fig. 6, the same being 

 repreiented, or as executed with every such pair of op- 

 posite posts in the ground plan, Fig. 8. An horizontal 

 rod or pole (which in this system is called the ridge-bar) 

 is then laid upon the forks of the crossing rods, and 

 bound to each of them, thus producing a continued 

 Gothic arcade. Next two loose summits are made to 

 meet from every neighbouring pair of posts in the same 

 row, a set of arches similar to those first mentioned be- 

 ing thus produced, and standing opposite to each oth-r 

 in pairs, as shewn in Fig. 9, each pair of opposite arches 

 being connected by a transverse ridge-bar laid upon the 

 forks. Two loose summits now remain to be employed 

 in each poit. These are made to meet diagonally from 

 the opposite corners of each rectangle ; but in meeting, 

 they are not made to cross as in the two cases last men- 

 tioned, but are applied side by bide, so as to form a con- 

 tinued curve or semicircle, and are joined together after 

 the manner of a hoop, as shewn in Fig. 7- These dia- 

 gonal arches cross each other at the centre, as shown in 

 Fig. 10, and at their crossing touch the underside of the 

 ridx<--bar. 



The*e various forms will all be found combined in the 



Fig*, is, is. 



ground plan, Fig. 3, and in the view, Fig. 11, seen as V 

 looking along from within. Fig. 12 shews a itone build- ,"~" ~~*' 

 ing of the Gothic style, in which all the same forms may 

 easily be traced. K '' j ..' 



The [millions of the Gothic windows, *eem to hnvc 

 arisen from the imitation of open ribs of cage-w 

 The simplest form is obtained, as shewn in Fig. IS, by j owfc 

 a set of upright rods placed at equal intervals, split down 

 to the level of the impost, one half of eacli rod being 

 carried to the right, and the other half to the left, each 

 t< rming an arch similar to a portion of the main arch, 

 which it meets, and then by their crossing, producing a 

 set of forms at once varied and symmetrical. Another 

 design has been obtained, by splitting the rods, as in the 

 last case, then bringing each half rod to meet with a 

 similar half in the middle between each neighbouring pair 

 of uprights, these halves at their meeting not being made 

 to cross, but being bound back to back, and then ilrawn 

 asunder, so as again to meet their own halves, to which 

 they are bound, and so on till the space is filled, as shewn 

 in Fig. 14, with a set of waving forms all perfectly equal F'g- 14- 

 and similar. 



These two last forms are represented as executed in 

 stone work in Figs. 15 and 16. 



In this manner, the rudiments of the Gothic style are 

 pointed out by Sir James Hall in his memoir, read in 

 the Royal Society of Edinburgh April 7, 1797. 



The same gentleman has undertaken, in a work now 

 in the press, to vindicate the authenticity of the principle 

 here announced, by its application to the boundless di- 

 versity of forms employed in Gothic architecture, bath 

 as to roofs and windows, constructed according to devi- 

 ces similar to those just stated, and as affording an expla- 

 nation of the other departments of the style equally di- 

 versified, as the door, tteeple, pinnacle, border, &c. To 

 this work the reader must be referred for more perfect 

 information, which we have reason to expect it is well 

 calculated to afford, having long ccupied the unwearied 

 research of the author, and being, we understand, illus- 

 trated by 58 beautiful engravings executed by Mr Blore. 

 if this system has really guided the Gothic architect, 

 it seems strange, that the fact should not have been re- 

 corded in history ; but Sir James Hall also undertakes 

 to account for that silence in a satisfactory manner. 



The following table of well established facts, translat- 

 ed from the work of a French author, Rondelet, being 

 selected both from the Roman and Gothic schools, 

 cannot fail of being acceptable to the young archi- 

 tect. 



TABLE 



