117 



RUSSIAN CHURCH. 



RUSTIC WORK. 



218 



may take some time before they completely die away, even after 

 drainage, at least in pastures which are not broken up ; but if the land 

 n,'hed and has a proper tillage, they will not survive the first 

 year. In rich old meadows, which it would not be prudent to plough 

 up. they may be destroyed by mowing them when they are in bloom, 

 and immediately spreading ashes or salt over the place where they 

 grew. This repeated twice will clear the ground entirely, and the 

 draining will prevent their reappearing. 



In heavy grounds which have been laid up in high ridges without 

 thoroughly draining the land, and sown with grass-seeds to remain iu 

 pasture two or three years, it U not uncommon to sec every interval 

 between the stetehes filled with rushes, especially if the land be 

 reduced in fertility by overcropping. This indicates a wet subsoil, 

 and suggests under-draining ; but the rushes are often caused by the 

 very roundness of the ridges, which is supposed to keep the land dry, 

 but which accumulates the water in the furrows. If the land had 

 been laid quite flat, it might have been too wet to produce good crops 

 of wheat, but rushes would not have appeared. In very flat meadows 

 rushes are only found where the land lies very low, with an impervious 

 subsoil, or a want of inclination in the surface to carry off tin- 

 fluous water. Wh.it might at first sight be considered as au'auomaly, 

 is yet perfectly true no rushes are found iu the l>est water-meadows, 

 although they are for a considerable portion of the year entirely soaked 

 in water ; but the water is never allowed to stagnate for a moment, 

 ;nul is always kept running on and off. 



The great advantage which has been obtained by the system of 

 thoroughly draining compact soils, or those which rest on impervious 

 subsoils, has induced proprietors and fanners of land to employ their 

 capital in this most certain of all improvements, and the consequence 

 will be, that in a few yean rushes will only be seen in those low and 

 unprofitable spots from which the water cannot be drawn off by 

 drains, and where they will supply some small resource to the maker 

 of mats and the repairer of rush-bottomed chairs. 



IM'SSIAX CIIUKCH. [OBKEK Ciit'KCB.] 



RUST, iu the common acceptation of the term, is the red pulverulent 

 substance which is formed on the surface of iron when cxjiosed to air 

 and moisture. It is an oxide of iron, and in point of fact other metallic 

 oxide* may be considered as rusts of the peculiar metals which they 

 contain ; the term is however limited in application to the rod oxide 

 or per- or sesqui-oxide of iron. [ M KT.VI.S. Iron, peroxide of.} 



RUSTK: or Ur.STK ATKD \VORK, in architecture, a species of 

 decoration fur walls, wherein the joints between the courses, and 

 between the separate atone* in each course, are strongly defined by 

 sunk channels or groove*. Although an imitation of what would in 

 itself be offensive, and therefore at first apparently quite at variance 

 with good taste, this mode is only a legitimate, artiatical, or tcxthetical 

 imitation, suggested by accident or defects. The expression, originally 

 derived from rudeness and coarseness of execution, from large stones 

 irregularly put together, without their edges being smoothed and 

 fitted to each other, is here only partially retained so as to indicate 

 boldness and strength, and also a certain attention to finish and to 

 regularity in the symmetrical arrangement of the course* and stones. 

 There U a studied intention manifested, which prevents our con- 

 founding the imitation with what furnished the hint for it. In reality 

 rustication contributes in an eminent degree to richness of surface, 

 and it was accordingly frequently employed by the ancients by the 

 Romans at least, not only in those works which were characterised by 

 maaaiveness and by a certain degree of rudeness, such as amphitheatres, 

 bridges, Ac., but on the exterior of temples and other edifices, on 

 which the most finished decoration was bestowed. For not only does 

 rusticating the face of the walls occasion contrast, and thereby tend to 

 set off columns or pilasters to greater advantage, but the lines and 

 shadows so produced remove that blankness which might otherwise 

 attend too much uniform plain surface. 



Besides being different from plain masonry, rustication admits of 

 great variety, both in regard to design and execution, and of great 

 diversity of character, from severity and heaviness to studied elegance. 

 The most obvious distinction U that arising from the surfaces of the 

 rustics, according as they are either /Vain or runyh ; and if the former, 

 they may be either imoulA, or hammer-dnntd, that is, left slightly 

 chipped ; else Iwled, or with the marks of the chisel. Or if intended 

 to be rough, the rustics may be rcrmiculattd, hatelud, or ' 

 The first of these modes U produced by cutting deep hollows 

 into the surface, the second by making it jagged and rugged, while 

 the third consists in giving a delicate crispness like frost-work to 

 tli- rtOM 



As regards jniniiuy, there are two modes : one in which the channel* 

 between the stones are yrowtd, or form rectangular sinkings; the 

 other in which they are cltamfertd, that is, the edges of the stones are 

 bevelled off in such manner that the section of the joints forms a 

 rectangular triangle. Neither are the above by any means all the 

 varieties, as will be seen by some examples at the end of this article, 

 which cannot be very well explained without cuts. Great variety of 

 character and design may further be produced by an intermixture of 

 the different modes, for instance, by smooth and rough rustics to 

 gether, or by different kinds of rusticating for different stories, the 

 bolder and coarser being placed below and the more delicate above. 



Italian architecture presents many line studies and examples of 



rusticated work. The Florentine style which, it may be observed, ia 

 the direct antithesis of the Palladian shows what may be accom- 

 plished by little more than rustication alone. If it be severe, it is also 

 simple, yet rich and dignified. 



In this country we have very few examples of rusticated work upon 

 a grand scale : for here it is almost entirely confined to basements. It 

 is scarcely ever employed as the general decoration of an entire front, 

 except it be occasionally for prisons, for which it is certainly appro- 

 priate, though it does not therefore follow that it ia unsuitable where 

 richness and magnificence are more required than severity. 



Much of the beauty of rusticated fronts depends upon the form and 

 proportions of the arches or openings, and on the arrangement, &c., of 

 the rustics which form the voussoirs either to arched or straight-headed 

 windows. Occasionally, moulded archivolta are substituted for 

 radiating voussoirs, but the effect is not good, because they cut the 

 horizontal joints of the courses very disagreeably ; which, it may be 

 observed, is likewise the case where the voussoirs form an extrados 

 either concentric with the arch, or making a more elevated curve, as in 

 most of the Florentine examples. It is far better to make the voussoirs 

 elbowed, so as to unite with the horizontal courses, whereby the whole 

 looks firmly bonded together. Sometimes imposts to arches are 

 omitted altogether, or if there be such member, it is usually a mere 

 plat-band, although occasionally it is moulded. In arches the keystone 

 may either be similar or distinguished from the other voussoirs ; which 

 last may be done in a variety of ways, although the most usual one is 

 to cut it into the form of a console, or else enrich it with a mask 

 (sculptured upon it, of which kind are the keystones to the arches of 

 the Strand front of Somerset House, representing the nine principal 

 rivers of England, personified as old men. liussayes is a term more 

 particularly applied to rusticated cinctures ou the shafts of columns, 

 which may be either square or cylindrical, but should not greatly 

 exceed the diameter of the shaft itself, more especially in the former 

 case. Columns of this kind ought invariably to be engaged, and the 

 wall behind them of course rusticated also. In such case the cinctures 

 serve as ligatures to bind and incorporate tluin with the rest, whereas 

 insulated columns with blocks upon their shafts are equally unmean- 

 ing and uncouth. The tamo remark applies to rustic blocks stuck at 

 intervals, up. Hi the architraves of doors and windows, as, for instance, 

 those of St. Martin's Church, London, although there is no rusticating 

 in that building. Of columns with bossages or rusticated cinctures, 

 the two arches within the court of Somerset House are a tastefully- 

 designed and well-executed example. 



The following are some of the varieties of rusticating above referred 

 to, drawn sufficiently large to show the precise form and section of the 

 joints or grooves : 



No. 1. Rustics with rectangular joints or channels. 



No. l. 



1 



1 



I 



Hustles of this kind have always plain faces. French or horizontal 

 rusticating, without vertical joints, has generally rectangular channels ; 

 this sort of rusticating, or pseudo-rusticating with horizontal joints 



No. J. 



only, has in f.is country been still further impoverished by making 



