CHINA WARE. 



' IIINKSK ARCHITECTURE. 



R4I 



) enforced was the 28th Oeo. III., c. 48. It wu followed by the 

 4 ft 6 Will. IV., c. 35. ThU Act expired in 1842, when the 3 & 4 Viet 

 c. 85, intituled ' an Act for the regulation of Chimney-sweepers and 

 Chimneys, 1 came into effect. By thu Act, the compelling or allowing 

 a penon under twenty-one year* of age to ascend or descend a chimney, 

 or to enter a flue for the purpose of sweeping it, or of extinguishing 

 fire, is prohibited under a penalty of not more than IOL, or less than W. 

 It is further provided by the same Act, that no child under sixteen 

 yean of age shall be apprenticed to a chimney-sweeper. This Act also 

 contains regulations for the construction of chimneys. About the 

 beginning of the present century, a number of public-spirit*; il imli- 

 viduals joined in offering considerable premiums to any one who 

 would invent a method of cleansing chimneys by mechanical means, so 

 as to supersede the necessity of climbing-boys. Various inventions 

 were in consequence produced. The principal parts of the one in 

 general use are a brush and some hollow tubes which fasten into each 

 other by means of bran sockets. 



OH I Jf A WARE. [PoBCELABT.] 



OH IXDEINE. [CrscHOXA, ALKALOIDS OF.] 



CHINESE ARCHITECTURE. The architecture of the Chinese 

 may be considered unique in its style. Their buildings differ also in 

 construction from those of Europe and the rest of Asia. The peculiar 

 character of Chinese architecture is displayed in their royal palaces, 

 temples, bridges, monumental arches, and also in their houses and 

 sepulchres. The materials employed are wood, of which that most in 

 use is the nan-mon, a kind of cedar, stone, marble, bricks, bamboo, 

 and glazed or porcelain tiles. The construction of their dwelling- 

 houses is directed by a public functionary, whom we may not inaptly 

 designate a district surveyor. Every one is obliged to build his house 

 according to his rank, and for every house a certain size and details 

 are fixed. The ordinary habitations have only one floor. The houses 

 called boon, that is of many floors, were once very much the fashion, 

 and some were built above 200 feet high. Wooden columns, so placed 



as to support the roof, are common, and are from eight to too dia- 

 meters in height. They are fixed on stone or marble bases, but 

 have no capitals; an architrave of wood placed on the top of them 

 runs through the wall of the house, and a beam which is carried 

 through the upi>er part of the column, and pansoa through the wall 

 also, is connected with the architrave on the outside of the house. 

 The wooden pillars are always painted of a bright colour, commonly 

 red, and varnished ; the open work is usually green, and strong lines 

 of blue, black, or gold relieve and give effect to the prevalent hues. 

 The roofs are also covered, and the walls plastered with stained sub- 

 stances of brilliant colours. When fully painted, and decorated with 

 their fanciful scroll-work and strange devices, the appearance of a 

 Chinese house is singularly gay and brilliant. The roofs, which are 

 slightly constructed of bamboo, are often double, and resemble one 

 roof rising out of the other : they turn up at the eaves, at the 

 angles of which are hung grotesque figures of dragons, 4c. The 

 framing of the roof, as will be seen by the cut, is quite different 

 from the European method. Three or four transverse beams, placed 

 one above another, serve as tie-beams, and by means of uprights the 

 lower beam supports that above it, the lowest of all resting on the 

 wooden columns already described. The construction is rude, but 

 simple and effective ; its character will be readily understood from thu 

 engraving. The columns and beams are often made of precious woods, 

 and are inlaid with ivory, copper, and mother-of-pearl. Galleries or 

 passages of intricate design abound, and ore decorated in very pleas- 

 ing taste with trellis-work and carving. Not the least singular 

 appearance in a Chinese house is the door, which is often a complete 

 circle ; the window frames and sashes are formed of small panncls f 

 various forms moulded out of clay, and neatly joined together. The 

 sills of doors arc of stone. The wood of the nan-mon is said by tin- 

 Chinese to lost more than a thousand years. Stone and marble, 

 though in abundance, are more rarely used than wood, brick, and tile. 

 The palaces of the kings are built on large masses of alabaster a a 



[Interior of Mansion.] 



foundation. The palace of Pekin is on an immense scale, 2513 feet by 

 3235 feet. It is spoken of by the missionaries as presenting a very 

 imposing appearance. The palace, which is divided into a number of 

 courts, is composed of towers, galleries, porticoes, halls, and immense 

 buildings : each court is more superb than the other as you approach 

 towards the last court, the residence of the king, which is the richest 

 of all. 



The extraordinary respect paid by the Chinese to the dead has led 

 them to the construction of rich and costly places of sepulture. 

 Frequently the tomb is excavated out of the side of a hill, where a 

 stone entrance structure in the shape of a horse-shoe, or rather a 

 Greek O, is constructed, in a style that from its solidity and dura- 

 bility contrast* remarkably with the lightness and almost flimsiness 

 of their dwelling-houses. These tombs are often constructed of 

 granite, polished, and elaborately carved. But besides these there are 

 tombs and monuments which exhibit a variety of architectural designs, 

 often resembling the familiar forms of their buildings; even the 

 double roof is carved on some mausoleums. The common people 

 have only a cone of earth with trees on the summit, not unlike the 

 barrows in Wiltshire. Several forms of tombs are given in Alexander's 

 ' Costume of China.' The forms are round, square, hexagonal, and 

 octagonal, and the form of the coffin is also imitated. 

 I Another very remarkable kind of building is the paclotc, or honorary 

 or monumental gateway (sometimes improperly called n triumphal 

 arch), placed in the middle of streets, at the entrance of towns, and in 

 front of temples, and even dwelling-bourn* of a superior grade. These 



arches are erected sometimes at the command of the emperor, and at 

 the public expense, to commemorate the merits of some public 

 functionary ; but in other cases they are raised by private persons of 



'* ^,- 



[Cblnwc Tomb.] 



distinction, to the memory of a relative. In general character they 

 resemble the domestic edifices ; thin pillars supporting a roof or 

 summit of somewhat elaborate character. They always have a broad 

 and lofty central pamagc, with a narrower and usually a lower one on 

 each side. Sometimes they ore constructed of wood, brightly coloured 



