181S."] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECrS JOURNAL. 



37 



Vanvitelli's (i. e. one of them), as to exhibit all its merits, not- 

 witlistanding tliat it exliihits qualities precisely the reverse. Yet, 

 surely littleness and magnitude are ^■ery different in effect ; or 

 shall we say, that if he be similarly shaped and proportioned, a 

 dwarf can gi\-e us a very satisfactory idea of a giant ? Those who 

 hold such doctrine, ought to show their consistency by taking a 

 sixpence as a very satisfactory representative of, and equivalent 

 to, a shilling. Hardly can I bring myself to believe that Mr. 

 Blore had any idea of palming upon us a Tom Thumb Caserta, 

 because, leaving plagiarism out of the question — and in architec- 

 ture plagiarism has ceased to be any demerit or disgrace — he must 

 ha\-e been perfectly aware that he must fall so greatl)' short of 

 Vanvitelli's standard, that likeness in other respects would, if 

 detected, only produce ridicule. No, what kind of likeness there 

 is between the two designs is merely a coincidence, and for j\lr. 

 Blore rather an unfortunate one. Had it been intentional and 

 "with malice prepense," — had Mr. Blore really fancied that he 

 could reproduce Caserta, he would no doubt have avowed the 

 imitation, have made it a merit, and have crushed criticism in the 

 bud, by proclaiming that he was about to give Buckingham Palace 

 a facade " after" that of the noblest royal residence in Europe.* — 

 In such cases, be it observed, the after generally means a long way 

 behind the prototype ; and the following comparison of the respec- 

 tive measurements of some of the parts of the two buildings will 

 show that Vanvitelli's afforded no precedent for the mesquinerie of 

 Mr. Blore's. 



Caserta. 



ft. 



Basement or ground floor, mezzanine, 47 



Gateways through ditto ... ... 16 



Principal floor windows 6 



Columns 49 



Buckiiii/ham Palace. 



Basement ... .. 26 



Gateways: centre one, ... ... 13 



lesserones, 10 



Principal floor windows ... ... 4 



Pilasters 34 



After all, had its elevation been ever so much better, Jlr. Blore's 

 building would still have been open to some of the strongest ob- 

 jections brought against it now, viz., that it seems to encroach 

 upon the Park in such a very awkward manner, as to appear a more 

 lumpish mass than it otherwise might do, and that blocking uj) all 

 tlie rest of that side of the Palace, so far from improving the main 

 edifice, it has frustrated that opportunity for improvement which 

 ])reviously existed, and which, since alteration to such extent was 

 determined upon, ought to have been made the most of. As a 

 range of building the new facade is scarcely more effective than the 

 neighbouring barracks in the Birdcage Walk, to which it may in 

 fact be likened quite as correctly as to Caserta ; nor would that 

 comparison be, though less flattering, quite so injurious as the 

 other, inasmuch as it must then be admitted that, instead of there 

 being any falling off, the model had been refined upon. 



One defect in regard to jiosition, now rendered very prominent 

 by the building being brought so much forwarder into the Park, is 

 that the Palace is not in the axis of the Park itself, but only of 

 the Mall ; whereas, were Mr. Blore's structure planted at the other 

 extremity of the enclosure, on the site of the Horse Guards, it 

 would there show infinitely better in e^'ery respect, and, with some 

 slight corrections, might pass for a handsome piece of architecture. 

 As it is, it is altogether out of place, out of character, and the re- 

 verse of satisfactory in effect ; nor can I agree with Mr. Sharp tliat 

 were Mr. Blore " to give the Palace a staircase resembling that at 

 Caserta, the world would forgive him all the faults of his front ;" 

 because while those faults would be just as evident as ever, the 

 public would have no opportunity of admiring the staircase. Be- 

 sides which, it would require the architect to be the Bottle-Conjuror 

 to get such a staircase into Buckingham Palace ; and even could it 

 be effected, it would reduce all the rest of the interior to utter in- 

 significance. — One other remark, and I have done : for what will 

 perhaps be considered lengthiness and loquacity I have no pre- 

 cedent in what Mr. Sharp's companion, M''oods, says in his "Letters" 

 of Caserta, for he dismisses it with little more than a bare mention 

 of it, — with a degree of chilling indifference that does not say m\ich 

 for him either as an architect or a critic. 



* Une plus [grande conception de palais 



* Quatremere de Quincy says of Caserta: 

 a' existe point ea Europe." 



ON THE LAP AND LEAD OF THE SLIDE VALVE. 



f Concluded from page 17. J 



The Lead and Lap. 



Having separately investigated the two cases of a slide having 

 Lead without Lap, and Lap without Lead, we now profeed to con- 

 sider the eft'ect of botli in combiuation, together with that of lap 

 on the exhaustion side. 



Demonstrafmi. 

 Case 4. — When a Slide has Lap ox both the Steam and 



ExHAUSTIO.N sides, TOGETHER WITH LeAD. 



Let a I), and a c, diagram 5, represent the double lap on the steam 

 side; af and «y, the same on the exhaustion side; 6f, andtrf. 



Diagram 5. 



the steam ports; and the line ed both the travel of the slide and 

 stroke of the piston. Tlien, supposing c /t to represent the lead 

 of the slide, ai will be the position of "the eccentric when that of 

 the crank is a e; the slide occupying the position shown iu fig. 10, 

 and the piston being at the top of its downward stroke. 



Fig. 10. Fig. 11. Fig. 



When the eccentric reaches the point k, the port cd will be fully 

 closed (as shown in fig. 11), and the piston will have descended to 

 /, the arc e m being equal to the arc i /.-. Again, — when the ecxren- 

 tric arrives at n, the .slide being then brought into the position 

 fig. 12, exhaustion commences from above the piston, which has 

 descended to o ; the arc e to p being equal to the arc i U n. >> hen 



