S5S 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCIIITECrs JOURNAL. 



LSeptembeb, 



Incapables, who scout the idea that it is possible for any other 

 than hackneyed forms to be beautiful, and who flatly deny it to be 

 in the power of artistic conception to jiroduce wliat, though dif- 

 ferent in diaractcr, should be e(|ually beautiful in its peculiar way. 

 Unhapjiy architects! }e have lucked yourselves in, and iluni,^ away 

 the key tliat would ojien the door and send you forth — the worthy 

 and really jjifted auumtj you rcjoicinji; once more in lilierty and 

 liffht. Unhai)py architects ! — unhappy architecture, also! for thou 

 art now fettered, and delivered over to the tender charge of thy 

 jailor, I'kecedent ! 



V. Precedent is adhered to even for that lawless, hybrid style 

 which we denominate Elizabethan. No one, indeed, has yet at- 

 tempted to draw up a formal code of rules and regulations for it — 

 perhaps, because it would be a task of very great labour to at- 

 tempt to systematize so chaotic a mass as the varioTis examples of 

 it constitute; any oneof wliich, however eccentric and exceptional, 

 may now be fpioted as sufficiently valid autluu'ity. Tiiis must be 

 allowed to have its convenience ; no more being required than to 

 follow Precedent merely piece-meal, and patch up a design out of 

 odds-and-ends, taken at random, and put together witliout any 

 regard even to general consistency of composition. The name 

 "Elizabethan," at once sanctities all absurdities and all crudities : 

 it operates as a talisman and an iegis against the shafts of criticism. 

 It is in vain to object to that offensive inequality of design which 

 results from plainness and coarseness in some features, and studied 

 ornateness, perhaps finicality, in others. The greater the incon- 

 gruity, the greater, it would seem, is the Elizabethan-neax. The 

 utmost and most convenient latitude is freely allowed : forms and 

 features strongly partaking of the latest-expiring Tudor style may 

 he mixed up ad Ubltam with ultra-Italianized ones; no matter how 

 incoherently, when incoherence is thought to belong to, if not 

 actually to be the very genius of the style itself. Although for a 

 very difl'erent reason, Elizabethan possesses one great recommenda- 

 tion in common with the pure Grecian style. AVhat it is you shall 

 learn by-and-by — that is, in my next Fasciculus; till which appears, 

 I leave you to cogitate upon the matter, and solve the riddle, if 

 riddle it be, for yourselves. Or, should your curiosity evaporate 

 in the interim, it will not greatly matter. Putting, like a frugal 

 hostess, that dainty bit " by for supper-time," what I now say is, 

 that we do not at all avail ourselvesaswemight doof the opportunity 

 which Elizaliethan architecture holds out to us, — of the convenient 

 jiretext which it affords us for working out a style founded upon 

 the Itulimiism or early Ciii'jiic-ccnlo ideas which, although they 

 show themselves only here and there partially, and more or less 

 imperfectly, strongly mark those examples in which tliey occur 

 to any extent. In reverting to Elizabethan, we lune considered 

 it rather as being the latest stage of expiring Gothic, than as the 

 incijiient one of a quite different architectural system ; which, had 

 it been allowed to proceed iw it originated, and to develope itself 

 freely and naturally out of its fii-st ru<limentary shoots, instead 

 of being put into the hot-house of Palladio and Jones, would 

 doubtless have produced other blossoms and fruits than those 

 which have attended such "forcing" system. A\'hen Elizabethan 

 was recommended as the style most of all suitable for the new 

 Houses of Parliament, people — and architects among the rest, were 

 puzzled to know what was to be understood by such name. Was 

 it to be interiireted literally or liberally? If the former, it of 

 course excluded every style that had been used before or up to 

 tlie period of Elizabeth s reign, unless Elizabethan and Ante- 

 Elizabethan mean one and the same thing, and unless Elizabeth 

 reigned before she was born — a mystery I willingly leave to wiser 

 keads than mine. On the other hand, if Elizabethan was to be 

 interpreted liberally and latitudinarially, it would seem to imply 

 that the style to be adopted might bo either that uhich was actu- 

 ally employed during the latter half tlie Kith century, or which 

 afterw;u-ds came uj) in the earlier part of the following one; and 

 the way for which had been opened by the infiuenct's and tastes 

 of the previous Elizabethan period. It is jiei-haps just as well 

 that the taste of Eliziibetli's grandi'ather — at least, that of his 

 age — was preferred to that of her own. Nearly all tlie competitors 

 for the " Houses" eschcived Elizabethan, and no doubt very pru- 

 dently ; for it would, perhaps, have occupied them till nou- to 

 elaliorate out of it aught that wouid have been both worthy of 

 and suitable for the occasion. 



VT. Some are so very sensitive and captious about terms and 

 names, that I wonder they do not affect to be scandalized at that 

 «f the " Lancet style." It cannot, indeed, bo said to be a very 

 blunt one; cm the contrary, it is sharp enough — so sharp as to 

 pierce an ear that is at all refined. It must surely have been 

 invented by Dr. Sangrado, or other practitioner of phlebotomy. 

 <Jr it must have originated with the ComjKiny of Barber-Surgeons, 



so truly barherous is it in sound. If not so, it must have been ap- 

 plied in sneering derision by some such critics as those who make 

 themselves merry witli Nash's e.r//»ry»iVi(.'r in Langham place, and 

 Ban-y's damb-iraitcrs in Trafalgar-square. Lancet-style! — liorrible 

 luime; suggesting ideas of bloodshed, at least of blood-letting ! 

 Let it bo reformed by all means; more especially as ])e(q)le are 

 now endeavouring to substitute more appropriate terms fur those 

 introduced by Hickman, notwithstanding that they have obtained 

 general currency among as. If " Perpendicular" is to be trans- 

 formed into " Rectangular" style, surely " Lancet" will no longer 

 be tolerated by " ears polite," or ears archacdogical. Let a (Jeneral 

 Council of Archa>ologists be held forthwith ; let the Institute as- 

 semble in solemn or somnolent conclave, to devise some less odiously 

 vulgar name for what is now called the Lancet style. Should 

 they not be able to tliink of one, still, they might possibly dream 

 of one ; or else they go to sleep to very little purpose indeed. 



VII. Plans, elevations, and sections of Stowe, would just now 

 possess considerable interest, even for those who would not care 

 for them at any other time. None, however, are in existence, — 

 at least, no published ones. There is no work which so describes 

 that princely mansion ; — no plates of it in any of the several col- 

 lections which assume the title of " Vitruvius Britannicus," al- 

 though they all contain subjects of far inferior note, and inferior 

 merit also, and more than one which has nothing whatever to 

 recommend it. Almost all that is known of the architectural 

 authorship of Stowe is, that the original house is said to have 

 been designed by Viscount Cobhani, and the additions, comprising 

 the stately south front, by the first Lord Camelford (about the year 

 1775). \'anbrugh and Kent designed some of the garden-buildings; 

 but of the professional architects employed upon the mansion 

 itself, the only names which appear to be known are those of 

 Borra and Valdre, both foreigners. Stowe is infinitely too modern 

 to excite any sympathy among the admii'ers of ruins arid rubbish. 

 When it becomes an antiquity, and thereby entitled to the epithet 

 of " venerable," it may acquire tluit value in the eyes of posterity 

 which it has not in our own. And let us hope that it will be per- 

 mitted to remain ; and not doomed to be taken down and sold 

 ])iecemeal, as were both W^anstcad and AVorksop. Wc can ill- 

 afford to spare such an example of a palatial English residence, 

 now that nothing else of the same class and character is erected. 

 Scarcely a mansion of any architectural note at all has been 

 erected for many years. What few large country-houses have 

 been built, mostly affect antiquity, without either the charm or the 

 merit of it. The tide now runs in favour of Model Lodging- 

 houses and Buckingham Palaces, — of Baths and A\'ashing-houses : 

 but Greenwich Hospitals, and Blenheims and Stowes, are quite be- 

 yond our mark. Neither the aristocracy of rank nor the aristocracy 

 of wealth patronise such architectural grandeur as marks the last- 

 mentioned piles. Let it not he supposed from this, that unqualified 

 praise of either Blenheim or Stowe is intended. In both of them 

 there is much to censure — a great deal that might be many degrees 

 better : still, there is the magnificent and the nuble — which, as 

 things now go, is a very great deal indeed. As to the grandiose, 

 where will you now find it.'' Go and look for it in the fayades of 

 the British Museum or Buckingham Palace ; and if you can 

 discover it there, you may congratulate yourself as being able to 

 discover the longitude also. 



NOTES ON ENGINEERING.— No. X. 



By IIosiERsnAM Cox, B.A. 



The Dt/namu:al Deflection and Strain of Railway Girders. 



There is no subject in practical science which has been more 

 elaborately investigated than the theory of the statical transverse 

 strength of beams. It has fortunately happened that two different 

 classes of investigators — mathematicians and experimentalists — 

 have cooperated in the reseaixh : and the result of their united 

 labours has been a valuable and comprehensive system of know- 

 ledge. 



But the HTNAMicAi, strength of beams, or their capability of sus- 

 taining weights moving rapidly over them, has never been satis- 

 factorily discussed. There does not appear to be extant a single 

 theoretical investigation of this subject — and the deficiency is due 

 to two causes : it occurs partly because the subject has but com- 

 paratively recently grown into importance ; partly because of its 

 excessive and insujierable difficulties when investigateil by the 

 exact methods of theoretical mechanics. The following paper is 

 a contribution to a more accurate knowledge of this important 



